Funding Package For Removing Dams, Culverts Includes $5 Million For Removing NE Washington’s Enloe Dam, Could Open 1,500 Miles Of Salmon Habitat

Nearly $5 million to move forward on the removal of northeast Washington’s Enloe Dam is included in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement that 29 states will receive just over $70 million to support 43 projects that will address outdated or obsolete dams, culverts, levees and other barriers fragmenting the nation’s rivers and streams. Another $8 million will go to projects in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

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Fish-Blocking Dam On Willamette River Tributary Built In 1858 Being Removed; New Habitat For Salmon, Steelhead

American Rivers is leading a project team to remove the Kellogg Dam at the mouth of the Kellogg Creek, a tributary of the Lower Willamette River. The work will help threatened Upper Willamette River Chinook and steelhead, Lower Columbia River coho, and Pacific lamprey to access upstream spawning and rearing habitat for juveniles.

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Status Report: Though Some SW Washington Steelhead, Salmon Populations Under ESA Show Improved Numbers Since Listing, None Anywhere Near Recovery

The status of southwest Washington salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act is generally stable, although none of these fish populations are close to meeting recovery goals, says a recent report by the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Fish Family Tree: McKenzie River Study Shows Reproductive Success For First Generation, Wild-Born Descendants Of Hatchery Chinook Salmon

Researchers who created “family trees” for nearly 10,000 fish found that first-generation, wild-born descendants of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon in an Oregon river show improved fitness.

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Review Of Salmon Habitat Projects Shows Putting Woody Debris In Right Place In Stream Can Lead To Increased Juvenile Numbers

Well-placed woody debris in streams results in a two- to three-fold increase of juvenile salmon, according to a recently completed review.

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Corps Says Report On Greenhouse Gases From Lower Snake Reservoirs Misleading; ‘Relatively Clean Reservoirs In Columbia/Snake River’

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says that a report by a new group that recently asserted the four lower Snake River dams are a major source of greenhouse gases, particularly methane gas, largely used emission figures from dams and reservoirs outside of the Columbia and Snake river basins.

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USFWS Report Shows Wetlands Loss Has Increased By 50 Percent Since 2009, Half Gone Since 1780s

A new report released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reveals wetlands – 95 percent of which are freshwater — covered less than 6 percent of the lower 48 states as of 2019 – which is half the area they covered since the 1780s. The report also identifies that loss rates have increased by 50 percent since 2009 and that without additional conservation actions taken to protect these ecosystems, wetland loss will likely continue, reducing ecosystem benefits for people and habitat for fish, wildlife and plants.

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Dam-Sheds: Tribes Report Calculates Loss Of Spring/Summer Chinook On Upper Snake River Due To Dams At 1.4 Million Fish

An estimated 1.4 million spring/summer Chinook salmon were lost after multiple dams were constructed on the upper Snake River, according to a loss assessment recently completed by the Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation.

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Work Progresses On Removing Second Of Four Dams On Klamath River; Copco No. 1 Should Be Gone By End Of Summer

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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Reopening Rivers For Salmon, Steelhead: 10-Year Effort Underway To Remove, Replace Culverts Blocking Fish Passage On Olympic Peninsula

The cold water rivers of Western Washington hold some of the last, best freshwater habitat for salmon and steelhead in the lower 48 states, and despite a warming climate, their high-elevation headwaters are predicted to remain cool enough for salmon and steelhead for at least the next 50 years.

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Oregon Researchers Lead Effort To Expand Ocean Conditions Monitoring Using Sensors On Crab Pots

Oregon State University researchers are leading an effort to refine the design and expand use of oxygen monitoring sensors that can be deployed in fishing pots to relay critical information on changing ocean conditions to the fishing industry.

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Biden Administration, States, Tribes Formally Sign Billion-Dollar Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative To Recover Salmon, Steelhead

The Biden administration, along with the governors of Oregon and Washington and leaders of four lower Columbia River tribes – the six sovereigns – formally signed an agreement last week that commits the federal government to as much as $1 billion to build infrastructure for eventual removal of four lower Snake River dams and to recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin.

