Researchers who study water resources want to know how much snow an area will get in a season. The total snowpack gives scientists a better idea of how much water will be available for hydropower, irrigation and drinking later in the year.
Columbia Riverkeeper and the Port of Vancouver USA this week reached an agreement settling a Clean Water Act lawsuit challenging years of alleged unlawful water pollution from the public port. In the settlement, the port committed to make significant changes to reduce the amount of water pollution that flows off the 1643-acre property and into the Columbia River.
If you live or recreate close to a river or stream in the Willamette Valley, you might come across salmon carcasses or see Oregon Department Fish and Wildlife staff and volunteers slinging carcasses into the water during September and October.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories has confirmed that three adult harbor seals in Puget Sound have tested positive for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 strain. The seals stranded on Marrowstone Island on August 18 and 25. This confirms initial testing by the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, which indicated the presence of H5N1 in these seals. No seal pups have tested positive.
The Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $24 million for projects that will address climate change by researching marine carbon dioxide removal strategies, with $14 million going toward 10 projects that examine how effectively and safely strategies like enhancing ocean alkalinity or sinking seaweed remove carbon from the atmosphere.
The forecast for Columbia River upriver summer steelhead passing Bonneville Dam nearly doubled more than a week ago to more than 90,000 fish, with some of those fish already arriving in Idaho rivers.
Most parties in the litigation challenging NOAA Fisheries 2020 biological opinion of the Columbia/Snake river federal hydroelectric system asked an Oregon U.S. District Court last week to extend a stay that has been in effect since 2021. The 60-day pause would allow the litigants –fisheries advocates, states, tribes and federal agencies – to continue to hammer out a lasting agreement on how to operate a hydro system while recovering threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.
Tribes and fish advocacy groups say an end of year decision on fish passage rules by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission weakens salmon, steelhead and lamprey protections in the state.
For over a century, fish hatcheries across the world have produced salmonids to supply fisheries, mitigate habitat loss and boost depleted stocks. A newly published review of scientific literature examining the impacts of these programs on wild (i.e., naturally produced) salmonids shows that over 80 percent of global, peer-reviewed research on the topic has found that hatchery fish have adverse effects on wild salmonid populations in freshwater and marine environments.
A relatively simple, inexpensive method of filtering urban stormwater runoff dramatically boosted survival of newly hatched coho salmon in an experimental study. That’s the good news for the threatened species from the Washington State University-led research. The bad news: unfiltered stormwater killed almost all of them.
New research has found that marine heat waves – prolonged periods of unusually warm ocean temperatures – haven’t had a lasting effect on the fish communities that feed most of the world.
New research from the University of Washington and Polar Bears International in Bozeman, Montana, quantifies the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the survival of polar bear populations.
Forest thinning is improving the robustness of older trees and enhancing native biodiversity on federal lands in eastern Oregon, evidence that collaborative efforts to restore forests are working, research by Oregon State University shows.
Responding to a recent District Court order, NOAA Fisheries has opened a review of its prey increase program specifically designed to provide more food for endangered Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound. NOAA is seeking written and verbal feedback from the public as it develops an Environmental Impact Statement for the program.
Throughout the summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been using the cool water from deep within the Dworshak Reservoir to maintain a maximum 68-degree Fahrenheit tailwater temperature at Lower Granite Dam on the lower Snake River. Temperatures higher than 68 degrees can be lethal to both adult and juvenile salmonids migrating in the river, including endangered Snake River sockeye salmon arriving in late July and early August.
NOAA Fisheries is asking for comments on its existing plan that allows for take of hatchery and listed wild Snake River sockeye to help in the recovery of the fish, listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Comments are due September 7.
At the Aug. 4 meeting of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, not an empty seat could be found. Members of tribes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho filled the 150 chairs set out at the department headquarters in Salem. Dozens more crowded around the edges of the room.
To aid flagging West Coast salmon and steelhead populations, NOAA Fisheries is recommending $106.1 million in funding for 16 new and continuing programs and projects through its Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund grant program.
Idaho Fish and Game has received more verified reports and pictures from people catching walleye in the Hells Canyon reach of the Snake River and Salmon River in 2023 than in all previous years.
A recent study funded by the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association concludes that breaching the four lower Snake River dams would impact the most vulnerable populations near the dams in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, leading to job losses, impacts to public services and degraded air quality.
The effects of a dry, cold winter and higher-than-expected supplemental power purchase expenses continue to weigh on the Bonneville Power Administration’s finances three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year. Agency net revenue is now forecast to be negative $382 million, which is $56 million below this year’s performance target.
The Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations has notified U.S. tire manufacturers of their intent to sue over the use of a chemical called 6PPD in rubber tires because of its devastating impacts on Endangered Species Act-protected salmon and steelhead.
Shifting ocean conditions associated with climate change will likely send high-value sablefish into deeper waters off the West Coast, new research shows. That could make the fish tougher to catch and force fishing crews to follow them or shift to other, more accessible species.
California has a new gray wolf pack in Tulare County, says the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This is the Golden State’s southernmost pack and it is at least 200 air miles from the nearest known pack in northeastern California.
This year’s Columbia River sockeye salmon passage is mostly over at Bonneville Dam. Mid-Columbia River sockeye are now moving into tributaries and lakes, while the endangered Snake River sockeye are migrating towards the Stanley Basin in central Idaho, according to Jonathan Ebel of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
