The Columbia River carries a lot of sediment from the interior. As North America's largest river by volume flowing into the Pacific Ocean, every year the Columbia transports an estimated 5 million tons of sediment downstream.
The 16th round of Canada-U.S. negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty took place on March 22 and 23, in Washington, D.C.
A massive 2,000 page draft environmental impact statement on how Willamette River Valley dams impact threatened salmon, steelhead and bull trout is flawed and does not address one of its own primary goals, which is meeting obligations under the Endangered Species Act to avoid jeopardizing the existence of listed species, according to several groups and agencies that submitted comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late February.
The small size and isolation of the endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have led to high levels of inbreeding. This inbreeding has contributed to their decline, which has continued as surrounding killer whale populations expand, according to research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Bald Eagles and dairy farmers exist in a mutually beneficial relationship in parts of northwestern Washington State. According to a new study, this "win-win" relationship has been a more recent development, driven by the impact of climate change on eagles' traditional winter diet of salmon carcasses, as well as by increased eagle abundance following decades of conservation efforts.
In the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, scientists have been sounding the alarm about the plight of southern resident orcas. Annual counts show that population numbers, already precarious, have fallen back to mid-1970s levels.
Ecological relationships across the Pacific Coast that once guided annual expectations such as salmon returns are evolving as climate change disrupts long-standing connections. NOAA Fisheries researchers report these findings in their latest Ecosystem Status Report for the California Current Ecosystem.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the availability of a draft recovery plan for the Oregon spotted frog, which has lost most of its habitat from southern British Columbia, through the Cascades, and into southern Oregon.
New research examines how Chinook salmon from West Coast rivers travel through the ocean. It shows that endangered Southern Resident killer whales do not have access to as many salmon prey as previously thought.
NOAA Fisheries says it will consider listing Olympic Peninsula summer and winter steelhead threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. All populations of steelhead on the peninsula have continued to decline since 2017.
For an animal whose population barely tops 2,000, Montana’s grizzly bears hold an outsized presence in the psyche and politics of the Treasure State.
Raising sons is an exhausting experience that leaves killer whale mothers far less likely to produce more offspring, new research shows.
Oregon and Washington fishery agencies announced they will not propose commercial or recreational white sturgeon fishing this year downstream of Bonneville Dam due to a projected low abundance of legal-sized fish, according to a joint status report released this week by the states.
A new report on the status of U.S. wildlife conservation reveals that 40% of animals, 34% of plants and 40% of ecosystems nationwide are at risk. The analysis — Biodiversity in Focus: United States Edition — was compiled by NatureServe, a nonprofit organization that assembles conservation data from a national network of scientists and organizations.
In partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking for public feedback on a draft report studying proposed next steps to restore flows for fish in the Yakima River delta.
Wolves on an Alaskan island caused a deer population to plummet and switched to primarily eating sea otters in just a few years, a finding scientists at Oregon State University and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game believe is the first case of sea otters becoming the primary food source for a land-based predator.
The western bumble bee was once common in western North America, but increasing temperatures, drought, and pesticide use have contributed to a 57% decline in the occurrence of this species in its historical range, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey-led study.
There is a “preponderance” of evidence that sea lions and seals (pinnipeds) in Washington’s Salish Sea and outer coast have contributed to the decline of salmon and steelhead in state waters, concludes a recent report by the Washington State Academy of Sciences.
The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition this week asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce sea otters to a large stretch of the West Coast. Threatened southern sea otters occupy only 13% of their historic range, and a small population of the animals currently lives on California’s central coast.
A long-term Pacific Northwest study of landslides, clear-cutting timber and building roads shows that a forest’s management history has a greater impact on how often landslides occur and how severe they are compared to how much water is coursing through a watershed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced the completion and publication of the final recovery plan for the Meltwater Lednian stonefly and Western Glacier stonefly.
A chemical used in the production of toilet paper and 'forever chemicals' have been found in the bodies of orcas in British Columbia, including the endangered southern resident killer whales.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice this week of its intent to sue two federal agencies for approving a habitat conservation plan in the upper Deschutes River that it says fails to ensure that Wickiup Dam water-release operations won’t drive the threatened Oregon spotted frog extinct.
One way to cool overheated summer and fall Columbia River waters might be to lower reservoir levels at the river’s dams. Drawdowns could reduce the size of the reservoirs so there is less water to heat under the summertime sun and it could reduce travel time for juvenile salmon and steelhead through the dams as the river would take on more of the characteristics of a free flowing stream.
By anyone’s measure, sockeye salmon runs have skyrocketed since 1997 in the Okanogan River basin when a transboundary workgroup decided to begin efforts to reintroduce the fish into Okanogan Lake in British Columbia, according to tribal biologists speaking at this week’s Northwest Power and Conservation Council meeting.
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