Entries by CBB

Lower Columbia Navigation Channel: Dredged Material Sites Nearing Capacity, Corps Preparing New Placement Plan To Maintain Channel Until 2044

Army planners and Columbia River sponsor ports are hosting five virtual information sessions April 26-28 to update the public on their 20-year plan for managing dredged material from the Lower Columbia River. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ policy requires all federally maintained navigation projects demonstrate there is sufficient dredged material placement capacity for a minimum of 20 years.

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Q&A: NOAA Fisheries Scientist Talks About Studying Climate Change And Salmon, Anchovy Threat

Growing up in a Northern Californian fishing town, NOAA Fisheries scientist Nate Mantua’s family owned a business connected to the local salmon fishing industry. When one of the worst El Niño events ever recorded hit the West Coast in 1982 and 1983, the salmon fishery his family relied on suffered. Mantua would go on to study how to predict El Niño events in graduate school. Now he works to understand the impacts of climate change.

Study: PNW Wildfires Altering Air Pollution Patterns Across North America, Undermine Clean Air Gains, Pose Health Threat

Increasingly large and intense wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are altering the seasonal pattern of air pollution and causing a spike in unhealthy pollutants in August, new research finds. The smoke is undermining clean air gains, posing potential risks to the health of millions of people.

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Even With Recent Snow, Rain Willamette Basin Reservoirs Will See Tough Water Year; Less Available For Fish In Summer, Fall

Despite substantial help from recent rain and snow events, Army Corps of Engineers water managers are bracing for another challenging year as they work to refill 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs for the upcoming conservation season. Corps officials report the system is 53% full, which is 33% below the rule curve, as of April 21.

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Without New Spillway Detectors Hard To Know If Higher Spill At Columbia/Snake Dams Is Benefitting Salmon

Entering another spring season of Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead juveniles being moved downriver with much higher spill levels at federal hydropower dams than in the past, the monitoring of results of such operations has become difficult. Higher spill is pushing tagged smolts away from detection facilities, which creates data gaps when measuring the effectiveness of more spill for fish. 

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Council Decision Memo To Bonneville Power Administration Calls For Agency To Address Flat-Funding Of Basin Fish/Wildlife Mitigation Projects

Inflation is big news right now. And the Northwest Power and Conservation Council is concerned that rising inflation combined with years-long flat funding for fish and wildlife projects will degrade the region’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife program. At the same time, the Council is looking for a new way to review mitigation projects for funding.

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Columbia River Treaty Tribes (CRITFC) Present 2022 Energy Vision To Council Aimed At Protecting Salmon

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission this week presented its “2022 Energy Vision For The Columbia River Basin” to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, with recommendations to get “energy production off the backs of salmon.”

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Washington’s Wolf Population Has Grown An Average 25 Percent A Year Since 2008; For 2021, 206 Wolves, 33 Packs

Washington’s wolf population continued to grow in 2021 for the 13th consecutive year. The 2021 annual wolf report by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and shows a 16% increase in wolf population growth from the previous count in 2020.

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Council Getting Feedback On Draft Scoping Plan For Studying Impacts On NW Power System If Lower Snake Dams Breached

Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff discussed with the Council’s power committee this week a proposed seven-phase, scope-of-work plan to evaluate what it would take to replace the “power system services” provided by the Lower Snake River dams, and the feedback staff has received.

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EPA Releases Workplan To Protect Endangered Species From Pesticides, Reduce Lawsuits, Give Certainty To Farmers

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week released its first-ever comprehensive workplan to address the decades-old challenge of protecting endangered species from pesticides. The plan establishes four overall strategies and dozens of actions to adopt those protections while providing farmers, public health authorities, and others with access to pesticides.

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Fitbit For Freshwater: Flathead Lake Biological Station Part Of Pioneering Research On Tracking River Health In Real Time

Current and former researchers with the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station were part of a scientific team that used modern environmental sensor technology to track freshwaters vital signs in near real time.

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Parties Collaborated To Keep Lemhi River (Central Idaho) From Going Dry During Hot, Dry 2021; Home To ESA-Listed Salmon, Steelhead

Along the Lemhi River in central Idaho, water is essential to farming and ranching that dominates the mountain valley. It is also vital to the recovery of threatened Snake River chinook salmon and steelhead that once returned to the Lemhi by the thousands.

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