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.
Two recreational boaters illegally approached endangered Southern Resident killer whales in rented boats last fall. They have agreed to pay fines for violating regulations that protect the whales from vessel traffic and noise.
Following another run upgrade, fishery managers from Oregon and Washington adopted additional fishing opportunity for spring Chinook salmon in the mainstem Columbia River from the Tongue Point area near Astoria to the Oregon/Washington state line upstream of McNary Dam and increased the bag limit for Chinook to up to two adults per day.
This year, for the first time since 1956, no hatchery steelhead were released into Oregon’s Hood River basin. By 2025, except for a few hatchery strays, steelhead returns to the Hood River and its tributaries will be wild steelhead only.
A Montana District Court judge Thursday agreed with conservation groups that wolverines need additional protections while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsiders its 2020 decision not to protect the species as threatened or endangered.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it will pursue using its Clean Water Act authority to permanently block the Pebble Mine as proposed at Bristol Bay, Alaska. The Bristol Bay watershed supports the largest sockeye salmon run in the world.
With another low run of summer steelhead forecast, angling closures for steelhead, bass and salmon will be in effect for parts of the Deschutes River this summer starting as early as June 1.
The U.S. government promised Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest that they could keep fishing as they’d always done. But instead of preserving wild salmon, it propped up a failing system of hatcheries. Now, that system is falling apart.
The Xerces Society and Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent this week to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretive Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for failing to properly consider harms to endangered species caused by insecticide spraying across millions of acres of western grasslands.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s 2022 Summer Reliability Assessment warns that several parts of North America are at elevated or high risk of energy shortfalls this summer due to predicted above normal temperatures and drought conditions over the western half of the United States and Canada.
Water will be tight this year in the upper Snake River basin, making for some tough tradeoff choices between water for prized native resident fish versus flow augmentation for downstream endangered salmon and steelhead headed to the ocean.
With a second upgrade of returning upriver Columbia River spring chinook in hand, Washington and Oregon fisheries managers opened up more mainstem recreational fishing and approved a one-day mainstem commercial tangle net fishery.
An Oregon judge has granted a preliminary injunction that led to the release of hatchery summer steelhead smolts into the North Umpqua River Thursday (May 19) , reversing last month’s ruling by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.
New research led by an Oregon State University scientist provides the first long-term study of methods to control the spread of wildfire in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem that dominates parts of the western United States.
Several Canada goose goslings collected from Alton Baker Park in Eugene, OR have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and a larger outbreak is suspected as more sick and dead waterfowl have been observed at the park. A red-tailed hawk from Eugene and an osprey collected from Dorena Reservoir (east of Cottage Grove) May 10 have also tested positive.
Travis Wendt of Lewiston, Idaho hooked a massive 23.5-inch smallmouth bass while fishing Dworshak Reservoir on May 10th. After a quick photo, Travis released the bass back into the lake, and secured a new catch-and-release state record.
Northern crayfish were found in the Ashland canal, marking the first documented existence of this non-native species in Oregon.
Knowing what factors influence when and how much snowmelt ultimately makes it to streams, rivers and reservoirs is crucial for water managers trying to make the most of limited water resources.
With a decent run-size upgrade, should Columbia River fisheries managers allow spring Chinook fishing below Bonneville Dam through May, or let more fish pass upriver and then continue fishing in June when much of run has moved out of the lower Columbia?
Historically about one million coho salmon returned annually to the Columbia River and were abundant throughout the upper Columbia River and Snake River watersheds. By the 1980s, the fish were gone from the basin interior – extirpated. But today, in several rivers above Bonneville Dam, the coho are back.
It’s that time of year again to see if changes at Montana’s Libby Dam operations will prompt endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon downstream in Idaho to move into braided areas suitable for spawning.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
