How the Nez Perce are using an energy transition to save salmon

The Okanagan Nation Alliance leads a Fish in Schools program that donates fish spawn and the equipment to raise them to elementary and secondary schools near their territory. Thousands of fish raised by the students are released into local waterways during ceremonies at the end of the school year as a part of their efforts to bring salmon back to the area.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation worked to restore extinct Chinook salmon populations by building their own fish hatchery, establishing legislation, and creating a consensus-based advisory committee that brings government, agriculture, business, and conservation groups together to coordinate water management. Salmon returns have dramatically increased from about 60 fish in 2023 to over 900 in 2025.

The Upper Columbia United Tribes are working to reintroduce salmon along the Upper Columbia River after the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams altered the environment, preventing the salmon from returning. Their research on the impact of the dam on the river, salmon, and their culture has pressured the U.S. government to uphold its obligations to them. So far, it’s committed $200 million for the reintroduction efforts as a result.

Research suggests that in the 1500s there were 30 million to 60 million bison, 400 years later roughly 1,000 remained. Today, their ecosystem, the Great Plains, is one of the most endangered in the world. However, there is a growing movement trying to change that. Across the U.S. indigenous communities are trying to return bison to parts of their historic range. This article looks at various ways indigenous communities are unfolding different methods to do just that, not only to grow the population, but to return them to their culture.

After high demands for arapaima fish led to near extinction, a co-management system in the Amazon rainforest has resulted in the recovery of the fish as well as the economic empowerment of local women. The work includes counting, catching, protecting, harvesting, and bringing fish to market. When more workers were needed, women stepped in and gained respect in the community as being essential members of the fishery. The women collecting an income from the program previously fished for subsistence and now receive payment for their work.

In a setting constantly threatened by natural disaster, El Salvador communities are showing that small grassroots movements can have a big impact on the health of the environment. On this particular occasion, as part of the nonprofit known as the Mangrove Association, sea turtles are directly benefiting from a reforestation and protection effort executed by the local communities.

Native Renewables, a Native- and women-led nonprofit, is bringing free, off-grid solar energy systems to homes in the Navajo and Hopi reservations that don’t have access to power. And it’s doing so by training local Indigenous peoples to work in the industry so they can reap the economic benefits of these careers instead of hiring out the work.

Communities in the United States are slowly replacing small culverts that alter the flow of streams and block the paths of migratory fish species with wider culverts and bridges, allowing the ecosystems to recover.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

The Penobscot Nation gathered a cohort of organizations to form the Penobscot River Restoration Trust so they could purchase and demolish damns that were threatening the river’s health. The river and native fish recovered quickly as a result.