The Trump administration has ended funding and protections for the Columbia River Basin.

President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of a Biden-era agreement that aimed to restore native salmon populations and clean energy production with two Pacific Northwest states and four tribal nations.

Tribal leaders quickly denounced the memorandum.

“The Yakama Nation is deeply disappointed by this unilateral decision to terminate the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, particularly without prior consultation,”said Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis in a press release on June 12.

In his June 12 memorandum, Trump said he was protecting the American people from the “radical green agenda policies.”

In a press release on June 12 in response to Trump’s memorandum, Nez Perce Tribe chairman Shannon Wheeler said the memorandum only exacerbates the problem.

“This action tries to hide from the truth. The Nez Perce Tribe holds a duty to speak the truth for

the salmon, and the truth is that extinction of salmon populations is happening now,” he said. “People across the Northwest know this, and people across the nation have supported us in a vision for preventing salmon extinction that would at the same time create a stronger and better future for the Northwest.”

In 1855, the United States and four tribal nations of the basin entered into treaties specifying that those tribes have a right to harvest fish on their reservations and at all usual and accustomed places.

Since 1855, however, the federal government’s construction of dams has severely depleted fish populations.

On September 27, 2023, former president Joseph Biden issued a memorandum to restore healthy salmon populations in the Columbia River basin.

In his memorandum, Biden said it was a “priority” to honor federal trust and treaty responsibilities to tribal nations.

“This remains the shared vision of the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Nez Perce tribes, as set out in our Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative,” Wheeler said. “It is a vision we believe is supported, publicly or privately, by most people in the Northwest. And it is a vision underlaid by the treaties of our Northwest tribes, by the U.S. Constitution that protects those treaties, and by the federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect salmon and other species from extinction.”

Part of Trump’s memorandum cited a proposed plan by the Biden administration and Pacific Northwest tribes to potentially breach the four lower Snake River Dams.

Trump said there would be “no viable approach to replace the low-cost, baseload energy supplied” if this were to be completed.

According to actual generation data from 2010-2015, the lower Snake River dams generate 930 megawatts of power per year, vastly different from the 3,000 megawatts Trump said they produce in his memorandum.

The lower Snake River dams are “run of the river” dams, which means they rely entirely on snowpack and its rate of runoff. This makes them unreliable, especially with the onset of climate change and decreased snowpack.

“The Administration’s abrupt termination of the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement jeopardizes not only tribal Treaty-reserved resources but also the stability of energy, transportation, and water resources essential to the region’s businesses, farms, and families,” Lewis said. “This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives. The Administration’s decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government’s historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump’s stated commitment to domestic energy development.”

The president’s memorandum can be seen as part of a larger plan of Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order, which aims to explore energy production on federal land through oil and rare-earth mineral drilling.

“The federal government’s historic river management approach is unsustainable and will lead to salmon extinction,” said Lewis. “Courtroom battles cannot provide the innovative, holistic solutions we need. This termination will severely disrupt vital fisheries restoration efforts, eliminate certainty for hydro operations, and likely result in increased energy costs and regional instability.”

The post Tribal Leaders Denounce Trump’s Decision to Cut Funding Protecting Salmon appeared first on Underscore Native News.

The summer of 2021 was brutal for residents of the Pacific Northwest. Cities across the region from Portland, Oregon to Quillayute, Washington broke temperature records by several degrees. In Washington, as the searing heat wave settled over the state, 125 people died from heat-related illnesses such as strokes and heart attacks, making it the deadliest weather event in the state’s history. 

As officials recognized the heat wave’s disproportionate effect on low-income and unhoused people unable to access air conditioning, they made a crucial change to the state’s energy assistance program. Since the early 1980s, states, tribes, and territories have received funds each year to help low-income people pay their electricity bills and install energy efficiency upgrades through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. Congress appropriates funds for the program, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, doles it out to states in late fall. Until the summer of 2021, the initiative primarily provided heating assistance during Washington’s cold winter months. But that year, officials expanded the program to cover cooling expenses. 

Last year, Congress appropriated $4.1 billion for the effort, and HHS disbursed 90 percent of the funds. But the program is now in jeopardy. 

Earlier this month, HHS, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., laid off 10,000 employees, including the roughly dozen or so people tasked with running LIHEAP. The agency was supposed to send out an additional $378 million this year, but those funds are now stuck in federal coffers without the staff needed to move the money out. 

