Biden Administration, States, Tribes Formally Sign Billion-Dollar Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative To Recover Salmon, Steelhead
March 1st, 2024
The Biden administration, along with the governors of Oregon and Washington and leaders of four lower Columbia River tribes – the six sovereigns – formally signed an agreement last week that commits the federal government to as much as $1 billion to build infrastructure for eventual removal of four lower Snake River dams and to recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin.
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Judge Says Northwest Dam Violating ESA By Harming Listed Salmon, Steelhead Needs To Go; Orders Breaching This Summer
February 23rd, 2024
A federal judge in Seattle last week ordered the owners of the Electron diversion dam on the Puyallup River in Washington to breach the dam by this summer because it violates the federal Endangered Species Act.
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Initial Phase Of Klamath River Drawdowns Complete, Reservoirs Drained By Late Spring; Dam Removal Follows
February 23rd, 2024
The initial phase of reservoir drawdowns on the Klamath River – the draining of Iron Gate, Copco, and JC Boyle reservoirs – is now complete. Draining the reservoirs is a critical step on the path to deconstructing the remaining three Klamath River dams that are slated for removal later this year.
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NOAA Status Review Says Sacramento Winter-Run Chinook Remain Endangered, Serious Threats From Climate Change, Disease
February 23rd, 2024
Though agencies and partners have pulled together to support the recovery of endangered Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon in the last few years, NOAA Fisheries says the species is still in trouble, facing threats from climate change and other factors.
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Basin Water Supply Dropping With Most Watersheds Well Below Normal, Setting Up Low Expectations For The Year
February 16th, 2024
After nearly a month of cold weather and heavy snow across the Columbia River basin, giving fisheries managers hope that there would be plenty of streamflow this summer for salmon and steelhead, February has been drier and warmer than normal, leaving the basin water supply at just 75 percent of average, as measured at The Dalles Dam.
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Salmon Recovery MOU A Secret, Radical Deal? Republicans Say Yes, Administration Officials Say Brings Stability, Helps Fish, Contains Costs
February 2nd, 2024
Senior members of the Biden administration and Republican members of Congress painted vastly divergent pictures Tuesday of the agreement that could pause litigation over Snake River dams and salmon for the next decade.
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NW GOP House Members Push Legislation To Prohibit Use Of Federal Funds For Implementing Salmon Recovery MOU, Dam Breaching Prep
February 2nd, 2024
U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) has introduced the Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators Act (DAMN ACT) to prohibit the use of federal funds from being used in breaching or altering the Lower Snake River Dams and to prohibit the implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.
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With Higher Spill At Dams, Detecting Survival Of PIT-Tagged Juvenile Salmon, Steelhead Extremely Elusive, Creating Key Data Gap
January 5th, 2024
The precision of estimating salmon and steelhead smolt survival rates through Snake and Columbia river dams during the 2023 spring outmigration is remaining elusive. This is the fifth straight year that high levels of court-ordered spill at Columbia and Snake river dams have impacted detection rates of the tagged juveniles as they migrated downstream through eight dams.
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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.