U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden today (Friday) mapped out a detailed strategy for rewriting the federal government's Columbia River Basin hydrosystem salmon protection plan that includes step-by-step participation by "sovereign entities" -- the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and treaty tribes.
The future of Columbia/Snake river salmon restoration efforts drew comments ranging from gentle encouragement to threats Wednesday during closing exchanges at a Boise conference.
Idaho's governor this week said regional interests needed to put the spurs to the federal government to produce a realistic salmon recovery plan and rein in commercial fishing practices that he says are blunting recovery efforts.
The financially embattled Fish Passage Center became the focal point of a discussion this week about why different scientists can analyze the same information and, as is often the case in Columbia River basin fish and wildlife arguments, come up with different conclusions.
The Independent Scientific Review Panel's "Retrospective Report: 1997-2005" says that the scientific rigor of Columbia River basin fish and wildlife projects is much improved as the result of a years-long give-and-take between them, project sponsors, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and others in the region.
Attorneys for the federal government, Northwest states, treaty tribes and navigation and power interests continued to fence this week over timeframes and the role the courts should play in an anticipated process to rewrite a Columbia/Snake river salmon protection plan.
After reaching agreement on a variety of vexing issues, a Northwest Power and Conservation Council committee this week moved forward a proposed process for reviewing and selecting Columbia Basin fish and wildlife projects for funding.
Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Idaho Department of Fish and Game and an Orofino man are exploring an idea that could improve fishing, water
quality and fish habitat at Dworshak Reservoir.
Ninety-four acres of tidal marsh and channels and 115 acres of forest on the lower Columbia River’s Crims Island are being restored to provide better habitat for young salmon, a group of government agencies and conservation groups said this week.
Critical habitat for bull trout has been expanded across the Northwest — this time with Montana waters included — in a designation announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this morning (Sept. 23).
Fishing and conservation groups and four treaty tribes say that they would like to see work completed within a year on what is expected to be a court-ordered remand of the federal government's Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection plan, according to proposals filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Long-running litigation has focused on assuring that federal Columbia River hydrosystem operations do not jeopardize salmon and steelhead stocks over the long haul.
But legal battles within that legal battle have erupted regarding near-term operations such as spill and flow augmentation that are intended to benefit salmon stocks that are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act and can affect other fish stocks as well.
White sturgeon are almost exclusively the victims of the so-called "ghost nets" that shroud the bottom of the Columbia River's Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dam reservoirs.
Current efforts to save wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest and California almost certainly will fail.
That’s the grim conclusion of 33 salmon scientists, policy analysts and wild salmon advocates participating in a year-long initiative to create policy options that would sustain wild runs of salmon in the West.
Lower Snake River navigation channels will be cleared this winter, and fishing and conservation groups will get a long-sought analysis of sediment management issues and options if U.S. District Court Judge Robert S. Lasnik approves a settlement agreement submitted to his court Thursday.
Parties to the lawsuit have been given until Sept. 27 to describe their vision for remedying a federal Columbia River salmon protection plan left in question this spring by U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden.
After meeting Tuesday with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer expressed optimism that the state’s environmental concerns will not be ignored in regard to mining projects in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead River.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Sept. 1 that it is initiating a status review of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout to determine whether to propose listing the species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Researchers at Oregon State University have created a “benthic terrain modeler,” software that can be used with a geographic information system to provide a significant new way of describing the ocean sea floor and the fish and other marine species that probably live there.
Dozens of innovative water transactions are set to play out in the Columbia Basin as the driest time of the year descends on the region’s tributaries. Imperiled salmon must navigate these often isolated streams where water shortages escape the notice of population centers.
Veteran Columbia River basin fish biologist Bruce Suzumoto will assume the daunting task of balancing hydrosystem and power needs with those of imperiled fish when he takes over Oct. 17 as assistant regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries' Hydropower Division.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region Fisheries Program has begun a three-year review of the Columbia River Basin salmon hatcheries it owns or operates with the aim of producing recommendations about how they might best be run to achieve Endangered Species Act recovery goals while providing sustainable fisheries.
A series of "scoping" meetings are planned later this month to discuss the potential hatchery project that the Bonneville Power Administration has proposed for funding on the Columbia River in central Washington.
NOAA Fisheries Service announced this afternoon (Aug. 12) that it has released its final critical habitat designations for 19 "evolutionarily significant units" of salmon and steelhead in California and the Northwest that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
With one legal issue rendered moot and little time left to argue a second point, attorneys for power customers and federal agencies managing the Columbia River hydrosystem have ended attempts to halt court-ordered spill at the dams that is intended to aid fish passage.
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