Oregon State University researchers have discovered vitamin B1 produced by microbes in rivers, findings that may offer hope for vitamin-deficient salmon populations.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife staff at the Ashland Boat Inspection Station found quagga mussels on a pontoon boat that was being transported from Lake Mead, Nev., into Oregon on Jan. 4.
Montanans have varying attitudes and beliefs about wolves and wolf management, and over time some of those feelings have shifted, according to a new survey conducted cooperatively by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the University of Montana.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee last week directed the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to draft new rules to guide when wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock and prioritize using nonlethal methods of conflict deterrence over killing wolves.
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.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, at a workshop last month, determined that revision of the Wolf Plan was not needed at this time, while directing staff to focus on addressing key challenges including wolf-livestock conflict, reducing illegal take, and population monitoring.
Last month, the Canadian Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, Diane Lebouthillier, and the British Columbia Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Nathan Cullen, announced $86,119,340 for 58 projects receiving funding under the second phase of the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF).
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.
The early run size forecast for spring Chinook salmon next year into the Columbia River basin is slightly lower than the 2023 actual return of the spring fish and much lower than last year’s early run size forecast.
The Burns Paiute Tribe of southeastern Oregon has sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking that action be taken to identify measures to return salmon to the Malheur River Basin upstream of Idaho Power’s three-dam Hells Canyon Complex on the Snake River along the Idaho-Oregon border. Idaho Power, in the midst of relicensing those dams, says salmon and steelhead were extirpated before the dams were built and the complex was not central to these losses.
The state of Washington has successfully reduced the number of commercial Columbia River gillnet licenses in the state from 240 to 67. The reduction is the result of a $14.4 million commercial license reduction program approved by the state’s legislature in 2021, and a part of a plan to move gillnet boats off the mainstem of the river and to give more of the salmon harvest to recreational anglers.
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.
Idaho Fish and Game biologists quickly learned that the copper treatment to rid a stretch of the Snake River from quagga mussels caused high mortality in certain species – at least six to seven tons of dead fish -- while others survived quite well.
In response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers, the National Marine Fisheries Service has made an initial finding that Endangered Species Act protections may be warranted for Washington coast Chinook salmon. The agency will initiate a status review for Washington coast spring-run and fall-run salmon populations.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public input on a draft recovery plan for the lower 48 distinct population segment of Canada lynx, informed by an updated species status assessment.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its final rule to list the distinct population segment of the North American wolverine in the contiguous U.S. as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
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.
Conservation groups this week filed an appeal asking Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to order the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to draft enforceable rules that limit when the state can kill endangered wolves for conflicts with livestock.
More than 15 Northwest Tribal Nations gathered in early November to share stories about salmon, orca, water, and the land — and to demand the federal government uphold Tribal treaty obligations to recover and restore salmon in the Snake River and Columbia River Basin.
The thousands of double-crested cormorants nesting on the 5-mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge in the Columbia River estuary that are damaging the bridge, causing safety problems and eating more salmon and steelhead smolts must go, according to a value engineering study led by the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Idaho completed a 10-day treatment to rid a sixteen-mile section of the mid-Snake River near Twin Falls of quagga mussel larvae (veligers) and at least two adult mussels. The state says the treatment was largely successful, although it and other partners will continue to test for at least the next five years.
In support of a statewide voter-led initiative passed in November 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized the designation of an experimental population of gray wolves in Colorado under the Endangered Species Act. This action provides management flexibility in support of the state of Colorado’s voter-mandated gray wolf reintroduction program.
When bottlenose dolphins nurse their young, they transfer toxic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and DDT to their calves through their milk. New research shows that the calves end up with higher concentrations of the toxins than their mothers.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public input on a draft environmental impact statement and draft Barred Owl Management Strategy that addresses the threat of the non-native and invasive barred owls to native northern and California spotted owls.
Parties to the lawsuit challenging the federal government’s 2020 environmental impact statement and biological opinion for imperiled salmon and steelhead traversing Columbia/Snake River federal dams have developed a package of “actions and commitments” that they will present to regional partners to get buy-in over the next 45 days.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