LIHEAP helps roughly 6 million people survive freezing winters and blistering summers, many of whom face greater risks now that the year’s warm season has already brought unusually high temperatures. Residents of Phoenix are expected to have their first 100 degree high any day now.

“We’re seeing the warm-weather states really coming up short with the funding necessary to assist people in the summer with extreme heat,” said one of the HHS employees who worked on the LIHEAP program and was recently laid off. Losing the people that ran the program is “absolutely devastating,” they said, because agency staff helped states and tribes understand the flexibilities in the program to serve people effectively, assistance that became extremely important with increasingly erratic weather patterns across the country.

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In typical years, once Congress appropriates LIHEAP funds, HHS distributes the money in the fall, in time for the colder months. States and other entities then make critical decisions about how much they spend during the winter and how much they save for the summer. 

The need for LIHEAP funds has always been greater than what has been available. Only about one in five households that meet the program’s eligibility requirements receive funds. As a result, states often run out of money by the summer. At least a quarter of LIHEAP grant recipients run out of money at some point during the year, the former employee said. 

“That remaining 10 percent would be really important to establish cooling assistance during the hot summer months, which is increasingly important,” said Katrina Metzler, executive director of the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition, a group of nonprofits and utilities that advances the needs of low-income people. “If LIHEAP were to disappear, people would die in their homes. That’s the most critical issue. It saves people.”

In addition to Washington, many other states have expanded their programs to provide both heating and cooling programs. Arizona, Texas, and Oregon now offer year-round cooling assistance.

HHS staff plays a crucial role in running LIHEAP. They assess how much each state, tribe, and territory will receive. They set rules for how the money could be used. They audit local programs to ensure funds are being spent as intended. All that may now be lost. 

But, according to Metzler, there are some steps that HHS could take to ensure that the program continues to be administered as Congress intended. First, and most obvious, the agency could reinstate those who were fired. Short of that, the agency could move the program to another department within HHS or contract out the responsibilities. 

But ultimately, Metzler continued, LIHEAP funds need to be distributed so those in need can access it. “Replacing the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a nearly impossible task,” she said. States “can’t have enough bake sales to replace” it. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘People would die’: As summer approaches, Trump is jeopardizing funding for AC on Apr 11, 2025.

The “Hands Off” event, located in Oakridge, was a peaceful protest against the way President Donald Trump is dismantling many federal agencies and programs near and dear to Oakridge residents. Photo by Neil Friedman

By GEORGE CUSTER/Editor/The Herald  —  It was the perfect day to mow the early spring grass, go for a hike or a bike ride, maybe have lunch outside. It was that kind of day in Oakridge. Those chores and thoughts of having fun outdoors took a back seat for around one hundred people who had other plans. 

A “Hands Off” event, its purpose being ” …a mass mobilization to rally those who do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies” (1) took place in front of the Hitching Post building on Highway 58 Saturday at 11 a.m. Similar events transpired at over 1,400 locations across the United States. There were similar protests in Eugene, Florence, Newport, Salem, and Portland, as well as other locations throughout Oregon and the rest of the country. There were similar protest events around the world.

The Oakridge event was peaceful. Dozens of passing cars, trucks and semis honked approval of the protesters who lined the highway holding up signs that indicated their concerns over political abuse. There were few, if any, motorists who seemed to appear to be opposed to the rally.

Herald photo

Local resident Michelle Emmons speaks to the gathering about what the government is doing to our democracy.

Several speakers engaged the assemblage with speeches denouncing the current administration’s actions. The

Herald photo

Local resident and event organizer Holly Olson said, “That is why we are here, to protest the gutting of our democracy by the world’s RICHEST MEN.”

speakers spoke from a tailgate of a pickup truck adorned with American flags. Holly Olson, one of the rally’s organizers, spoke first announcing many of the grievances that seemed to be in concert with those in attendance and denounced the administrations’ power grab.

“We are protesting with our fellow Americans the destructive agenda that is coming from our White House and is undermining our democracy” Olson said.

We are here because our Administration is trampling on our civil rights by making decisions without the approval of congress.  We have 3 branches of Government that all check and balance each other.  It is that way in the constitution to make sure we don’t have a KING.  But rather to have a government that is OF THE PEOPLE, by the people and for the people. WE are here to exercise our 1st Amendment right to free speech and the right to peacefully protest.”

