Can We Save The West’s Disappearing Sagebrush Ecosystem? Scientists Provide Roadmap For Conservation Efforts

A report published today by a team of scientists from a dozen organizations provides a product designed to boost efforts by land and wildlife managers to restore and conserve the imperiled sagebrush ecosystem across the full extent of its range, which covers more than 165 million acres.

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Pacific Northwest Groups Urge Action On Modernizing Columbia River Treaty, Concerned About Uncertainties Of ‘Called-Upon’ Operations

Nearly three-dozen Pacific Northwest organizations have sent a letter to the State Department and other federal agencies urging the Biden Administration to better inform the region on efforts to overhaul the 1964 U.S.-Canada Columbia River Treaty, add “ecosystem function” as a treaty purpose, and include Columbia River basin Tribes in treaty governance. The letter also expresses concerns about potential “called-upon” river operations if the treaty is not modernized by 2024.

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PNNL Report Details How Hydropower Performs During Severe U.S. West Droughts, Maintains 80 Percent Of Average Generation

The megadrought in the Southwestern United States is the driest—and longest—in the last 1,200 years, depleting water reservoir levels to critically low levels over the past 22 years. This persistent drought has policymakers and system planners concerned about the reliability of the electric grid under worsening drought conditions and climbing temperatures.

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No More Plastic Polluting Flip-Flops? Scientists Develop New Polyurethane Materials That Biodegrade In Ocean Water

Plastics, now ubiquitous in the modern world, have become a rising threat to human and environmental health. Around the planet, evidence of plastic pollution stretches from grocery bags in the deep sea to microplastics in our food supplies and even in our blood.

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Tracking Coastal Steelhead Migration; Innovative Research Could Help Prioritize Habitat Restoration Projects

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researchers wrapped up a project this summer that could have important implications for how fishery managers design future coastal steelhead fisheries and prioritize habitat restoration projects.

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Water Quality For Fish: Oregon Says Warm Water ‘Top Source Of Pollution,’ EPA To Update Washington’s Toxin Criteria

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week approved Oregon’s water quality report on temperature in the state’s waters. Also last week, a Washington federal court ordered the EPA to set in motion an update on that state’s water quality criteria for 17 toxins known to harm salmon and steelhead, as well as Southern Resident killer whales that depend on them.

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PNNL Develops Faster Way To Track Fish Through Dams; Sends Real-Time Data To Cloud For Day-To-Day Decisions On Fish Passage

A new acoustic receiver developed by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory sends near-real-time fish tracking data to the digital cloud, providing timely information to dam operators and decision-makers about when, where, and how many fish are expected to pass through dams.

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Portland Prohibits New, Expanded Fossil Fuel Terminals,Follows Report Large Earthquake Could Cause Massive Fuel Spill Into Willamette, Columbia Rivers

The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve an ordinance prohibiting new or expanded fossil fuel terminals in Portland, Oregon. The move comes after a report earlier this year from Multnomah County and the City of Portland documented risks posed by existing fossil fuel terminals and found that the expected Cascadia Earthquake could cause 397 storage tanks to spill oil and other petroleum chemicals.

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Anticipating Shasta Lake Water Too Hot For Sacramento River Salmon, Innovative Chilling Units At Hatchery Protecting ESA Chinook

The Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are partnering to protect winter-run Chinook salmon in a crucial year of their life cycle at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery at Shasta Lake during the third consecutive drought year in California.

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Yes, Columbia River Basin Includes Nevada, Salmon Blocked Since 1928; Corps Seeks Comments On Plan To Restore Section Of Owyhee River

The Owyhee River, a Columbia River basin tributary with headwaters in Nevada, where until 1928 salmon returned, is about to get attention from the Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District. The Corps, along with the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, is developing a plan to restore aquatic and riparian habitats on a section of the remote desert river.

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Biden Administration Announces Plans To Plant More Than One Billion Trees In 10 Years; $100 Million In Reforestation This Year

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week announced a strategy for how the Biden Administration will address a reforestation backlog of four million acres on national forests and plant more than one billion trees over the next decade.

