Idaho, Montana, Utilities, Ports File Opposition To Proposed Salmon Recovery MOU, Stay Mediated By Biden Administration

January 5th, 2024

Idaho and Montana – along with the region’s public power utilities and inland ports in Idaho, among others, are opposed to the Biden Administration’s Memorandum of Understanding on Columbia Basin salmon recovery and have filed their displeasure in federal court, saying they were entirely left out of making the deal.

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Biden Administration, Two States, Treaty Tribes Reach MOU On Columbia River Basin Salmon Recovery, Litigation Paused For At Least Five Years

December 15th, 2023

The Biden Administration, Columbia River treaty tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington agreed Thursday to work to restore wild salmon populations in the Columbia and Snake river basins and to delay ongoing litigation for five years, with an option for the delay to go as long as 10 years.

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Comments On Corps’ Draft EIS for 13 Willamette Valley Dams Question Whether Plan Avoids Jeopardy For ESA-Listed Salmonids

March 23rd, 2023

A massive 2,000 page draft environmental impact statement on how Willamette River Valley dams impact threatened salmon, steelhead and bull trout is flawed and does not address one of its own primary goals, which is meeting obligations under the Endangered Species Act to avoid jeopardizing the existence of listed species, according to several groups and agencies that submitted comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late February.

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Corps Releases Draft EIS For 13 Willamette Basin Dams Intended To Aid ESA-Listed Salmon, Steelhead; Drawdowns, Structural Changes, Less Power

December 2nd, 2022

Operations at thirteen federal dams in the Willamette River basin may soon be altered to aid threatened upper Willamette River spring Chinook, winter steelhead, and bull trout. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, released a draft operations and maintenance programmatic environmental impact statement late last week for public review until January 19, 2023.

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NOAA Says No Change Needed To ESA-Listing Status Of Interior Columbia River Basin Salmon/Steelhead; Two Populations Face High Extinction Risk

August 23rd, 2022

Seven interior Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act should retain their current listing status, according to five-year status reviews released by NOAA Fisheries. The listed species are in the mid- and upper-Columbia River basin and the Snake River basin.

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Judge Agrees To Extend Stay On Columbia/Snake Salmon Recovery Case For Another Year As Parties Seek ‘Comprehensive Solutions’

August 4th, 2022

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon this morning agreed to a request by the Biden Administration and plaintiffs to extend for another year the stay in the litigation challenging the federal government’s environmental impact statement and biological opinion for Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead. The parties want more time to identify “comprehensive” solutions to basin salmon recovery.

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Federal Mediators For Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery Hope For Extension Of Litigation Pause; Would Give More Time For Comprehensive Plan

June 30th, 2022

A federal mediator told the Columbia Basin Collaborative Wednesday that his group is hoping for “an extension on the stay” of litigation over Columbia/Snake river basin salmon recovery so mediation among plaintiffs and defendants can continue to move forward.

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House Bill Includes ‘Columbia River Restoration’ Section; Would Include Assessment Of Lower Snake River Dams’ Impacts On Economy, Fish

June 9th, 2022

The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 approved by the House of Representatives Wednesday includes a lengthy section called “Columbia River Basin Restoration” and would require an inter-agency assessment of the four lower Snake River dams’ impact on fish and wildlife.

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White House Plans On Being Involved With Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery As BiOp Litigation Talks Continue; Collaborative Approves A Charter

March 31st, 2022

The White House this week made clear it plans to be involved in Columbia River salmon recovery, saying it has engaged mediators to facilitate “public policy dialogue” with governments and stakeholders.

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With Continuing Drought In Southern Idaho, Full Amount Of BiOp Level Flow Augmentation For Columbia/Snake River Migrating Salmon Unlikely

March 17th, 2022

Due to continuing severe drought conditions in southern Idaho, the Bureau of Reclamation said it is unlikely it can provide this year a biological opinion level of flow augmentation from the upper Snake River basin to aid migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead in the lower Snake River.

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Parties Put Salmon/Steelhead BiOp Litigation On Hold, Commit To Working Together To Find ‘Comprehensive, Long-Term Solution’

October 22nd, 2021

Plaintiffs in the challenge to the Columbia/Snake River biological opinion for salmon and steelhead filed this week an unopposed stay in federal court that effectively puts the litigation on hold while all the parties search for comprehensive salmon recovery solutions.

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Feds Seek To Dismiss Irrigators’ Claims In Salmon BiOp Case; Irrigators Challenge, Saying ‘Interests Directly Affected’

June 11th, 2021

Defendants in the latest challenge to the Columbia/Snake River biological opinion for salmon and steelhead and final environmental impact statement have questioned the cross-claims of the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association, saying the irrigators lack jurisdiction.

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Judge Sets Timeline For Challenge To Columbia River Salmon/Steelhead EIS/BIOP; Could Extend Well Into 2022

April 16th, 2021

A federal judge in Oregon has set a schedule for future litigation proceedings in the eighth challenge since 2001 to the federal biological opinion for threatened and endangered Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead. Activity begins this month and extends out to at least August 2022 when final summary judgement briefs are due to the court.

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USFWS BiOp For Listed Bull Trout, Kootenai River Sturgeon Included In Columbia/Snake EIS Details Needed Conservation Measures

August 18th, 2020

When the Columbia River System Operators released the 2020 final environmental impact statement for the Columbia River power system’s impacts on salmon and steelhead in late July, tucked into the document were two biological opinions.

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New Federal EIS, BiOp For Columbia/Snake Hydro System Distinct From Recovery Plans; Broader Regional Actions Needed To De-List Salmon, Steelhead

August 6th, 2020

Tucked into the Columbia River System Operators’ final environmental impact statement for the Columbia River power system’s impacts on salmon and steelhead that was released late last week is a more than 1,600 page biological opinion from NOAA Fisheries.

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USFWS Starts Status Review Of ESA-Listed Columbia Basin Bull Trout As Updated BiOp Expected This Summer

March 26th, 2020

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the initiation of five-year status reviews for 129 species in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, California, and Nevada under the Endangered Species Act, including threatened Columbia River basin bull trout.

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Federal Agencies Release Draft EIS For Columbia/Snake River Dams; Rejects Breaching Lower Snake Dams

February 28th, 2020

Dam operating agencies released for public review this morning a long-awaited draft environmental impact statement that describes the impacts of 14 federal Columbia and Snake river dams on salmon, steelhead and lamprey.

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Diverse Group Calls For Northwest Governors To ‘Foster New Dialogue’ On Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery

February 26th, 2020

A diverse group of river users, utilities and environmentalists is calling on Northwest governors to lead the way to find collaborative solutions to recover Columbia/Snake River Basin salmon and steelhead populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

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NOAA BiOp Says Proposed Natural Gas Terminal/Pipeline In Oregon Will Not Jeopardize ESA Species

January 16th, 2020

NOAA Fisheries has issued a final biological opinion on construction and operation of the Jordan Cove terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the associated 229-mile long Pacific Connector Liquid Natural Gas pipeline that determines the proposed action does not jeopardize protected species or adversely modify their critical habitat.

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NOAA Says Corps’ Draft Proposal On Managing Willamette Dams/Reservoirs Likely To Jeopardize Salmon, Steelhead

November 21st, 2019

The way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to operate its Willamette River dams would likely jeopardize chinook and steelhead in the river, according to NOAA Fisheries. Both species are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

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Lawsuit Challenges Corps/NOAA Approvals Of Columbia River Methanol Refinery; Says Threat To Listed Salmon, Orcas

November 14th, 2019

A lawsuit by environmental and public health groups that challenges approvals for a methanol refinery in Kalama, Wash. by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries was filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma.

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NOAA Fisheries Issues BiOps For California Central Valley Water Projects; Includes Measures ($1.5 Billion) To Protect Salmonids, Sturgeon, Orcas

October 24th, 2019

NOAA Fisheries this week published biological opinions for the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, which evaluate impacts on Endangered Species Act-listed salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, and orcas.

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Yakama Nation, Lummi Nation Call For Removal Of Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day Dams; Say Built Without Tribal Consent

October 16th, 2019

This week in a public announcement at their ancient fishing grounds at the former Celilo Falls, the Yakama Nation, with support of the Lummi Nation from northern Washington, demanded the removal of three lower Columbia River hydroelectric dams.

