Caspian terns in the Columbia River estuary continue to favor Rice
Island as their nesting site, but research is revealing that the amount
of salmon in their diet declines over time and that the birds forage
a
wider range than previously thought, including outside the estuary.
Researchers estimate there are about 7,300 tern nests on Rice Island
and
most of them are crowded onto a one-acre unvegetated site. About 1,300
of those nests are in two satellite colonies just outside fencing ...

A bad news, good news scenario has played out as fishery managers tally
the return of adult spring chinook salmon from the Pacific Ocean heading
into the Columbia-Snake river basin to spawn.
Overall numbers are well below historic 10-year average returns, but
the
actual return of 4- and 5-year-old spawners is much higher than
forecast.
And the return of "jack" spring chinook -- 3-year-olds that return to
freshwater prematurely -- is the best since 1976 and the sixth highest
since ...

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife this week released draft
status reports recommending listing four species of wildlife as
endangered or threatened under the state's endangered species statutes.
Citing loss of habitat as a common thread in listing species, WDFW
recommended listing the northern leopard frog as endangered, the common
loon and the mardon skipper, a butterfly, as threatened, and the Olympic
mudminnow as a sensitive species.
"Habitat loss is the common thread ...

Sustained flows and hatchery supplementation
have combined to produce a run of spring chinook salmon large enough to
support another Indian subsistence and non-Indian sport fishery on the
Umatilla River.
 
Both the tribal and non-Indian fishing
seasons for spring chinook opens Saturday, May 29. Tribal fishers will
be able to fish using a variety of methods for five three-day weekends
in June, according to regulations established by the Fish and Wildlife
Commission for the ...

Operations related to the testing
of prototype extended length screens are suspected as a cause of a spike
in mortality among juvenile salmon directed through John Day Dam's bypass
system.
Researchers on Monday told a multi-agency
technical panel that test operations of the screens seemed to mirror an
increase in mortality as measured at the dam's new $32 million smolt monitoring
facility. It was built so researchers could check the fishes' condition
following passage through the ...

The number of Caspian terns in the
Columbia River estuary is leveling out and the favored nesting spot continues
to be Rice Island. However, researchers continue to be optimistic that
the plan to move the birds will eventually work even though birds are building
nests and laying eggs and harassment tactics to move the birds off Rice
Island are ceasing.
Although an Army Corps of Engineers
compromise plan called for moving at least 80 percent of the birds from
the nations largest tern ...