Increased spill levels at Snake and Columbia river dams, along with lower water flow in the rivers, hampered the ability of scientists to tag and detect juvenile salmon and steelhead as they migrated downstream in 2024.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is acting on its commitment to three Northwest tribes by issuing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to collect information on the risks of 6PPD quinone in tires, known to be toxic in stormwater runoff to coho salmon and steelhead in Puget Sound.
In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation suggest that if a pumped storage project near the Columbia River’s John Day Dam moves forward, the Yakama Nation should receive no less than $40 million in mitigation for damage to tribal resources. The money would be used for the preservation and management of sacred and sensitive properties to the Yakama Nation.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has published preliminary harvest and value figures for the 2024 Alaska Commercial Salmon Fishery that show a dramatic decline compared to last year.
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission has approved additional protections –less fishing pressure– for bull trout in Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork of the Flathead River in northwest Montana.
Sustainable rates of groundwater withdrawal in southeast Oregon’s Harney Basin were surpassed 20 years prior to the time declining groundwater levels were generally recognized, a new analysis found.
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing an amendment to the land management plans guiding parts or all of 17 national forests within the Northwest Forest Plan areas of Oregon, Washington and Northern California.
Emissions of carbon caused by fossil fuel pollution continued to grow slightly in 2023 to 36.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, setting yet another new record despite increasingly urgent warnings from scientists about the need for steep and immediate decreases.
Reservoirs, a major component of California’s water storage system, are a significant source of climate-warming emissions, releasing more greenhouse gases across the state than 300,000 gas-powered cars in a year, says a report by the Center for Biological Diversity.
An agreement to study transportation and recreational services that would need mitigation if the four lower Snake River dams were breached to recover the river’s threatened salmon and steelhead was signed early last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington’s Department of Transportation.
Some 262 adult summer steelhead have returned to the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project’s trap on Oregon’s Deschutes River as of November 7 and all have been or will be released into Lake Billy Chinook.
An epidemiological study found that 56% of a large breeding colony of Caspian terns died from a 2023 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at Rat Island in Washington state.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation partners have announced a groundbreaking achievement in endangered species research: the first-ever birth of black-footed ferrets produced by a cloned endangered animal.
The number of gray whale calves migrating with their mothers along the California Coast this year was one of the lowest on record.
In a new study, NOAA Fisheries scientists, in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, show that it is possible to estimate fish biomass for more than one species at the same time, using environmental DNA (eDNA).
Oregon and Washington fishery managers set dates and harvest guidelines for recreational white sturgeon retention in pools backed up behind Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dams.
The Bonneville Power Administration reported its end-of-year financial performance results for fiscal year 2024 at its Quarterly Business Review, showing negative revenues and missed targets.
A Marion County Circuit Court in Oregon denied a petition to continue releases of hatchery summer steelhead smolts into Oregon’s North Umpqua River.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has developed an update to the Statewide Fish Passage Barrier Priority List, which is revised every five years.
The Department of the Interior has announced updates by the Bureau of Land Management to “strengthen conservation and management of greater sage-grouse habitat on public lands, informed by the best available science, collaborative work with states, and input from local, Tribal and federal partners.”
NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $9.2 million in grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act to academic partners that will help recover threatened and endangered Pacific salmon.
Climate change is expected to alter Columbia River basin streamflows in the coming years with higher water and more rain but less snowpack in winter, and more drought and lower water in the summer, which could result in less water for summer spill.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District has released the results of its Yakima Delta ecological restoration feasibility report, recommending the removal of a causeway to improve conditions for salmon in the Yakima River Delta.
Walleye are spreading at an alarming rate upstream in the Snake and Salmon rivers and now occupy critical rearing and migratory areas of juvenile salmon and steelhead, says Idaho Fish and Game.
Threatened Chum salmon are arriving at spawning grounds downstream of Bonneville Dam, prompting the interagency Technical Management Team to begin operations at the dam designed to maintain a certain level of water over the fish as they spawn now and through emergence in April.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
