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Today we set aside litigation and opt for cooperation with our federal partners. We have been in the courts for ten years and have not gained the resources needed to protect these creations. Now, working towards recovery, we will focus our efforts and energy on the task of fish recovery instead of continually girding ourselves for litigation. Cooperation will be the nature of our relationship recognizing that both fish and hydroelectric power are important to the Yakama Nation and to the people of the Northwest.

-- Chairman Ralph Sampson Jr., Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, May 2, 2008.

It was indeed a historic event earlier this month when the Yakama Nation joined with three other Columbia River tribes -- Warm Springs, Umatilla and Colville -- to approve an agreement that, if given a chance, should get salmon restoration efforts moving ahead full bore on the Columbia River.

Most of the $900 million commitment -- about $850 million -- will come from the Bonneville Power Administration, which manages power distribution on the Columbia River. In exchange, the signatory tribes will agree not to sue federal authorities that operate dams on the Columbia River over fish issues for the next 10 years.

About $540 million would go to new projects, while the rest will fund existing ones. The Yakamas will gain about $330 million and the Colvilles about $200 million. Oregon's Umatilla tribe will get some $150 million and Warm Springs about $80 million. Another $90 million goes to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

BPA officials estimate that the agreement, which requires final approval from a federal judge, will cause a rate increase of 2 percent to 4 percent in wholesale power prices.

A spokesman for the Yakamas said the tribe already has about 200 projects identified for hatcheries and habitat, some of them ongoing efforts. Work is now progressing on a master contract with BPA to expedite matters.

Potential legal challenges could still come from environmentalists and the state of Oregon. The Associated Press reported that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has expressed concerns the agreements don't satisfy the government's obligations and won't be enough to put the region on the path to recovery of wild salmon populations.

We disagree. The agreement finally gets a relatively long-term commitment to restoring salmon runs and, like Sampson, we find that offering much more potential for solutions than ongoing courtroom battles.

We respect the place that salmon hold in the history and culture of the Columbia River tribes. But we also take note of the fact that the Columbia and Snake river dams are here to stay and the clock is not going to be turned back a century or so to the salmon runs of pre-dam days. Electricity, irrigation and other related benefits are too entrenched in the Northwest economy.

That does not preclude creative thinking and commitment, not to mention money, from being pledged to alternate methods of enhancing fish runs and habitat.

Whenever there is talk of breaching dams, we revert to our previous editorial positions on the issue: As the breaching issue has evolved during the past several years, it has became more and more evident that the proposal has two major flaws. First, scientific certainty -- that breaching the dams would dramatically enhance fish runs -- has not been proven. Second, the economic repercussions outweigh any advantage afforded the fish.

Thus, the most viable option in terms of economic reality and long-term impact is to concede that the dams are a necessary part of the landscape and efforts at fish run or habitat enhancement should acknowledge that reality.

We applaud the Yakama Nation and other signatories for taking a time out for 10 years while the new enhancement efforts are given a chance. Indeed, let's focus on the river, not the courtroom.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.