The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the Columbian
white-tailed deer in Douglas County, Ore. from the endangered species list
after a dramatic comeback.
Biologists estimated the deers population in Douglas County at less
than 500 in the early 1970s. More than 5,000 of the species now roam over
300 square miles of Douglas County, primarily in the lower portions of
the North Umpqua River.
The proposal is the result of two decades of work and partnering with
the ...

The Oregon Legislation has been asked to give three Columbia Basin tribes
the authority to decide when and where supplementation can be used to bolster
salmon and steelhead numbers.
A bill introduced by Rep. Jason Atkinson,R-Jacksonville, would exempt
from the Oregon wild fish policy the rivers and streams located within
the areas ceded in treaty by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon,
and the Nez ...

Forest Service field projects across Montana are being delayed as they
await review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The reviews are required to ensure that the projects, which range from
road culvert removals to logging projects, comply with the Endangered Species
Act.
The listing of bull trout as a threatened species last July created
a new tier of paperwork in the service's elaborate "consultation" process.
Without a corresponding increase in staff, the Helena office has ...

The Columbia River Basin Forum committee reviewed a workplan designed
to integrate information from the 1999 decision and the Multi-Species
Framework Process.
Forum members, however, put off a review of the Framework alternatives
and decided against hearing an overview of the National Marine Fisheries
Services anadromous fish appendix.
At its third meeting, Forum committee members spent much of the three-hour
session reviewing its draft workplan, which was put together by a ...

A new report concludes there is still uncertainty about the health of
spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and northern California.
 
While the report found the survival rate of adult female spotted owls
is steady, it also found the total number of spotted owls is declining
by about 4 percent per year since a previous 1993 study.
The report was compiled by about 50 federal, state, university and private
scientists who met at Oregon State University in December. At that time,
the ...

Nearly 1,800 Caspian terns have arrived in the Columbia River estuary
as of this week, but most are favoring Rice Island over the newly-prepared
habitat of East Sand Island. A count of terns earlier this week found that
1,400 terns have made their home at Rice Island, while only 300 to 400
terns have chosen the new site.

Although it's too early to know for sure, a National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist believes the plan to move most of the terns from Rice
Island to East Sand Island