Millions of tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year. The sun’s ultraviolet light and ocean turbulence break down these plastics into invisible nanoparticles that threaten marine ecosystems.
Efforts to suppress northern pike in reservoirs upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams so far have been successful at keeping the voracious predator from populating waters downstream in what is considered the “anadromous zone” where it is feared the invasive fish would decimate salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River basin. Many of those anadromous fish are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
After nearly a month of cold weather and heavy snow across the Columbia River basin, giving fisheries managers hope that there would be plenty of streamflow this summer for salmon and steelhead, February has been drier and warmer than normal, leaving the basin water supply at just 75 percent of average, as measured at The Dalles Dam.
Hatchery-reared salmon show genetic differences from wild populations in only a few generations, but those differences vary among hatcheries.
An important population of listed steelhead in Idaho’s Snake River basin has been getting the help it needs to boost its numbers – removal of barriers, increasing habitat complexity, fewer scouring spring flows and higher and more consistent summer streamflows.
Oregon U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon Thursday approved a long-term pause in Columbia/Snake River salmon recovery litigation so a tribal-state plan and U.S. government commitments to restore salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin will continue as plann
The Public Power Council this week filed a Petition for Review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding a recently announced U.S. Government agreement that PPC and its members believe inappropriately binds the Bonneville Power Administration to significant actions and commitments that are outside BPA’s congressionally-authorized mission and related obligations.
Fisheries biologists are predicting that a smaller run of upriver spring Chinook salmon will return this year to the Columbia River than had returned last year, and that fewer of those fish will be of natural origin, continuing a years’ long trend, according to a report released last week by Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife agencies.
Two Northwest conservation groups have alleged that lower Columbia River hatcheries harm wild salmon and steelhead, sending a 60-day notice of intent to sue federal, state and county agencies that oversee and operate Mitchell Act and SAFE hatcheries.
Senior members of the Biden administration and Republican members of Congress painted vastly divergent pictures Tuesday of the agreement that could pause litigation over Snake River dams and salmon for the next decade.
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) has introduced the Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators Act (DAMN ACT) to prohibit the use of federal funds from being used in breaching or altering the Lower Snake River Dams and to prohibit the implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.
With another good run of ESA-listed smelt expected this year into the Columbia River and a few lower river tributaries, the two-state Columbia River Compact approved this week commercial research gillnetting for the small fish through mid-March.
The Department of Commerce and NOAA has announced plans for $27 million to recover threatened and endangered Pacific salmon in the face of climate change.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of its intent to pursue legal action over the recent listing of wolverines as a threatened species.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a public scoping period to consider options for restoring grizzly bears to the Bitterroot ecosystem.
The pore-like structure of permeable pavements may help protect coho salmon by preventing tire wear particles and related contaminants from entering stormwater runoff, according to a Washington State University study.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a legal petition this week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the wonder caddisfly under the Endangered Species Act.
Marine heat waves appear to trigger earlier reproduction, high mortality in early life stages and fewer surviving juvenile Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, a new study from Oregon State University shows.
In a study that could help reshape understanding and management of water resources in the Western United States, David Ketchum, a 2023 graduate of the University of Montana systems ecology Ph.D. program, has unveiled a 35-year analysis quantifying the interconnected impacts of climate change and irrigation on surface water flows.
Federal agencies, states and tribes say a five-year or more pause in U.S. District Court litigation over Columbia River basin salmon recovery will harm none of the parties that objected to the “stay” in December. Instead, they say in a Jan. 12 filing, a stay will allow the region to focus on “important partnership efforts … to benefit the fish, wildlife, diverse habitat, and Native American communities in the Northwest.”
The Columbia River basin began the new year with below average snowpack and below average water supply forecasts
Commitments to restore Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead populations made by the federal government and “six sovereigns” will intersect or overlap with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s responsibilities under the Northwest Power Act, according to a presentation at last week’s Council meeting.
The ocean indicators that NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center researchers track off Newport, on the Central Oregon Coast, are decidedly mixed for juvenile salmon the coming year. El Niño is still developing at the equator and there are both positive and negative indicators in local waters for emerging salmon.
The Wild Fish Conservancy has petitioned NOAA Fisheries to list Alaska king salmon under the Endangered Species Act, saying the fish are in “severe decline and poor condition.”
Oregon State University researchers have discovered vitamin B1 produced by microbes in rivers, findings that may offer hope for vitamin-deficient salmon populations.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
