For the second time in three years, a hypoxic “dead zone” has formed off the central Oregon Coast.
It’s killing fish, crabs and other marine life and leading researchers to believe that a fundamental change may be taking place in ocean conditions in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Scientific opinion is overwhelming that global warming is taking place and that its effects will leave the Columbia River basin's fish, farmers and hydro producers vulnerable, particularly in late summer, according to a University of Washington, and state of Washington, climatologist.
Global warming will diminish the amount of water stored as snow in the Western United States by up to 70 percent in the coastal mountains over the next 50 years, according to a new climate change model released last week.
Armed with a final February water supply forecast, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed its first of the year model runs, known as QADJ, that helps the agency set flood control targets at storage dams and allows it to predict the chance of early year and spring flows in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
The federal government should implement its revised strategic plan for climate change research as soon as possible, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council.
The committee that wrote the report said the plan is "much improved," broader in scope, and more ambitious than a previously reviewed draft, but commitments to fund many of the newly proposed activities are lacking.
A coalition of four universities in Oregon and California that is trying to answer some of the “big questions” that have long eluded many marine scientists, has just received another $3.9 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to continue its work in 2004.
An interim report on the cause of fish deformities in a portion of the Willamette River south of Portland concludes that parasites are the primary cause of the problem, rather than toxic pesticides, heavy metals, other chemicals or organic pollutants.
Staff for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council got the go ahead this week from Power Committee members to develop a model that would measure the impact of adverse power operations on fish and wildlife recovery measures similar to how BPA predicts risks to the power system's reliability.
A new, high-tech climate monitoring network designed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists to keep tabs on the nation’s temperature and precipitation trends is set to debut nationwide in January 2004.
With the help of experienced hound hunters, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is collecting DNA samples from cougars in northeast Washington through the end of the year to learn more about the population of the big cats.
Spending associated with recreational activities at 18 Oregon coastal and river ports plays a significant role in Oregon's economy, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
The report concluded that in 2002, port-related recreation activities provided $109 million in sales, $42 million in personal income and 1,700 jobs to the state's economy.
Drier-than-average conditions affected many states from the West Coast to the central United States and parts of the Southeast.
The only states with significantly wetter-than-average conditions were Washington and twelve states along the eastern seaboard.
Big Sky Country is one of only three states without an office of climatology. To fill this void, The University of Montana has stepped forward to start the new Montana Climate Center. The office will provide detailed information on weather, climate, snow, fire, agriculture and much more.
A collection of weather experts this week offered a mixed bag of forecasts for coming months in a Northwest region heavily dependent on the rainy/snowy season to recharge a river system that provides such benefits as hydro generation, irrigation, navigation and flows for fish.
In 2002, the Western Division-AFS (WDAFS) and its partners convened a major international conference in Spokane, Wash., to foster a transition toward ecosystem-based management in the Columbia River and beyond.
Almost two-thirds of the shallow water habitat in the lower Columbia River once available for rearing juvenile salmon and steelhead is gone and the culprits are dikes and dams, according to a new report by researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University.
In the near future, the Columbia River operating agencies will be able
to model the effects dam operations and structural alterations to dams
have on total dissolved gas levels. The computer model could even help
the interagency Technical Management Team make weekly in-season fish management
decisions.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed a system total dissolved
gas computer model that will help the region analyze gas abatement measures
at specific Columbia River and Snake ...
Representatives of two "stakeholder" groups expressed apprehension Wednesday
about the products that are about to emerge from the Northwest Power Planning
Council's Multi-Species Framework analytical process.
A variety of interest groups are now awaiting the results of what has
been described as a massive outpouring of data from the framework process'
computer modeling effort. The framework ecological work group and science
steering committee are in the process of reviewing the ...
A report on the Columbia River Basin Multi-Species Framework process'
analysis of alternative fish and wildlife management strategies will be
delivered Dec. 8, though not in the form the Northwest Power Planning Council
had expected.
A final report on the biological and human effects analyses of seven
fish and wildlife alternatives had been promised for the Council's December
meeting.
But the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model being used to
analyze basinwide biological ...
Extinction is a dark, shadowy word but scientists must try to bring
it into focus as they try to provide a basis for sound fish and wildlife
recovery decision making, according to a co-leader of the National Marine
Fisheries Service's Cumulative Risk Initiative.
But decision makers must know that extinction analyses can be flawed.
"Policy makers need to be aware of the perils and pitfalls of extinction
analysis," Dr. Peter Kareiva told an audience gathered for a Wednesday
workshop ...
A better understanding of the timing
and causes of long-term climate and
ocean changes "cycles" will enable
decision makers to make more informed
choices regarding salmon recovery
strategies.
That's the message relayed to the
audience July 1 by a series of experts
gathered by the Northwest Power
Planning Council for a special symposium
in Portland.
Those experts touched on a variety
of topics:
-- Leading off was GEORGE H.
TAYLOR, the Oregon state ...
A "short list" of candidates to fill
four vacant positions on the Independent Scientific Advisory Board has
been forwarded to the Northwest Power Planning Council and the National
Marine Fisheries Service.
A list of nine scientists with expertise
in five different subject areas has been recommended by a National Research
Council nominations committee to serve on the ISAB. The terms of three
ISAB members, Rick Williams, Richard Whitney and Phil Mundy, expired in
September 1998 and a ...
A $17.7 million grant award announced last week will allow researchers
from Oregon State University and three other institutions to study coastal
ecosystems on an unprecedented scale.
The goal is to produce information that may eventually help answer questions
about the causes of declining salmon populations and collapsing fisheries,
zooplankton survival and potential biological impacts of global warming.
The grant is largest ever made to a university by the David and ...
, mainstem hydrologist, Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission:
Re: Feb. 12 CBB article titled "ESTUARY GOVERNMENTS OPPOSE CHANNEL
DEEPENING"
The statement was made "They were supposed to have evaluated dredging
to 41, 42 and 43 feet, a regional port alternative, as well as look at
nonstructural alternatives, such as upgrading the river forecasting system,"
Taylor said. "By its own economic study, upgrading the river forecasting
system is cheaper, ...
Dams, not in-flows from tributary streams, have the biggest impact on
water temperatures in the Columbia/Snake river mainstem, according to preliminary
study results previewed Thursday in Portland.
That assessment, based on a modeling exercise, was announced during
the first day of the two-day Columbia/Snake River Mainstem Water Temperature
Workshop.
The gathering, sponsored by a variety of federal, state and tribal entities,
was designed as an exchange of information and ideas on how
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