The Northwest Power Planning Council approved for public comment
Thursday a draft regional fish and wildlife program that aims to use
habitat restoration and protection as a first tool for undergirding the
Columbia Basin’s fish and wildlife populations.
Preliminary counts indicate that naturally spawned Stanley Basin sockeye
are out-returning their hatchery-reared brood mates as unprecedented
numbers of the endangered fish make a late-summer return through the
9-year old Redfish Lake captive broodstock program.
A federal judge denied a Department of Justice request to throw out a
lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for its decision
to approve a plan to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel by three
feet.
Conservation and fishing groups have taken aim at an Oregon state
industrial wastewater permit proposal they say would violate state and
federal water quality laws and worsen Willamette River conditions for
listed salmon and steelhead populations.
A schedule for completing water quality plans within 10 years on over
13,000 miles of Oregon streams has been approved by U.S. District Court
Judge Michael Hogan. The ruling puts the court’s stamp of approval on a
settlement between environmental groups and the federal Environmental
Protection Agency.
Maintaining water quality at federal dams is a requirement of the
federal Clean Water Act, not just an aspirational policy, according to a
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency letter sent this week to the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
Two environmental groups have notified the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency that they intend to sue the agency for failure to protect from
pesticides salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides and the
Washington Toxics Coalition sent a 60-day notice to the EPA last week,
saying they will file a lawsuit against the EPA at the end of the notice
period …
Recent research on the effects of toxic substances on salmon suggests
that even low levels of toxins impair salmon survival instincts.
The study by the National Marine Fisheries Service Science Center in
Seattle, Wash., will be published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries
and Aquatic Sciences in September. It says that contaminants can cause
impaired growth, suppression of the immune system and increased
mortality in salmon following exposure.
State and federal officials expected to share in implementation duties
were briefed Thursday on a federal plan intended to ward off extinction,
and foment recovery, of listed salmon and steelhead species through a
combination of goals-oriented hydrosystem improvements and “off site”
mitigation actions.
Funding and the need for coordination of federal and regional salmon
recovery efforts surfaced as key issues for Northwest governors
following cursory reviews of a just-released federal draft hydrosystem
biological opinion and companion conceptual recovery strategy.
A decision at this week’s interagency Technical Management Team meeting
will result in water spilling at McNary Dam, which could divert move
juvenile salmon over the dam instead of into the transportation
collection system.
A hatchery system “overhaul” and short-term habitat improvement actions
aimed at reaping quick salmon survival benefits are key to a Columbia
Basin salmon recovery strategy outlined in draft form Thursday by
federal officials.
The draft plan, which a top White House officials says will “clearly
cost hundreds of millions” more to implement than is currently being
spent on recovery efforts, does not include dam breaching …
A Thursday morning session with a top Administration official produced
little satisfaction for Columbia Basin tribes who insist federal salmon
recovery plans miss a major mark by forestalling a decision to breach
four hydroelectric projects on the Lower Snake River.
“Today I was obliged to deliver the message to Mr. George Frampton,
representing the White House, that the federal decision not to breach
the lower Snake River dams is a purposeful and conscious decision to …
A new biological opinion for the Columbia River Basin federal hydropower
system calls for increased flows to get more water into rivers, improved
spill and passage for juvenile salmon as they travel through the dams
and more work at the dams to improve fish passage.
It also addresses improved management of flow, spill and operations of
the Columbia River hydro system …
Northwest members of Congress attacked, defended or expressed skepticism
about federal agencies’ new Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
Washington state Republicans strongly criticized the Clinton
administration for leaving the door open to breaching the four lower
Snake River dams, while deferring a decision on that option for another
five to 10 years …
The four Northwest governors revealed their strategy for salmon recovery
this week, which focuses on those areas where they agree and leaves dam
breaching to another forum.
By releasing the plan now, the governors say they hope to begin moving
the region toward recovery of salmon and steelhead listed under the
Endangered Species Act …
A biological opinion that governs hydropower operations to protect bull
trout and white sturgeon listed under the Endangered Species Act was
released this week at the same time federal agencies released a BiOp and
All-H paper for endangered salmon and steelhead.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the draft BiOp on Thursday for a 60-day public review. It applies to bull trout …
Clinton administration officials this week said they will not seek
removal of four lower Snake River federal dams to restore endangered
salmon but will continue to study and plan for the option for the next
10 years in case it proves to be necessary to avoid extinction.
The administration’s alternative to dam breaching will be …
The Clinton administration’s announcement this week that it would not
seek to tear down Snake River dams to aid endangered salmon was
criticized by both environmental advocates and dam supporters.
National and Northwest environmentalists said the administration’s
proposed non-breaching salmon recovery strategy could lead to
extinctions, while Republicans criticized it for leaving the door open
to possible future dam removal.
A decision by the Clinton Administration not to proceed with breaching
the four lower Snake River dams ignores scientific research that
supports a free-flowing river as the best way to restore dwindling
salmon runs, Donald Sampson, executive director of the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission said Thursday.
The extended ruminations over dam breaching’s salmon recovery potential
could be time well spent, according to a panel of economists called on
to critique the economic component of the Corps of Engineer’s draft
Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Study and
environmental impact statement.
The Colville Tribe announced this week that it is taking the first step
in assessing the production potential for salmon and steelhead in the
Columbia River upstream from Chief Joseph Dam — an area blocked to
upriver fish passage since the late 1950s.
Tribal resource specialists will begin examining salmon habitat on the
river and connected tributaries, in waters on reservation land. The
assessment is intended to help judge the feasibility …
The Senate Appropriations Committee this week approved almost $120
million for Pacific Coast salmon programs as part of the FY01
appropriations bill for the departments of commerce, justice and state.
The bill also includes $19 million for Mitchell Act Columbia River
hatcheries for operating costs, construction and replacement of fishways
and irrigation diversion screens on Columbia River tributaries …
State and tribal negotiators reached agreement Thursday on a sharing of
the upcoming upriver fall chinook harvest, providing a going-away
present of sorts for the U.S. District Court judge who has guided such
discussions for the past 13 years.
Negotiations on a management agreement for this year’s upper Columbia
River fall chinook, steelhead and coho runs had reached a dead-end in
recent weeks …
Federal fish and wildlife officials, and those from Washington state,
agreed in principle this week to put surplus Carson stock spring chinook
into what is “essentially an empty system” in the Okanogan Basin.
But a continued reluctance to employ the stock in a Methow River salmon
restoration effort has angered Columbia River treaty tribes …
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