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 public comment period for the draft Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan has been extended by a month and a third public hearing scheduled to ensure that all Oregonians with an interest in wolves have sufficient time to provide input, say the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A room full of scientists called together to consider the potential effects on salmon of reduced Columbia River summertime flow augmentation came away with new information, and more questions than answers.
It was a big run in 2004 for yearling spring chinook and steelhead juveniles migrating out of the Snake River system. However, due to poor in-river conditions with low flows and little spill provided at dams during the spring, most of the spring juvenile fish were transported by barge to below Bonneville Dam.
The first thing NOAA Fisheries will get when it releases its new hatchery policy next year is a lawsuit, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has sent the agency a 60-day notice that it will sue if the policy continues to distinguish between hatchery and naturally spawning fish.
Bull trout reproduction has improved in parts of Montana that are the
country's stronghold for the species, according to recent field surveys
conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
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.
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.
Greg Delwiche, a 20-year veteran of Columbia River energy and natural resource management, is the new vice president of Environment, Fish and Wildlife of the Bonneville Power Administration, the agency announced this week.
Although threatened Lower Columbia River chum salmon have yet to arrive at the reaches below Bonneville Dam to begin spawning, the Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed this week to narrow the band of flow fluctuations at the dam in anticipation of their arrival.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council and NOAA Fisheries announced this week that they are sponsoring a symposium to examine how changes in reservoir operations at Libby and Hungry Horse dams in Montana may affect water conditions and fish survival in the mainstem Columbia River below Chief Joseph Dam.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously at its
Oct. 15 meeting in Bend to initiate a public rule-making process on the
draft Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the associated rules
required to implement the plan.
More than 300 spring Chinook salmon carcasses will be returned after hatchery spawning to southeast Washington’s Tucannon River on October 29 to enhance the waterway for fish in the future.
A group of experts from four western states and British Columbia are going to spend the next year producing what they say will be one of the most blunt, honest evaluations ever done on the status of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest and what it would actually take to save them.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday voted to release for public review and comment 29 locally produced "subbasin plan" recommendations as draft amendments to the Council's fish and wildlife program.
Despite a fiscal wariness about large looming one-time and long-term costs, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week moved a $26 million expansion of the Northeast Oregon Hatchery program closer to reality.
More than $8.3 million has been spent in the last 10 years on lamprey research and restoration – the subject next week at the first Columbia River Basin Pacific Lamprey Summit at Portland State University.
Tribal gill-netters on Wednesday began 3 ½ days of fishing on the Columbia River mainstem above Bonneville Dam to cap what has been one of the more prolonged fall seasons in recent memories.
Oregon and Washington managers on Oct. 1 set the terms for what well could be the final Columbia River mainstem tribal and non-Indian commercial fishing outings of the season targeting, primarily, fall chinook and coho salmon.
Federal officials this week released a draft document intended to help the public better understand the “relationship and differences” between actions proposed in NOAA Fisheries’ new draft biological opinion for the federal hydropower system and the 2000 BiOp.
A larger than anticipated Columbia/Snake River fall chinook salmon return -- and one that is showing a fat "tail" -- allowed fishery managers this week to expand both sport and commercial opportunities on the Columbia mainstem.
The leaders of 400 salmon- and outdoor recreation-based businesses from 35 states this week signed a letter to Congress that chastises the federal government for its approach to protecting and enhancing Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead populations and asks help in refocusing the strategy.
A panel discussion Thursday focused on what might be done in the coming years and decades to maintain that buffer that Columbia River basin salmon populations will inevitably need when "ocean conditions" worsen and creeping global warming brings negative changes to their freshwater home as well.
Columbia River mainstem fishery managers could say mission accomplished Monday after deciding that sport fishing for fall chinook salmon will remain open through Sept. 30 on the lower Columbia River.
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