The two-rod validation will not be available for the Willamette River in 2026 as the forecast for hatchery-origin adult fish does not meet the minimum return threshold.

The 2026 Columbia River spring-summer forecast anticipates 43,700 adult Willamette-origin spring Chinook will return to the mouth of the Columbia River. Of the total adult return, approximately 32,000 are expected to be hatchery-origin fish. A minimum return of 34,000 adult hatchery fish is typically needed to collect enough broodstock for future releases. In 2025, the return to the Willamette was 50,527 fish.

“Usually less than 40% of hatchery-origin spring Chinook that reach the Columbia River mouth make it to upper Willamette Basin hatcheries,” said John North, ODFW Deputy Fish Division Administrator. “To meet our total adult hatchery-origin broodstock goal of 14,000 fish, we need approximately 34,000 adult hatchery fish at the mouth of the Columbia River.”

“The two-rod license is popular with anglers so while we would like to offer it every year, our first priority is to make sure we meet our broodstock needs to maintain hatchery releases,” continued North. “We also want to be transparent and let anglers planning next year’s fishing trips know as early as possible if it will be available.”

When fishery managers implemented the 34,000 threshold in 2024, they expected the forecast would meet it in 12 out of 15 years.

The 2026 total forecast for Columbia River spring chinook is 222,300 fish. The actual 2025 return was 245,379 fish.

The 2026 return of upper Columbia River spring chinook is 16,300 fish, compared to a 2025 return of 22,193 fish.

For Snake River spring/summer chinook the 2026 forecast is 61,600 fish, compared to a return of 82,973 in 2025.

Anglers should always check for any in-season changes to permanent regulations by visiting the Recreation Report / Fishing Report for their zone and clicking the Regulation Updates tab.

After four humpback whales were entangled this year in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear, conservation groups have formally petitioned the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt measures to reduce risk to the endangered animals.

“This year’s horrific entanglements show that humpbacks are in a lot of danger from Oregon crab gear,” said Ben Grundy, an oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If state officials don’t move to adopt whale-safe fishing gear, like pop-up buoys for Dungeness crab pots, endangered whales will continue to suffer and die preventable deaths.”

The petition urges the state to reduce the amount of fishing gear during feeding and migration seasons and open a pathway for fishers to use pop-up fishing gear, which eliminates untended buoy lines. It was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Cetacean Society.

Pop-up gear has been tested in the California Dungeness crab fishery with positive results. Recent experimental gear trials have demonstrated the gear is reliable, profitable and safe for whales and other marine animals, including sea turtles.

“The latest dead humpback whale should be a wake-up call that entanglements in Oregon crab gear are a major problem,” stated Ben Enticknap, fisheries director at Oceana. “Oregon fishery managers should act quickly to strengthen conservation measures to reduce whale entanglements.”

The true number of entanglements in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab gear this year is likely much higher than just the four humpback whales confirmed entangled, says the Center. The federal government released preliminary results in September showing that accurate estimates may be five times as high. In other words, four reported entanglements may mean there were as many as 20 entangled whales in one year.

“The four humpback whales found tragically entangled in Oregon crab gear are a signal of a much greater entanglement problem, as only a small fraction of them are ever detected,” said Francine Kershaw, a senior scientist at NRDC. “The state should take swift, science-based management action to effectively protect endangered whales in Oregon waters.”

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the entanglement of a young humpback whale stranded on Nov. 15 and euthanized on Nov. 17. Additional humpback whale entanglements in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear were reported off Baja California, Mexico, on Sept. 25 and Moss Landing, California, on Sept. 26, meaning the whales traveled hundreds of miles dragging fishing gear.

Entanglements may cause starvation, infections, amputations and slow painful deaths, as well as reduce a whale’s ability to reproduce, further impeding recovery.

On Dec. 5, the department put out a fleet advisory for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery, urging fishers to be vigilant and take precautions to avoid entanglements. The advisory does not include enforcement measures, but the statement says the department is considering further regulatory action to reduce entanglement risk.

Each entanglement of a humpback whale or sea turtle in Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery violates the federal Endangered Species Act.
State law requires the commission to respond to today’s petition in writing within 90 days and either deny it or begin rulemaking proceedings.

A 2022 rule by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission that allows trap, haul and trucking of fish over barriers, in addition to the already allowed volitional passage for fish, was overturned by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals reinstated Oregon’s long-standing requirement that artificial barriers to fish migration, like dams, be upgraded to allow fish to swim freely past, according to a Columbia Riverkeeper news release.

The court’s Nov. 26 decision struck down the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s December 2022 rule that allows dam operators to trap salmon and load them into trucks for transport around dams—a process with much lower survival rates, Riverkeeper said.

