Regional action agencies have released their biological assessment of future dam operations and other actions they plan on implementing to improve ESA-listed salmon and steelhead stocks throughout the Columbia and Snake River basins. ...more

Regional salmon scientists briefed members of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week on some of their latest findings at a two-day confab in Portland designed to improve the dialog between researchers and policymakers. Members heard reports on various aspects of habitat restoration, mainstem survival, along with estuary and ocean research. ...more

Federal scientists found plenty to complain about in the latest report by the Fish Passage Center, which reviewed 10 years' worth of data and analyzed PIT-tags from hundreds of thousands of hatchery salmon in the Columbia and Snake basins. ...more

A federal judge in Oregon has dismissed a lawsuit filed by staffers of the Fish Passage Center against BPA and its administrator, Steve Wright. ...more

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has suggested ending its strategy of releasing smolts in March from its Spring Creek Hatchery that has cost ratepayers millions in extra spill at Bonneville Dam, a move that would cut fall chinook production by nearly a third. ...more

This year's return of upriver fall chinook took a big hit last week as Columbia Basin harvest managers said the final numbers may be only about two-thirds of their preseason estimate of 185,000 (at the river mouth). ...more

Retiring some existing coal-fired plants and replacing their output with cleaner resources is the key to maintaining or lowering carbon dioxide emissions from the regional electric sector, according to a new Northwest Power and Conservation Council paper. ...more