Habitat Pilot Program: WDFW Initiates Process To Streamline Permitting Process For Salmon Recovery Projects
October 14th, 2021
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has started a process to revise state hydraulic rules related to construction projects in state waters, with the goal of streamlining the environmental permitting process for salmon recovery projects and other fish habitat restoration.
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FERC Denies Emergency Stay Requested By PacifiCorp/Cowlitz PUD Over Lewis River Fish Passage Required By NOAA/USFWS
September 30th, 2021
After federal agencies ruled in July that PacifiCorp and Cowlitz County Public Utility District must provide fish passage at their Lewis River dams in Washington, the utilities turned to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asking for an emergency stay on that ruling, which FERC denied late last week.
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Report Synthesizes Historical, Current Research On BC’s Skeena River Estuary, Trajectory Under Climate Change; Critical Nursery Habitat For Salmon
September 30th, 2021
A new report on the value and vulnerability of juvenile salmon habitat in northern British Columbia’s Skeena River reveals how climate change and development are critically impacting the region—and provides a historical assessment to help inform the region’s future planning. Collaborators from the Lax Kw’alaams Fisheries Program, the Skeena Fisheries Commission and Simon Fraser University say proactive stewardship will be key.
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NE Oregon Study: Mechanical Forest Thinning Can Reduce Fire Intensity But Prescribed Burns Lengthen Effectiveness
September 30th, 2021
Mechanical thinning alone can calm the intensity of future wildfires for many years, and prescribed burns lengthen thinning’s effectiveness, according to Oregon State University research involving a seasonally dry ponderosa pine forest in northeastern Oregon.
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USFWS Says American Bumble Bee, Found Across Most Of U.S., May Warrant ESA Listing; Climate Change, Pesticides, Habitat Loss
September 30th, 2021
Responding to a petition to list the American bumble bee as an endangered species, the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued this week a 90-day finding indicating that the bumble bee may warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
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Interior Secretary Signs Confederated Salish And Kootenai Tribes/Montana Water Rights Settlement Agreement
September 23rd, 2021
Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland has signed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai-Montana Compact, formally executing the Montana Water Rights Protection Act enacted by Congress late last year.
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Yakama Nation’s Translocation Of Pacific Lamprey From Bonneville Dam, Along With Hatchery Outplantings, Showing Results In Yakima River Basin
September 16th, 2021
The abundance in the Columbia River basin of a fish species rich in nutrients that provides a source of food for numerous riverine birds and animals, as well as Native Americans, has been in decline over the past 20 years, according to a presentation this week at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee meeting.
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EPA Proposes Adding Bradford Island At Bonneville Dam To Superfund List; PCBs, Heavy Metals, Contaminants
September 16th, 2021
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to add the Columbia River’s Bradford Island to its Superfund list -- the country’s highest priority contaminated sites requiring cleanup. Bradford Island is part of the Bonneville Dam complex operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Oregon Denies Hood River Irrigation District Water Quality Permit Renewal For Operations, Cites Temperature Impacts On ESA-Listed Bull Trout
September 16th, 2021
A 100-year-old irrigation district on the Middle Fork of the Hood River in northern Oregon was denied a water quality permit due to doubts the district could meet water quality standards for temperature that would have an impact on threatened bull trout in the river.