As happens every summer, cold water from Dworshak Dam on the North Fork Clearwater River in Idaho began being released in late June to help keep the tailwater cooler for migrating salmon and steelhead at Lower Granite Dam downstream on the lower Snake River.
A vitamin deficiency likely killed as many as half of newly hatched fry of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River in 2020 and 2021. These new findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More summer Chinook salmon will enter the Columbia River than was previously forecasted, allowing Oregon and Washington to open the river to recreational angling from its mouth to the two-state border near Pasco, WA for eight days.
Montana’s wolf population has remained relatively stable in the past few years with only slight declines in the statewide population estimates, according to the 2024 Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks annual wolf report.
A century after wolves were wiped out in California, the animals have mounted a promising comeback in the state, with a small population that has grown to at least 50 wolves.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking public input on a draft periodic status review for the marbled murrelet, which includes a recommendation to keep the bird on the state endangered species list.
Four Columbia River basin treaty tribes recently completed their second restoration plan for “imperiled” Pacific lamprey in the basin fifteen years after the first such plan in which the Tribes had urged aggressive action in order to recover the culturally significant fish.
Some 60 state and federal agencies, tribes and individuals delivered recommendations by the May 19 deadline on how the Northwest Power and Conservation Council should amend its 2014/2020 Columbia River Basin Fish & Wildlife Program for the future.
The eastern North Pacific population of gray whales that migrates along the West Coast of the United States has continued to decline, with reproduction remaining very low. Two new Technical Memorandums from NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center report the estimated population size and calf productivity in 2025.
Due to lower-than-normal precipitation in May and an early snowmelt in the Northwest, there will be less water available for salmon and steelhead this summer in the Columbia and Snake river basins as water supply forecasts are continuing their downward slide.
Washington and Oregon are expanding efforts to prevent invasive mussels from entering the two states and the Columbia River basin. If they get a foothold in the basin, invasive zebra, quagga and golden mussels would cause considerable economic and environmental damage that could slow recovery of the basin’s federally listed salmon and steelhead runs, according to each state’s invasive species manager speaking at the May Northwest Power and Conservation Council meeting.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that it is launching a summer strike team in partnership with federal and local agencies to combat livestock depredations by gray wolves in Siskiyou County and the Sierra Valley (spanning both Sierra and Plumas counties).
Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center in Kalispell has treated six bald eagles and one golden eagle with elevated lead levels in 2025.
Six of fourteen salmon and steelhead species in the state of Washington that are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act are showing modest improvement. However, according to the 2024 State of Salmon report by the Washington Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office, eight species are still struggling and face extinction.
At a June 4 hearing, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the decision to eliminate the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. The proposal is included in President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the department.
Higher flows from Libby Dam designed to encourage endangered white sturgeon to move up into spawning areas on the Kootenai River downstream in Idaho and British Columbia began last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced.
With summer boating and fishing seasons ramping up, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is reminding boaters of new laws requiring vessels to stay 1,000 yards away from endangered Southern Resident killer whales in Washington waters.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is ramping up its efforts to protect the state’s lakes, rivers, and streams from aquatic invasive species. Seasonal boat inspection stations are now open, and roving crews will be out this year at boat ramps offering watercraft inspections and decontamination.
Habitat work by Columbia River tribes is in progress to maintain and rejuvenate refuges of cold water in the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam in partnership with the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.
The Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit this month in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. in an effort to speed up NOAA Fisheries’ review of the Washington-based conservation group’s proposal to list Chinook salmon in Alaska under the federal Endangered Species Act.
This spring, the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership broke ground on a large-scale salmon habitat restoration project on the lower East Fork Lewis River in Washington State. This project will support the recovery of threatened steelhead and salmon on one of the few undammed rivers in the Lower Columbia River watershed.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says forecasted 2025 total Alaska commercial salmon harvest will be approximately 214.6 million fish, which is 111 million more salmon than the 2024 harvest.
Stretches of coasts and their rivers form enormous salmon nurseries for the exploring juveniles, the scientists said. The researchers documented coho salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout using coastal rivers separated by salt water, and suspect other species may do the same.
President Donald Trump, in an April proposed rule, has directed the Secretary of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rescind the long-standing definition of “harm” to species covered by the federal Endangered Species Act. The existing definition of harm as the ESA is currently written, the Administration says, is contrary to the “best meaning” of the term “take.”
A Chinese mitten crab, a prohibited species in Oregon, was caught on April 22 in the Lower Columbia River east of Tongue Point, near Astoria. Chinese mitten crabs have not been confirmed in the Pacific Northwest until now. A single Japanese mitten crab was found in the same area in 1997.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
