US admits dams in Pacific north-west have devastated Native Americans

US says dams killed off salmon, inundated villages and burial grounds, and spirited wealth away from tribes

The US government, in a report published on Tuesday, acknowledged for the first time the harms that federal dams have inflicted on Native American tribes in the US Pacific north-west.

The report by the interior department details the historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes", including how dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers have devastated salmon runs, inundated villages and burial grounds, and deprived tribal members of the ability to exercise traditional ways of life.