The recently released draft environmental impact statement for Columbia River System Operations found that, out of six alternatives, Snake River salmon and steelhead would have the highest predicted smolt-to-adult returns (SARs) under an alternative that would breach the four lower Snake Riv… Read more
The recent release of the draft environmental impact statement for the Columbia River hydropower system seems like a familiar episode in the endless debate about breaching the four lower Snake River dams: Feds support dams, enviros do not. Read more
A proposal by NOAA Fisheries to ask federal agencies to augment flows from Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams to aid migrating juvenile salmon turned into a marathon discussion at the Fish Passage Advisory Committee meeting on April 21 and 22. Read more
Most of Washington and Oregon and a large part of Idaho are now abnormally dry or experiencing moderate to severe drought. This is expected to expand over the next three months, with warmer and drier-than-normal weather forecast from May through July. Read more
The California State Water Resources Control Board issued a final water quality certification and final environmental impact report, which are vital to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation’s request for a license transfer and surrender approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Read more
An international consortium is working hard to manage a burgeoning threat to salmon habitats in the Columbia Basin posed by the flowering rush, a difficult-to-detect invasive plant that's hard to eradicate. Read more
The EPA has agreed to issue by May 18 a plan that identifies sources of and outlines a plan to address high-temperature problems in the Columbia and Snake rivers, and will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court decisions requiring the agency to issue the plans, known as total m… Read more
The National Marine Fisheries Service is on track to act by Aug. 14 on a permit application that could allow Northwest states and tribes to kill more sea lions from the mouth of the Columbia River upriver to McNary Dam, and in several tributaries. Read more
A commercial fisherman working on the Columbia River, near the mouth of the Yakima River, may have netted a 24- and a 36-inch gar, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Read more
Public-power advocates say higher spill and the model that supports it need to be analyzed more thoroughly in a final environmental impact statement for Columbia River System Operations. Read more
The Bonneville Power Administration said some people who gave oral comments on a draft environmental impact statement for Columbia River System Operations misinterpreted specifics about the four lower Snake River dams or about BPA's financial status. Read more
Overall salmon and steelhead returns to the Columbia Basin are expected to be higher this year than last year. But even with this larger year-over-year forecast for 2020 adult returns, most stocks are still depressed, and salmon managers expect returns to be far lower than the 10-year averag… Read more
Attempting to plan for potential issues arising from COVID-19, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers notified Washington and Oregon authorities that if total dissolved gas or gas bubble trauma monitoring is disrupted by pandemic restrictions, the Corps will revert to spill levels of 110 percent T… Read more
Due to fishing closures prompted by the coronavirus outbreak, Bonneville Power Administration's popular reward program that pays anglers to catch northern pikeminnow in the Snake and Columbia rivers each year will not begin on May 1, as it usually does. Read more
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation received a grant from federal agencies to help monitor for quagga and zebra mussels in the Columbia River reservoirs behind Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams. Read more
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon lacks authority to grant the injunctive relief sought by plaintiffs in WaterWatch of Oregon et al. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers et al. Read more
