Over 30 Briefs Filed In Federal Court Opposing Request For More Spill For Fish, Lower Reservoirs At Columbia/Snake River Dams
December 19th, 2025
A proposed preliminary injunction calling for changes to Snake and Columbia river federal dam operations aimed at protecting endangered salmon and steelhead would lower the amount of electricity that could be generated by the dams, costing the region more for electricity, while also resulting in higher releases of carbon dioxide when making up for those losses, according to briefs submitted this week in U.S. District Court.
CDFW Says One Year After Klamath River Dam Removals ‘Salmon Are Everywhere,’ Reoccupying Historic Habitat
November 22nd, 2025
A little more than a year after the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, California Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists are seeing salmon reoccupying just about every corner of their historic habitat.
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Contract Awarded To Remove Causeway At Mouth Of Yakima River; Harms Salmon Migration, Increases Predation, Algal Blooms
November 22nd, 2025
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District, in partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Yakama Nation, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group has awarded a $1.2 million construction contract to PIPKIN INC. for the Bateman Island Causeway removal project.
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Plaintiffs In Salmon BiOp Case Seek To Dismiss Two-Year Old Idaho Request That Judge Rule Out Dam Breaching As Remedy
November 22nd, 2025
The most recent filings in U.S. District Court in Portland by plaintiffs in the latest challenge to the biological opinion of the federal Columbia/Snake river hydropower system’s impacts on salmon and steelhead does not have to do with impacts by the federal dams, but instead it is a plea to dismiss a nearly two-year old counterclaim by the state of Idaho.
More Briefings Filed In Support Of Injunction Calling For Operational Changes At Columbia/Snake Dams To Protect Salmon, Steelhead
November 5th, 2025
The state of Washington and Columbia River tribes are lining up in U.S. District Court to support a request for a preliminary injunction filed Oct. 14 by Earthjustice seeking emergency operational changes at federal Columbia and Snake river dams aimed at protecting endangered salmon and steelhead from harms caused by dam operations.
Hells Canyon White Sturgeon In Decline: Higher Spill, Lower Flows, Invasive Predators, Changes To Food Supply
October 24th, 2025
The population of white sturgeon from Hells Canyon Dam to Lower Granite Dam is in decline, with fewer juvenile sturgeon found in both the 101 miles of free-flowing river and 36 miles of reservoir water. That decline began when the lower Snake River dams were completed, according to information provided by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at last week’s Northwest Power and Conservation Council meeting.
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Video Camera Captures First Image Of Salmon Passing Keno Dam On Upper Klamath River Since Four Dams Downstream Removed Last Year
October 8th, 2025
A video camera captured a Chinook salmon ascending the fish ladder at Keno Dam on the upper Klamath River last week (Sept. 24), the first picture of a salmon ascending the upper bays of the ladder since four hydroelectric dams were removed on the Klamath River last year.
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How Much Habitat Restoration Needed To Produce ‘Biological Meaningful Results’? Scientists Review 40 Years Of Projects Under Council Program
July 26th, 2025
In a review of 40 years of habitat restoration projects, a panel of fisheries scientists concluded that projects that remove barriers to salmon and steelhead, augment stream flows and add wood to give streams structure would likely achieve what they set out to do within a short period of time.
Army Corps, Bureau Of Reclamation Withdraw Efforts To Complete Supplemental EIS On Hydro Impacts To Salmon, Steelhead
July 18th, 2025
Federal agencies this week backed away from their efforts to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement for Columbia River basin dam operations and their impact on salmon and steelhead, citing a June 12 Presidential Memorandum as their justification.
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With NOAA Funding, Cowlitz Indian Tribe Removes Dam In Washougal River Basin, Restoring Fish Passage, Habitat
July 18th, 2025
NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Tribe $3.3 million to remove the 55-foot-tall, 425-foot-long Kwoneesum Dam on Wildboy Creek. The dam, which was removed in 2024, blocked upstream salmon and steelhead migration on the creek for almost 60 years.
Trump Rescinds Biden’s Executive Order Aimed At Restoring Columbia Basin Salmon, Steelhead Runs
June 13th, 2025
The Trump administration issued a memorandum this week that disrupts Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead recovery by rescinding a 2023 agreement that included the federal government, two states and four Columbia River tribes and funded that effort with nearly $1 billion.
Corps Seeks Public Comments On Supplemental EIS For Willamette River Basin Dams, Wants Views On Ending Hydropower
May 23rd, 2025
Public comments are open until June 6 on whether and how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should implement a deeper fall drawdown at its Detroit Reservoir as well as whether the agency should permanently end hydropower production at eight dams in Oregon’s Willamette River basin.
Agencies’ Draft ‘Lower Snake River Water Supply Replacement Study’ Out For Review, Four Reservoirs Irrigate Over 55,000 Acres
January 19th, 2025
A federal agency and a state agency have jointly completed a study on the impacts that breaching the four lower Snake River dams would have on water supplies and irrigation.
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Agencies Taking Another Look At 2020 EIS Detailing Impacts Of Columbia/Snake River Federal Hydrosystem On Imperiled Salmonids
December 22nd, 2024
Citing new information and changed circumstances, two federal agencies are reopening this week their 2020 final environmental impact study for operations at 14 Columbia/Snake river federal hydroelectric dams and are now seeking public input. The final EIS guides the dams’ impacts on salmon and steelhead listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Agencies Explain How New Columbia River Treaty ‘Agreement In Principle’ Will Alter Flood Control Operations; Less Pre-Planned Storage In Canada
December 15th, 2024
Canada will store several million-acre-feet of water that can be used in 2025 and for the next 20 years to help prevent floods in the Columbia River basin downstream in the United States, according to a virtual briefing earlier this month by federal dam operators on the Columbia River Treaty Agreement in Principle’s flood risk management protections.
Historic Dam Removal: ESA-Listed Coho Return To Upper Klamath Basin First Time In 60 Years, CDFW Releases 270,000 Hatchery Fall Chinook Yearlings
December 9th, 2024
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has seen the first returns of threatened coho salmon to the upper Klamath River Basin in more than 60 years following historic dam removal completed last month.
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2024 Survival Rate Of Migrating Juvenile Salmon In Columbia/Snake Rivers? Hard To Say With Yet Another Year Of Low Detection, Tagging Rates
November 26th, 2024
Increased spill levels at Snake and Columbia river dams, along with lower water flow in the rivers, hampered the ability of scientists to tag and detect juvenile salmon and steelhead as they migrated downstream in 2024.
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Yakama Nation Tells FERC If Pumped Storage Project Approved Near John Day Dam, Mitigation Cost No Less Than $40 Million Required
November 25th, 2024
In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation suggest that if a pumped storage project near the Columbia River’s John Day Dam moves forward, the Yakama Nation should receive no less than $40 million in mitigation for damage to tribal resources. The money would be used for the preservation and management of sacred and sensitive properties to the Yakama Nation.
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Corps/Washington State Sign Agreement To Study Impacts Of Snake River Dam Breaching To Transportation, Recreation
November 18th, 2024
An agreement to study transportation and recreational services that would need mitigation if the four lower Snake River dams were breached to recover the river’s threatened salmon and steelhead was signed early last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Washington’s Department of Transportation.
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First Salmon Since 1912 Spotted In Oregon’s Klamath Basin Months After Dam Removal
October 18th, 2024
On October 16, a fall-run Chinook salmon was identified by Oregon Department Fish and Wildlife fish biologists in a tributary to the Klamath River above the former J.C. Boyle Dam, becoming the first anadromous fish to return to the Klamath Basin in Oregon since 1912 when the first of four hydroelectric dams was constructed, blocking migration.
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All Four Lower Klamath River Dams Removed, Several Years Work Ahead To Restore Formerly Submerged Lands
October 8th, 2024
All four lower Klamath River hydropower dams have been removed. Kiewit, the dam removal contractor hired by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to complete the construction elements of the project, finished all work this month in the river.
With Klamath Dams Breached, California Issues ‘Klamath River Anadromous Fishery Reintroduction and Restoration Monitoring Plan’
September 13th, 2024
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released the “Klamath River Anadromous Fishery Reintroduction and Restoration Monitoring Plan,” a 60-page blueprint to guide the reintroduction and monitoring of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey in a newly undammed Klamath River.
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Elwha River Dam Removals 10 Years Later; Long-Term Study Shows Impacts To Salmon, Steelhead, Ecosystem
September 13th, 2024
Removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on Washington's Elwha River presented an opportunity to study the ecological response of a river ecosystem to large-scale disturbance and subsequent restoration.