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Biological Opinions

Corps Begins Willamette Basin NEPA/EIS Process To Determine Dams’ Impacts On Wild Steelhead, Chinook

April 6th, 2019

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.

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Court Hears Arguments For Immediate Changes At Willamette Dams To Aid ESA-Listed Salmonids

April 6th, 2019

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.

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NOAA Releases New 2019 BiOp For Columbia Basin Salmon/Steelhead; Includes Flexible Spill

April 2nd, 2019

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.

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Biological Opinions

Snake River Runoff Allows River Managers To Maintain Flows For Salmon Redds Below Bonneville Dam

March 26th, 2019

After a colder than average February and with snow piling up at low elevations in the Snake River basin, a sunny and warm early March is resulting in runoff from the basin that is sufficiently supplementing flows lower in the Columbia River that will keep water over several hundred chum redds (nests) downstream of Bonneville Dam.

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Biological Opinions

Proposed Amendments To Basin Fish/Wildlife Program Stress Reintroducing Salmon Above Blocked Areas

March 15th, 2019

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.

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Report On 2018 BPA Fish/Wildlife Costs Released For Comment; $16.8 Billion Since 1981

March 15th, 2019

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.

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New BPA VP Of Environment, Fish And Wildlife Addresses Council On Fish And Wildlife Issues

March 15th, 2019

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.

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Options Discussed In Maintaining Flows For Chum Redds With Below Average Upper Basin Water Supply

March 8th, 2019

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.

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NOAA Fisheries Issues BiOp Addressing Passage For Protected Salmon At Green River Dam; Help Orcas

February 22nd, 2019

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.

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NW Power/Conservation Council Hears Details On Flexible Spill Agreement To Aid Juvenile Salmonids

February 15th, 2019

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.

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Biological Opinions

EPA Withdraws Draft Water Quality Permits Sought From Washington Ecology For Columbia/Snake Dams

February 8th, 2019

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.

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Washington Ecology’s Draft EIS Raises Gas Cap To Allow More Spill For Fish At Columbia/Snake Dams

February 1st, 2019

A flexible spill agreement signed in December by federal agencies, states and a tribe promises additional spring spill to total dissolved gas limits, known as gas caps, beginning this spring at Columbia and Snake river dams. The additional spill is thought to aid juvenile salmon passage.

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Not Clear What Government Shutdown Might Mean For Council’s F&W Program Amendment Process Schedule

January 18th, 2019

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.

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Latest Numbers Show Cuts To BPA Fish and Wildlife Spending At $6.3 Million

January 18th, 2019

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.

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Following Presidential Directive, Feds Shorten Columbia/Snake Hydrosystem EIS Schedule By One Year

January 11th, 2019

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.

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River Operations in Review: Environmental Factors Make Spilling To Gas Cap Tricky Business

January 11th, 2019

Every day, between April 3 and June 20 last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to determine what amount of spill would bring the lower Snake and Columbia rivers up to state-mandated total dissolved gas limits while not exceeding those limits.

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Parties Sign Agreement On Flexible Spill For Fish Passage At Columbia/Snake Dams

December 21st, 2018

An agreement signed this week by federal agencies, states and a tribe promises additional spring spill next year at Columbia and Snake river dams to aid juvenile salmon passage, but how the spill is conducted will be by agreement among six parties and not by court order, as it was in spring 2018.

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Biological Opinions

Council Receives Proposed Amendments To Basin Fish And Wildlife Program, Comments Due Feb. 4

December 21st, 2018

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.

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Groups Ask Court To Order Immediate Changes At Willamette Dams To Benefit Salmon, Steelhead

December 4th, 2018

Four conservation groups filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Portland Friday (Nov. 30) asking the court to compel the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make immediate operational changes at Willamette River basin dams to aid threatened salmon and steelhead.

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River Managers Reduce Downstream Bonneville Dam Flows For Spawning Chum Salmon

November 21st, 2018

An anticipated lower than average rainfall in the Columbia River basin led the interagency Technical Management Team to reduce the tailwater elevation requirement put in place to protect spawning chum salmon downstream of Bonneville Dam by 0.2 feet.

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Orca Recovery Task Force Recommendations Include Considering Removal Of Lower Snake Dams

November 21st, 2018

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery Task Force delivered last week its final list of ways to help the whales in Puget Sound recover and one of those recommendations is to consider the benefits to chinook salmon of removing lower Snake River dams.

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Administration Memo Cuts Basin Salmon BiOp Schedule By One Year, Trims Regs For Water Projects

October 26th, 2018

A Presidential memorandum released Friday, October 19, directs federal agencies to reduce regulations at West Coast dams, including water projects in California, the Klamath River and federal dams in the Columbia River basin.

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Feds, Tribes, States Sign Extended Columbia Basin Fish Accords; $400 Million For Fish/Wildlife

October 26th, 2018

The Bonneville Power Administration, along with its partners in a new Columbia Basin Fish Accords, signed an agreement this month that for the most part extends the previous 2008 Accords it signed 10 years ago and that expired September 30, out to 2022.

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Sea Lions At Bonneville Dam Took Summer Break Then Returned To Feast On Fall Chinook

October 26th, 2018

Steller sea lions took a one-month break from feasting on salmon and steelhead at Bonneville Dam. The last sea lion, a Steller, at Bonneville Dam, was seen June 24, but as the fall run of chinook salmon returned, sea lions were once again seen at the dam, according to a recent report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Groups Issue Notice To Sue Over Steelhead Fishing In Idaho; Say Harming Wild Summer Steelhead

October 12th, 2018

Five environmental groups sent to the Idaho Governor and Idaho fisheries agencies a 60-day notice that they intend to sue, alleging that Idaho is illegally allowing recreational angling for summer steelhead, particularly for the larger wild B-run steelhead. Snake River wild summer steelhead were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1997.

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Draft Columbia Basin Fish Accords Extension Out For Review; Less Expensive, Shorter Duration

September 14th, 2018

The Bonneville Power Administration and most parties to the previous 10 years of the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords have come to a tentative agreement to extend the Accords beyond Sept. 30, the ending date of the first Accords.

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Lower Granite Water Remains Cool; Snake River Sockeye Run Nearly Complete At 272 Fish

August 24th, 2018

Despite continuing high temperatures over the Columbia River basin and in the Clearwater and Snake river basins, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has managed to keep the tailwater temperature at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake under the 68 degree Fahrenheit limit set by the 2014 salmon/steelhead biological opinion for the federal power system.

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Report Summarizes Tribes’ Work, Results From 10 Years Of Columbia River Fish Accords

August 17th, 2018

A program that has consumed an average of 18 percent of the Bonneville Power Administration’s fish and wildlife budget each year and has cost the agency over $560 million over its 10-year life is coming to end, although it may be extended.

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BPA Briefs NW Power/Conservation Council On The Spring Spill Surcharge Numbers

August 17th, 2018

In each of its rate cases a component that makes up Bonneville Power Administration’s costs is the amount of water it has to spill to aid threatened and endangered juvenile fish passage at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

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River Managers Opt To Save Cool Dworshak Water For Upcoming Salmon/Steelhead Migration

August 10th, 2018

With air temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week in the Clearwater and Snake river basin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Monday increased flows of cold water from Dworshak Dam from about 10,000 cubic feet per second to 13 kcfs.

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Corps Holding Public Meetings On Detroit Dam Temperature Control, Fish Passage

August 10th, 2018

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding public information meetings to give overviews of alternatives for temperature control and construction, fish collection options and potential staging areas for the fish passage and temperature control project at Detroit Dam and Lake.

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Court-Ordered Spill Completed In June; Corps Sends Judge Last Of Three Reports Detailing Operations

July 27th, 2018

Flow and spill in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers during June dropped below the involuntary spill levels seen in May at four lower Snake River and four Columbia River dams, according to a third and last spill report on court-ordered spring spill that covers the month of June.

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Tripped Generators At Dworshak Temporarily Interrupts Water Releases Cooling Clearwater, Lower Snake

July 27th, 2018

All three generators at Dworshak Dam tripped off Tuesday, July 24, at 11 a.m. and, although one generator, Unit No. 1, the largest of the dam’s generators, was back online within a couple of hours, the other two were not restored until 10 p.m. Tuesday night, according to Alfredo Rodriguez of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Walla Walla District.

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Corps Releases Analysis Of Public Comments For Detroit Dam Fish Passage Project Driven By BiOP

July 20th, 2018

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published its analysis of the public comments received during the scoping process for the Detroit Dam project intended to provide downstream passage for juvenile Willamette River chinook salmon and colder water for migrating salmon downstream of the dam in the North Santiam River.

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Council Releases Report To Governors Detailing BPA Fish/Wildlife Costs For FY 2017

July 20th, 2018

The cost of federally funded fish and wildlife programs in the Columbia River Basin totaled $450.4 million in fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016 – Sept. 30, 2017), according to the annual report released last week by the Northwest Planning and Conservation Council to Northwest governors.

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With Temps Rising, Corps Cools Snake River With Dworshak Water To Aid Endangered Snake River Sockeye

July 13th, 2018

Cool water from Dworshak Dam on Idaho’s North Fork Clearwater River is keeping tailwater temperatures at Lower Granite Dam cool as air temperatures in the lower Snake River rise into the 90s. The water is released to ensure that adult Snake River sockeye salmon, listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, have a cool passage upstream.

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Council F&W Committee Talks Policy About BPA Project Funding Cuts, Columbia Basin Fish Accords

July 13th, 2018

Looking for a 10 percent cut in Bonneville Power Administration fish and wildlife funding and with an extension of the Columbia Basin Fish Accords still uncertain, one member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week says he would like to see a closer coordination between the Council and Bonneville in determining priorities, especially with the Accords.

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Corps’ Second Spill Report To Court Details Impacts Of High Flows, Involuntary Spill In May

June 29th, 2018

Flows in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers during May were well above average and so was spill and levels of total dissolved gas in the tailwaters of dams, as well as in dams’ forebays, according to a second report on court-ordered spill.

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Groups Amend Court Filing In Effort To End Hatchery Releases In North, South Santiam Rivers

June 29th, 2018

Willamette Riverkeeper and the Conservation Angler filed a second amended complaint in U.S. District Court that asks the court, among other things, to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop releasing hatchery produced summer steelhead and rainbow trout into the North and South Santiam rivers. The complaint was filed in the Eugene Division of the District Court June 20, 2018.

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New Water Chemistry Strategies By IDFG Increase Survival Of Snake River Sockeye Smolts

June 15th, 2018

A NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center report on juvenile salmon released last year found that survival of juvenile sockeye salmon – both hatchery and wild – from Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River to Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was just 17.6 percent, the fourth lowest survival estimate from 1998 to 2017.

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Biological Opinions

Bonneville Power Looking At Spending Reductions In Columbia Basin Fish/Wildlife Spending

June 15th, 2018

The Columbia River basin fish and wildlife budget funded by the Bonneville Power Administration will likely see as much as a 10 percent cut in fiscal year 2019, according to Bryan Mercier, executive director of BPA’s fish and wildlife division.

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House OKs Bill Requiring Columbia/Snake Federal Hydro System To Operate Under 2014 BiOp Until 2022

April 27th, 2018

The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday approved a bill that would until at least 2022 require congressional authorization for any structural modification or action -- including court-ordered spill for fish -- at Columbia/Snake river federal dams that would restrict power generation or navigation.

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Judge Lifts Requirement For Feds To Produce New Salmon/Steelhead BiOp In 2018; Offers Flexibility

April 20th, 2018

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon this week lifted the requirement that NOAA Fisheries must complete its next iteration of a salmon/steelhead biological opinion for the federal Columbia River power system by December 31, 2018.

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Biological Opinions

Report Reviews Columbia Habitat And Monitoring Program,‘CHaMP,’ Required By BiOp

April 20th, 2018

A review of a program that grew from NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 salmon/steelhead biological opinion of the Columbia River federal power system found a number of limitations that impede efforts to accurately describe tributary habitat conditions and identify limiting factors.

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House Committee Passes Bill Requiring Congressional Authorization For Certain Changes At Dams

April 13th, 2018

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee this week passed a bill that would require congressional authorization for any structural modification or action at Columbia/Snake river federal dams that would restrict power generation or navigation.

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Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of More Spill For Juvenile Salmon, Steelhead At Columbia/Snake Dams

April 6th, 2018

A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled this week in favor of an Oregon U.S. District Court injunction ordering more spill at eight lower Snake and Columbia river dams intended to benefit migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead.

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Conservation Groups Sue Federal Agencies Over ESA-Listed Willamette Salmon, Steelhead

March 16th, 2018

A coalition of conservation groups this week filed a long-promised lawsuit against federal agencies for what the groups say is a failure to protect and recover threatened upper Willamette River chinook salmon and winter steelhead.

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Lawsuit Seeks Consultations On Water Diversions In Sawtooth Valley

February 16th, 2018

It’s been sixteen years since the U.S. Forest Service in a biological assessment of 23 water diversions in the Sawtooth Valley found the diversions “likely to adversely affect” listed salmon, steelhead and bull trout in the valley, but the Service has yet to complete consultations with the agencies overseeing the fish.

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Feds, Others File Reply Briefs In Ninth Circuit Over Judge’s More Spill For Fish Order

February 2nd, 2018

Defendants in a district court case that resulted in injunctive relief ordering more spring spill at eight lower Snake and Columbia river dams said in reply briefs before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the current biological opinion covering dam operations on the rivers is improving survival of salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, not causing the irreparable harm that would be needed to warrant an injunction.

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Salmon BiOp Challengers Argue New 2018 BiOp Due End Of Year Would Be Illegal Without EIS Foundation

January 26th, 2018

Plaintiffs in a case before the US District Court of Oregon that resulted in a remand of NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 biological opinion for Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead are now arguing that the schedule for the remand should be changed.

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Council Mulling Issues Likely To Arise During Coming Update Of Basin Fish And Wildlife Program

January 19th, 2018

Anticipating issues that could be included in a nearly year-long process to update its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Fish and Wildlife Committee at its meeting last week in Portland began to consider what might become important issues during that effort.

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Plaintiffs In Spill For Fish Case File Reply Briefs In Ninth Circuit; Oral Arguments In March

January 12th, 2018

When it ordered more spring spill at eight lower Snake and Columbia river dams for 2018, the U.S. District Court of Oregon was acting well within its discretion, according to plaintiffs who brought the case to the court last January.

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River Ops Review 2017: Kootenai Sturgeon Respond To Libby Dam Water Pulses, Habitat Work

December 22nd, 2017

Higher flows, a double pulse of spring water and a long-term habitat project in the Kootenai River resulted this year in a 20 percent increase in sturgeon moving upstream of Bonners Ferry to spawn, according to a review last week of 2017 operations to aid white sturgeon and bull trout downstream of Libby Dam.

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Briefs Filed In Appeals Court To Expedite Challenge To Increased Spill For Juvenile Salmon,Steelhead

December 8th, 2017

Federal defendants filed opening briefs in late October in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite a reversal of an April 3 U.S. District Court of Oregon injunction that called for earlier spill in 2018 to aid juvenile fish passage and monitoring at federal dams.

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Agencies Outline NEPA/EIS Progress Evaluating Columbia/Snake River Uses, Improvements For Fish

December 8th, 2017

Federal agencies that operate fourteen Columbia/Snake River dams described this week their progress one year into a five-year National Environmental Policy Act process required by a court-ordered rewrite of the biological opinion for protected salmon and steelhead.

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Corps Seeking Public Input On Detroit Dam Fish Passage, Temperature Control Scoping Process

December 8th, 2017

As it studies how to provide downstream passage and temperature control for juvenile fish at Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River in Oregon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold two open house-style meetings to get public input.

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Judge Floats Idea Of Suspending Work On 2018 BiOp For Salmon/Steelhead Due To Lack Of Completed EIS

December 1st, 2017

A five-year federal review of the Columbia/Snake River power system will not produce a finished environmental impact statement until 2021. That has U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon asking whether a new biological opinion for salmon and steelhead, scheduled for 2018, should simply be suspended until the EIS is completed.

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Columbia River Harvest: US V. Oregon EIS Completed, Preferred Alternative Extends Current Agreement

December 1st, 2017

NOAA Fisheries completed an environmental review of potential options that will guide the final agreement for managing salmon and steelhead fisheries in the Columbia River Basin for the next ten years.

