Judge Rules NOAA Fisheries Failed To Protect Humpback Whales When Issued Take Permit For Sablefish Pot Fishery
March 16th, 2023
A federal court this week ruled in favor of the Center for Biological Diversity in a lawsuit arguing that the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect endangered Pacific humpback whales from deadly entanglements in sablefish pot gear off California, Oregon and Washington.
Read the Full Article
Science Panel Gives Thumbs-Up On Fish Response Models Corps Used To Develop Draft Willamette River Basin EIS
March 9th, 2023
A panel of scientists put their stamp of approval on four fish response models the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used when developing a draft environmental impact statement to assess the effects of operating its Willamette Valley System of 13 dams on threatened Chinook salmon and winter steelhead.
Read the Full Article
Pending Court Decision Could Decide Fate Of SE Alaska Chinook Trolling Seasons, Increased Salmon For Endangered Killer Whales
January 27th, 2023
Commercial fishers in Southeast Alaska waters may soon lose two trolling seasons for Chinook salmon in order to provide more fish for endangered Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound. As a result of the possible termination of that fishery, the whales could gain nearly 5 percent in available prey, according to a judge’s recent report in a Washington federal court.
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
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
Monsanto Agrees To Nearly $700 Million Settlement With Oregon Over Decades Of PCB Contamination
December 16th, 2022
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum Thursday announced a historic $698 million dollar settlement with the Monsanto Company for its role in polluting Oregon with PCBs for the past 90 years.
Read the Full Article
Corps Releases Draft EIS For 13 Willamette Basin Dams Intended To Aid ESA-Listed Salmon, Steelhead; Drawdowns, Structural Changes, Less Power
December 2nd, 2022
Operations at thirteen federal dams in the Willamette River basin may soon be altered to aid threatened upper Willamette River spring Chinook, winter steelhead, and bull trout. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, released a draft operations and maintenance programmatic environmental impact statement late last week for public review until January 19, 2023.
Read the Full Article
Lawsuit Filed Demanding USFWS Develop A National Gray Wolf Recovery Plan
December 2nd, 2022
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit today challenging what it says is the “failure of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a national gray wolf recovery plan under the Endangered Species Act.”
Read the Full Article
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.