The rule was reversed because the court determined that ODFW had failed to notify the public about making the rule change.

The court wrote in its decision that “It is unclear from the record exactly when, why, and by whom the additional revisions were made. The revisions were made without additional public notice and were adopted at the December 16, 2022 [Commission], meeting. Those amendments became effective on January 1, 2023.”

“The lack of notice [deprived] people whose interests are historically, culturally, and integrally intertwined with the policies at issue of a role in the process…,” the court wrote

“In one assignment of error, petitioners argue that the amendments to those rules were adopted without compliance with applicable rulemaking procedures, in violation of ORS 183.335,” the Appeals Court wrote in its decision (2025.11.26-Columbia-Riverkeeper-v.-ODFW-A182213-Opinion.pdf). “We conclude that the commission did not substantially comply with the notice requirements for amendment of administrative rules under the Oregon Administrative Procedures Act (APA). As a result, the January 1, 2023, amendments to OAR 635-412-0005(20), OAR 635-412-0005(51), and OAR 635-412 0035(6) are invalid.”

ODFW’s new rule or amendment was overturned because ODFW failed to notify Tribes or the public before making this important rule change, Riverkeeper said.

“The CTUIR appreciates the Oregon Court of Appeals for upholding the importance of transparency and public participation in decisions that affect our rivers and fish,” Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of Trustees Chair Kat Brigham said. “This ruling affirms that agencies must follow the law and respect the voices of all stakeholders, including sovereign tribal nations. It is the right decision for the health of our waterways and the cultural and natural resources that sustain our people and others in Oregon.”

Challenging ODFW’s amendment to the state’s fish passage program in court were Columbia Riverkeeper, Native Fish Society, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Oregon Wild, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and Institute for Fisheries Resources, The Conservation Angler, Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

“By ODFW’s own count, there are 42,780 artificial barriers to fish migration along rivers, streams, and creeks in Oregon,” said Mark Sherwood, Executive Director for Native Fish Society. “The Department should be doing everything possible to aid these struggling fish populations, not creating more barriers by cutting corners in laws meant to protect these fish.”

The Oregon Commission’s public affairs officer, Michelle Dennehy, said in an email, “We are currently reviewing the ruling and options with our attorneys and are unable to comment at this time.”

In its decision, the court wrote that Oregon’s Fish Passage Rules “exist to protect the ability of native migratory fish to pass through human-made barriers to their migration, such as dams and roads, absent a waiver or exemption.” Fish passage policy was originally adopted into law in 2001 and codified in 2006 by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. “The 2006 rules required that fish be able to pass through obstructions volitionally, i.e., on their own, as opposed to being trapped or moved via human intervention, absent a waiver or exemption,” the court’s decision says.

“This is a highly significant, consequential, and protective decision for native migratory fish in Oregon, for Oregonians, and for Nez Perce people throughout the Tribe’s treaty-reserved territory in Oregon,” Nez Perce Tribal Chairman Shannon Wheeler said. “For us, the decision confirms, for future fish passage requirements on rivers throughout Nez Perce territory in Oregon, and right now at the Wallowa Lake Dam reconstruction in the heart of the Nez Perce homeland, that Oregon’s fish passage regulation requires volitional passage unless an exemption can be proved publicly, and that state regulations cannot be revised by an agency at the last minute in a back room with no public notice and comment.

“The Court of Appeals’ decision is grounded in common sense and clear reasoning, and is a reminder of the indispensable oversight and protective role the courts play for all of us,” Shannon said.

Idaho Fish and Game has launched a new study to better understand largemouth bass populations in the eight Chain Lakes connected to Coeur d’Alene Lake. The project was developed through ongoing conversations and collaboration with local bass anglers and bass fishing groups.

Currently, Fish and Game manages each of the Chain Lakes as an independent fishery, with lake-specific harvest regulations for largemouth bass and other species. This study seeks to determine whether that long-standing management approach aligns with how bass actually use the system.

“If bass movements among the lakes are occurring, this study will help us better understand how that could impact management options moving forward,” said Mike Thomas, Regional Fisheries Biologist for the Panhandle Region.

The study involves capturing largemouth bass, recording their length and weight, surgically implanting tracking transmitters, releasing the fish in the lake where they were caught and monitoring their movements over the next year.

“I hope that 15–20 years from now these fisheries are still producing amazing largemouth bass for everyone to enjoy, and this study will help us strive for that,” Thomas added.

Located at the southern end of Coeur d’Alene Lake along the Coeur d’Alene River near the town of Harrison, the Chain Lakes provide excellent fishing opportunities for a variety of warmwater species. The system is especially well-known for producing trophy-sized largemouth bass.

