Once Again, Federal ‘Listening Session’ On Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery Focuses On Breaching Lower Snake Dams
June 1st, 2023
Representatives of Columbia and Snake river ports and grain shippers, as well as Oregon, Idaho and Washington public utilities, lined up to oppose breaching the four lower Snake River dams last week in the fourth and, perhaps, the last listening session sponsored by the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
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Yakama Nation Reintroduction Programs Bringing Once Extinct Coho Salmon Back To Upper Columbia River Tributaries
May 26th, 2023
Once extirpated, coho salmon are making a rebound in two upper Columbia River tributaries. It’s taken nearly 25 years, but the year 2021 saw a record run in the Wenatchee and Methow rivers, a result of reintroduction work in the two basins by the Yakama Nation to bring the salmon back.
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Washington DOE Issues Clean Water Certification For Pumped Storage Project At John Day Dam; Many More Approvals Needed
May 25th, 2023
The Washington Department of Ecology has issued a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the proposed Goldendale Energy Storage Project.
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Court Order Has Corps Drawing Down Two Willamette Reservoirs To Historically Low Levels To Increase Juvenile Salmon Passage
May 18th, 2023
Beginning in June, the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin to gradually drawdown Lookout Point and Green Peter reservoirs to historically low levels.
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Basin Water Supply Forecasts Rising, 93 Percent Of Normal At Dalles Dam; Low Canada Snowpack Impacting Flows
May 10th, 2023
Water supply prospects in the Columbia/Snake river basin for summer are improving, although not consistently so throughout the basin. While supplies forecasted in May from the Snake River are generally above normal, the upper Columbia River in Canada is providing less water than normal.
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Sea Lions Chasing Good Smelt Run Flood Columbia River In High Numbers; Staying For Spring Chinook Feasting
April 27th, 2023
About 200 sea lions were counted last week in the Columbia River between the I-205 Bridge and Bonneville Dam, a 36-mile stretch of river, spurring states and tribes to begin trapping and euthanizing the pinnipeds at Bonneville Dam.
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WA Legislature Oks Transportation Bill That Includes Millions For Analyzing Lower Snake River Dam Breaching Impacts On Transport, Energy, Irrigation
April 26th, 2023
The Washington State Legislature this week approved a $14 billion 2023-25 transportation budget that includes $8 million for studying what would be necessary to maintain energy, transportation and irrigation services now provided by the four Lower Snake dams should they be breached to recover Snake River basin salmon and steelhead.
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As Expiration Date Nears, U.S., Canada Pushing To Finish Columbia River Treaty Negotiations By June; Uncertainty Over Future Operations A Motivator
April 20th, 2023
Lead U.S. government negotiators vowed to intensify their work to conclude a new Columbia River Treaty with Canada by early summer as they held a public listening session this week. The two countries have been in negotiations for over four years and a new agreement to upgrade or modernize the Treaty must be reached by the end of summer 2024.
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Tribes, Corps Studying Impacts Of Sediment Buildup (Deltas) At Mouths Of Columbia River Tribs; Impacts Temps, Predation, Salmon Survival
April 14th, 2023
The amount of sediment carried by Columbia River waters to the Pacific Ocean has declined by about half since Bonneville Dam was built in 1935. Much of the sediment no longer moved by the river has found a home at the mouths of tributaries, creating shallow sediment fans or deltas where warm water and predators impact juvenile salmon and steelhead, some listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.