On track to reach a run size of 3,200 fish, Willamette River wild steelhead may post one of the best returns of the threatened fish in more than three years, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a National Environmental Policy Act process this week that looks at the operation and maintenance of the agency’s Willamette River projects and their impact on threatened upper Willamette River wild winter steelhead and wild spring chinook.
In a two-step challenge to operations at Willamette River basin dams, attorneys for a coalition of conservation groups argued in court Thursday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should immediately take steps to improve conditions for migrating juveniles and spawning adult salmon and steelhead, even while the Corps works with NOAA Fisheries on a new biological opinion.
A new biological opinion for the federal Columbia River power system aimed at protecting and recovering salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act was completed Friday and posted without fanfare to the NOAA Fisheries website.
Providing access to areas upstream of dams in the Columbia River basin that when built blocked passage for anadromous fish is a priority in many of the amendment proposals to its basin Fish and Wildlife Program received by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Bonneville Power Administration spent nearly $260 million in direct costs for its Fish and Wildlife Program in fiscal year 2018, according to a draft report approved for public comment by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Bonneville Power Administration has spent billions of dollars on Columbia River basin fish and wildlife mitigation and it continues to spend nearly $300 million each year in direct expenses for the Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Program.
With continued low flows and less than average projected water supplies in the upper Columbia River basin, the interagency Technical Management Team this week began serious talks about how much longer minimum flows can be sustained that aid threatened chum salmon redds downstream of Bonneville Dam.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s top official announced this week the agency will propose lifting protections for wolves throughout the lower 48 states, triggering predictable opposition from environmental groups and continued litigation.
NOAA Fisheries officials issued a Biological Opinion February 15, requiring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers complete a downstream fish passage facility at Howard A. Hanson Dam (HAHD) on the Green River, 21 miles east of Auburn, Washington.
An agreement was signed by federal agencies, states and one tribe in December that sets a framework for how spring and some summer spill at Columbia/Snake river dams will be conducted this year and for a couple of years into the future until its concept can be tucked into a new environmental impact statement and biological opinion of the federal power system in 2020 and into the interim 2018 BiOp expected to be released by NOAA Fisheries in April.
This week the U.S. Senate passed legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Patty Murray (D-WA) to protect the Methow Valley watershed from mining.
A Washington state public review process that was to close February 19 for nine draft water quality permits at Columbia and Snake river dams took an unusual turn late last week when the federal government withdrew the permits without saying why.
A U.S. District Court case asking for operational changes at Willamette River basin dams was slowed by the partial government shutdown in January and is now back on track, but not at the speed plaintiffs had asked for in November.
The Bonneville Power Administration is funding a steelhead kelt reconditioning facility at the Nez Perce Fish Hatchery on the Clearwater River near Lewiston, Idaho.
Steelhead were hit hardest by steller and California sea lions at Bonneville Dam in the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018.
With federal partners on furlough due to the partial government shutdown, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee discussed whether it should alter its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program amendment schedule.
Seeking to cut some $30 million from its future fish and wildlife expenses, the Bonneville Power Administration has completed its review of fiscal year 2019 programs, arriving at cuts to 35 programs totaling $6,391,576 along with more than $3 million from the Columbia River Fish Accords.
After receiving approval from NOAA Fisheries in November to lethally remove sea lions at Willamette Falls, Oregon spent little time starting the program that could euthanize as many as 93 California sea lions this year at the Falls.
Following the orders of an October Presidential memorandum, federal agencies charged with producing an environmental impact statement analyzing the impacts of 14 federal Columbia/Snake river dams on salmon and steelhead released a schedule this week that shortens the time they will take to complete the EIS by one year.
A new plan to reclassify nuclear waste would allow the federal government to walk away from its obligation to clean up millions of gallons of toxic, radioactive waste at Hanford, Washington state officials said this week.
Recommendations for amendments to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program received from state and federal agencies, tribes, Bonneville Power Administration customers, environmental and conservation groups and individuals are now out for public comment.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced late last week a budget that includes investments to save Southern Resident orca whales in Puget Sound. Much of his budget is aimed at increasing the number of chinook salmon, the killer whales’ primary food source, in the Columbia River basin and in Puget Sound, and includes funding a task force to look at breaching Snake River dams.
Let me first say that I enjoy the newsletter as a great resource. The subject story, though, has a fundamental error in it that needs to be brought to your attention.
Legislation that will allow the lethal removal of more California sea lions, as well as steller sea lions, from the Columbia River passed two hurdles in the past week and now is headed to the President’s desk for signature.
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