For more information or questions about the study, please contact the Panhandle Regional office

Above photo: A view of the cold and incredibly clear waters of the Dungeness River (WDFW photo). Despite the clear appearance, there are millions of fragments of genetic material from all walks of life suspended in this water.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists are using environmental DNA (eDNA) to take an unprecedented look at what lives in the state’s rivers, with the goal of conducting a census of every major river and drainage in Washington over the next seven years.

The project, called the Aquatic Biodiversity Study, is the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest — and possibly the entire country — to use eDNA for a comprehensive, ongoing survey of an entire state’s native resident freshwater species.
“This is the most comprehensive aquatic biodiversity study using eDNA technology ever implemented in Washington,” said Marie Winkowski, WDFW’s native freshwater fish and shellfish specialist.

Beyond its scale, Winkowski notes, this landmark effort “is revolutionizing how wildlife agencies monitor native freshwater fish, shellfish, and invertebrate populations across vast landscapes, creating a more sustainable model for managing at-risk species and those of greatest conservation need.”

WDFW scientists have already surveyed Washington’s Dungeness, Elwha, Yakima, Naches, Wenatchee, Willapa, and Skokomish river systems. Each watershed offers a different mix of habitats — from alpine-fed snowmelt rivers to slow, meandering coastal streams — and each has its own community of species, some of which have never been documented in those waters before.

“We’re getting a level of detail about aquatic biodiversity that was simply not possible before,” said Vince Butitta, one of two WDFW leads of the study. “This technology lets us detect not just fish, but shellfish, freshwater invertebrates, amphibians, and even signs of animals that live near rivers, such as beavers, snakes, loons, ducks, and others.”

“A single sample in just one river has helped us detect hundreds of species,” adds Butitta. “Now imagine thousands of samples across the entire state. When you put them together, it really creates a mosaic of information of entire river systems. It’s an incredibly efficient system.”

Every living thing leaves behind microscopic genetic material in its environment — biological material like skin cells, mucus, eggs, and waste, all containing DNA. Scientists refer to this as “environmental DNA.” In rivers, these fragments are carried by the current. In a process called metabarcoding, scientists filter water samples, capture those eDNA fragments, and identify the species that shed them.

Unlike traditional surveys, which can require a lot of time and effort to physically catch and identify animals, eDNA samples are collected quickly by a small team of scientific technicians, all without disturbing the species being studied. It can also detect species that are rare, elusive, or have low populations — species that might otherwise be missed.

For fish and wildlife managers, this study represents a leap forward towards freshwater conservation efforts. Washington’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) lists more than 30 freshwater native aquatic species of greatest conservation need, from lamprey and freshwater mussels to amphibians like the cascade torrent salamander and the Oregon spotted frog. For many of these species, there are large gaps in basic knowledge, such as where they occur or how abundant they are.

“For some species, we haven’t had updated range data in decades,” said Skylar Wolf, WDFW’s aquatic eDNA co-lead. “With eDNA, we can close those basic knowledge gaps and start building a clearer picture to guide future work and conservation actions”.
On a recent late summer morning along the Dungeness River, a WDFW field team unloaded their gear near a shaded bend where crystal clear water fanned over smooth gravel. The centerpiece of their setup was a pivoting tripod system with a long boom arm — a piece of equipment that could easily be mistaken for an audio recording rig. But instead of a microphone, the boom suspended a siphon connected to a sealed housing containing a water filter.

Once in place, the team let the river current do the work. Enough water was drawn through the filter to capture an invisible record of every living thing that had recently been upstream. The filter, now coated with microscopic traces of DNA, was carefully removed with sterile gloves, placed into a clean, labeled bag, and sealed for transport to the lab.

At each site, the team collected several samples: a control sample using laboratory-grade deionized water, to ensure no contamination from equipment; and multiple field samples or “replicates” at upstream and downstream locations, to cover different habitats across the site.

Alongside the DNA collection, the scientists recorded water temperature, flow rate, turbidity, pH, and river width at multiple points. This environmental data helps researchers interpret the DNA results in the context of habitat conditions.

Once the filters arrive at the lab, the DNA is extracted and analyzed through a scientific process called metabarcoding. Specialized software matches the genetic sequences to known species in reference databases. The analysis produces a list of species at that site at that moment in time — a molecular snapshot of the river’s biodiversity.

The implications are enormous. These surveys will allow WDFW to identify where species of greatest conservation need and species of greatest information need are found, detect changes in species distribution over time, understand habitat associations and species interactions, and provide baseline data for future restoration or management work.

