Litigants are girding for a marathon when they meet March 6 for oral arguments regarding the legal and scientific validity of the government's strategy for protecting imperiled salmon stocks that migrate through the federal Columbia-Snake river power system.
What enabled the quantum rise in sockeye salmon adult returns to the Columbia River basin in 2008?
It depends on who you ask.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week gave the go-ahead for a $7 million overhaul of an outdated fish ladder on the Klickitat River in south-central Washington that is expected to help boost populations of salmon returning to the basin.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden, in a letter sent this week, set the stage for March 6 oral arguments over the legal validity of the federal government's Columbia River hydro system's salmon protection plan.
Listed below are the 15 subjects U.S. District Court Judge James Redden is directing participants to address in the March 6 oral arguments in the litigation over NOAA Fisheries Service's 2008 salmon and steelhead biological opinion for the Federal Columbia River Power System.
A legal attempt by the Humane Society to stall a sea lion control effort at the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam is "based on nothing more than its distaste for the lethal removal program," and not on sound legal arguments, according to a legal brief filed Feb. 13 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A campaign to win a prohibition on commercial gill-net salmon fishing on the lower Columbia River mainstem has gained a foothold in the Oregon Legislature.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week adopted amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program -- the nation's largest regional effort to protect and enhance fish and wildlife.
A new regional "forum" taking shape will allow state and tribal sovereigns to direct policy level input over the next 10 years as federal agencies implement new strategies aimed at improving the survival of protected Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead stocks.
Citing alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and inadequate federal environmental review, the Washington Department of Ecology on Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn approval for the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Columbia River estuary upstream of Astoria, Ore.
CBB Shorts: Avista, Spokane River Settlement; Corps' Sediment Evaluation Framework; Odessa Subarea Wildlife, Habitat Survey; Idaho Expects Good Spring Chinook Season; ODFW Says No Spring Chinook Fishing On Deschutes
Saying its members and other plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed, the Humane Society of the United States this week asked a federal appeals court to block the planned removal of California sea lions from waters below the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.
A modern-day record total of 3,322 fall chinook salmon redds were observed during 2008 late fall-early winter surveys in the Snake River basin.
A federal court judge on Thursday denied a request that he put on hold state plans to begin in March trapping and removing salmon-eating California sea lions from below the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.
NOAA Fisheries' Northwest Fisheries Science Center is seeking funding, and regional approval, for a pilot study that could lead to a better understanding of the impact predatory seals and sea lions have on spawning spring chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River.
First-year construction costs for The Dalles Dam's "spillwall" -- an estimated $27.2 million -- will eat up nearly one-third of fiscal year 2009 Columbia River Fish Mitigation program's anticipated budget.
Legal arguments about how the federal Columbia/Snake river hydro system will be operated this year to accommodate migrating salmon and steelhead have been put on hold while U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden mulls the big picture -- a 10-year strategy for avoiding jeopardy to the protected fish.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 15 denied requests for a rehearing on its Sept. 18 order authorizing the construction and operation of the proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon.
A $9.4 million genetic sampling project designed to better chart Columbia River basin salmon genetic diversity, stock composition, and stock specific run timing won the favor of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Thursday.
The first comprehensive look at toxic contamination throughout the Columbia River basin released Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency serves as a call to action to the public and governments.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council members this week entered the home stretch, still debating final strategies that will guide their Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program for the next five years or longer.
Wolves are once again on a path toward delisting in Montana and Idaho -- but not Wyoming.
A newly minted permitting requirement for discharging ship effluent into U.S. waters has immediately been challenged in court by environmental groups that say it will not staunch a flood of invasive species that are threatening coastal environments, economic infrastructure and fish.
Federal appeals court arguments will proceed apace, not on an expedited schedule, over whether California sea lions can be lethally removed from the base of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.
A newly devised U.S.-Canadian agreement that would change fishing regimes from southeast Alaska down to the Oregon-California coast got the stamp of approval just before Christmas from the NOAA Fisheries Service.
An Earthwise Knowledge Initiative Publication
