Federal defendants in a long-running case in U.S. District Court challenging NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion governing operations to prevent harm to salmon and steelhead at Columbia River federal hydroelectric system of dams raised the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in late March.
A huge snowpack in Canada provides a stark contrast to the nearly empty snowfields in southern Idaho where snowpack is at record lows this year and in eastern Oregon, with much of that area in drought or developing drought, according to an April National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.
The Pacific Northwest has seen below-normal snow this season — and new research from Portland State University suggests that the region's snowmelt-dependent water resources could face growing challenges in the years ahead as forest fires and winter rainstorms become more frequent.
Summer weather is arriving earlier, lasting longer and packing more heat than it used to—and it’s happening faster than scientists had previously measured.
During the 2024–2025 spawning season, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon migrated to Mendocino Coast rivers in numbers few scientists thought they would see in their careers. Monitoring teams estimated that more than 30,000 adult coho returned, double the previous season’s record-breaking return of 15,000 coho. These numbers represent a significant leap from the past decade, where as few as 3,000 fish returned annually.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a new machine learning tool that forecasts droughts up to 90 days ahead nationwide. The tool may provide communities extra time to prepare for water shortages that could impact agriculture, municipal supplies, recreation and ecosystems.
Scientists with the Wildlife Genetics Research Unit at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have completed a genomic study of nutria, an invasive South American rodent, linking their 2017 discovery in Merced County to a population in central Oregon. This was the first genomic study of the semi-aquatic pest species that is harmful to wetland habitats and agriculture and has challenged control efforts of land and wildlife managers worldwide for decades.