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Federal Agencies Update Court On NEPA, EIS Process For Columbia/Snake Salmon, Steelhead

November 3rd, 2017

Saying that the five-year timeline to complete a National Environmental Policy Act process for the federal Columbia River power system’s impact on salmon and steelhead is aggressive, federal agencies this week also said they would continue to target completion of the process -- which includes an environmental impact statement -- with a record of decision by September 24, 2021.

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Irrigators Say Not ‘Re-Litigating,’ Want Court To Hear Info On Barging Fish During Low, Warm Flow

October 27th, 2017

Irrigators in eastern Washington denied wanting to re-litigate a federal court’s April 2017 decision calling for more spill for fish at Columbia/Snake river federal dams. Instead, they said in a reply brief filed last week that they want to present to the court new information about barging juvenile fish in low-flow and high temperature conditions.

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Council Hears A USFWS Review Of Libby Dam Operations For Sturgeon, Bull Trout

October 27th, 2017

Since white sturgeon in Montana’s Kootenai River was listed as endangered in 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed several iterations of biological opinions and critical habitat designations for the freshwater fish.

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Briefs Filed Opposing Irrigators’ Request For Juvenile Salmon Transportation/Spill Hearing

October 20th, 2017

Plaintiffs in the challenge to the biological opinion for Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead -- the state of Oregon and National Wildlife Federation – along with federal defendants last week filed briefs in U.S. district court opposing a petition by eastern Washington irrigators to convene an evidentiary hearing on spill and transportation for juvenile fish.

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Draft Annual Salmon Survival Study Considers Impacts Of Lower Snake Dam Breaching, More Spill

October 6th, 2017

An annual study that looks at salmonid survival through Snake and Columbia river dams for the first time evaluated juvenile fish survival in the Snake River with and without the presence of the four lower dams on the river, as well as the impact on survival if spill is increased, as it may beginning next year.

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Irrigators Seek Hearing In Federal Court On Spill/Transportation Protocol In Low Water 2015

October 6th, 2017

Irrigators in eastern Washington are blaming fisheries managers for choosing spill over transportation during the spring juvenile migration in 2015, a choice they allege resulted in the loss of 65 percent of the wild spring chinook adults returning to the Snake River this year.

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Council Updated On Assessing Stock, Habitat For Potential Salmonid Reintroduction Above Grand Coulee

September 22nd, 2017

To bring salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River above Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams researchers continue to search for the best hatchery stock and suitable habitat.

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Fall Creek Dam (Mid-Willamette) Gets New Fish Collection Facility To Meet BiOp Requirements

September 22nd, 2017

Construction crews are rebuilding Fall Creek Dam’s Adult Fish Collection Facility southeast of Eugene, Oregon. When complete, says the Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District, the facility will support efforts to meet requirements of the 2008 Willamette Project biological opinions, issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, says the Corps’ Portland District.

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Eagle Creek Fire Forces Early Release Of Juvenile Fish At Bonneville Hatchery

September 8th, 2017

A fouled water supply caused by the Eagle Creek fire near Bonneville Dam and three Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatcheries in the Columbia River Gorge has forced the state agency to release some tule fall chinook six months early, as well as other chinook from four ponds, which were to be released next month. The total early release amounts to about 600,000 juveniles.

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Volatile Power Market Could Bring Budget Uncertainties To BPA-Funded Basin Fish And Wildlife Program

September 8th, 2017

For the next two years the budget for the largest fish and wildlife program in the United States will remain at levels seen over the last several years, but that’s only if the Bonneville Power Administration is able to manage a number of uncertainties, including the price of its power on the wide open West Coast power market.

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Fish Managers: Low Steelhead Returns Likely Result Of 2015 Juvenile Fish Hitting Warm Ocean

September 1st, 2017

Although the summer has been hot, state fisheries managers have not seen the die-off of salmon and sturgeon this year that was experienced during the low flow and warm water conditions of 2015. Still, 2015 conditions likely had a big impact on current adult salmon and steelhead returns.

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As Hot Weather Continues, Lower Granite Tailwater Temperatures Still Holding Under 68 Degrees

September 1st, 2017

Hot weather is continuing in the lower Snake and Clearwater river basins but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing to keep dissolved gas issues at bay as well keep the tailwater temperature at Lower Granite Dam under the 68 degree Fahrenheit threshold required by a biological opinion for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia/Snake river hydro system.

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Coming Heat Wave Has River Managers Increasing Cold Clearwater Water Into Lower Granite Reservoir

August 25th, 2017

With a heat wave arriving this weekend and next week around Lewiston, Idaho, the interagency Technical Management Team this week increased the amount of cold water released from Dworshak Dam in order to maintain cooler water at Lower Granite Dam.

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Group Issues White Paper On 2015 Hot Water Year For Sockeye As Region Grapples With BiOp, Spill

August 25th, 2017

A white paper produced by Columbia Riverkeeper that used computer simulations says that if the four lower Snake River dams had not been in place in 2015, river water would have naturally remained cool enough for the sockeye salmon migrating in the river that year to have successfully completed their journey to their spawning grounds in the Sawtooth Basin in Idaho.

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Due To Low Numbers Of Estuary Cormorants Showing Nesting Activity, Culling Remains Suspended

August 11th, 2017

As many as 19,000 double-breasted and pelagic cormorants are hanging out at East Sand Island, a tiny dredge spoil island in the lower Columbia River estuary, as of the end of July. Some are mating but only about 500 are exhibiting nesting behaviors, far fewer at this time of year than is normal.

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Actions Continue To Aid Snake River Sockeye: Removing Spillway Weirs, Increasing Dworshak Flows

July 14th, 2017

Water temperatures in the Lower Granite Dam tailrace have been hovering around 68 degrees Fahrenheit and river and salmon managers took steps this week to hold the temperature at or below the 68 F threshold to protect migrating endangered adult sockeye salmon.

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Corps Begins Cool Water Discharges For Returning Snake River Sockeye; Dam Passage Below Average

July 7th, 2017

In what has become an annual summer operation in the lower Snake River to protect endangered Snake River sockeye migrating upstream beginning in July, the interagency Technical Management Team Wednesday, July 5, agreed to increase the amount of cold water released from Dworshak Dam from 8,800 cubic feet per second to 10 kcfs.

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Litigants In Salmon BiOp Case Working Together To Develop Court-Ordered Spill-For-Fish Plan In 2018

June 23rd, 2017

Federal dam operating agencies and advocates for more spill for fish are making progress on devising a 2018 spill plan at federal dams on the lower Snake and lower Columbia rivers, according to a status review submitted to U.S. District Court of Oregon last week.

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Willamette BiOp For Fish: Four Subbasins Focus Of Corps’ Salmon Reintroduction Programs Above Dams

June 16th, 2017

Work to satisfy the requirements of the Willamette River biological opinion to protect fish is progressing on at least two fronts, according to information given this week at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s meeting in Corvallis, June 14.

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With Cormorant Nesting On East Sand Island Stalled, Boat-Based Shooting Of Birds Suspended

June 16th, 2017

After resuming culling of double-crested cormorants in the lower Columbia River estuary on April 11 for the first time this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s contractor abruptly stopped the boat-based shooting of the birds April 27 after evidence the birds weren’t nesting on East Sand Island.

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With Dworshak Maintenance Schedule Uncertain,Plans Made For Providing Cool Water (Spill) For Sockeye

June 9th, 2017

With Dworshak Dam’s largest generating unit out of service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to spill water this summer at the dam when it will need to provide the reservoir’s cold water to cool the lower Snake River at Lower Granite Dam.

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Groups Sue Corps Over Upper Willamette Summer-Run Steelhead Hatchery Releases; Says Harm Wild Fish

June 9th, 2017

Two environmental organizations that threatened in March to sue federal fisheries managers over releases of hatchery produced summer run steelhead in the upper Willamette River made good on their intent in late May.

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Federal Agencies Give Notice Of Possible Appeal Of Court Ruling Providing Earlier Spill For Fish

June 9th, 2017

Defendants gave notice in the U.S. District Court of Oregon that they are appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals an April 3rd order to provide earlier spill for juvenile fish passage beginning next spring at lower Snake and Columbia river dams.

