FERC Approves Removal Of Klamath River Dams By End Of 2024; Once Third Largest Salmon Producing River On West Coast
November 18th, 2022
Completing a process that began with a relicensing application from PacifiCorp in 2004, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has unanimously approved the removal of four dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California.
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Washington DNR Ends Leases For Remaining Two Net Pen Aquaculture Operations (Sterile Steelhead) On State-Owned Aquatic Lands
November 16th, 2022
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has ended the remaining two finfish net pen aquaculture leases on Washington’s state-owned aquatic lands.
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Groups File Lawsuit To Force USFWS To Give Montana’s Arctic Grayling ESA Protections; Listing Rejected In 2020
October 27th, 2022
Conservationists filed a formal notice this week of their intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for once again denying Montana’s Arctic grayling population Endangered Species Act protections. Arctic grayling is a freshwater fish in the same family (Salmonidae) as salmon, trout, and whitefish.
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Groups Want Once Common Streaked Horned Larks Found In Oregon, Washington Listed As Endangered; Population Less Than 2,000 Birds
October 27th, 2022
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Audubon Society of Portland filed a formal notice this week of their intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to better protect the streaked horned lark, a rare bird found in Washington and Oregon.
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USFWS Signs Agreement To Determine In 2024 If Cuckoo Bumblebee Deserves ESA Listing; Last Sighting 2017 In Oregon
October 27th, 2022
In response to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed this week to a deadline of December 2024 to determine whether Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebees warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
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NOAA Fisheries Status Reviews Say Four Salmon, Steelhead Species In Lower Columbia River Should Retain ESA Listing; ‘Concern Remains The Same’
October 21st, 2022
Four populations of lower Columbia River salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act are in as much trouble today as they were in 2016. In its five-year status review for these fish released this morning, NOAA Fisheries says “the collective risk” has not changed significantly and the “overall level of concern remains the same.”
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Oregon, Burns Paiute Tribe Sign Agreement To Collaborate On Reintroducing Salmon, Steelhead To Malheur River
October 20th, 2022
The Burns Paiute Tribe, a federally-recognized Indian tribe, signed an agreement this month with the state of Oregon and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to collaborate on reintroducing salmon and steelhead to the Malheur River, a tributary of the Snake River. Construction of the Hells Canyon dams in 1958 blocked all anadromous fish from the Upper Snake River basin and Malheur River system.
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Applications Being Accepted For $1 Billion To Remove Culverts Blocking Salmon Passage, Priority Goes To ESA-Listed Fish
October 20th, 2022
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last week as he announced the availability of $1 billion for Tribal, state, and local governments over five years from the new National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration-Culvert Aquatic Organism Passage Program established by the infrastructure bill.
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Is Endangered Species Act Failing? Study Says Most Species Don’t Receive Protection Until Populations Too Small For Real Recovery
October 20th, 2022
Since its passage in 1973, the U.S. Endangered Species Act has been the strongest law to prevent species extinctions in the United States, and has served as a model of conservation policy to other nations.