Oregon's seven-member Fish and Wildlife Commission asked for, and got, an earful Thursday in what is the second in a series of sessions planned to gather insight on gray wolf management.
Biological opinions released by two federal agencies last week said a project that will deepen by three feet the Columbia River shipping channel from Portland, Ore., to Astoria will pose no jeopardy to 13 species of salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout listed, or being considered, under the federal Endangered Species Act.
A recently released draft Methow River Basin spring chinook genetic analysis says that it is too late to segregate an Upper Columbia salmon melting pot by phasing out the so-called "Carson" bloodlines in favor of "Methow composite" stock in hatchery operations.
A draft report now out for technical review likens the impact of predatory Caspian terns on migrating Columbia Basin juvenile salmon and steelhead to those brought by human activities that increase fish mortality.
The Independent Scientific Review Panel says that as many as 17 "innovative" project proposals met criteria for funding under the Northwest Power Planning Council fish and wildlife program, with five of the projects standing above the rest.
The federal action agencies say they are "right on track" in implementing measures called for in a December 2000 federal fish recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
Critics call that assertion a "fairy tale."
A National Marine Fisheries Service draft biological opinion claims that proposed federal Klamath Basin irrigation operations put at risk the existence of coho salmon populations.
But the document released Thursday prescribes actions -- such as the creation of a "water bank" -- that the agency says can keep irrigators and fish afloat while scientists figure out just what Klamath River mainstem flows are needed for fish.
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday had not yet determined a
course of action for 68,000 sockeye salmon smolts infected with an
untreatable kidney virus, but it's clear that Idaho does not want the fish
in three Sawtooth Valley lakes.
A federal court in the District of Columbia has approved a settlement
agreement submitted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, thereby
ending a lawsuit initiated by the National Association of Home Builders in
exchange for the agency's removal of "critical habitat designations" from
19 West Coast salmon and steelhead populations.
Oregon's governor on Tuesday again challenged the Northwest and country as a whole to attack the salmon recovery issue at full power or be turned down a road of social, economic and legal chaos that leads ultimately to dam breaching.
Only the "wild, naturally producing" fish among 15 West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks should be listed under the Endangered Species Act, according to petitions sent Thursday to the National Marine Fisheries Service by a group of 17 national, regional and local conservation groups.
The Senate on Thursday passed a sweeping energy bill that would allow owners of non-federal hydroelectric dams to change new fishway requirements if they showed they could meet environmental standards in less costly ways or benefit power production.
Washington Gov. Locke announced Wednesday that the Salmon Recovery Funding Board has approved $36.7 million in grants to fund salmon recovery projects across the state.
Combined with local matching funds, the total value of the approved project list is more than $57.6 million.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has released an early draft
biological opinion that identifies the Bureau of Reclamation's on-going
irrigation projects, started nearly a century ago, as harmful to
steelhead in the Umatilla River.
Two Idaho landowners have agreed to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to restore habitat for the threatened bull trout and other
aquatic and riparian species in the Pahsimeroi River Basin, the federal
agency announced last week.
An 11th-hour settlement has been reached between bird conservation
groups and fish management entities that would guide fast-arriving
Caspian terns toward Columbia River estuary nesting grounds where the
predatory birds are believed to be less of a threat to migrating
juvenile salmon.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said Wednesday that additional salmon
recovery efforts in Idaho are moving from concept to reality, thanks in
many respects to the Northwest Power Planning Council's fish and
wildlife program.
Two Columbia Basin fishing interests often at odds about how to share
fish harvests have united in an effort to wring more dollars from next
year's federal budget.
The money is needed, they say, to ward off hatchery production cutbacks
and provide funding for fish marking that is allowing a more bountiful
harvest of returning hatchery salmon and steelhead through selective
fisheries.
In anticipation of a soon-to-be-released biological opinion, PacifiCorp
this week filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and
the Administrative Procedures Act in Oregon's Klamath Basin.
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday (March 11) teamed with
home building groups and others in asking the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to allow the withdrawal of critical habitat
designations for 19 Pacific salmon and steelhead populations listed
under the Endangered Species Act.
The battle lines remain clearly drawn about whether southwest
Washington's 125-foot-tall, concrete Condit Dam should be removed from
the White Salmon River to revive a free-flowing ecosystem, or retained
to provide the many benefits people have come to expect since the hydro
project was built in 1913.
The Department of Interior this week came out against a bill that would
authorize federal funding to rehabilitate an aging private dam and
enhance and restore salmon habitat in Oregon's Wallowa River Basin.
Citing "years of inaction" by the Oregon Board of Forestry, a coalition
of conservation and fishing groups has brought suit against the state
agency, claiming its top official is allowing logging practices that
violate the federal Endangered Species Act.
Northwest voters support keeping existing hydroelectric capacity and
building new projects even if they might cause the loss of fish or
wildlife habitat, according to a hydropower industry poll released
Thursday.
One of the most notable hot seats for federal officials in the Pacific
Northwest has only gotten hotter since Bob Lohn took over in September
as regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