And because DNA can be archived, these samples can be re-analyzed decades later with improved technology to answer new questions — or detect species that are currently unknown to science.

“This work not only helps management decisions today, but has important long-term value,” Butitta said. “We’re creating a record that future scientists will be able to revisit 10, 20, even 50 years from now to see how ecosystems have changed.”
While eDNA has been used in targeted studies, WDFW’s Aquatic Biodiversity Study is the first to apply it statewide in a systematic, ongoing way to native resident freshwater species. That comprehensive scope makes it a model for other states looking to implement conservation actions recommended in their SWAPs.

In Washington, the study is already helping to reveal the hidden complexity of rivers and the species that depend on them. Over time, it will allow managers to track shifts in biodiversity due to climate change, habitat restoration, and other environmental pressures.

“It’s a little bit ‘Ghostbusters’ with the gear we use,” Wolf said with a laugh, “but what we’re doing has very real consequences for conservation. The more we know about what’s in our streams and rivers, the better equipped we are to protect these resources.”

Above photo: WDFW staff and partners post-construction. Photo by WDFW.

July through September are the dryest and hottest parts of the year, with 2025 being the third consecutive year of drought in the Yakima River Basin.

Many summers in the Yakima River Basin, particularly in drought years, Box Canyon Creek, which flows into Kachess Reservoir in Kittitas County, dries up to the point that it no longer connects to the reservoir. This spells serious trouble for migrating bull trout traveling from the reservoir into the creek to spawn.

Bull trout are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that only about 75 to 100 adult bull trout are left in the Box Canyon Creek population, with their survival on a precipice.
While many outdoor enthusiasts appreciate Kachess Reservoir for its stunning beauty and refreshing waters, they may not realize its importance for bull trout spawning as well as irrigation throughout the Yakima River Basin. Reservoir operations reduce water levels, leaving fish stranded.

Reservoir conditions, combined with drought, can result in Box Canyon Creek completely disconnecting from Kachess Reservoir, like it did this fall. This combination has the potential to devastate the local population of bull trout that travel from the reservoir into the creek to spawn.

Fortunately, dedicated groups come to the rescue, providing physical labor and construction equipment to create a flume (or channel) for bull trout to swim through on their way home.

The emergency flume is made of straw bales, plastic lining, and rocks and functions as a kind of ’slip and slide’ for the fish. The flume, combined with rains, helps bull trout swim freely from the reservoir to their Box Canyon Creek home where they’re able to build redds, or ‘fish nests’ to reproduce.

WDFW staff, contracted by United States Bureau of Reclamation have been monitoring Box Canyon Creek and drought conditions in the area, since 2015. Staff biologists watch carefully each summer for potential fish passage problems during the summer and fall. The monitoring enables the Department to be prepared when the fish need extra support.

In 2025, WDFW again led a massive effort to reconnect this bull trout habitat — the creek and reservoir alongside partners including the USBR, Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, Kittitas Conservation Trust, Roza Irrigation District, Kittitas Reclamation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Yakima Tieton Irrigation District, Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board, U.S. Forest Service, and other volunteers.

The team built an approximately 700-foot-long flume in two sections across the reservoir bed. They secured a plastic lining over straw bale walls and drove T-posts through to hold the walls in place. They placed rocks and other structures strategically inside the flume to create different water flows that provide places for fish to hide and rest.

Staff and partners monitored the flume daily for fish, predators, poaching, and vandalism. They adjusted the flume and rock features, maintaining fish passage as weather changed and natural shifts occurred.

“The shared commitment and enthusiasm of the team made this year’s project another success,” said Josh Rogala, WDFW fish passage biologist. “Months of coordination calls, meetings, and preparation culminated in a rigorous, half-day construction of a temporary but effective fish passageway. We’re inspired by the way our partners continually come together to help support a better future for bull trout recovery here in the reservoir.”

WDFW removed the flume in late October after the fall rains returned and the bull trout had completed their migration to spawn.

This year, project participants detected seven bull trout redds and nine adult bull trout in Box Canyon Creek — a great sign that the fish are successfully using the flume and starting to reproduce. Other fish were also detected recently accessing the creek habitat.

Last year, after WDFW and partners installed the flume, project participants detected two bull trout upstream in Box Canyon Creek and three bull trout in the flume. Biologists counted a total of 10 redds (a nest where fish lay their eggs) in Box Canyon Creek in 2023. In 2024, that number was eight.

Some of the redds would not exist without the artificial creek. While those numbers may seem extremely low, they reflect just how low bull trout populations are in this area.

