Some of the butterflies most in danger of fluttering out of existence fare better when their habitats are actively managed by humans, a recent study found.
The Payette National Forest released a Final Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Record of Decision for a controversial gold mine located in the headwaters of Idaho’s Salmon River. The draft documents will undergo a 45-day public review for what the U.S. Forest Service is calling a “pre-decisional objection period.”
Competition with millions of pink salmon in the North Pacific Ocean, which are known for their two-year cycle of abundance, is resulting in shorter steelhead returning to the Snake River – also on a two-year cycle, according to a recent study.
The hydropower industry has filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court that challenges administrative changes to the federal Endangered Species Act made by Biden Administration agencies this spring that the industry says were made in “excess of the Services’ statutory jurisdiction and authority.”
Oregon and Washington added more fishing days on the mainstem Columbia River and expanded the bag limit to three salmon for the Buoy 10 fishery at a hearing this week after a prediction of higher than previously forecasted returns of salmon and steelhead.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released the “Klamath River Anadromous Fishery Reintroduction and Restoration Monitoring Plan,” a 60-page blueprint to guide the reintroduction and monitoring of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey in a newly undammed Klamath River.
Removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on Washington’s Elwha River presented an opportunity to study the ecological response of a river ecosystem to large-scale disturbance and subsequent restoration.
New research led by the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has revealed how underwater noise produced by humans may help explain the southern residents orcas’ plight.
A new study co-authored by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks helps to identify where in the Bitterroot Ecosystem grizzly bears could call home through reintroduction or recolonization.
Department of Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland announced that Bryan Mercier has been selected to serve as the next director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and research partners documented white-nose syndrome and the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in eleven new counties in 2024.
The Bureau of Reclamation and partners of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan completed a new fish passage facility at the Cle Elum Dam in July that will allow juvenile sockeye salmon to naturally pass downstream. Once all parts of the Integrated Plan are in place, annual adult sockeye returns to the Cle Elum River are projected to rise from 20,000 fish to 100,000 fish.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operation that began July 1 to maintain tailwater temperatures at Lower Granite Dam under 68 degrees Fahrenheit by releasing cool water from Dworshak Dam into the lower Snake River system is coming to an end this weekend.
A regional panel of scientists’ recent review of the Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation’s assessment of spring/summer Chinook losses resulting from the construction of upper Snake River dams said the Tribes’ analysis could be improved and gives pointers to help with a second round of work.
Oregon U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced that the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is set to receive a $794,000 federal grant from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support their salmon recovery work and strengthen underserved communities impacted by climate change in the Columbia River Estuary.
NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation is investing $9.5 million through the Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to restore salmon habitat for South Fork Nooksack River Spring Chinook. Projects led by the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe will install engineered log jams in the river.
Greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and oceans, global sea level and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2023, according to an international State of the Climate report led by NOAA scientists.
The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. Much of this water comes from the snowpack that builds up over the winter and then melts each spring. Every year in early April, water managers use the snowpack to predict how much water will be available for the upcoming year.
Oregon State University researchers are part of a team looking at reducing bird collision risks with wind turbines by painting a single blade of the turbine black.
The Center for Biological Diversity this week petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the highly imperiled Alvord chub under the Endangered Species Act.
The state of Idaho has shifted from an aggressive rapid response – the emergency eradication of quagga mussels found in the mid-Snake River near Twin Falls last year — to prevention and containment, according to Nic Zurfluh, Invasive Species Bureau Chief at the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. The incident was the first time invasive, destructive mussels were verified in the Columbia River basin.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife received notification last week from a local wholesale aquarium company in Renton of possible invasive freshwater mussels on a shipment of Marimo moss balls. Moss balls are a commonly used decorative algae in aquariums and water gardens.
As juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin migrate downstream to the ocean – mostly in the spring and summer – they run a gauntlet of avian predators. Birds are taking as much as 50 percent of these fish, with juvenile steelhead the hardest hit.
The Washington Department of Ecology has developed changes to the state’s aquatic life toxics criteria the agency says are based on updated science and new research, new methods and modeling tools, and recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tribal governments.
The North Santiam River is a high priority for the recovery of threatened Upper Willamette River spring Chinook and winter steelhead. Large dams upriver impaired natural stream processes, decimating fish populations. Development, shoreline armoring, and the disconnection of floodplains from the river damaged habitat key for salmon spawning and rearing juvenile fish.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
