PROPOSED FCRPS SALMON PROTECTION ACTIONS READY NEXT MONTH Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

A "good effort" to clarify policy issues and narrow areas of scientific disagreement is ongoing, but federal agencies can't promise that all will be happy at the end of the long-running collaboration with Columbia River basin tribes and states on the intricacies of a new hydrosystem salmon protection plan. Read More...

FEDS DEFEND SALMON ESA LISTING POLICIES IN COURT CASES Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

The hatchery vs. wild debate continues on several fronts with legal arguments concluded in at least two lawsuits that challenge the NOAA Fisheries Service's new method for listing salmon and steelhead under the deserve Endangered Species Act. Read More...

CORPS LOOKS AT SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT IN LOWER SNAKE RIVER Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

The Army Corps of Engineers will hold four meetings around the Northwest to collect public input on its forthcoming study seeking ways to reduce the amount of sediment that reaches the Lower Snake River and its reservoirs. Read More...

NEW FISH COLLECTION FACILITY AT LOWER GRANITE READY MARCH 1 Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

A new fish trap system now under construction at Lower Granite Dam is expected to ease handling of migrating adult salmon and steelhead. The capturing process should be easier for both returning salmon and employees at the facility, which is on the Lower Snake River. Read More...

OREGON CONSIDERS WATER INITIATIVE; TAPPING COLUMBIA RIVER Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

Assessing the state’s “inadequate water supply,” identifying potential storage sites and analyzing conservation opportunities would be part of the Oregon Water Supply and Conservation Initiative in a policy option package proposed by the Oregon Water Resources Department. Read More...

FORECAST HAS IDAHO SPRING, SUMMER CHINOOK DOWN 15 PERCENT Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

The first, and as of Wednesday, only chinook salmon of 2007, crossed Bonneville Dam on the lower Columbia River on January 19. The outlook for others expected to follow, bound for the Snake River, is for fewer fish than returned in 2006. Last year's chinook returns were enough to allow limited seasons in Idaho. Read More...

USFWS HATCHERY REVIEW FOCUSES ON NATIVE FISH CONSERVATION Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

A draft review of Oregon's Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery concludes the coho program there needs to eventually steer toward native broodstock, and its winter steelhead program may require termination if the out-of-basin products pose significant risk to protected, native Clackamas River stock. Read More...

NW DELEGATION AGAIN OPPOSES SURPLUS POWER SALES PROPOSAL Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

As in past years, the Northwest congressional delegation – Republicans and Democrats -- is voicing strong opposition to the Administration’s proposal that the Bonneville Power Administration use any annual surplus power sales (net secondary) revenues it earns above $500 million in 2008 and beyond to make early payments on its federal bond debt to the U.S. Treasury. Read More...

NW SCIENTISTS HAD KEY ROLE IN INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE REPORT Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 (PST)

Climate scientists from the Pacific Northwest, many from the University of Washington, have played key roles in the major new international study that shows climate change will have serious effects on the world in the coming decades. Read More...