Fish numbers finally began to climb last week at Bonneville Dam fish ladders as high river flows eased along with the concerns of harvest managers charged with figuring it all out. ...more

Federal Judge James Redden got an earful during oral arguments last week in a lawsuit by environmental groups [American Rivers v. NMFS] trying to force NOAA Fisheries to combine ESA consultation on Upper Snake storage dam operations with the current remand of the BiOp governing operations farther downstream in the mainstem Snake and Columbia. ...more

The federal government filed a motion April 14 in U.S. District Court to dismiss a lawsuit by Fish Passage Center personnel. The suit accuses the Bonneville Power Administration and its administrator Steve Wright of abusing the First and Fifth Amendment rights of FPC staff, and engaging in a conspiracy to prevent the FPC from gathering and analyzing the impacts of dams and water flows on fish survival. ...more

Following an April 21 status update in his Portland courtroom, BiOp Judge James Redden granted a federal request to extend the BiOp remand until Feb. 1, 2007. The judge denied a request by plaintiff environmental and fishing groups to use their schedule for phasing-in remand milestones. ...more

Environmental and fishing groups say Oregon's coastal coho stocks should be relisted for protection under the Endangered Species Act, and are heading to court to make it happen. ...more

After federal agencies called for the addition of fish ladders at PacifiCorp's 151-MW Klamath Hydroelectric Project earlier this month, the utility responded last week with a proposal to trap and transport salmonids into areas now blocked by its project on the Klamath River. ...more

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has penned a letter to the Corps of Engineers saying the agency should put a hold on an ambitious flood control review until the region sorts out important issues about the value of flow augmentation for fish. ...more

The Bonneville Power Administration's net revenues for the year could be $250 million higher than originally forecast, thanks to an above-average snowpack and high market prices. ...more

A team of regional fish and wildlife managers facilitated by the Columbia Fish and Wildlife Authority has completed its draft recommendations of 161 proposals for the next three-year cycle of BPA's fish and wildlife funding. They recommended that only 13 percent, or 21 projects not be funded. The projects will now under scientific scrutiny by the Independent Scientific Review Team. ...more