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Republican U.S. House members from eastern Washington and eastern Oregon are accusing Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of “in-depth coordination” with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown “behind the scenes” to “shepard” through Congress his proposal to breach the Lower Snake river dams to increase returns of salmon and steelhead to the Snake River basin.

Negotiating a transboundary water treaty is a complicated undertaking. There are many different, often competing, factors to consider. As Canada, British Columbia, and the Columbia Basin Indigenous Nations collaborate on positions and options for a modernized Columbia River Treaty with the United States, a new computerized model aims to help the parties understand just how these factors are interconnected.

With juvenile chinook and sockeye salmon, as well as juvenile steelhead, beginning their migration from the mid-Columbia River tributaries and hatcheries, but with very low water in the river due to a late spring runoff, salmon managers this week asked for augmentation flows originating from Grand Coulee Dam’s Lake Roosevelt.

After a week of increasing outflows at Idaho’s Dworshak Dam to support releases of juvenile salmon from Clearwater River hatcheries, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced last Friday (April 16) that it will now begin to decrease those flows so that it can be assured of refilling the dam’s reservoir.