The decline, the report says, is due to marine conditions that have been mixed and trending downwards since 2023, including adverse upwelling patterns and copepod community structure.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon on Dec. 19, 2025, released his order that sets the date for oral arguments in the case for the afternoon of Feb. 6 in Portland.
An annual report by fisheries managers confirmed for the sixth year running that under climate change and poor river flows, smolt-to-adult return rates of Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead will not meet regional goals.
Many years ago, people built a dead end where two rivers met — and blocked an ancient pathway for migrating salmon and steelhead.
As salmon return to the headwaters of the Klamath River for the first time in over a century, the newly formed Klamath Indigenous Land Trust (KILT) and PacifiCorp announced the landmark purchase of 10,000 acres in and around the former reservoir reach of the river.
This summer, several juvenile coho salmon were spotted in the Russian River’s upper basin — a first in more than 30 years.
A proposed preliminary injunction calling for changes to Snake and Columbia river federal dam operations aimed at protecting endangered salmon and steelhead would lower the amount of electricity that could be generated by the dams, costing the region more for electricity, while also resulting in higher releases of carbon dioxide when making up for those losses, according to briefs submitted this week in U.S. District Court.
Slightly more spill, restrictions on flow fluctuations at federal Columbia and Snake River dams, more habitat projects, along with more predator management of sea lions, sea birds and fish are among changes the Northwest Power and Conservation Council is proposing as amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
Federal water managers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say they will adjust water levels behind John Day Dam (Lake Umatilla), in north-central Oregon, this week to prepare for another round of heavy precipitation in the Columbia River Basin. This will be the third atmospheric river storm event within the last two weeks.
The two-rod validation will not be available for the Willamette River in 2026 as the forecast for hatchery-origin adult fish does not meet the minimum return threshold.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lost 18% of its staff under the Trump administration, dropping from 9,957 to 8,179, nationwide between 2024 and the end of May. The reduction in biologists and other staffers was discovered in data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center for Biological Diversity.
After four humpback whales were entangled this year in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear, conservation groups have formally petitioned the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt measures to reduce risk to the endangered animals.
Most Pacific Coast salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the federal Endangered Species Act have increased in abundance over a 25-year span, but most still remain far under their recovery goals, according to a recent study by NOAA Fisheries scientists.
A 2022 petition to list Oregon Coast and Northern California Coastal Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act was denied by NOAA Fisheries this week.
Killer whales or orca have been observed hunting with Pacific white-sided dolphins in the waters off British Columbia, Canada and sharing fish scraps with them after making a kill, according to research published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that the findings represent the first documented recording of cooperative hunting between orca and dolphins.
A 2022 rule by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that allows trap, haul and trucking of fish over barriers, in addition to the already allowed volitional passage for fish, was overturned by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Speakers at a congressional hearing to consider the issue of predatory sea lions in the lower Columbia River weighed heavily towards recommending that more of the animals should be lethally removed from the river to protect salmon and steelhead.
The use of artificial beaver dams to replicate the ecological benefits created by the industrious rodents shows promise for offsetting damage to fish habitat, water quality, and biodiversity arising from climate change.
New research uses more than 40 years of data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites to help dam operators improve the health of salmon fisheries.
In a continuing disagreement between the Yakama Nation and the Bonneville Power Administration over the expiration of the Columbia Basin Fish Accords and carryover funds, the power agency says it had hoped to continue talks that would extend some form of the Accords long-term.
Idaho Fish and Game has launched a new study to better understand largemouth bass populations in the eight Chain Lakes connected to Coeur d’Alene Lake. The project was developed through ongoing conversations and collaboration with local bass anglers and bass fishing groups.
California’s Wildlife Conservation Board has approved $87,125,538 in grants for 16 projects across 14 counties to protect critical wildlife habitat, restore rivers and streams, and conserve culturally and ecologically significant lands.
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation publicly took a step this week towards recovering $50 million in Columbia Basin Fish Accord funds from the Bonneville Power Administration after the federal power marketing agency had allowed the Accords to expire at the end of September.
In its update to a 2007 climate report, a team of scientists noted that the rate and magnitude of changes in temperature and hydrology in the Columbia River basin has amplified over the past two decades and those changes will impact salmon and steelhead.
The run of endangered Snake River sockeye salmon this year was near the 10-year average, as counted at Lower Granite Dam, but far below last year’s seventh largest run of the endangered fish.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