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River Managers To Boost Flows From Libby Dam To Aid Kootenai River White Sturgeon Spawning

May 12th, 2017

Flows from Libby Dam will spike next week to benefit wild Kootenai River white sturgeon, but this year river operators will increase flows twice – once to encourage the sturgeon to move upriver into spawning grounds and a second time to trigger further movement upstream and spawning.

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New Federal Requirements Changes Columbia River Steelhead Production In Washington Hatcheries

May 12th, 2017

Anglers who fish for steelhead in five tributaries of the lower Columbia River can expect to see some changes in those fisheries as a result of new federal requirements for state hatchery production recently issued by NOAA-Fisheries.

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Report Reviews Libby, Hungry Horse Dam Operations, Recommends Improvements

May 5th, 2017

A recently released report from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in consultation with the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes, states that further adjustments are needed for discharge and refill protocols at Libby and Hungry Horse dams in Northwest Montana.

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Court Order Requires Earlier Spill For Salmon In 2018; Orders Design Study, Monitoring

April 7th, 2017

Under court order, the operators of eight federal dams on the lower Snake and lower Columbia rivers will begin to spill water for fish earlier next year, beginning April 3, to possibly improve survival rates for juvenile salmon and steelhead through the hydroelectric system.

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Groups Intend To Challenge Summer Steelhead Hatchery Program For Willamette, Santiam Rivers

March 17th, 2017

Two conservation groups intend to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, seeking to force the Corps to begin an Endangered Species Act consultation with NOAA Fisheries over the Corps’ hatchery summer steelhead program in Oregon’s Willamette and Santiam rivers.

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Judge Considering Ordering More Spill For Fish In 2018 With Study Design To Test Benefits

March 10th, 2017

The federal court judge who rejected last May the Columbia River hydropower system’s 2014 biological opinion for salmon and steelhead is leaning towards ordering more spring/summer spill at mainstem dams aimed at aiding juvenile fish passage-- but not until 2018.

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Federal Agencies Release Evaluation On Progress Toward BiOp Salmon/Steelhead Requirements

March 10th, 2017

Federal dam operating agencies released last week an annual evaluation of progress toward meeting the conservation requirements of the federal power system’s 2008 biological opinion and the 2014 supplemental BiOp for Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead.

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Agencies Receive Over 250,000 Comments On Scoping For Upcoming EIS On Columbia/Snake Hydro System

March 3rd, 2017

Three federal agencies managing Columbia/Snake river mainstem dams closed last month the publics’ initial opportunity to comment on the court-ordered “Columbia River System Operations” environmental impact statement for endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead.

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Federal Judge Grants Injunction Requiring More Flows In Klamath Basin To Combat Salmon Parasite

February 10th, 2017

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction that will require the Bureau of Reclamation and the Klamath Project to provide additional flows for flushing out a parasite that has been harmful to protected salmon in the Klamath River Basin.

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NOAA Kicks Off Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force: Can Salmon Recovery Efforts Be Integrated?

January 27th, 2017

An all-inclusive region-wide effort to connect various salmon recovery efforts was set in motion by NOAA Fisheries this week as it held its first Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force meeting.

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BPA Discusses Cost Of NEPA For Columbia River Power System With Cost-Savings Work Group

January 27th, 2017

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council Fish and Wildlife Committee approved the release of a white sturgeon request for information at its meeting in Portland January 10. The $300,000 projected cost for the RFI came from cost-savings from projects associated with the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.

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Conservation Groups, Oregon, Nez Perce File To Stop Capital Projects At Lower Snake River Dams

January 19th, 2017

Conservation groups, the state of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe are pleading their case before the U.S. District Court of Oregon to stop eleven capital projects at the four lower Snake River dams until the three federal agencies that operate the dams complete a National Environmental Policy Act review that could call for removing the dams.

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NOAA Completes BiOp For Mitchell Act Hatcheries, Proposes Reduction In Fall Chinook Releases

January 19th, 2017

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region has completed a biological opinion of hatcheries funded under the Mitchell Act, potentially freeing the federal agency to make payments to operators of those hatcheries.

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Comment Period Extended For Feds’ Scoping On New EIS For Columbia/Snake River Hydro System

January 6th, 2017

After recording comments at 15 public scoping meetings, three federal agencies operating Columbia and Snake river dams are giving the public an additional three weeks to comment on the court-ordered Columbia River System Operations environmental impact statement for salmon and steelhead.

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Council Approves Master Plan For Snake River Steelhead Kelt Reconditioning At Nez Perce Hatchery

December 23rd, 2016

A facility at the Nez Perce Hatchery on the Clearwater River in Idaho that will recondition spawned Snake River steelhead, known as kelts, was given the go-ahead by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council at its Portland meeting December 14.

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Year-End Assessment Matches 2016 Water Supply, Stream Flow, Fish Conditions With Juvenile Migration

December 23rd, 2016

Flow objectives were generally met this spring but not this summer as juvenile salmon, steelhead and lamprey migrated through the mid- Columbia and Snake Rivers, but the timing of the migration was early due to an early runoff and most fish had passed collection facilities before barging began.

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Scoping Meetings On Basin Salmon/Steelhead EIS End; Next Step Developing Alternatives For Evaluation

December 16th, 2016

Federal agencies operating Columbia/Snake river dams and reservoirs on Thursday in Astoria completed the last of their sixteen regional “scoping” meetings which solicited public views regarding a court-ordered environmental impact statement for salmon and steelhead.

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Washington, Oregon Fish/Wildlife Commissions On Parallel Course With Columbia River Harvest Reform

December 9th, 2016

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will review three options on how to continue or modify the two-state harvest reform policy for Columbia River salmon and steelhead at its meeting this weekend, December 9 and 10, in Olympia.

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Irrigators Petition Trump Transition Team For ‘God Squad’ Intervention In Salmon BiOp Remand

December 2nd, 2016

Expecting a more positive reception than it received two years ago, the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association in Kennewick, Washington, petitioned the Trump transition team to convene the Endangered Species Act Committee, also known as the “God Squad,” for a “reconsultation” of the Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion for salmon and steelhead.

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Nez Perce Tribe Seeking Next Step For Steelhead Kelt Facility To Capture, Recondition Spawned Fish

December 2nd, 2016

The Nez Perce Tribe proposes to capture and recondition spawned steelhead in the Snake River to increase the steelhead return rate from 0.4 percent to at least 6 percent to meet a federal biological opinion reasonable and prudent alternative.

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Are Lower Columbia River Harvest Reforms (The Kitzhaber Plan) Working? Oregon Considers Next Steps

November 18th, 2016

Lower Columbia River gillnetters told the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission last week that fishery harvest reforms initiated in 2013 are not working economically, while salmon and steelhead anglers accused the commission of vacating its promise to get gillnetters off the river.

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Cormorant Culling From Boats Resumes In Lower Columbia Estuary, Will Continue Through October

October 14th, 2016

Culling of double-crested cormorants near East Sand Island, a tiny island built from dredged materials in the lower Columbia River estuary, resumed October 3, after more than four months of inactivity and will continue through this month, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Biological Opinions

NOAA Fisheries, In Court Status Report, Says Mitchell Act Hatchery BiOps To Be Completed By January

October 14th, 2016

Attorneys for NOAA Fisheries filed a status report last week in federal court outlining the fisheries agency’s progress towards completing biological opinions and incidental take statements for 10 Northwest hatcheries funded under the Mitchell Act.

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Agencies Seek Public ‘Scoping’ Comments For EIS Related To New Basin Salmon/Steelhead Recovery Plan

October 7th, 2016

The three agencies that operate 14 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin are seeking comments on the scope of what they should consider when preparing an environmental impact statement of the Federal Columbia River Power System.

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PGE Moves To Dismiss Deschutes River Water Quality Lawsuit, Says Only FERC Has Jurisdiction

October 7th, 2016

Saying that the U.S. District Court lacks “subject matter jurisdiction to resolve this suit,” Portland General Electric filed last Friday in the court to dismiss a suit filed in August by the Deschutes River Alliance that claimed the utility is not in compliance with its clean water responsibilities.

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NOAA Releases 2015 Sockeye Salmon Passage Report; Council Hears Better News About 2016 Sockeye

September 16th, 2016

In 2015, low flow conditions, coupled with high air temperatures and warm water in the Snake and Columbia rivers and their tributaries from mid-June to mid-July, resulted in the highest mainstem water temperatures recorded in the Columbia River Basin, making survival of the basin’s sockeye salmon a constant source of concern.

