The Bonneville Power Administration says it will spend each year more than five times the amount it has spent in recent years for non-recurring maintenance needs at existing hatcheries beginning next year.

With a higher than average number of spring Chinook salmon forecasted to return to the Columbia River and pass Bonneville Dam this year, Oregon and Washington approved start and ending dates for recreational fishing in the river.

The Columbia River basin in 2023 is still the only major river basin in the U.S. free of quagga and zebra mussels, largely due to the Northwest’s four-state watercraft inspection efforts, according to a presentation this week at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council by Stephen Phillips, senior program manager at the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed the initial review of three petitions filed to remove the grizzly bear in the lower 48 States from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the Endangered Species Act in certain ecosystems. The Service says two of these petitions present substantial information indicating the grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem may qualify as their own distinct population segment and may warrant removal from the ESA list.