The study, published June 20 in Nature Sustainability, details a new system for leasing rights to water from the basin while reallocating some water to imperiled habitats.
NOAA has developed a new high-resolution ocean model to understand and predict West Coast ocean changes.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public input on a draft periodic status review for the marbled murrelet, which includes a recommendation to keep the bird on the state endangered species list.
The Trump administration issued a memorandum this week that disrupts Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead recovery by rescinding a 2023 agreement that included the federal government, two states and four Columbia River tribes and funded that effort with nearly $1 billion.
Stretches of coasts and their rivers form enormous salmon nurseries for the exploring juveniles, the scientists said. The researchers documented coho salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout using coastal rivers separated by salt water, and suspect other species may do the same.
President Donald Trump, in an April proposed rule, has directed the Secretary of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rescind the long-standing definition of “harm” to species covered by the federal Endangered Species Act. The existing definition of harm as the ESA is currently written, the Administration says, is contrary to the “best meaning” of the term “take.”
A Chinese mitten crab, a prohibited species in Oregon, was caught on April 22 in the Lower Columbia River east of Tongue Point, near Astoria. Chinese mitten crabs have not been confirmed in the Pacific Northwest until now. A single Japanese mitten crab was found in the same area in 1997.
The Center for Biological Diversity has notified the Trump administration that it intends to sue over what it says is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to protect the imperiled Crater Lake newt under the Endangered Species Act. The newts live only in central Oregon’s Crater Lake, and their population has collapsed in recent years because of the expansion of introduced signal crayfish and warming lake temperatures from climate change.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating reports of sick and dead brown pelicans along the Oregon coast.
The 2025 Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Fishery opened May 1, offering anglers the chance to earn cash while helping protect vulnerable salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The fishery will be open daily through Sept. 30 at most locations.
The stranding team from NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center recovered 16 dead dolphins from San Diego beaches on Sunday, April 20.
The Center for Biological Diversity has sued the Trump administration for what it says is a failure to release public records about ocean conservation work “interrupted by firings and layoffs” at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An April 17 Executive Order President Donald Trump calls for suspending or revising regulations on the U.S. seafood industry, saying that regulations “overly burden” America’s commercial fishing and fish processing industries, as well as the nation’s aquaculture industry.
Based on an extensive aerial survey of Oregon’s forests completed last year by the Oregon Department of Forestry and the USDA Forest Service, a new report shows that drought, insect pests, and tree diseases continue to be the biggest threats to the state’s trees.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released the first environmental impact statement since 1980 for its Willamette Valley system of 13 dams. The final EIS analyzes several alternatives and selects the preferred alternative the Corps says will be best for spring Chinook and winter steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act. The Corps expects to release its Record of Decision in May.
Mixed ocean conditions for Columbia River salmon and steelhead juveniles entering the ocean in 2023 translate to average runs of spring and fall Chinook when they return as adults in 2025, according to information from NOAA Fisheries presented to a changing Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week.
Spring spill at Columbia/Snake River dams to aid juvenile salmon and steelhead in their migration through the hydro projects and out to the ocean is in full motion with all of the lower eight dams on the two rivers initiating full spill by April 10.
Oregon’s wolf population grew by 15% in 2024, marking the first year of double-digit growth since 2019, according to a report released by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
In addition, twenty-six wolf mortalities were documented during the year, including 22 that were human caused.
Anglers in Washington can expect similar salmon fishing opportunities in 2025-2026 compared to last season, that also includes a strong Puget Sound pink forecast, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fishery managers announced this week.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council this week recommended limited fishing opportunities for California’s recreational ocean salmon fisheries through the end of 2025. This decision will allow for the first recreational salmon fishing in California since 2022. The PFMC also recommended a repeat year of closure for California’s commercial salmon fisheries, the third year in a row.
American Rivers this week announced America’s Most Endangered Rivers in its 40th annual listing, with Idaho’s Clearwater River Basin ranked the seventh most endangered.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has named Eugenio Piñeiro Soler as Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. Piñeiro Soler has assumed his new position, taking the helm from Acting Assistant Administrator Emily Menashes, who will return to her previous position as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations.
There are more summer steelhead spawning this year in waters upstream of the Pelton-Round Butte Complex of dams on central Oregon’s Deschutes River than at anytime since the 1960s, according to Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, which co-own the dams.
Predacious sea lions in Bonneville Dam’s tailwaters took a bite out of the spring Chinook salmon and steelhead runs during the spring of 2024. Some 2.8 percent of the number of salmon counted at the dam last spring and 3.8 percent of the number of steelhead counted were snagged and eaten by Steller and California sea lions, according to a recently-released annual report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Warmer temperatures with some snowmelt and near- or wetter-than-normal precipitation in much of the Columbia River basin in March led to some early runoff but overall resulted in higher April-Sept. water supply forecasts and a better outlook for stream flows in the basin that will aid juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead migrations this summer, according to a NOAA water supply briefing last week.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
