Lake Roosevelt Lowest Level In 70 Years But Flows For Listed Lower Columbia Chum Salmon Continue; Spawner Numbers Decent So Far
December 5th, 2019
More than 500 threatened chum salmon were counted at the end of November on spawning grounds downstream of Bonneville Dam in the Ives/Pierce island area on the Columbia’s north shore. Although only halfway through the spawning season for these salmon, an anadromous fish expert with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says this year’s tally could end up being higher than the last five-year average.
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Idaho Power To Drop EPA Lawsuit With New Water Temperature Criteria Set For Spawning Fall Chinook Below Hells Canyon Dam
December 4th, 2019
Idaho Power will soon drop a lawsuit it filed in U.S. District Court in Idaho in June 2018 aimed at forcing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set a two-week water quality standard for fall chinook that spawn downstream of the utility’s Hells Canyon Complex of three dams on the Snake River.
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Court Settlement Requires Corps To Reduce Oil Pollution From Chief Joseph Dam, Apply For Clean Water Act Permit
December 4th, 2019
As a result of a late November settlement, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reduce inadvertent oil discharges from Chief Joseph Dam, downstream of Grand Coulee Dam, and it also will apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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NOAA Says Corps’ Draft Proposal On Managing Willamette Dams/Reservoirs Likely To Jeopardize Salmon, Steelhead
November 21st, 2019
The way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to operate its Willamette River dams would likely jeopardize chinook and steelhead in the river, according to NOAA Fisheries. Both species are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
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Kootenai River Burbot Recovery/Conservation Plan Leads To 60,000 Fish, First Harvest In 25 Years
November 21st, 2019
A fish culturally important to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is making a comeback with an abundance of some 60,000 fish, allowing harvest of the fish in January -- 25 years after the last burbot were harvested in the transboundary sections of the Kootenai River in northern Idaho and southern British Columbia.
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Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Issue White Paper On Mitigation Costs If Lower Snake Dams Breached, Pools Drawn Down
November 21st, 2019
The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators have prepared a “Risk Mitigation Response Alternative” that would protect “Irrigation Sector assets from the adverse economic impacts that would be caused by Lower Snake River dam breaching and project pool drawdowns.”
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Council Hears Review Of Report On Salmon Reintroduction Above Grand Coulee: ‘Grand Experiment, No Guarantees’
November 15th, 2019
Two of the scientists who reviewed the phase 1 report that assesses the feasibility of reintroducing salmon and steelhead upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Wednesday that a cost analysis should be incorporated early in the process and in a stepwise fashion if the effort is to move forward.
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NOAA Fisheries Study Suggests Fish Size Affects Snake River Salmon/Steelhead Survival More Than Route Through Dams
November 14th, 2019
The survival of juvenile Snake River salmon and steelhead and their eventual return to spawning streams as adults depends more on the juveniles' size than the way they pass through hydroelectric dams on their migration to the ocean, new research shows.
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Flows For ESA-Listed Chum Getting To Be Tough Call As Grand Coulee Drains Half-Foot A Day With No Rain In Sight
November 7th, 2019
Although operations at Bonneville Dam that sets a tailwater elevation designed to provide ideal spawning conditions for threatened Columbia River chum salmon downstream of the dam began Monday, few chum have yet to hear the call.