HATCHERY REVIEW AIMS TO BALANCE HARVEST, ESA PROTECTIONS Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

A congressionally driven process is building momentum toward its goal of delicately balancing Columbia River Basin hatchery production so it provides desired harvest and, at the same time, protects threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. Read More...

FIVE LAWSUITS SWIRL AROUND HATCHERY VS. WILD LISTING POLICY Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

Legal punches and counterpunches have begun in no fewer than five lawsuits challenging NOAA Fisheries' methods for determining whether West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. Read More...

FEDS, IDAHO REACH FISH/FOREST AGREEMENT FOR 1.5 MILLION ACRES Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service said this week that it had reached an important agreement with the state of Idaho and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that spells out how the state and the two federal agencies will cooperate under the Endangered Species Act for the long-term benefit of both fish and foresters in the state. Read More...

FLOW STRATEGY AIMED AT LOWER LEVEL HANFORD REACH SPAWNING Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

Daily spikes in water releases from the mid-Columbia's Priest Rapids Dam will be employed this year, followed by prolonged periods of lower flows, in an attempt to encourage lower-level spawning by returning Hanford Reach fall chinook salmon. Read More...

STUDY: WHIRLING DISEASE COULD SPREAD VIA FISHING WADERS Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

A new study has found that a parasite that causes deadly “whirling disease” in juvenile trout and other salmonids may be transmitted from one fishing hole to another – and from one stream to another – on fishing boots and waders. Read More...

IMPACTS OF LATE SPRING KOOTENAI RIVER FLOODING ANALYZED Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials will return to the scene Nov. 6 to explain "what went well and what didn't go well" as the agency responded to late spring flooding in North Idaho's Kootenai River valley, according to Jim Barton, chief of Water Management Division. Read More...

GRANT COUNTY PUD EXPLORES HYDRO PROJECT ON CLE ELUM RIVER Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 (PST)

A hydropower plant near Cle Elum, WA may be in the future power generation mix for Grant County PUD. Read More...