Federal officials this week told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council that a good plan for protecting Columbia River basin salmon just got better.
The state of Idaho hopes to soon take a huge step forward in its effort to rebuild a Snake River sockeye salmon stock that nearly winked out during the 1980s and 1990s.
Gov. Chris Gregoire this week named Jay Manning as chief of staff in the Governor's Office. Manning will begin his new duties on Oct. 19.
The state of Oregon and Bonneville Power Administration are closing in on a 15-year, $103.5 million agreement that aims to protect and/or restore at least an additional 16,880 acres to fulfill the federal agency's obligation to mitigate for wildlife habitat losses resulting from the construction of Willamette River basin dams.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday recommended the funding of nearly $16 million in within-year budget requests to enable the protection of about 2,600 acres of Willamette River basin fish and wildlife habitat at an overall cost of more than $33 million.
Montana government officials and political leaders are pursuing a variety of options to counter a federal judge's recent ruling that put wolves back under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
NOAA's Fisheries Service this week released its recovery plan for Middle Columbia River steelhead, a fish that was first given protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1999.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden has called for a round of legal arguments regarding the federal government's recently released "insurance policy for fish" – a new chapter added to NOAA Fisheries Service's Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion on the status of protected salmon and steelhead stocks.
Recent research has dismissed the myth that the Columbia River's lower reaches are simply used as the home stretch for juvenile salmon's sprint toward the Pacific Ocean.
(Revised from Sept. 15 version)
NOAA Fisheries Tuesday filed in federal court a "strengthened plan" for protecting salmon and steelhead that swim up and down the federal government's Columbia-Snake river hydropower system.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and federal agencies Wednesday signed an agreement intended to accelerate habitat protection and restoration in the Columbia River estuary.
EPA last week announced that it will impose newly developed use restrictions for three "organophosphate pesticides" -- chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion -- to better protect endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Phil Anderson, who has served as interim director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for more than nine months, has been chosen as the department's permanent director.
NOAA Fisheries today filed in federal court a "strengthened plan" for protecting salmon and steelhead that swim up and down the federal government's Columbia-Snake river hydropower system.
NOAA this week announced its intent to develop a comprehensive national policy for sustainable marine aquaculture in the coming months, providing a framework for addressing aquaculture activity in federal waters.
NOAA Fisheries today (Friday) released a draft environmental impact statement that will help the agency guide federal hatchery operations in the Columbia River basin and determine how best to distribute federal Mitchell Act funds.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Shea on July 29 issued a temporary restraining order barring the shipment Hawaiian garbage up the Columbia River Gorge to Roosevelt Regional Landfill for at least 30 days.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire have received the final report from the independent review panel that they appointed in April to assess the work of the Columbia River Crossing project and provide recommendations for improvements and refinements as the work continues.
A $22.3 million estimated expenditure to complete an 830-foot fish guidance wall at the The Dalles Dam tops the list of work that will be funded in fiscal year 2010 through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Columbia River Fish Mitigation Project.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week unveiled a fiscal year 2010 "start of year" fish and wildlife budget that reflects increased spending called for in the federal government's Columbia River basin salmon protection plan and in so-called "Columbia River Fish Accords" signed with states and tribes.
Washington's Department of Ecology has published legal ads today in three central Washington newspapers notifying 6,630 lawsuit defendants of a court hearing on water right claims in the Yakima River Basin adjudication.
A legal note this week from the Obama Administration says that, before delivering it to the court, the government needs time to field test with litigants its "position" on the federal plan for protecting salmon and steelhead that migrate through the Columbia-Snake hydro system.
Lower Columbia River chum salmon, not iconic chinook, this week moved to the front of the line of new Endangered Species Act projects that must pass muster with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and its Independent Scientific Review Panel.
Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined Northwest officials this week at Richland, Wash., to announce a proposed legal settlement that will impose a new schedule for tank waste cleanup at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington.
President Obama's mailbox is stuffed with advice from former governors, current senators and others as the administration prepares to issue a critique of the government's own plan for protecting wild Columbia-Snake river salmon and steelhead stocks affected by the basin's federal hydro system.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
