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.

The Biden Administration says $60 million will be available for NOAA Fisheries to invest in upgrades identified as tribal priorities for Columbia River Basin hatchery facilities that produce Pacific salmon through the Mitchell Act.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has published preliminary harvest and value figures for the 2023 Alaska Commercial Salmon Fishery, which show an increase of 69 million harvested salmon over last year. But the market value was way down.

Studies over the 33-year history of a program designed to remove Northern Pikeminnow, a natural predator of salmon and steelhead smolts, from the Columbia and Snake rivers still has not been able to make a direct connectionbetween mass removals of the predator and recovery of salmonids in the rivers, according to a recent report by the Independent Scientific Review Panel.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s recent count of spring-run Chinook salmon returning to the South Umpqua River showed just 17 wild adult fish detected during snorkel surveys. This dismal return is 12% of the 10-year average of 139 fish returning to the river and “signals an urgent need for federal Endangered Species Act protections,” says the Center for Biological Diversity.

NOAA Fisheries says the agency and its fishery management partners reached a major milestone this summer – the rebuilding of a 50th fish stock. The Snohomish coho salmon stock was declared overfished in 2018 and has now rebuilt to its sustainable level.

In a one-year agreement announced between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon will be a source for up to 10 wolves for the Colorado gray wolf reintroduction effort. These wolves will be captured and translocated between December 2023 and March 2024.