This year’s project builds on nearly a decade of similar efforts. WDFW built a temporary fish passage flume at Box Canyon Creek seven times before, in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Construction in the early years was extremely arduous, taking several long days. Thanks to many cooperators pitching in, recent years’ efforts are much more efficient.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced four proposed rules that it says “will restore Endangered Species Act regulations to their proven 2019 and 2020 framework.” If approved, the new rules would prohibit critical habitat designation for species threatened by climate change and allow economic impacts to be considered in species protections.

The proposals, two of which were issued in coordination with NOAA Fisheries, “would revise Biden administration regulations finalized in 2024 that expanded federal reach, created unnecessary complexity and departed from the statute’s clear language,” says a Department of Interior press release.

“This administration is restoring the Endangered Species Act to its original intent, protecting species through clear, consistent and lawful standards that also respect the livelihoods of Americans who depend on our land and resources,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “These revisions end years of legal confusion and regulatory overreach, delivering certainty to states, tribes, landowners and businesses while ensuring conservation efforts remain grounded in sound science and common sense.”

The four proposed rules are:

Listing and critical habitat (50 CFR part 424):

The services jointly propose to restore the 2019 regulatory text governing listing, delisting and critical habitat determinations. The proposal, says the press release, “ensures decisions are based on the best scientific and commercial data available while allowing transparent consideration of economic impacts. It reestablishes the longstanding two-step process for designating unoccupied habitat, restores clarity to the definition of “foreseeable future” and reinstates flexibility to determine when designating critical habitat is not prudent.”

Interagency cooperation (50 CFR part 402):

The services jointly propose to return to the 2019 consultation framework by reinstating definitions of “effects of the action” and “environmental baseline,” removing the 2024 “offset” provisions and restoring section 7 procedures consistent with the statutory text.

Threatened species protections (50 CFR part 17; section 4(d)):

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to eliminate the “blanket rule” option and require species-specific 4(d) rules tailored to each threatened species.

Critical habitat exclusions (50 CFR part 17; section 4(b)(2)):

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to reinstate its 2020 rule “clarifying how economic, national security and other relevant impacts are weighed when determining whether to exclude areas from critical habitat,” says the Interior press release. “The revised framework provides transparency and predictability for landowners and project proponents while maintaining the service’s authority to ensure that exclusions will not result in species extinction.”

“The 2024 regulatory packages had reimposed provisions previously deemed inconsistent with the ESA’s statutory text. The Administration’s proposed rules would replace those provisions with standards that reflect decades of implementation experience, consistent judicial precedent and the Supreme Court’s reaffirmation that agencies must follow the law as written,” says the press release.

The proposed rules can be found in the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/current.

A new Center for Biological Diversity analysis identifies seven endangered animal species that the group says would be pushed to the brink of extinction by the “Trump administration’s effort to radically weaken protections for imperiled wildlife.”
“The Trump plan to dismantle the Endangered Species Act would significantly harm hundreds of species. But the Center’s analysis focuses on seven that would be particularly at risk under the changes: the alligator snapping turtle, the California spotted owl, the Florida panther, the monarch butterfly, the Saltmarsh sparrow, the Sunflower sea star, and the wolverine,” says the Center.

“Animals often go extinct by human choice and Trump has chosen a deadly path for our nation’s most cherished wildlife,” said Stephanie Kurose, deputy government affairs director at the Center. “If the president gets his way, the next generation won’t ever witness the magic of a fluttering monarch or realize that the wolverine is more than a comic book character.”

The proposed regulations would prohibit critical habitat designation for species threatened by climate change and allow economic impacts to be considered in species protections. They would also remove nearly all protections for species newly designated as “threatened” under the Act and allow special interest groups to block habitat protections by overriding recommendations from scientists, says the Center.

The public comment period on the proposals is underway with a Dec. 22 deadline. The Center is seeking a 60-day extension.
To show the possible impacts of the proposed rules, the Center in a press release detailed how seven species could be affected:

Alligator snapping turtle: These prehistoric-looking freshwater turtles, built like a tank and often covered in camouflaging algae, are known for their spiked shells, large claws, and strong, beaked jaws. Alligator snapping turtles spend much of their time under water, luring prey with their worm-like tongues and occasionally surfacing to breathe. These turtles face a predicted 95% decline in 50 years and may be doomed to extinction in as few as 30 years even under the most optimistic predictions. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the alligator snapping turtle as threatened in 2021 but has failed to finalize protections four years later. Under the Trump administration’s newly proposed regulations, the turtle may never get the full protections it desperately needs to avoid extinction.