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Domestication Selection: Researchers Use DNA To Examine Genetic Differences Between Hatchery, Wild Chinook Salmon

Hatchery-reared salmon show genetic differences from wild populations in only a few generations, but those differences vary among hatcheries.

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Snake River Wild Steelhead: Potlatch River Long-Term Steelhead Restoration Plan Improves Juvenile Numbers But Declines In Adult Fish Continue

An important population of listed steelhead in Idaho’s Snake River basin has been getting the help it needs to boost its numbers – removal of barriers, increasing habitat complexity, fewer scouring spring flows and higher and more consistent summer streamflows.

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Montana Files Notice Of Intent To Sue USFWS Over Recent Wolverine ESA Listing

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of its intent to pursue legal action over the recent listing of wolverines as a threatened species.

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Marine Heat Waves Trigger Earlier Reproduction, High Juvenile Mortality In Pacific Cod In Gulf Of Alaska Years After Event

Marine heat waves appear to trigger earlier reproduction, high mortality in early life stages and fewer surviving juvenile Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska, a new study from Oregon State University shows.

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NOAA Grants $27 Million For Projects To Help Restore Willamette Valley Imperiled Salmon, Steelhead

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation is using $27 million under the Infrastructure Law to support four major projects aiming at boosting threatened salmon and steelhead in Oregon’s Willamette River watershed.

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Canadian Researchers Find Toxic Chemicals From Oil Spills, Wildfire Smoke (PAHs) In Killer Whales, Transfers Mother To Fetus

Toxic chemicals produced from oil emissions and wildfire smoke have been found in muscle and liver samples from Southern Resident killer whales and Bigg’s killer whales.

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NOAA’s 2023 Arctic Report Card: Summer Air Temperatures Warmest Ever Observed, New Chapter Focuses On Salmon

NOAA’s 2023 Arctic Report Card documents new records showing that human-caused warming of the air, ocean and land is affecting people, ecosystems and communities across the Arctic region, which is heating up faster than any other part of the world.

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Biden Administration, Two States, Treaty Tribes Reach MOU On Columbia River Basin Salmon Recovery, Litigation Paused For At Least Five Years

The Biden Administration, Columbia River treaty tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington agreed Thursday to work to restore wild salmon populations in the Columbia and Snake river basins and to delay ongoing litigation for five years, with an option for the delay to go as long as 10 years.

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Oregon’s Clackamas River Seeing Impressive Return Of Coho, Wild Spring Chinook, Utility Cites Modernized Fish Passage Systems At Dams

More than 17,000 adult coho salmon and nearly 5,000 wild spring Chinook salmon returned to Portland General Electric’s North Fork Dam on the Clackamas River this fall, according to the utility.

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Chelan PUD Juvenile Salmon Passage Study At Rocky Reach Dam Shows High Survival Numbers; HCPs Call For No Net Impact

More than 93% of young Chinook safely passed Rocky Reach Hydroelectric Project last spring, says Chelan PUD. The results represent the most successful survival study of yearling Chinook in the 21-year history of the Rocky Reach Habitat Conservation Plan.

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$16 Million Headed To Central Oregon For Significant Water Conservation Projects Aimed At Habitat Restoration, Improved Streamflow For Fish, Frogs

Oregon U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced this week a total of $4.1 million in federal investments from the Infrastructure Law are heading to the Crooked River Watershed Council and the Deschutes Land Trust. The funds are intended to boost collaborative projects focusing on water conservation, management, and restoration efforts. In addition, the Oregon Water Resources Department announced grants for four significant water conservation projects in Central Oregon.

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Interior Sending Millions To Columbia/Snake River Basin For Significant Fisheries, Watershed Health Projects

The Department of the Interior this week announced $51 million provided by the two-year-old Infrastructure Law for 30 new Environmental Water Resource Projects in 11 states through the Bureau of Reclamation, including multi-million dollar projects in Oregon, Idaho and Washington that will aid fish protection and restoration.

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DOJ Proposes $33.2 Million Settlement To Compensate For Damages From Pollutants, Oil Discharges Into Willamette River, Portland Harbor

The U.S. Department of Justice this month announced a proposed settlement valued at approximately $33.2 million to compensate for natural resource injuries that resulted from hazardous substance releases and oil discharges into the Willamette River and Portland Harbor in Oregon.

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