Increased spill levels at Snake and Columbia river dams, along with lower water flow in the rivers, hampered the ability of scientists to tag and detect juvenile salmon and steelhead as they migrated downstream in 2024.
Sustainable rates of groundwater withdrawal in southeast Oregon’s Harney Basin were surpassed 20 years prior to the time declining groundwater levels were generally recognized, a new analysis found.
An agreement to study transportation and recreational services that would need mitigation if the four lower Snake River dams were breached to recover the river’s threatened salmon and steelhead was signed early last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington’s Department of Transportation.
Climate change is expected to alter Columbia River basin streamflows in the coming years with higher water and more rain but less snowpack in winter, and more drought and lower water in the summer, which could result in less water for summer spill.
Threatened Chum salmon are arriving at spawning grounds downstream of Bonneville Dam, prompting the interagency Technical Management Team to begin operations at the dam designed to maintain a certain level of water over the fish as they spawn now and through emergence in April.
All four lower Klamath River hydropower dams have been removed. Kiewit, the dam removal contractor hired by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to complete the construction elements of the project, finished all work this month in the river.
Dwindling snowpack, rising sea levels and dangerous heat events are among climate change challenges Washington state agencies are planning for under the guidance of a new “climate response” strategy.
Deep drawdowns at Green Peter and Lookout Point reservoirs to improve juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead fish passage on the Willamette River will be explained at virtual public information sessions sponsored by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released the “Klamath River Anadromous Fishery Reintroduction and Restoration Monitoring Plan,” a 60-page blueprint to guide the reintroduction and monitoring of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey in a newly undammed Klamath River.
Removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on Washington's Elwha River presented an opportunity to study the ecological response of a river ecosystem to large-scale disturbance and subsequent restoration.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operation that began July 1 to maintain tailwater temperatures at Lower Granite Dam under 68 degrees Fahrenheit by releasing cool water from Dworshak Dam into the lower Snake River system is coming to an end this weekend.
The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. Much of this water comes from the snowpack that builds up over the winter and then melts each spring. Every year in early April, water managers use the snowpack to predict how much water will be available for the upcoming year.
Last week crews broke through the cofferdam at the JC Boyle Dam site, returning the Klamath River to its historic path and restoring fish passage in that reach of the river.
As the world’s largest unfrozen freshwater resource, groundwater is crucial for life on Earth. Researchers at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have investigated how global warming is affecting groundwater temperatures and what that means for humanity and the environment.
The governments of Canada and the United States announced Thursday they have reached an agreement-in-principle to modernize the Columbia River Treaty.
The reservoir behind central Idaho’s Dworshak Dam is full (1,600-foot elevation), air temperatures in the lower Snake River basin are warming into the 100’s over the July 4 weekend and beyond, and tailwater temperature at Lower Granite Dam is warming towards 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the maximum allowed by NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion on impacts of the federal hydroelectric system on salmon and steelhead.
Across most of the Columbia River basin, May brought cooler than normal weather with a mix of precipitation totals. Although providing a respite from this year’s typically lower than normal precipitation and higher than normal temperatures, water supply forecasts continue their downward trend into the summer months, according to the NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center June briefing.
Although water supplies throughout the Columbia River basin are generally in the 75- to 80-percent of normal range, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is saying that flow augmentation water out of the upper Snake River this year will amount to 471,000-acre feet of water.
Water supply forecasts across the Columbia River basin dropped again this month with very low forecasts in the upper basins of Idaho, Montana and British Columbia, signaling drought conditions in those areas.
With lower-than-average water flow in the lower Columbia River expected during the spring juvenile salmon and steelhead outmigration, fishery managers at the interagency Technical Management Team last week asked for additional flow augmentation from Lake Roosevelt, the reservoir backed up behind Grand Coulee Dam on the upper river, to aid fish migration.
The Department of the Interior announced a $19 million investment to install solar panels over irrigation canals in California, Oregon and Utah, simultaneously decreasing evaporation of critical water supplies and advancing clean energy goals.
Water supply forecasts at major dams in the Columbia River basin dropped again during March, with the forecast at The Dalles Dam dropping from 83 percent of normal in February to 80 percent of normal in March, according to the April 3 water supply forecast by NOAA’s Northwest River Forecast Center.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, reopened navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers on March 29 after an eleven-week outage. This extended outage allowed the district to perform routine maintenance and to replace aged equipment to reduce the risk of asset failure.
Snowpack this winter continues to be at an all-time low across several river basins in western Montana, indicating that this year could see water shortages, according to recent projections from the Montana Climate Office.
Following a successful test blast, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation will proceed with the removal of the Copco No. 1 Dam, the second dam to be removed as a part of the Klamath dam removal project. The Copco No. 1 Dam, constructed in 1918 for the sole purpose of hydroelectric power generation, has blocked fish passage for over 100 years and is expected to be fully removed by the end of August.
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