A National Marine Fisheries Service draft biological opinion claims that proposed federal Klamath Basin irrigation operations put at risk the existence of coho salmon populations.

But the document released Thursday prescribes actions -- such as the creation of a "water bank" -- that the agency says can keep irrigators and fish afloat while scientists figure out just what Klamath River mainstem flows are needed for fish.

The Caspian terns that assemble each spring, in recent history, in the
Columbia River estuary to breed, and hatch and rear their young, seem
unruffled by the legal and political gyrations that preceded their return
to the Pacific Northwest.

The National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday (March 11) teamed with
home building groups and others in asking the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to allow the withdrawal of critical habitat
designations for 19 Pacific salmon and steelhead populations listed
under the Endangered Species Act.