California spotted owls: In 2023 California spotted owls were proposed for protection as endangered in southern and coastal California mountains and threatened in the Sierra Nevada. Like their northern cousins, they need old-growth forests to survive, and have seen their forests homes dwindle from logging and climate-driven, high-severity fires. Under the Trump proposal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will have to conduct an economic analysis before protections are finalized, further slowing urgently needed protections that are already two years late. The Center has been fighting to protect these owls for a quarter century.

Florida panthers: There are likely fewer than 200 Florida panthers left in the wild. On average 20 to 30 panthers a year are killed by cars when they try to cross roads that slice across their last remaining occupied range in southwest Florida. Under the Trump administration’s proposed regulations, increased traffic on roads won’t be considered when new developments are permitted. This could be a nail in the coffin for these unique and beautiful cats. Large-scale residential and commercial developments are currently being planned throughout their last stronghold, including one that is less than a mile from Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Panthers cannot survive, let alone recover back into their southeastern range, without strong protections that consider the deadly impacts of poorly planned development.

Monarch butterflies: These butterflies have declined by more than 90% because of pesticide spraying that eliminates the milkweed they need during their migration, one of the longest of any insect. The monarchs also struggle from loss of forest on their wintering grounds in Mexico. Last year, the monarch was proposed as threatened with final protections due Dec. 12, a deadline the Trump administration is not expected to meet. The proposal included a special rule that would protect the butterfly against take, but given the new Trump species proposals, these monarch protections could be rolled back. The administration reopened comments on the monarch proposal in March.

Saltmarsh sparrow: These little songbirds breed in the salt marshes of the Northeast but their habitat is quickly disappearing because of climate change and sea-level rise. The sparrow has undergone steep declines in the last quarter century with more than four out of every five birds having disappeared since 1998 — an estimated population decline of 87%. These birds need endangered species protections immediately, but Trump’s regulations specifically state that species threatened by climate change won’t receive critical habitat designation.

Sunflower sea star: One of the largest sea stars in the world, the sunflower sea star was once common from the coast of Southern California to southern Alaska. Sunflower sea stars — who have up to 24 arms, can be a meter wide, and come in a variety of bright colors — are voracious predators whose consumption of sea urchins helps prevent the overgrazing of kelp forests where they live. Since 2013, 90% of the Pacific population has been lost to the gruesome and disfiguring sea star-wasting disease, leading NOAA Fisheries to propose the sea star as threatened in 2023. The sea star-wasting disease outbreak is driven by climate change, with warmer oceans making the effects more severe and deadly. Because these are the primary threats to the sea star, the Trump administration will likely refuse to protect the kelp forests that these sea stars need to survive and recover.

Wolverine: With fewer than 300 animals in the lower 48 states, the American wolverine is in dire straits. These feisty predators are known to take down moose, but they’re no match for climate change. The wolverine needs persistent spring snowpack for denning, but the snow is melting earlier and earlier as our planet warms. Under the Trump administration’s proposed regulations, the wolverine may not get protected critical habitat, and development projects that fragment habitat won’t be planned or built with their needs in mind.

People across Oregon are being urged to avoid contact with sick or dead birds as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to impact wild and domestic bird populations across the state. There is currently no effective treatment for wild and domestic birds, and the virus can spread rapidly among bird populations and potentially to other wildlife.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is currently receiving reports of HPAI-related bird deaths across Oregon, with most cases occurring in the Willamette Valley among migrating cackling geese and some raptors. Additional detections have been reported in eastern Oregon, where early-season duck and raptor mortalities and snow goose deaths have occurred. Sporadic reports along the Oregon Coast also include cases in gulls and other waterbirds.

Since 2022, Oregon has experienced widespread outbreaks of HPAI in wild birds and domestic poultry. This virus has been detected in nearly every Oregon county. It has caused the deaths of more than 15,000 wild birds and the euthanasia of more than 183 million domestic poultry in North America.

Other non-avian wildlife confirmed with HPAI in Oregon include raccoons, skunks, foxes, marten and bobcats. However, nearly any mammalian species that feed on affected animals or is in a heavily contaminated environment may be susceptible to disease.
Nationwide, affected wildlife also includes coyotes, wild cats, and bears that have likely fed on infected birds. Marine mammals have also been impacted in North and South America. Domestic animals affected by HPAI include poultry, waterfowl, cattle, pigs, goats, alpacas, and cats.

What to do if you encounter groups of sick or dead wild birds

• Report groups of sick or dead wild birds to the Wildlife Health lab at 866-968-2600 or wildlife.health@odfw.oregon.gov. ODFW staff are monitoring and tracking continued mortalities. Samples may be collected in cases involving large numbers of dead birds or multiple species. Single dead bird reports are useful for tracking suspicious cases; however, due to limited staff, and resources ODFW will not be able to respond to all such reports.

