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The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week took the first step in a public process to amend the 2014 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program when it approved the release of a letter soliciting amendment recommendations.

A draft letter calling for the region – tribes, state and federal agencies, and the public – to make recommendations to amend the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program was revealed by the Fish and Wildlife staff at its meeting last week in Portland.

As it begins to amend its 2014 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, the Northwest Power Act (Section 4h) requires the Fish and Wildlife Committee of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to solicit recommendations from tribes, state and federal agencies, and the public.

The State of Idaho and the Bonneville Power Administration released this week for public comment a draft Wildlife Habitat Stewardship and Restoration Agreement for Albeni Falls Dam in northern Idaho.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council unanimously approved a pilot demonstration map for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a toxic contaminant that impacts aquatic organisms and stream food webs, and could limit habitat restoration projects.

A wildlife settlement in Montana with a 60-year life is nearly halfway through its term and so far the settlement has resulted in more than 228,000 acres of wildlife habitat projects.

The impacts of toxic pollutants on stream food webs are likely limiting the potential of habitat restoration projects in the Northwest, as well as putting at risk the investments already made in those improvements by the Bonneville Power Administration and its ratepayers.

In a six to two vote, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council approved $30,000 to develop a pilot demonstration map for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a toxic contaminant that impacts aquatic organisms and stream food webs, and could limit habitat restoration projects.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council approved its 16th review of the Bonneville Power Administration’s fish and wildlife costs for fiscal year 2016 at its meeting in Portland, August 15. The report had been out for review since the Council’s June meeting.

A review of the Bonneville Power Administration’s fish and wildlife costs for fiscal year 2016 is out for review. Fish and wildlife costs for fiscal year 2016 total $621.5 million, more than $100 million less than in FY2015.

A paper evaluating the best and most up-to-date ways to pass salmon and steelhead beyond high head dams that have historically blocked passage was completed in December and posted at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council website.

The nation’s hydroelectric dams already provide about 10 percent of the nation’s energy, delivering over 100 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy in July.

The Bonneville Power Administration’s total fish and wildlife costs for 2014 was $782 million, according to the draft “2014 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program Costs Report” released for public comment by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

The upkeep for fish screens, hatcheries, fishways and traps, lands and habitat projects have been identified as important infrastructure projects worth preserving, according to a little known segment of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Program 2014, a document approved last October.

The Upper Columbia United Tribes on Tuesday announced a public comment period on a newly completed tribal strategy for reintroducing salmon above Grand Coulee Dam, which has long blocked access to spawning grounds above the hydro project in the United States and Canada.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy identifies far more hydroelectric energy potential available in the Northwest than a similar and more recent study commissioned by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Southern Idaho wildlife habitat got a huge boost this week from a new $40 million agreement between the State of Idaho and the Bonneville Power Administration, said Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter in a press release.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week made final an annual report it will soon send off to the governors of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington that details all fish and wildlife costs incurred by the Bonneville Power Administration during fiscal 2013.

After “years” of negotiations, Idaho officials and the Bonneville Power Administration are within a few short steps of finalizing a settlement agreement to bring $22 million to the state over the next 10 years for the purchase of wildlife habit to help mitigate for impacts caused by construction and operation of federal dams on the Snake River and tributaries.

In the July 11th, 2014 edition of the Columbia Basin Bulletin there was an article covering the July 8th, 2014 public hearing in Portland on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife Program Amendment process. American Whitewater appreciates coverage of our testimony about the Protected Areas Program, and writes to provide some background and clarification to some points highlighted in the article.

The Bonneville Power Administration said it incurred $682.4 million in total fish and wildlife costs during fiscal year 2013, a total derived in great part by the need to buy and sell power and operate dams with the goal of improving salmon and steelhead passage up and down the federal Columbia/Snake River hydro system.

Pacific Northwest processes involving tribes, U.S. and Canadian governments, and other stakeholders, “are teeing up the right questions” about whether or not passage should be restored for salmon and steelhead long prevented by dams from returning to historic spawning areas in the upper Columbia River.