EPA Challenging In Ninth Circuit Lower Court Ruling On Columbia/Snake Temperature Limits; Oral Arguments Scheduled
August 14th, 2019
The Environmental Protection Agency is challenging a 2018 lower court decision at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled the agency must complete temperature limits for the Columbia and Snake rivers.
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Snake River Sockeye Run Lowest In More Than A Decade; Currently 6 Percent Of 10-Year Average
August 8th, 2019
The first endangered sockeye salmon returned to the Redfish Lake Creek trap Aug. 2, later by nearly a week than the first that led the way last year and in 2017, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
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ECO-Northwest Releases Report On Economic Tradeoffs Of Removing Lower Snake River Dams; Northwest RiverPartners Challenge
August 2nd, 2019
The economic consulting firm ECONorthwest released a report this week analyzing the tradeoffs associated with removing the four lower Snake River dams in Washington, suggesting the benefits of removal exceed the costs by $8.6 billion, and thus the region would likely be better off without the dams.
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WDOE Taking Comments On Changing Water Quality Standards (Total Dissolved Gas) To Allow More Spill For Fish
August 1st, 2019
The Washington Department of Ecology is now taking comments on a draft Environmental Impact Statement that would allow more spill at lower Snake River/ Columbia River dams during juvenile salmon migration by adjusting the water quality standard for total dissolved gas.
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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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Lower Snake River Sockeye Passage: ‘We Have Concerns Fish Are Not Passing Upstream Dams At Appropriate Rates’; Huge Shad Numbers Causing Some Counting Problems
July 25th, 2019
Although a “lot” of sockeye salmon are passing Ice Harbor Dam, the first dam the fish encounter when migrating up the Snake River, few are passing upstream dams, according to Claire McGrath of NOAA Fisheries.
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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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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.
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New Columbia Basin Partnership Report Offers Regional Goals For Salmon/Steelhead Recovery
July 17th, 2019
Some five to 16 million salmon and steelhead had historically returned to the Columbia River basin, but just an average of two million fish return today and only 40 percent of those are naturally produced stocks. If goals in a new Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force report can be met in the next 50 to 100 years, the number of naturally produced fish could increase by eight-fold.