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Portland General Lays Out Several Defenses It Might Use In Deschutes River/Clean Water Act Lawsuit

September 16th, 2016

In a court filing responding to a lawsuit by the Deschutes River Alliance over alleged Clean Water Act violations, Portland General Electric suggested to the U.S. District Court that it should dismiss the case.

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Court Allows Continued Culling Of Cormorants In Columbia Estuary To Reduce Predation On Salmonids

September 9th, 2016

U.S. District Court of Oregon Judge Michael H. Simon will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue culling double-crested cormorants, as well as oiling the birds’ eggs and destroying nests on East Sand Island in the lower Columbia River estuary.

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NOAA Fisheries Stipulates No Mitchell Act Funds For 10 Hatcheries Until Hatchery BiOp Completed

September 9th, 2016

NOAA Fisheries and the Wild Fish Conservancy have stipulated that the agency will not disburse Mitchell Act funds to 10 Northwest hatcheries until the federal agency has completed its hatchery biological opinion and incidental take statements for the disbursements.

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Cooler Water Continues To Flow In Lower Snake River; Fish Ladder Cooling Now Also At Little Goose

August 26th, 2016

Water in Lower Granite Dam’s tailwater continues to run several degrees cooler than the 68 degrees Fahrenheit upper temperature limit set by NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 biological opinion for Columbia/Snake salmon and steelhead, and the result has been improved passage for sockeye salmon.

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With Cooler Weather, Snake River Sockeye Showing Decent Numbers Reaching Lower Granite, Sawtooths

August 12th, 2016

Trapping and hauling listed sockeye will not be necessary this year due to cooler air and water temperatures in the lower Snake River, according to a briefing of Snake River conditions and operations at this week’s Northwest Power and Conservation Council meeting.

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Biological Opinions

Judge Gives Feds Nearly Five Years To Complete NEPA Process For New Basin Salmon/Steelhead Recovery

July 15th, 2016

The federal judge presiding over the rewriting of the recovery plan for thirteen species of Columbia River salmon and steelhead says a thorough National Environmental Policy Act review is more important than the shortened remand schedule proposed by the litigation’s plaintiffs.

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Study Analyzes Survival Tests For Young Salmon/Steelhead Moving Downriver Through Columbia/Snake Dam

July 15th, 2016

Results of survival tests for young salmon and steelhead that migrate to the ocean through six Federal Columbia River Power System dams all generally exceeded the survival requirements of NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 FCRPS biological opinion for Columbia River salmon and steelhead, according to a recent study.

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Biological Opinions

Steps Taken To Cool Warming Lower Snake, Reduce Thermal Blocks During Large Basin Sockeye Return

July 1st, 2016

As a larger than predicted run of sockeye salmon head up the Columbia and Snake rivers – some 400,000 fish -- the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took steps this week to cool water in the lower Snake River.

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Biological Opinions

Plaintiffs Press Case Against Cormorant Culling In Court; 2,394 Birds Shot So Far This Year

July 1st, 2016

Plaintiffs in a federal case in which they seek to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from continuing to shoot and oil double crested cormorant eggs in the lower Columbia River estuary called talk of “devastating impacts” on salmon by the birds’ predation “little more than a biological soundbite.”

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BiOp Challengers Urge Court To Reject Feds’ Five-Year Timeline For New Salmon Recovery Plan

June 24th, 2016

A week after federal agencies said they could complete the NEPA process in five years, not the two years given by U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon to complete both a new recovery plan for protected Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead and associated National Environmental Policy Act documents, plaintiffs in the case said the federal plan takes too long.

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Court Says Two Years For New Basin Salmon Recovery Plan, NEPA; Feds Say Will Take Five Years

June 17th, 2016

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon gave federal agencies two years – to March 1, 2018 – to return to court with a new recovery plan for protected Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead, along with associated National Environmental Policy Act documents.

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Is Salmon/Steelhead BiOp Driving Cormorant Culling? Not Necessarily Says Corps

June 17th, 2016

After he had remanded the 2014 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion May 4, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon turned on May 12 to another case on his docket – the Audubon of Portland lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to cull double crested cormorants in the lower Columbia River estuary.

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BiOp Judge Approves Extension For Feds In Delivering A Plan For Responding To Court Directives

May 20th, 2016

In rejecting much of NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 biological opinion for salmon and steelhead impacted by the Federal Columbia River Power System, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon gave the agency two years – to March 1, 2018 – to return with a new recovery plan and National Environmental Policy Act documents.

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Corps More Than Two-Thirds Complete In Killing Over 3,000 Estuary Salmonid-Eating Cormorants

May 13th, 2016

Culling of double-crested cormorants near East Sand Island in the Columbia River estuary resumed on April 7 and already the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is more than two-thirds of the way to the number of culled birds allowed this year by a permit it received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Needed Work, Low Flows At Dworshak Dam Pose Challenge As Water Needed For Juvenile Sockeye Migration

May 13th, 2016

With over a week since spilling water at Dworshak Dam to test total dissolved gas degassing equipment at the federal fish hatchery downstream, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is scheduling maintenance on a hatchery pipeline and the Bonneville Power Administration is scheduling a transmission test at the dam.

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Federal Court Again Rejects Columbia Basin Salmon/Steelhead Recovery Plan; Orders New BiOp By 2018

May 6th, 2016

A federal court this week rejected much of the federal government’s recovery plan for Columbia River salmon and steelhead -- the 2014 NOAA Fisheries biological opinion for the Federal Columbia River Power System -- and gave federal agencies almost two years to come back with a new and improved version that complies with federal environmental laws.

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Changes At Lower Granite Aimed At Cooling Adult Fish Ladder Where Salmon Hit ‘Thermal Barrier’

May 6th, 2016

Adult fish passing Lower Granite Dam can expect cooler water temperatures at the dam this summer due to a new fish ladder temperature improvement system that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says will eliminate a thermal barrier that last year stopped lower Snake River sockeye salmon from migrating up the ladder.

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NOAA Issues Oregon BiOp Calling For Changes In National Flood Insurance Program To Protect Salmon

April 15th, 2016

NOAA Fisheries, in a biological opinion, has concluded that the Federal Emergency Management Agency must change its implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program in Oregon to better protect imperiled salmon, steelhead and Southern Resident Killer Whales.

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Wild Fish Conservancy Files Lawsuit To Force Federal Consultation On Basin Mitchell Act Hatcheries

April 1st, 2016

A Northwest environmental group yesterday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Oregon in Portland against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Department of Commerce for funding hatchery programs in the Columbia River basin under the Mitchell Act without complying with section 7 of the federal Endangered Species Act.

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Corps Report On 2015 Columbia/Snake Warm Water, Fish Die-Off Will Discuss Actions To Avoid Repeat

April 1st, 2016

Northwest environmental groups called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a list of emergency actions that would prevent high water temperatures that caused the massive die-offs of salmon last summer as adult fish migrated through Columbia and Snake river dams and reservoirs.

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Group Sues Council In Ninth Circuit, Says 2014 Fish And Wildlife Program Fails To Protect Salmon

January 22nd, 2016

A group that says the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s recently adopted 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program fails to protect Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead filed suit in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

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BiOp On Oregon Water Temperature Standards Calls For State, Agencies To Protect Cold Water Zones

November 6th, 2015

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA Fisheries have reached an agreement to work over the next three years on plans to locate, protect and restore zones of cold water habitat for fish in the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers.

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Council Releases For Comment Draft Report To Congress On “State Of Columbia River Basin”

September 18th, 2015

The Northwest Power Act requires the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to report annually to the U.S. Congress the “current state of the Columbia River Basin and the Council’s activities” and to make the draft report available for 90 days of public comment prior to submission to the U.S. Congress.

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Smoke, Lower Air Temperatures Keep Lower Snake Cooler; 33 Sockeye Make It To Redfish Lake Trap

August 28th, 2015

The Lower Granite Dam tailrace temperature is holding at around an average of 66 degrees Fahrenheit, a couple of degrees lower than the maximum 68 degree water temperature set by a NOAA Fisheries biological opinion for Columbia/Snake river salmon and steelhead.