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A Salmon From Upper Columbia Blocked Area Returns; Tribes Tracking Released Juveniles As Part Of Reintroduction Effort

A female spring chinook salmon released as a smolt by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in 2020 in upper Hangman Creek near Tensed, Idaho has returned to the Upper Columbia River where she will be transported around dams lacking fish passage and returned to her natal stream. She will be the first adult Chinook salmon to return to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s aboriginal territory in over 100 years.

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Current Recovery Plan Not Working: Tucannon River Spring Chinook In Big Trouble, Options Explored

What’s the most imperiled salmon stock in the Columbia/Snake river basin? It may be the Tucannon River’s spring Chinook. The fish have taken a dive, possibly facing extinction.

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‘Intensively Monitored Watersheds’ Report Details Habitat Restoration Benefits For Juvenile Salmon, But Lack Of Increase In Adult Abundance

In the Pacific Northwest, thirteen watersheds are “intensively monitored” to provide key data on regional salmon and steelhead recovery efforts. A new report has mixed messages about the success of habitat restoration in boosting returns of adult fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.

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Bursting Myths, Wishful Thinking Over Allowing Wolves To Return To Traditional Landscapes

In a new finding that goes against current conservation paradigms, re-introducing wolves and other predators to our landscapes does not miraculously reduce deer populations, restore degraded ecosystems or significantly threaten livestock, according to a new study.

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U.S., Canadian Scientists Publish Review Of Mining Risks To Salmon-Bearing Watersheds; 3,600 Active, Abandoned Mines Sitting In Fish Habitat

Recently, a group of 23 science and policy experts from the U.S. and Canada published a review of mining risks to watersheds ranging from Montana to British Columbia and Alaska.

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OSU, Yurok Tribe Launch Partnership To Study What Klamath River Watershed Will Look Like After Dam Removal

Oregon State University researchers will embark this month on a 3½-year partnership with the Yurok Tribe to study what the connections between river quality, water use and the aquatic food web will look like after four Klamath River dams are dismantled.

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Salmon Predation In The North Pacific: UW Study Shows How Salmon Group Size Affects Predation Risk, Foraging Success

Animals that live in groups tend to be more protected from predators. That idea might be common sense, but it’s difficult to test for some species, especially for wild populations of fish that live in the ocean.

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Raining Microplastics: Flathead Lake May Look Clean, But Study Details Microplastic Pollution And Its Sources

While researchers have known for years that microplastics exist in Flathead Lake, the concentrations and origins of the microplastic pollution have remained a mystery.

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Scientists, Policymakers Meet To Discuss Startling Decline Of Western Monarch Butterfly; USFWS To Establish Pollinator Conservation Center

The first-ever Monarch Butterfly Summit was held in Washington, DC, on June 22-23, a two-day gathering to share the latest science and conservation actions being taken to address the long-term population decline of the western monarch butterfly.

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Washington Begins Process To Update Rules For Protecting Salmon, Steelhead, Orcas From Toxic Chemicals

The Washington Department of Ecology has started the rulemaking process to update the state’s aquatic life toxics criteria to reflect new information about toxic chemicals. Among the species of aquatic life that needs protecting are endangered chinook salmon, steelhead and Orca whales.

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Infrastructure Bill Funds Go To Projects To Restore, Conserve West’s Sagebrush Ecosystem; Largest Contiguous Ecotype In U.S.

The Biden Administration will invest more than $9 million in fiscal year 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to support over 40 projects in Idaho and seven other western states to restore and conserve strategic areas within the sagebrush ecosystem.

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Washington Implements Incident Command System To Battle Habitat-Destroying Invasive Green Crabs: 64,000 Removed This Year

Deployment of emergency measures to control invasive European green crabs on the Washington Coast and at sites within the Salish Sea is well underway, including the implementation of an Incident Command System to facilitate statewide coordination between various agencies, tribes, and partners.

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Placing Large Wood In Streams Isn’t Just About Fish; OSU Study Looks At Impacts Of Log Jams On Land-Based Animals

Land managers have invested millions of dollars annually since the 1980s to place large pieces of wood back in streams, owing primarily to its importance for fish habitat. But little is known about how large wood in streams impacts birds and land-based animals.

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Last Year Heat Wave ‘Worse Scenario For Intertidal Organisms’; Mass Shellfish Die-Off Will Affect Populations For Years

A year ago, June, 2021, temperatures in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia soared to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Seattle setting an all-time heat record of 108 degrees on June 28.

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