Herald photo

Iris Barratt announced: “This is the real ‘Stop the Steal’ rally!”

Michelle Emmons, local activist and Oakridge resident of fifteen years, spoke on the need for unity and the need for freedom. “I believe in America, that’s why I’m here.” When asked why she felt the protest was important, she stated “I feel like this is important because often times in small communities the messaging can be a little bit diluted…so showing up in person to be able to exercise our right to protest the removal of our freedoms and to actually utilize our first amendment right, I think is an important way of saying ‘Hey, things matter, there is solidarity, we see what is happening and it’s OK for you to have a voice and it’s OK for us to have a voice…’ “

Iris Barratt spoke on the assault against our grass roots foundations.  She said, “We are patriots, protesters and peacemakers.” She enjoined the protesters in chants to slogans confirming the belief in a grass roots movement. 

Herald photo

Alissa Mayer recites the 20 points from the book “On Tyranny”.

Alissa Mayer said “You are here because no matter who you voted for or which party you’re registered with, you believe that our constitution should be protected, that nobody is above the law, that an un-elected billionaire and a small group of clearly incompetent and underqualified individuals should not be making decisions about our national security or how our tax dollars are spent…”.

She continued “Today is an opportunity for us to stand with our fellow Americans, friends and neighbors who are struggling to pay rent, pay medical bills, and put food on the table for their families – I’m sure you know someone in our community who relies on a monthly social security check to make ends meet? I DO – A single-mom who works her ass off but still needs SNAP to be able to feed her kids? I DO – A veteran who put their life on the line to protect your freedom, and who deserves quality medical care from the VA? I DO.

Ms. Mayer went on to recite Timothy Snyder’s 20 Lessons  from his book On Tyranny. Snyder is a Yale professor and considered America’s most famous (living) historian of 20th-century Europe.

Herald photo

Oakridge CA, James Cleavenger, acknowledges the strain that current cuts to funding has placed on the city.

Oakridge City Administrator James Cleavenger spoke on the problems that the city is, and will face, should the current trend of government cuts continue.

Herald photo

Guen DiGioia was at the protest to alert the public to losses that have already occurred in Oakridge.

Guen DiGioia said that she came to the rally to let people know that Oakridge has already lost a million dollars in this administration that was going to fire and smoke hardening for homes. Also, the money was to provide firewood to heat peoples’ homes. “I need people in Oakridge to realize that it’s happening now, not about happening over the years”.

Curt Harville carried a sign that read “Hands Off VA”. He said additionally that the reason he was at the protest was “to keep your hands off everything that doesn’t belong to you. This is ours. It’s our country and it’s our time to step up and do something”. 

Benjamin Dover captured the event on his cell phone. Dover said that he was trolling the event.

Benjamin Dover, who wore a confederate flag draped across his shoulders said, when asked why he was at the rally, that he was “just a troll”. A young person standing alongside of Dover cursed Oakridge, calling it a “s**t town”. He indicated that, although they have been living in Oakridge for a short time, that they plan to move soon. 

Herald photo

“Hands Off” protesters listen to speakers and acknowledge supporting honks from passing motorists.

Herald photo

This gentleman voiced his grievances on an upside down American flag.

1. Handsoff2025.com

The post Oakridge area residents rally at “Hands Off” event to show dissatisfaction with current Trump administration appeared first on Highway 58 Herald.

On January 27, 2025, the White House issued a late-night directive that paused federal grants and funding in order to locate and eliminate “woke” government spending. The pause seemingly included funding for public schools, such as the Farm to School Program that provided schools with locally-sourced food.

It wasn’t long before Jared Cordon, superintendent of a rural school district in Roseburg, Oregon, started receiving calls from concerned community members. “If kids can’t eat, where can I drop a check off?” they asked.

On January 29, the White House rescinded the sweeping pause, after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s order. 

One funding crisis was temporarily averted. But with mounting uncertainty and anticipated cuts on the horizon, rural school administrators are working tirelessly to balance next year’s budget. They do so for the students, families, and faculty who rely on strong public schools — and for their rural communities at large, whose well-being is closely tied to the fate of their local schools.

The Perils of Public School Funding

In addition to the Trump Administration’s chaotic management of federal grants, other funding challenges loom. 

Some rural districts are already facing steep funding cliffs, as Covid-19 emergency funds phase out over the next few years. Other rural districts are set to lose over $200 million of annual federal funding due to Congress’s failure to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Act (SRS), which helps support school districts in counties with public lands exempt from local property taxes. 

Some states experienced underperforming returns on their Public Employees Retirement System, which will require school districts to make higher payments to the system. Meanwhile, Republican-controlled states continue to push for universal school voucher programs, further diverting critical funds away from rural public schools.

Beyond these immediate funding challenges, even more drastic shifts in federal education policy are unfolding. On March 20, the President signed an executive order to facilitate the eventual closure of the Department of Education. 

Congressional action is required to legally close the department or relocate key programs like Title I funding for low-income students or IDEA funding for special education to other departments. However, the administration already took some actions to slow the department’s ability to distribute these funds by firing half of its staff. It remains unclear what additional actions Education Secretary Linda McMahon will take to further dissolve the department.

A major role of many employees at the education department is to make sure federal dollars reach the right students, said Will Ragland, a former rural public school teacher and former Department of Education employee who now researches for the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy institute.

“[Federal funding] is intended to target, by-and-large, low-income students and students with disabilities. There are also programs that directly target rural areas, including grants to ensure their transportation needs are met and that rural kids can make it to school.”

Ragland said he worries that programs could meet the same fate as USAID funding, which the White House continues to block, despite numerous federal court orders. The administration has continued to follow the conservative Project 2025 playbook, according to Ragland, which outlines a 10-year phase-out of Title I funding.

“Even though [Trump] said that [legally-protected education] funding is not going to be touched, I worry they’re going to start to phase out this funding,” Ragland said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “I worry that they say what they need to say at any given moment, but the larger plan is to eliminate the federal role in education altogether, including the funding.”

Rural Administrators Working Overtime

This growing uncertainty puts rural school districts, which often rely more heavily on federal funding and whose smaller budgets are hit harder by reductions, at greater risk.

Rural school leaders, already working at a high capacity, are facing unpredictable finances by working overtime to create multiple contingency budgets.

Jamie Green is a superintendent at Trinity Alps Unified School District in rural northern California, which is at risk of losing $3.5 million in SRS funding. He and other rural superintendents he’s connected with put in 12- to 16-hour days when creating budgets or filling out federal grant paperwork.

“During the day you have to support your kids, your parents, your teachers, and your principals. [Budgets and grant paperwork] have to be worked on after hours,” he told the Daily Yonder. “It’s difficult, but you signed up to lead, you didn’t sign up to be a victim. You don’t make excuses to your community. We won’t make excuses.”

Oftentimes, the only way to balance the budget is by delaying essential maintenance or cutting teachers in art, vocational, or special education programs. In states like Oregon and California, this challenge is compounded by the fact that the final budget deadline arrives before schools have a clear picture of the funding they’ll have for the upcoming year.

Superintendent Cordon highlighted the importance of federal funding at a crowded February school board meeting in Roseburg, Oregon. About 12 to 13% of the district’s budget comes from the federal government, Cordon told the crowd.

“Not having federal funding would dramatically impact our ability to serve children,” he said.

Micki Hall, a former Roseburg teacher and school board member who now sits on the board’s budget committee was in attendance. For Hall, budget cuts dredge up memories from her time as an educator.

“Back in 2001 we faced a lot of budget crunches. The French teacher was laid off and they cut one of the German teachers,” she said in an interview. “It’s just frightening because it also has a chilling effect in the building. If you’re not cut, you might be moved into a different, unfamiliar position.”

Across the country, rural districts are grappling with similar challenges, forced to make tough decisions that affect not just budgets but the very education and well-being of students and their communities. 

It’s clear that the need for adequate and reliable support from state and federal governments is urgent, but superintendents like Cordon and Green — and the communities they serve — can’t afford to focus solely on problems or delay action. The buck, Green said, stops with them. The only option they have is to do the work, put in the time, and find solutions.

“Rural schools will not fail,” Green said. “We’re working as hard as we can for our students. We cannot fail.”

The post Amid Threat of Massive Funding Cuts, Rural School Administrators Work Overtime to Balance Uncertain Budgets appeared first on The Daily Yonder.