Rob Walton, NOAA Fisheries assistant regional administrator for salmon recovery, says his agency is stepping up efforts to gain the aid and advice of others in the region toward the goal of completing draft salmon recovery plans in each of six domains by December.
A Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority member work group has set about the task of "sizing" the ratepayer-funded fish and wildlife program so that it can offer its views on funding needs for the years beyond fiscal 2006.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed its status review of the greater sage-grouse throughout its range and determined that the species does not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act at this time, Director Steve Williams announced today.
Fishing and conservation groups on Dec. 30 filed a “supplemental complaint” in federal court asking that NOAA Fisheries be ordered to withdraw its new biological opinion for the Columbia River federal hydropower system.
Eleven fishing and conservation groups said this week that the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation will be targeted with a lawsuit if the agencies implement their newly developed "Updated Proposed Action" for the operation of 14 Columbia Basin federally hydro projects.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council and Bonneville Power Administration staff and others are looking at past and potential demands in an attempt to determine Columbia River Fish and Wildlife program funding needs in the future.
Washington Gov. Gary Locke, together with the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board (LCFRB) and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, this week presented to the federal government the first locally developed regional salmon recovery plan for Washington state during an event in Vancouver.
Puzzlement was expressed, once again, in public discussions this week regarding the type of project that qualifies as a capital expenditure, and what does not, under Bonneville Power Administration guidelines for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's fish and wildlife program.
Some young Snake River fall chinook salmon may be making the best of a dam-caused situation, effectively shifting the timing of their migration to the ocean and thus creating a second distinct life history type within the same fish stock.
Scientists at Portland State University, the University of Washington and Oregon State University, with the support of the Ports of Portland and Astoria, have jointly completed the first-ever comprehensive survey of non-native aquatic plants and animals in the lower Columbia River.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have recommended that
the Service not list the greater sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered
species under the Endangered Species Act across its range, Service Director
Steve Williams announced.
NOAA Fisheries this week released detailed responses to comments on the new biological opinion for protected Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead issued Tuesday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is evaluating a permit application from PacifiCorp to remove the Condit Dam located on the White Salmon River in White Salmon, Wash.
Columbia River basin residents with a stake in the region's salmon restoration effort remained at opposite poles regarding the value of a new federal plan to assure that hydrosystem operations do not push fish stocks to extinction.
Federal officials on Tuesday announced a package of Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem operations and off-site fish mitigation actions that they feel will both ward off the extinction of protected salmon and steelhead and parry potential legal thrusts like those that forced a December 2000 strategy to be rewritten.
A relicensing plan for four Lewis River dams that will re-open up to 174 miles of potential Columbia River Basin salmon habitat was signed this week by negotiators representing utilities, tribes, federal and state resource agencies, three counties and environmental groups.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is evaluating a permit application from PacifiCorp to remove the Condit Dam located on the White Salmon River in White Salmon, Wash.
Public hearing testimony across the Columbia River Basin, written comments received to-date and input received in other discussions across the region have largely focused on a broad set of subbasin planning programmatic issues rather than on the specifics of the 29 management plans themselves, according to Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.
After completing a formal 5-year status review of the northern spotted owl,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that the species continues
to warrant the protection under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened
species.
A group of state, federal and tribal officials that convened occasionally to troubleshoot during the development of 59 Columbia River basin "subbasin plans" was called together again last to offer advice on how and when the fish and wildlife goals of those plans should be implemented.
Accepting a charge from Northwest tribes, the American Fisheries Society's Western Division will ask a team of scientists to investigate whether science properly underpins the policy directives outlined in NOAA Fisheries' draft 2004 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion.
A Seattle-based judge has for the second time in two years blocked planned dredging of a lower Snake River navigation channel and inland ports, saying that the potential for "irreparable" environmental damage outweighs alleged economic harm that would occur if the channel is not cleared of sediment.
Salmon and other fish inhabiting streams in the Yakima River basin will get more water, thanks to $311,220 in grants from the Department of Ecology.
The group charged with setting spending priorities for fish passage improvements at federal mainstem hydro projects was asked last week whether they might want to put the Columbia River's McNary Dam ahead of the Snake's Little Goose facility for installation of so-called "removable spillway weirs" – a new surface bypass technology.
Ranging from lengthy, detailed critiques to succinct post cards, tens of thousands of comments have poured in regarding agencies' plans to operate the federal Columbia River hydrosystem while protecting salmon and steelhead stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act.
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