Colville Tribes' Selective Fishing Gear Tests Show Low Wild Summer Chinook Mortality Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Central Washington's Colville Tribes have seen early successes in tests of selective fishing gear that they say can increase the viability of wild salmon populations by allowing increased spawner escapement and lessening the straying of hatchery fish on to spawning grounds. Read More...

Investigation Concludes Trapped Sea Lions Died From Heat, Not Human Intervention Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

An investigation by NOAA's Fisheries Service into the deaths last May of six sea lions trapped in two floating cages below Bonneville Dam found no evidence of human intervention, either intentional or accidental, in the closing of the cage doors. Read More...

ESA-Listed Steller Sea Lions Making Meals Out Of Columbia River White Sturgeon Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Steller sea lions have arrived in record-matching numbers in the waters below Bonneville Dam to gorge themselves in a Columbia River teeming with white sturgeon. Read More...

Humane Society Asks Ninth Circuit To Block Sea Lion Removal By Feb. 27 Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Saying its members and other plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed, the Humane Society of the United States this week asked a federal appeals court to block the planned removal of California sea lions from waters below the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam. Read More...

Spring/Summer Water Supply Forecasts In Past Month Slip Below Historic Averages Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Columbia-Snake river basin snowpack continued building into early January but has since gone into a stall that has water supply forecasts for spring and summer slipping further below historic averages. Read More...

Montana Considers Two Waterfront Land Acquisitions Funded By Bonneville Power Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is closing in on two waterfront land acquisitions in the Flathead Valley with Bonneville Power Administration funding. Read More...

Northwest Researchers Explore Concept Of Salmon Resilience In New Journal Issue Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Is there anything really new to be said about the prospects for salmon in the Pacific Northwest? Yes, says a group of experts in a series of perspectives collected in a special feature issue of the online journal Ecology and Society. Read More...

NOAA Information Key Component of New 'Ocean in Google Earth' Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

Google Earth this week unveiled Ocean in Google Earth http://earth.google.com/ocean/ that includes a substantial amount of information and images from NOAA. Read More...

Rec Bureau Consolidates PNW Into New Columbia-Cascades Yakima Office Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 (PST)

The Bureau of Reclamation has decided to consolidate and realign the Lower Columbia Area Office based in Portland, Ore., with the Upper Columbia Area Office based in Yakima, Wash. Read More...