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BiOp Litigants Respond To Judge’s Questions, Now Await Ruling On Summary Judgement Motions

August 28th, 2015

Litigants in a long-running legal battle over a strategy for protecting and enhancing conditions for salmon and steelhead fisheries in the Columbia and Snake river basins have formally responded to questions from U.S. District Judge Michael Simon, who is expected to rule on requests for summary judgement in the near future.

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Last Of Dworshak Water For August? 400 Snake River Sockeye Between Lower Granite, Sawtooth Basin

August 14th, 2015

With an expected increase in solar radiation and air temperature in the lower Snake River basin, river and power operators at Wednesday’s Technical Management Team meeting began to use what could be the last available water from Dworshak Dam until September to cool water in August in the Lower Granite Dam tailrace.

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NW Power/Conservation Council Approves Strategy To Achieve Cost Savings In Fish/Wildlife Projects

July 24th, 2015

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week at its monthly meeting in Spokane approved modifications to its cost savings proposal, approving a final methodology describing how it and the Bonneville Power Administration would achieve the savings.

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Snake River Sockeye Trapped, Transported At Lower Granite; ‘Fish Are Stressed And In Rough Condition

July 17th, 2015

Fisheries managers began trapping endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Lower Granite Dam Monday and transporting the fish to Eagle Hatchery in Idaho as river managers struggled to keep the river cool. As of Wednesday this week, just five fish had been captured and transported.

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Officials In Teleconference Detail Situation, Issues Associated With Basin’s ‘Snow Drought’

July 17th, 2015

A teleconference was held Tuesday in Portland to provide an update on some of the water management gymnastics that federal agencies are engaged in to optimize river flows for fisheries and other purposes throughout the Columbia/Snake river basin in one of the worst low-water years seen in decades.

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Lower Granite Water Temps Go Above 68 Degrees; Returning Snake River Sockeye Stalling Through System

July 10th, 2015

Salmon and river managers of the regional Technical Management Team briefly lost their battle to keep Snake River temperatures in the Lower Granite Dam tailrace below 68 degrees Fahrenheit this week as low water, higher river temperatures from upstream and warmer than normal weather continues to plague the Northwest.

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Attorneys Present Pros/Cons Of Columbia/Snake Salmon BiOp At Federal Court Oral Argument Hearing

June 26th, 2015

The 74 “Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives” in NOAA Fisheries’ 2014 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion for salmon and steelhead are producing results, according to government and tribal attorneys as they gave their oral arguments Tuesday in defense of the BiOp before Judge Michael H. Simon in U.S. District Court in Portland.

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Hot Weather Forces Dworshak Flow Increase To Cool Lower Snake;Snake River Sockeye Passing Bonneville

June 26th, 2015

Hot weather, warm water and lower than average flows in the Snake River dominated the regional Technical Management Team meeting this week, but Russ Keifer of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game also had good news about Snake River sockeye adults passing Bonneville Dam.

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Federal Judge Allows Corps’ Cormorant Culling Plan To Proceed In Columbia River Estuary

May 15th, 2015

A motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to begin the first year of its four-year plan to ultimately cull up to 11,000 breeding pairs of double-crested cormorants from East Sand Island in the lower Columbia River estuary was denied last Friday (May 8) in federal court.

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Bonneville Power: ‘Well-Prepared’ To Meet Power, Non-Power Obligations During This Low Water Year

May 15th, 2015

The Bonneville Power Administration says it is positioned during this low-flow spring and summer to meet the ongoing power needs of its customers, as well as its non-power obligations, including those aimed at protecting fish.

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Use Water Now Or Later? Fish/Hydro Managers Make Flow Choices To Keep Salmon Moving Downstream

May 8th, 2015

The Technical Management Team, charged with the difficult task in a low water year of balancing spring juvenile fish passage with water and power needs in the region, dropped McNary flow objectives for the second week running and briefly raised flows from Dworshak Dam to help pass juvenile chinook salmon through lower Snake River dams.

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Salmon/Hydro Managers Consider Operation Changes For Libby Dam/Kootenai River Flows During Low Water

May 8th, 2015

Two requests to change management of the Kootenai River, the third largest tributary of the Columbia River, received a cool reception from fisheries managers at this week’s Technical Management Team meeting, and one of those, a request to deviate from VARQ on the river was denied.

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Council Asks BPA To Fund ‘Emerging Priorities,’ Identify Savings In Current Budget

May 8th, 2015

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council asked the Bonneville Power Administration to find cost savings in its Fish and Wildlife program that could be used for new projects that represent emerging priorities.

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Salmon BiOp Litigation: Federal Agencies, Supporters File Flurry Of Briefs At Deadline

May 8th, 2015

There was a flurry of activity this week related to litigation over a 2014 Biological Opinion for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River system, as defendant agencies led by the National Marine Fisheries Service filed briefs to meet a Wednesday deadline for doing so.

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As Water Supply Expectations Lower So Do Flow Targets At McNary Dam During Juvenile Salmon Migration

May 1st, 2015

Faced with one of the worst water supply forecasts in over 50 years, the Technical Management Team this week agreed to lower the flow target at McNary Dam from 220,000 cubic feet per second to 180 kcfs, beginning today (May 1).

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Judge Rules McKenzie River Salmon Hatchery Releases Sufficient To Protect Wild Fish

March 27th, 2015

A federal judge earlier this month declined to immediately cut the number of hatchery chinook salmon released into Oregon’s McKenzie River, but recognized the need to protect the wild spring chinook salmon that spawn in the river.

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NOAA’s Draft Environmental Assessment Proposes Reduction In Sandy River Hatchery Releases

March 27th, 2015

NOAA Fisheries is proposing in its draft environmental assessment of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2013 hatchery and genetic management plans (HGMP) substantial cuts in hatchery releases of salmon smolts in Oregon’s Sandy River.

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Audubon Announces Intent To Sue Corps Over Plan To Cull Cormorants From Columbia River Estuary

March 27th, 2015

The Audubon Society of Portland last week announced its intent to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prevent it from putting a plan in place to reduce the population of double-crested cormorants at East Sand Island in the lower Columbia River estuary.

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Salmon BiOp Case: Feds File Cross-Motion Following Challengers’ Request For Summary Judgement

March 27th, 2015

Since the plaintiffs in a long-running legal battle over salmon and steelhead recovery plans for the Columbia River Basin filed for an expedient conclusion to the case last December, the federal government and supporting parties have been seeking summary judgement since March 6.

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Ongoing Fish Passage Research Delays Spring Refill Of South Santiam’s Foster Reservoir

March 27th, 2015

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers alerts boaters and other users of Foster Reservoir near Sweet Home, Ore., that the reservoir’s normal spring refill schedule has changed again this year to accommodate ongoing fish passage research. The reservoir’s summer elevation will also be slightly lower again this summer.

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Less Nesting Habitat Has Led To Higher Nesting Density For Estuary’s Salmonid-Eating Caspian Terns

March 13th, 2015

A plan to disperse the largest share of Caspian terns from the species’ largest West Coast nesting colony has thus far fallen short so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is offering for public comment a strategy that would further reduce desirable habitat at the lower Columbia River’s East Sand Island.

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Mid-Columbia Efforts To Reduce Avian Predation Result In Survival Increase For Juvenile Salmonids

February 20th, 2015

“Pretty simple actions,” at the mid-Columbia Basin’s Goose Island have produced “pretty dramatic results” in the effort to reduce avian predation on protected salmon and, particularly, steelhead that swim downstream through the Grant County Public Utility District’s Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams and reservoirs, according to Grant’s assistant general manager, Chuck Berrie.

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Alaska Group Files De-Listing Petition For Snake River Fall Chinook

February 6th, 2015

An Alaska-based commercial fishing advocacy group on Jan. 16 submitted a petition with NOAA Fisheries asking the federal agency to consider dropping the Snake River fall chinook salmon “evolutionarily significant unit” from the Endangered Species Act list.

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Sea Lions In 2014 Gobble Up 8 Percent Of Willamette Spring Chinook Run, 13 Percent Steelhead

January 23rd, 2015

Managing the impacts of sea lions and seals on protected salmon and steelhead and other fish stocks is a tough job that has only gotten tougher in recent years due, probably, to fluctuations in both predator and prey species populations in the lower Columbia River.

