USFWS Starts Status Review Of ESA-Listed Columbia Basin Bull Trout As Updated BiOp Expected This Summer
March 26th, 2020
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the initiation of five-year status reviews for 129 species in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, California, and Nevada under the Endangered Species Act, including threatened Columbia River basin bull trout.
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Draft Report Pegs BPA’s 2019 Fish/Wildlife Costs At $788 Million, $17 Billion Since 1981; 25 Percent Of Wholesale Power Rate
March 19th, 2020
Direct expenses in fiscal year 2019 by the Bonneville Power Administration for costs it incurred by funding the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program amounted to $240.4 million, some $19 million lower than its direct expenses in FY 2018, according to a draft report released this week for public review by the Council.
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Conservation Groups File Lawsuit To Halt Corps’ Willamette Basin Water Allocation Study, Says Could Harm Chinook, Steelhead
March 12th, 2020
Conservation groups filed suit in federal court Thursday to stop a process by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allocate the water in its Willamette River basin reservoirs among irrigators, cities and fish, saying such an order is necessary to protect imperiled spring chinook salmon and winter steelhead.
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EPA Challenges Appeals Court Ruling On Setting Temperature Limits For Columbia/Snake Rivers, Wants Re-Hearing
March 5th, 2020
Both a U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have recently ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must set temperature limits for the Columbia and Snake rivers to protect salmon and steelhead, but the agency is returning to the Appeals Court to challenge the latest decision.
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PGE, Warm Springs Tribe Award $4.5 Million For Deschutes River Basin Fish/Wildlife Projects
February 20th, 2020
Thirteen new Deschutes River basin habitat, water quality and fish passage projects are getting a combined $4.5 million in funding, with individual grants ranging from $51,000 for an Upper Deschutes Watershed Council fish passage project to $1.25 million for a Priday Ranch steelhead conservation project.
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Oregon Governor Expresses Support For Lower Snake Dam Removal; Must Mitigate ‘Potential Harm To Vital Sectors’
February 18th, 2020
“The science is clear that removing the earthen portions of the four lower Snake River dams is the most certain and robust solution to Snake River salmon and steelhead recovery,” said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in a letter last week to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
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NOAA Proposing To Approve Rebuilding Plans For Overfished Klamath/Sacramento Rivers Fall Chinook, Emphasis On Harvest Rates
February 13th, 2020
NOAA Fisheries is proposing to approve and implement fishery management plans for two overfished stocks of chinook salmon – Klamath River fall-run chinook and Sacramento fall-run chinook. The stocks are large contributors to ocean salmon fisheries off the California and Oregon coasts.
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WDFW Issues Justification For Steelhead Farming Permit In Puget Sound, Comments Expressed Concerns
February 6th, 2020
When the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife approved in late January a new permit allowing Cooke Aquaculture to begin growing rainbow trout/steelhead in its Puget Sound net pens, there were a number of groups and tribes that had already lined up in opposition to the permit. And one group may seek legal action to stop it.
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ODFW Stock Assessment Shows Juvenile Abundance For White Sturgeon In Lower Columbia Lagging
February 6th, 2020
Abundance of sub-adult and adult white sturgeon in the Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam took a jump this year, but abundance of juvenile sized and one-year-old or younger white sturgeon is lagging, which is indicative of an extended period of low productivity, according to a report by biologists that will be given at the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting Feb. 7.