Currently browsing: Invasive Species

Lower Columbia River biologists, particularly those conducting fish surveys, are encouraged to watch for a nonnative newcomer to the basin -- the Amur goby.

The Department of Interior this week released the first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States, showing that nearly a third of the nation's 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats.

"Every introduced species brings with it the potential to eat or out-compete native species, reduce water quality, and undo progress in watershed restoration made over the last few decades," Paul Heimowitz writes in a new newsletter aimed at increasing vigilance about invasive aquatic plant and animal species in the Pacific Northwest.

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington this week launched an action plan to address ocean and coastal management issues along the West Coast.

Environmental organizations say they have won a battle this week in the effort slow the spread of invasive species in the Columbia River, Great Lakes and other ports of call.

Ten projects all in or near the Columbia River Estuary, were selected by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to receive the second round of grants from the Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund.

New reports from the lower Deschutes River and the Oregon coast show that
the tiny but highly invasive New Zealand mudsnail continues to increase its foothold in Oregon.

Researchers at Oregon State University have created a “benthic terrain modeler,” software that can be used with a geographic information system to provide a significant new way of describing the ocean sea floor and the fish and other marine species that probably live there.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed its status review of the greater sage-grouse throughout its range and determined that the species does not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act at this time, Director Steve Williams announced today.

Scientists at Portland State University, the University of Washington and Oregon State University, with the support of the Ports of Portland and Astoria, have jointly completed the first-ever comprehensive survey of non-native aquatic plants and animals in the lower Columbia River.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have recommended that
the Service not list the greater sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered
species under the Endangered Species Act across its range, Service Director
Steve Williams announced.

An advisory committee of Oregon marine scientists has reviewed a recent report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy at the request of Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and strongly endorsed some of the key findings of that study – the oceans are in serious trouble, major changes are needed and current ocean policies do not reflect existing science and sound management principles.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton this week announced $304,000 in challenge cost-share grants to support eight cooperative conservation projects in Idaho, from eradicating invasive species to restoring riparian habitat along Kootenai River tributaries.

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, in a preliminary report released today, called on Congress and President Bush to establish a new national ocean policy that balances use with sustainability, is based on sound science and educational excellence, and moves toward an ecosystem-based management approach.

The ocean ecosystem where endangered salmon rear and grow to adults is in decline and much of the problem begins on land, according to a report released June 4 that took the Pew Oceans Commission over three years to complete.

While the report paints a dire picture of a polluted ocean off the coasts of the United States where wildlife is in decline, it also says that the reforms outlined by the report in ocean laws and policies could restore the health of the world's oceans.