A one-year operating plan for federal dams was completed this week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Technical Management Team -- as required by NOAA Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2000 biological opinions.
The Bonneville Power Administration and members of the two major utility groups in the region have signed a proposed litigation settlement that would roll back the Bonneville Power Administration's wholesale rates 7.4 percent if ratified by all remaining public utility litigants, BPA officials said this week.
The adult return of endangered Snake River sockeye salmon to Idaho remains a trickle, defying the upward trend witnessed for most other Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead stock in recent years.
The head of the has urged senators to pass legislation allowing Bureau of Reclamation the agency to fund and construct fish screens and passage improvements at non-federal irrigation facilities in Oregon and Washington state to aid salmon recovery.
The Independent Scientific Review Panel completed the first leg of its mission to review the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' research program that guides salmon and steelhead survival improvement efforts in federal Columbia/Snake mainstem hydrosystem.
Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program spending in September reached unprecedented levels as project sponsors, apparently, made an 11th hour rush to get budgeted fiscal 2003 work done, and billed, to the Bonneville Power Administration.
A long-held Coeur d'Alene Tribes strategy for rejuvenating native fisheries, and westslope cutthroat trout in particular, to tribal waters hit a dead end this week when the Northwest Power and Conservation Council rejected a plea for continued planning for a new trout hatchery.
Representatives of the Upper Columbia United Tribes and of the Columbia River basin's fish and wildlife managers said this week that they wanted to set the record straight as regards their stance on the Bonneville Power Administration's newly adopted strategy for managing fish and wildlife spending.
More than 100 members of Congress are urging the Bush administration to study the option of Snake River dam removal before adopting a new Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
A draft report released for public comment this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council describes in broad terms strengths and weaknesses of a Columbia River basin hatchery network developed over the past century, and suggests it is time for some changes.
A Bonneville Power Administration funding decision finalized late last week both squeezes and expands budgets, and ushers fish and wildlife projects on and off the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's recommendation list, in balancing the fiscal 2004-2006 budget for the mainstem/systemwide "province."
Negotiations focused on steelhead recovery among two Mid-Columbia public utility districts, area tribes and the state of Washington have resulted in an unusual agreement that meshes hatchery and harvest management, as well as recovery monitoring and evaluation, on the upper Columbia River.
A long-anticipated 2003 "check-in" report describes methodical progress toward implementation of the 10-year federal Columbia river salmon and steelhead recovery strategy -- and meteoric, relatively, improvements in the status of the stocks in question.
After increasing its prices by 2.2 percent this week, a settlement among its customers that is likely to be set in motion next week could allow the Bonneville Power Administration to drop its electricity prices by nearly 10 percent by early next year.
The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association and the Eastern Oregon Irrigators Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday against NOAA Fisheries, demanding changes to what the irrigators call "misleading and absurd standards" for the federal agency's salmon recovery planning.
Two sets of special interest groups that are normally at total loggerheads found enough to talk about Saturday that they plan to meet again, with Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo as facilitator, to discuss the allocation of Upper Snake River basin water for farms and for fish.
A powerhouse at Willamette Falls south of Portland once owned by Blue Heron Paper Company and sold in late August to Portland General Electric will be shut down in 2005.
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.
A committee oversight hearing held Thursday in Pasco, Wash., to hear
testimony on "practical and incremental steps that can be taken over
the
near-term to recover endangered salmon" turned at ...
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.
Meanwhile, the federal agency at the front in efforts to address
Endangered Species Act issues is expected to prescribe an approach
that
withholds a breaching decision while it weighs aggressive ...
The Northwest can neither morally or legally allow salmon to go extinct.
This is one of the most difficult challenges facing the region and
the
region will be remembered for how well it does.
This is one of the conclusions Lori Bodi, senior policy advisor for
fish
and wildlife at the Bonneville Power Administration, offered to a
gathering of lawyers, students and salmon policy people at this week's
Northwest Water Law & Policy Project fifth annual conference in
Portland.
The ...
Local forest planners are looking for the devil in the detail of a
restoration plan that covers 62 million acres of federal lands in the
Columbia Basin.
But some who got a taste of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem
Management Project last week think they've already found the devil,
and
it's not necessarily in the detail.
"One of the big concerns is all the overlapping of all these issues
and
initiatives," said Chuck Samuelson of Montanans for Multiple Use. "I
don't know how they're
If a collaboratively developed subbasin assessment template is to answer
the needs of all involved in Columbia Basin fish and wildlife recovery,
it will have to stand broader scrutiny than has so far been prescribed,
or funded.
"We do feel strongly that the use of three analytical tools is essential
to provide planners" with the necessary assessment information for
both
Endangered Species Act recovery planning and hydrosystem mitigation
responsibilities, according to Dr. Robert Bilby ...
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.
Army Corps of Engineers Brig.
Gen. Carl Strock said the agency recently
granted a 30-day extension of
the public comment period on its final
environmental impact, which had
been scheduled for completion in
October. The extension ...
-- Spring Chinook Count At Bonneville Stays High
The tally of adult spring chinook at Bonneville Dam is the largest in
more than 20 years for this date. The high fish counts could add up
to
one of the best years for Columbia River spring salmon since the strong
returns of the 1970s, says a Bonneville Power Administration press
release.
Scientists say Mother Nature has cooled down parts of the Pacific Ocean
where these fish mature, increasing the odds of survival for the fish.
An ...
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.
The Interior Columbia Basin Supplemental
Draft Environmental Impact
Statement released for public
review last week brings focus to a
"preferred alternative" during
a 90-day public comment period.
"Of the three alternatives presented,
Alternative S2 was ...
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