• Do not handle wildlife that is sick or found dead. If it is necessary to dispose of a carcass, use a shovel or wear impermeable gloves, wash hands with soap and water, and change clothing before having contact with domestic poultry or pet birds. 

• Keep dogs away from sick or dead birds. There are no known cases of domestic dogs becoming sickened by contact with sick birds. But hunters should not feed dogs any raw meat, organs, or other tissues from harvested waterfowl, and they should not allow retrieving dogs to interact with sick or dead birds.

Typical symptoms in wild waterfowl include lethargy, inability to fly, erratic behavior, loss of coordination, cloudy eyes, swimming in circles, and head shaking. However, some dabbling ducks may carry the virus without symptoms, spreading it through their feces to other birds and wetlands. Infected wild mammals may appear sick or neurologically abnormal, or be found dead after consuming infected birds, and should also be reported.

Birds typically die within 72 hours of showing clinical signs. Currently, rehabilitators in Oregon are advised not to accept waterfowl with bird flu symptoms due to the risk of the disease spreading to other birds in their facilities.

How to report illness in domestic animals

Death or illness among domestic birds (chickens, turkeys, Guinea fowl) should be reported immediately to ODA. Please report by calling 503-986-4711 (alt. phone 1-800-347-7028). Find more information on avian influenza in domestic birds and tips on protecting backyard flocks from ODA.

Risk to humans

The risk to people from this strain of avian influenza is low. Since 2024, there have been 71 human cases of avian influenza in the United States, including two deaths. Most of these cases were exposed to infected dairy herds or domestic poultry farms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides updated information on human cases of HPAI.

ODFW is part of the State of Oregon’s multi-agency response to HPAI, along with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Health Authority, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS).

Steller and California sea lions are known to take a big chunk of early migrating adult salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River, but a recent study has also found that Steller sea lions are eating more than 2 million young Chinook salmon along Washington’s northwest coastline.

During the study period, between December 2020 and August 2021, Steller sea lions consumed 284 metric tons of age-0 Chinook salmon (salmon that have spent less than one year in the ocean), the study found. That equates to 2,064,418 individual ocean age-0 Chinook and that high number of juveniles further equates to 14,771 adult (ocean age 2–4 years) Chinook salmon, the study’s authors estimate.

Despite reductions in commercial, recreational and tribal fishing, the number of Chinook salmon along the coast has declined “precipitously,” the study says. Mortality of ocean-age-0 salmon has been identified as a driver of this decline for both hatchery and wild Chinook along Washington’s coastline used by a diverse mix of Chinook salmon in their early marine life stage, the study says.

Natural mortality at this life stage is due to a number of factors, such as ocean temperatures, salinity, weather conditions, prey availability and predation and that mortality varies by location. Predation, hatchery release timing and human caused impacts like habitat degradation may be the strongest predictors of this decline, the study says.

“Further, the effects of climate change on early marine phase salmon through a combination of bottom-up and top-down trophic processes, including marine mammal predation, may limit the population growth of the species,” the study says. “Therefore, determining causal mechanisms of early mortality is critical for conservation and recovery efforts, and sustainable harvest management.”

While there has been a declining population of Chinook salmon along the Washington coast, steller sea lion abundance increased at a rate of nearly 8 percent per year from 2010 to 2017. Steller sea lions in Washington are part of the Eastern distinct population segment, which was delisted in 2013 from the federal Endangered Species Act. The delisting, according to the study, followed a population growth of 4.2 percent per year from 1979 to 2010.

The study, “Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) consumption of ocean age-0 Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) along the northwest coast of Washington State,” was published Nov. 12 in Plos One (Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) consumption of ocean age-0 Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) along the northwest coast of Washington State | PLOS One).

Study authors are Zoë K. Lewis, Biology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham; Benjamin W. Nelson, Independent Consultant, Seattle; Adrianne M. Akmajian, Makah Fisheries Management, Makah Tribe, Neah Bay; Elizabeth M. Allyn, Makah Fisheries Management, Makah Tribe, Neah Bay; Sarah Brown, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia; Dietmar Schwarz, Biology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham; and Alejandro Acevedo-Gutiérrez, Biology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham.

The study’s objectives were three-fold: to measure what part of the sea lion diet was made up of Chinook (Dec. 2020 to Aug. 2021); to estimate the total biomass of prey consumed by steller sea lions; and to model the contribution of ocean age-0 Chinook to Steller sea lion diet using DNA metabarcoding.

Scientists took scat samples from Tatoosh Island at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Sea Lion Rock, 45 kilometers south. A DNA metabarcoding analysis was performed to estimate the proportion of DNA that could be attributed to Chinook salmon in the scat samples.