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Plaintiffs Seek Summary Judgment Declaring Federal Salmon/Steelhead Protection Plan Illegal

December 31st, 2014

The 2014 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion “continues to rely on a suite of hoped-for mitigation actions in estuary and tributary habitat, as well as uncertain actions to address other sources of salmon mortality, without specifically identifying many of these actions or rationally addressing their risks.”

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Feds Issue Basin Salmon Recovery Progress Report: Says More Wild Fish Returning To Columbia River

November 21st, 2014

“More fish - and more wild fish - are returning to the river” according to an annual “progress” report released last week by federal action agencies charged with assuring that beleaguered Columbia and Snake salmon and steelhead populations survive, and ultimately thrive.

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Upper Willamette Basin Reservoir Drawdown Boosts Survival For Wild Chinook, Steelhead

November 14th, 2014

Tests over the past three years involving the drawdown of the Upper Willamette River Basin’s Fall Creek Reservoir to run-of-river levels in late fall have proven so successful at pushing juvenile salmon and steelhead downriver safely that the U.S. Corps of Engineers plans to employ the strategy annually until further notice.

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Draft Proposal Adds To ESA-Driven Efforts To Improve Passage For Wild Upper Willamette Chinook

November 14th, 2014

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week released for public comments a draft environmental assessment of a proposed plan to upgrade the existing fish collection facility at west central Oregon’s Fall Creek Dam to enhance upriver passage of adult Upper Willamette River chinook, steelhead and other native species.

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Will Getting Some Steelhead To Spawn Twice Improve Numbers? Yakama Nation Project Looks For Answers

November 7th, 2014

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council gave its conditional approval for the continuation of funding for a Yakama Nation project aimed at determining whether beleaguered upper Columbia steelhead populations can get a reproductive boost through the “reconditioning” of fish with an urge to spawn a second time.

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Presence Of Land-Locked Chinook Salmon Confirmed In Oregon For First Time

October 31st, 2014

Biologists confirmed what they had heard as rumor from lake fishermen, that both fin-clipped and unmarked chinook salmon inhabit Green Peter Reservoir on the Middle Santiam River and spawn in Quartzville Creek in the upper Willamette River watershed.

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State Of Oregon Again Joins Plaintiffs In Challenging Feds’ Columbia Basin Salmon/Steelhead Plan

October 3rd, 2014

A number of familiar adversaries, including the state of Oregon, have told Oregon’s U.S. District Court that they will join the recently resumed fight over the legality of the federal government’s strategy for assuring Federal Columbia River Power System operations avoid jeopardizing protected salmon and steelhead.

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Dworshak Generator Outage, Now Back In Action, Had Corps Juggling Spill, Flow Operations For Fish

September 26th, 2014

The Walla Walla District of the Corps of Engineers placed Dworshak Dam's hydroelectric generator Unit 3 back in service Monday after completing repairs of damage due to a short circuit in the stator winding on Aug. 15.

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Study Shows Hatchery Spring Chinook In Upper Willamette River Closely Related To Listed Wild Fish

September 12th, 2014

Hatchery populations of spring chinook salmon in the subbasins of the upper Willamette River are genetically similar to the wild populations in these basins and should continue to be used for recovery of spring chinook salmon.

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Study Looks At Fishery/Hatchery Supplementation Effects On Low Productivity Salmon Population

September 5th, 2014

A hatchery supplementation program for endangered winter chinook salmon is achieving estimated survival rates of hatchery fry through the end of the first year in the ocean that is about four times greater than the survival for the program’s natural origin counterparts, according to a study by NOAA Fisheries scientists.

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Biological Opinions

Dworshak Unit Out: River Managers Mull Options To Maintain Cool Conditions For Snake River Salmon

August 22nd, 2014

A primary source of cool water used to improve Snake River salmon summertime migration conditions was pinched Aug. 15, leaving fish and hydro system management representatives to debate how to make the best out of a bad situation.

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Biological Opinions

Court Signs Agreement Restoring Expanded No-Spray Buffer To Protect Salmon From Five Pesticides

August 22nd, 2014

Under a settlement agreement signed Aug. 15 by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly, conditions ordered by the court in 2004 would be restored that impose expanded no-spray buffer zones around waterways to protect imperiled salmon and steelhead from five toxic pesticides.

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Biological Opinions

New Study Design Brings Greater Accuracy To Measuring Juvenile Passage Survival At Federal Dams

August 8th, 2014

Measuring juvenile salmon passage at Columbia/Snake River dams, and hitting survival targets, is a key directive in the federal government’s biological opinion for Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.

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Biological Opinions

Over 2,200 Snake River Sockeye Cross Lower Granite; Provide Broodstock Eggs For Smolt Releases

July 25th, 2014

The 900-mile trip up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers is complete for at least one sockeye salmon spawner, with the promise of many more to come this year to seed the Sawtooth Valley’s Redfish Lake and help fuel the resurrection of a stock that had, 20 years ago, nearly gone extinct.

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Biological Opinions

Approval Given For Re-Introducing Spring Chinook In Okanogan River As ‘Non-Essential Experimental’

July 25th, 2014

NOAA Fisheries Service earlier this month gave its final approval for the re-introduction of spring chinook salmon in north-central Washington’s Okanogan River basin as an “non-essential experimental” population under Endangered Species Act.

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Biological Opinions

States To Issue Lower Columbia Purse/Beach Seine Permits As Part Of Effort To Phase Out Gill-Nets

July 18th, 2014

A next big step down a “presumptive path” toward phasing out non-tribal commercial gill-nets on the lower Columbia River will be the deployment late this summer of 10 permit holders equipped with beach and purse seines, equipment that had been outlawed on the river for more than 60 years.

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Biological Opinions

BPA’s Annual Costs For Basin Fish And Wildlife Mitigation Expected To Nudge Above $500 Million

July 11th, 2014

Newer obligations, old obligations and other factors and agreements continue to drive up funding for what Bonneville Power Administration officials say is likely the country’s largest ecosystem improvement program.

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Biological Opinions

Study Examines How Presence Of Nearby Roads Reduces Habitat, Rearing Quality For Salmonids

July 11th, 2014

Streams less than 30 meters from roads in the interior Columbia River basin have significantly less wood debris in the stream than those waterways greater than 60 meters from roads, reducing habitat and rearing quality for salmonids in those streams.

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Biological Opinions

Groups File Challenge Against New Federal Columbia Basin Salmon/Steelhead Recovery Plan

June 20th, 2014

Fishing and conservation groups this week announced intentions to seek a legal declaration that the federal government’s plan to protect threatened and endangered Columbia and Snake river salmon and steelhead fails to achieve dictates of the Endangered Species Act.

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Biological Opinions

Research Looks For Reasons Adult Salmon Survival Bonneville To McNary Falling Below BiOP Standards

June 20th, 2014

Results from the first year of a two-year study that is attempting to discover why some adult salmon that arrive at Bonneville Dam are not accounted for at McNary Dam, an upstream journey of 146 river miles, found that survival of radio tagged adult chinook and sockeye salmon is below performance standards set in the Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion for salmon and steelhead.

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Biological Opinions

Draft EIS Proposes Culling Thousands Of Cormorants To Reduce Salmonid Predation

June 13th, 2014

The “culling” of double-crested cormorants, by the thousands, is the preferred option considered in a newly released “environmental impact statement” from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its ongoing effort to produce a management plan for reducing the big, fish-eating birds’ impacts on protected Columbia River salmon and steelhead.

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Biological Opinions

NOAA-Led Habitat Survey Teams Assessing, Tracking Condition of Salmon/Steelhead Habitat

June 13th, 2014

Habitat survey teams are fanning out across the Columbia River Basin this month, measuring the fine details of Northwest rivers and streams as part of a NOAA-led initiative to assess and track the condition of salmon and steelhead habitat, says NOAA Fisheries on its West Coast Region website.

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Biological Opinions

Foster Reservoir Operations Part Of Experiment For Evaluating Juvenile Salmonid Passage

May 30th, 2014

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on May 13 alerted boaters and other users of west central Oregon’s Foster Reservoir near Sweet Home, that the reservoir has been filled to an elevation of 635 feet above sea level for the summer of 2014; about two feet lower than usual.

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