Petition Filed Asking USFWS To Reintroduce Sea Otters Along West Coast
January 20th, 2023
The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition this week asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce sea otters to a large stretch of the West Coast. Threatened southern sea otters occupy only 13% of their historic range, and a small population of the animals currently lives on California’s central coast.
Read the Full Article
PNW Study: Landslides Size, Frequency Influenced By Road Building, Logging More Than Heavy Rain
January 20th, 2023
A long-term Pacific Northwest study of landslides, clear-cutting timber and building roads shows that a forest’s management history has a greater impact on how often landslides occur and how severe they are compared to how much water is coursing through a watershed.
Read the Full Article
NOAA To Consider ESA-Listing For Oregon Coast, Northern California Spring/Fall Chinook Salmon
January 13th, 2023
NOAA Fisheries determined this week that the Oregon Coast and southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Chinook salmon may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Read the Full Article
Conservationists To Sue Agencies Over Deschutes Habitat Conservation Plan, Say Won’t Protect ESA-Listed Oregon Spotted Frog
January 13th, 2023
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice this week of its intent to sue two federal agencies for approving a habitat conservation plan in the upper Deschutes River that it says fails to ensure that Wickiup Dam water-release operations won’t drive the threatened Oregon spotted frog extinct.
Read the Full Article
Despite Recent Rains, Snow, Forecasts For Now Show Below Average Water Supply For Columbia River Basin During Spring, Summer
January 13th, 2023
Despite recent rains and a strong mountain snowpack, Columbia River basin January water supply forecasts are painting a dismal picture for stream flows this spring and summer.
Read the Full Article
Dredging Of Lower Snake River Channel, Ports, Begins This Month, First Time Since 2015
January 6th, 2023
Dredging will begin in areas of the lower Snake River this month that will solve an issue raised in recent years by federal, state and tribal fisheries managers – how to drop the Lower Granite Dam pool to improve summer conditions for salmon and steelhead that are at risk at the same time the Port of Clarkston needs more depth in the river to unload barges.
Read the Full Article
Crooked River: ODFW Analyzes Impacts Of Drought-Related Extreme Low Flows On Fish, Redband Trout Down 20 Percent
January 6th, 2023
In mid-September 2022, Central Oregon’s Crooked River became the first river in the state to close to recreational angling specifically due to drought-related low flows. It reopened October 31 after six weeks of extremely low water levels that left as much as 50 to 90 percent of the river’s channels dry.
Read the Full Article
EPA Issues Pollution Permits For Four Lower Columbia River Dams: Includes Possible Testing Of Drawdowns To Reduce Water Temps For Salmon
December 22nd, 2022
One way to cool overheated summer and fall Columbia River waters might be to lower reservoir levels at the river’s dams. Drawdowns could reduce the size of the reservoirs so there is less water to heat under the summertime sun and it could reduce travel time for juvenile salmon and steelhead through the dams as the river would take on more of the characteristics of a free flowing stream.
Read the Full Article
WDFW Recommending State Go From ‘No Net Loss’ Standard Of Environmental Protection To ‘Net Ecological Gain’ Policy
December 21st, 2022
Ecosystem decline in Washington state is a sign that the state’s “no net loss” policy governing environmental safeguards is not working, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. WDFW is recommending to the Washington legislature a step up in protections to a “net ecological gain” standard.