PARTIES SEEK NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT ON UMATILLA WATER RIGHTS Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 (PST)

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation intend to claim three fourths of the flows in the Umatilla River if federal studies planned over the next year and a half lead to a negotiated water rights settlement. Read More...

COURT AFFIRMS TRIBAL TREATY RIGHTS IN FISH PASSAGE ISSUE Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 (PST)

A federal court order issued Wednesday reaffirms Northwest tribal treaty rights and, potentially, puts the state of Washington on an expensive hook of replacing or fixing hundreds of culverts that impede fish passage. Read More...

REVIEW STRESSES KEEPING HATCHERY, NATIVE FISH SEGREGATED Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 (PST)

Widening the divide between hatchery fish and naturally produced salmon can, along with habitat improvements, can achieve Endangered Species Act recovery goals for Lower Columbia River chinook, according to preliminary findings released late last month by the Hatchery Scientific Review Group. Read More...

OSU TO RECEIVE $20.6 MILLION TO STUDY OCEAN, MARINE FOOD WEB Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 (PST)

Oregon State University will receive $20.6 million over the next six years to lead a component of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative that will be located in the Pacific Northwest’s coastal ocean. Read More...

STEELHEAD ON THE MOVE; HIGH DAILY COUNTS AT BONNEVILLE DAM Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 (PST)

Spawning steelhead can be quirky in their movements, sometimes stalling in cool water refuges to await more favorable mainstem Columbia River conditions before resuming their summertime march upstream. Read More...

PARTIES SAY MAGISTRATE ACTED AS ‘SCIENCE ARBITER’ IN COHO CASE Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 (PST)

Federal attorneys this week argued that a U.S. magistrate wrongfully took on the role of "scientific arbiter" last month in declaring illegal the NOAA Fisheries Service's withdrawal of its proposal to list the Oregon coast coho salmon stock under Endangered Species Act. Read More...