NOAA Fisheries, BPA, Council Working To Create One Strategy For Monitoring, Evaluating Columbia Basin Habitat Projects
August 14th, 2019
NOAA Fisheries, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council are collaborating to create one shared Columbia River basin habitat research, monitoring and evaluation strategy.
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States Take Steps To Protect ESA-Listed Snake River Steelhead; Deschutes Fishing Closure (Cold Water Refuge), Rolling Closures Up The Columbia
August 14th, 2019
With an anticipated low return of upriver steelhead – those that will cross Bonneville Dam – in the Columbia River this year, Oregon and Washington have taken steps to protect the listed fish.
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No Observed Cormorant Breeding Pairs On Estuary Island, Plenty of Birds On Lower Columbia Bridge
August 8th, 2019
The goal at East Sand Island in the lower Columbia River estuary is to limit the number of double-crested cormorants nesting on the island to 5,600 breeding pairs to limit the birds’ impacts on juvenile salmon and steelhead, according to Jeffery Henon, spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Washington State Seeks Public Hearings On EPA’s Efforts To Revise State’s Water Quality Standards, Fish Consumption Rule
August 8th, 2019
The Washington Department of Ecology is demanding the Environmental Protection Agency hold more than two “online public hearings” as the federal agency moves forward on efforts to revise the state’s “fish consumption rule” which guides water quality standards.
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Recent Rains Help Maintain Minimum Flows For Bull Trout In Low-Water Kootenai River Basin
August 1st, 2019
It’s been one of the driest years recorded in the Kootenai River Basin, but recent rains have delivered some relief with increased inflows into Lake Koocanusa, helping to maintain minimum bull trout flows on the Kootenai River and maintain the reservoir elevation, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representative informed the Technical Management Team on Wednesday.
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Researchers Use ‘Fish Body Double’ To Test Screens Providing Safe Downstream Fish Passage At Oregon Irrigation Structures
August 1st, 2019
Irrigation diversions move some water into a canal or pipeline where it can be used for irrigation, but they pose challenges for fish due to changes in water flow, damaged habitats, and blocked migration routes. A specific concern are the millions of fish that could be “entrained” or travel into a harmful environment and outside the natural flow of water because of such structures.
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Columbia River Treaty Town Hall Hears Idaho Views On Negotiating, Modernizing Treaty
July 19th, 2019
Members of the U.S. panel charged with negotiating a modernized Columbia River Treaty heard from a variety of Idaho-centric interests Thursday in Boise, with a contrast between those urging status quo security in hydro operations and those seeking “ecosystem function” provisions in a new treaty.
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Council Requests Independent Science Panel Review Upper Columbia Tribes’ Report On Re-introducing Salmon/Steelhead Above Grand Coulee Dam
July 18th, 2019
Following up on a Phase 1 investigation of fish passage and reintroduction of salmon and steelhead upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams that was completed last month by the Upper Columbia United Tribes, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week approved a letter asking the Independent Scientific Advisory Board to review the report.
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River Managers Clarify Priorities On Using Dworshak’s Cool Water For Salmon Into September; Lower Granite Sockeye Passage Dismal So Far, Only 19 Fish
July 18th, 2019
A system operational request brought to the interagency Technical Management Team this week by fisheries managers and approved by both fisheries and hydro managers helps clarify priorities for the use of cool water from Dworshak Reservoir on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho.