Scientists asked by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to review "subbasin plans" say that "approximately one quarter of the plans are complete enough to serve as standalone, scientifically sound amendments to the Fish and Wildlife Program without major additional treatment."
Dave Allen, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Region, this week highlighted the approval of more than $2.2 million in grants to private landowners, conservation organizations and Native American tribes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho for conservation projects to benefit endangered, threatened and at-risk species and other wildlife.
Western Montana's Flathead, Thompson and Clark Fork river drainages may soon
have a new predatory fish, based on the recent discovery of illegally introduced black crappie.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered the Idaho Power Company to complete 14 additional fish and wildlife studies to supplement its application to relicense the Hells Canyon Complex of dams.
The Montana delegation on Thursday suggested that, in the future, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's fish and wildlife program should in some way share the financial risk when costly measures are taken in the federal hydrosystem in response to NPCC requests.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Thursday unanimously approved the $1.2 million expansion of a habitat acquisition project near Eugene, Ore., despite concerns of the Montana members about the cost per acre and a perceived skirting of capitalization/crediting issues.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are
requesting proposals for conservation and restoration projects that will be funded with
$1.3 million in community service payments from polluters.
Idaho's congressional delegation introduced bills in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in late July that would move forward a $193 million framework agreement signed in May by the Nez Perce Tribe, the state of Idaho and the federal government. The agreement would resolve many of the longstanding water issues of the Snake River Adjudication.
For their contribution to setting aside for conservation and public uses 4,900 acres of land along the Sandy River east of Portland, Ore., and for PGE’s decision to remove its Marmot and Little Sandy dams, the Bureau of Land Management gave Portland General Electric and the Western Rivers Conservancy the federal Department of Interior’s Four Cs Award this week at a ceremony on the Sandy River.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries Thursday finalized new regulations establishing what the agencies say is a more efficient approach to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval process for pesticides.
Conservation and fishing groups on Monday threatened legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, calling slipshod the agency's process for determining whether pesticides affect salmon and steelhead survival.
An Endangered Species Act review of a small snail that lives in free flowing sections of south central Idaho's Snake River and a long overdue license for five small hydroelectric projects in the same area were both announced this week, and each impacts the other.
NOAA Fisheries rejected last week parts of a river operation proposed by the State of Montana and on Monday, July 19, sent a letter explaining its decision to Northwest Power and Conservation Council Chairwoman Judi Danielson of Idaho.
A Northwest Power and Conservation Council issue paper on Columbia River basin hatchery management was sent out this week in search of answers about how artificial production should be used in the future to meet both harvest and conservation needs.
NOAA Fisheries stepped in early this week to initially work to implement a plan proposed by the state of Montana that calls for stable summer flows below Libby Dam on the Kootenai River and shifting the release of 4,000 cubic feet per second of water from Montana reservoirs from summer into September.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week finalized a $2.34 million grant to four Columbia Basin treaty tribes under the federal Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund for regional fish-restoration projects.
After more than three years in development, the state and the Bonneville
Power Administration are taking comments on a draft plan for purging
non-native fish from 21 alpine lakes in Montana's South Fork Flathead
drainage.
An agreement among 22 organizations that took 19 months of negotiations will result in the reintroduction of threatened summer steelhead and spring chinook salmon to 226 miles of habitat upstream of the Pelton/Round Butte complex of dams on the Deschutes River.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision this week to reduce summer spill as a means of fish passage at Columbia/Snake river hydroelectric projects in August is been followed, as promised, by a flurry of legal activity aimed at reversing the decision.
Salmon managers this week twice rejected a three year plan proposed by the State of Montana that calls for steady and lower summer flows below Libby Dam on the Kootenai River and shifting the release of some water from Montana dams from summer into September.
A newly revised forecast says that the 2004 sockeye return to the mouth of the Columbia River will total 119,000 fish -- the largest return 17 years.
The modified summer spill program proposed by the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 24 received NOAA Fisheries approval last week in a July 1 findings letter.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday signed off on three "habitat conservation plans" that two Mid-Columbia public utilities say provide the highest level of fish protection ever established for a hydropower system while still providing certainty for continued hydroelectric generation.
Claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has illegally denied Endangered Species Act protection for Columbia River and southwestern Washington populations of the coastal cutthroat trout under the Endangered Species Act, conservation groups this week filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue the agency.
The United States needs to make a new commitment to research on water resources in order to confront the increasingly severe water problems faced by all parts of the country, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies' National Research Council.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
