Ninety percent of Caspian terns in the lower Columbia River estuary have chosen to nest at East Sand Island near the ocean, rather than at Rice Island where their diets consist of nearly 100 percent juvenile salmon, some of which are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
By the May 12 deadline, the Northwest Power Planning Council had
received 55 submissions recommending amendments to the Council's
regional fish and wildlife management program, last revised in 1994.
Caspian terns are favoring by more than an eight to one ratio East Sand
Island to Rice Island, which is exactly where a multi-agency Caspian
Tern Working Group had planned for them to nest before an ill-fated
hazing plan was halted in court.
A flood of comments -- many of them raising "significant issues" -- may
push a Corps of Engineers recommendation on lower Snake River dam
breaching into year 2001.
Nearly 600 adult Pacific lamprey were released into the upper Umatilla
River and its tributaries May 8 and 9 as part of an experimental
restoration effort by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
The most bountiful adult return since 1972 has enabled the first
commercial treaty fishery on Columbia-Snake river spring chinook salmon
in more than two decades as well as a relatively rare sport fishing
season in Idaho.
Caspian terns in the Columbia River estuary will remain largely
unmolested this year as a plan to move North America's largest colony
was stopped by a federal court this week.
A planned summer National Marine Fisheries Service pilot study to
evaluate the survival of subyearling fall chinook transported from the
Snake River remains somewhat in limbo because of criticisms from other
agencies and tribes about the study's design.
A Nez Perce tribal hatchery supplementation plan -- 18 years and $13.7
million in the making -- could get the green light May 17 when the
Northwest Power Planning Council considers a $16 million construction
spending proposal.
Federal agencies' lack of progress in sorting out conflicting mandates,
and a meddlesome Clinton Administration, have brought into question the
agencies' ability to make sound salmon recovery decisions, according to
Northwest members of the U.S. House of Representatives Resources
committee.
Wide ranging suggestions on the near-term direction of Columbia Basin
salmon recovery efforts were offered Thursday by witnesses called to
testify at a U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee hearing
in Pasco. All but a few said dam breaching should be dropped from
consideration.
The smolt-to-adult return rate of Columbia Basin hatchery salmon and
steelhead have been declining during the 1990s, along with the adult
fish's value to fishers, according to natural resource economist Hans
Radtke.
Harvest of salmon in the Columbia River is at the lowest allowed level
ever. Further changes to harvest rates would not add significantly to
salmon recovery.
Breaching four Lower Snake River dams is not the answer for reviving
Columbia Basin salmon populations, a trio of Northwest lawmakers said
Tuesday at a Senate hearing at Bonneville Dam.
Conservation and science groups came out this week in support of Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery practices that prevent
hatchery-raised fish from mixing with wild stocks when they return from
the ocean to spawn.
Two Northwest Republican senators this week said they suspect the delay
of federal agencies' recommendation for modifying or removing lower
Snake River dams to improve salmon recovery is aimed at helping Vice
President Al Gore's presidential campaign.
Harassment of Caspian terns in the lower Columbia River estuary ran into
a roadblock this week when environmental groups filed for an injunction against hazing the birds on Rice Island. The filing resulted in a
temporary restraining order. More to follow.
The westslope cutthroat trout, a brightly colored fish found primarily
in Montana and Idaho and parts of Oregon and Washington, does not
warrant listing as a threatened or endangered species under the
Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced
today.
A proposed federal land management plan for roughly 63 million acres in
Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington is intended to leave a lighter
footprint both on the land and on the resource-based economies within
that territory.
Active harassment of what may be the largest colony of Caspian terns in
the world will begin next week in an attempt to move the birds closer to
feeding grounds where they will feast less on juvenile salmon and more
on other marine species.
Federal scientists conclude that drastic action must be taken soon to
head off extinction for Columbia Basin salmon runs in the worst shape,
and decision-makers must take that plunge without the certainty that
those actions will work.
Fishermen in Southeast Alaska have finally found unity on a salmon
management issue, thanks to federal consideration of Alaska harvest
cutbacks in order to restore chinook runs in the Snake River.
Like most farmers, Jerry Scheid grew up in an era when people thought
dams could do no wrong.
Juvenile salmon and steelhead passed through Bonneville Dam's No. 1
powerhouse fared better when encountering a newly designed turbine than
they did when passing through traditional turbines, according to results
from a recently completed $2.5 million biological study.
The National Marine Fisheries Service reviewed the impacts of proposed
tribal and state harvests of salmon on the mainstem Columbia River and
concluded that a 9 percent harvest rate of the most critical salmon
stocks would be appropriate to avoid jeopardy.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
