Judge Calls For $67 Million More In Summer Spill
Oregon District Court Judge James granted June 10 part of an injunctive request by environmental groups and fishing groups to increase spill and flows for fall chinook in the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Redden OK'd their request for spilling water at lower Snake dams, denied their calls for augmenting flows and drawing down several reservoirs to help fish move faster downstream. ...more

Feds Appeal Spill Decision to Ninth Circuit
Three federal agencies have announced they will file for an emergency stay of Judge James Redden's June 10 order in the Ninth Circuit Court that calls for adding $67 million in summer spill at federal dams, part of a request by environmental, fishing groups and some tribes who had earlier successfully challenged the latest BiOp on hydro operations. ...more

American Fisheries Society Review Flunks Latest Hydro Biop
The 2004 hydro BiOp isn't just "legally flawed"--it's also scientifically flawed, according to a review of the document released last week by the American Fisheries Society. ...more

Snohomish Fish Plan Moves Forward, But Harvest Issues Remain
The 38-person forum created for recovering salmon in the Snohomish Basin north of Seattle voted unanimously last week to support a $134 million, 10-year effort to improve habitat for the benefit of ESA-listed chinook and bull trout. But the continuing interception of Puget Sound stocks by Canadian fishermen may put the ambitious effort at risk. ...more

Brian Lipscomb Named New CBFWA Director
Brian Lipscomb, a long-time natural resource manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, will be the executive director of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority. ...more

Spring Chinook Run Hits 100,000, Shad Count Nears 3 Million
The 2005 upriver Columbia spring chinook run is officially over, and it finished off slightly above the latest estimate by harvest managers, who pegged it a couple of weeks ago at 93,000 fish and reopened the river to sport fishing for hatchery chinook on June 4. ...more

NMFS Announces New ESA Hatchery Policy, Stock Status
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced today that it will list lower Columbia River coho as a threatened species, all other previously listed stocks on the West Coast will remain under ESA protection for the foreseeable future. The new policy keeps the status of 14 of the 16 listed stocks unchanged from their prior status, but the central California coast coho population was downgraded from threatened to endangered status. ...more