The Biden Administration will invest more than $9 million in fiscal year 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to support over 40 projects in Idaho and seven other western states to restore and conserve strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem.
Science reporting on climate change does lead Americans to adopt more accurate beliefs and support government action on the issue – but these gains are fragile, a new study suggests.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has issued a revised penalty to the Port of Morrow for additional violations involving overapplication of wastewater containing nitrogen to agricultural fields in the Lower Umatilla Basin, an area with longstanding groundwater contamination.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is nearing the completion of its efforts to transport 19.7 million hatchery-raised fall-run and 960,000 spring-run juvenile Chinook salmon to the San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay and seaside net pens this spring and summer.
Deployment of emergency measures to control invasive European green crabs on the Washington Coast and at sites within the Salish Sea is well underway, including the implementation of an Incident Command System to facilitate statewide coordination between various agencies, tribes, and partners.
At a signing ceremony on Saturday, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission formalized and celebrated their partnership for co-management of the Bears Ears National Monument.
Land managers have invested millions of dollars annually since the 1980s to place large pieces of wood back in streams, owing primarily to its importance for fish habitat. But little is known about how large wood in streams impacts birds and land-based animals.
A year ago, June, 2021, temperatures in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia soared to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Seattle setting an all-time heat record of 108 degrees on June 28.
Days of heavy rain in valleys and slushy snow in some mountain areas of the Northwest has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declaring a flooding emergency for the Columbia River basin this week.
Climate change is likely to exacerbate flooding throughout the Columbia River basin, according to a recent study by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Washington affiliated with the Climate Impacts Research Consortium.
Last week, an angler reported to Idaho Fish and Game that he had recently caught a walleye on the Snake River below Swan Falls Dam in Southwest Idaho. The angler provided photos, allowing fisheries biologists to confirm that it was a walleye. The angler will also provide the carcass to IDFG.
The Department of the Interior today transferred fish production at Dworshak National Fish Hatchery to the Nez Perce Tribe, which the agency says is “an important move underscoring the Biden Administration’s commitment to empowering Indigenous communities and supporting Tribal trust responsibility.”
Cultural resource specialists with the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and partners have finalized an agreement that will enhance the protection of historic and cultural resources across the Willamette Valley, where the Corps manages 13 dams and reservoirs in addition thousands of acres of land, while carrying out critical Corps projects.
The new head of the Bonneville Power Administration’s Fish and Wildlife Program told Northwest Power and Conservation Council members this week that BPA will raise its fish and wildlife budget by annually 8.7 percent or $21 million beginning in fiscal years 2024-25.
A report on the state of Canada’s Pacific Ocean ecosystems says warm ocean temperature have changed the zooplankton community with consequences for fish, seabirds and the entire Pacific marine food web. Climate change has altered the ecosystems that Canada’s Pacific salmon depend on at every stage of their life cycle.
Washington state’s Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray have released the draft “Lower Snake River Dams: Benefit Replacement Draft Report” that examines whether there are reasonable means for replacing the dams’ benefits so that breaching could be part of a comprehensive salmon recovery strategy for the Pacific Northwest. The report says ‘benefit replacement’ could cost as much $30 billion.
The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 approved by the House of Representatives Wednesday includes a lengthy section called “Columbia River Basin Restoration” and would require an inter-agency assessment of the four lower Snake River dams’ impact on fish and wildlife.
Using future projections of the latest generation of Earth system models, a new study found that most of the world’s ocean is steadily losing its year-to-year memory under global warming.
In the future, cameras could spot blackbirds feeding on grapes in a vineyard and launch drones to drive off the avian irritants, then return to watch for the next invading flock. All without a human nearby.
Last summer was particularly dry and hot in much of Idaho, renewing concerns among some trout anglers about fishing when water temperatures climb. Anglers are often concerned that maybe they shouldn’t be fishing on the hottest days for fear that they might be reducing trout populations, but a recent study on Idaho rivers during a hot summer showed catch-and-release angling did not harm the trout population.
In the first Endangered Species Act interpretive rule produced under the Biden Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to revise regulations under the ESA to better facilitate recovery by allowing for the introduction of listed species to suitable habitats outside of their historical ranges.
The Washington Department of Ecology is seeking comment on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Goldendale Energy Storage Project adjacent to the Columbia River near the John Day Dam. The document details the project’s negative impacts to tribal cultural areas.
Idaho Fish and Game has received confirmation that six bats tested positive for a fungus that leads to a deadly disease known as “white-nose syndrome.” The bats were located in Minnetonka Cave in Bear Lake County, and it’s the first case of the fungus ever being detected in Idaho after a decade of testing.
On the central California coast, the southern end of Pacific salmon’s range, streams are drying up and the imperiled fish need to be rescued if they are to survive. Biologists are planning a relocation to save these coho and steelhead.
The extended drought in California could cut the state’s summer electricity generation from hydropower nearly in half compared with normal precipitation conditions, and will lead to higher electricity prices across the West, according to an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA’s analysis indicates that hydropower would produce 8% of California’s electricity generation in a drought year, compared with 15% under normal precipitation conditions.
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