Some 274 steller sea lion scat samples were collected during the study (92 in the winter — December-February, 90 in the spring — March-May, and 85 in the summer June-August), the study results say. Chinook salmon were most prevalent in scats during spring and winter, and was highest relative to other salmon species in the spring. Summer detection of Chinook DNA was much lower. Some 51 percent of Pacific salmon remains were from age-0 individuals. That was highest in the winter.

Daily consumption was highest in December and it was the least in May. Adult males had the highest estimated daily consumption of age-0 Chinook per day and juvenile females had the lowest per day in all months; the total daily consumption of age-0 Chinook was similar for juvenile males and adult females, the study concludes.

The authors say that prior studies estimated lower consumption by all marine mammal species (includes all pinnipeds and killer whales), with just over 0.7 million Chinook salmon of all age classes along the entire outer Washington coast in 2015. That same study estimated that across the entire north Pacific, steller sea lions only consumed about 0.7 million Chinook (all ages) in 2015.

However, “across all alternative models, the median estimate for Chinook salmon consumption ranged from 1.5 to 3 million fish, reinforcing the conclusion that the contribution of age-0 Chinook to the Steller sea lion diet is greater than earlier estimates suggested.”

“Our study marks the first biomass modeling framework incorporating Steller sea lion DNA metabarcoding data to match previous work produced for other pinniped species,” the authors said. “Our consumption estimates of Chinook salmon by Steller sea lions were higher than estimates reported in previous studies of the region, which may be a factor of increased sea lion abundance, better data resolution, an increase in predation rates or some combination of those factors.”

The Bonneville Power Administration shared its end-of-year financial performance results for fiscal year 2025 at its Nov. 13 Quarterly Business Review, saying it had hit all financial targets.

BPA ended FY 2025 with agency net revenues of $74 million, exceeding the overall target by $4 million. This result was largely driven by Transmission Services revenues, which came in $22 million over target. However, this is $211 million below the rates-based forecast of $285 million.

In FY 2025, BPA successfully achieved all its financial targets, demonstrating a strong financial position even amid a dry year that challenged our financial risk mechanisms. In addition to achieving agency revenue and cost targets, BPA sustained high investment-grade credit ratings, reduced its debt-to-asset ratio, and concluded the year with significant U.S. Treasury borrowing authority, said the agency.

Furthermore, BPA fulfilled its annual payment to the U.S. Treasury on schedule and in full, a $1.2 billion payment “that affirmed its complete adherence to financial obligations for the year,” the agency said at the forum.

BPA operates under a comprehensive long-term Financial Plan, which includes policies and tools designed to guide decision-making and maintain stable, competitive power and transmission rates over an extended period. The agency also sets annual targets to monitor its progress.

“This year’s below-average water supply presented a significant challenge,” said Chief Financial Officer Tom McDonald. “Through several strategic actions taken this year and in prior years, however, we minimized the use of financial reserves, ending the year on much stronger footing than we otherwise would have. I’m proud of the work our staff did to mitigate difficult circumstances.”

Poor hydrological conditions for a third consecutive year caused BPA to make more market power purchases than anticipated. While some of these expenses were negated by strategic debt-management actions that provided additional liquidity and higher net revenues, Power Services ultimately fell $18 million short of its financial target, ending the year with net revenues of $59 million.

Transmission Services ended the year with net revenues of $15 million, exceeding the business line’s financial target by $22 million. This result was primarily driven by higher-than-expected operating revenues and debt-management actions that offset cost pressures.

FY 2025 marked a record year for agency direct capital execution, totaling $1.08 billion and falling within the target range. This result was driven by strong execution on several large projects, including McNary Dam turbine design and replacement, Chief Joseph Dam generator rewinds, Longhorn Substation, Pearl Sherwood-McLoughlin transmission line upgrade, South of Tri-Cities reinforcement, Vancouver Control Center construction and many others.

BPA ended the year with sufficient operating liquidity, with agency financial reserves for risk coming in at $489 million and exceeding the target of at least 60 days cash on hand.

Transmission Services ended the year with $220 million in reserves for risk, equating to 94 days cash on hand. Power Services reserves, however, were strained by three years of below-average water and significantly higher-than-expected power purchase expenses. Power Services ended the year with $270 million in reserves for risk, or 50 days cash on hand, which is below the 60-day threshold. This triggered a rate-adjustment mechanism included in BPA’s Financial Reserves Policy known as the FRP surcharge.

The calculated Power surcharge amount, which will be applied in FY 2026 only, would increase the annual average effective wholesale Tier 1 Non-Slice power rate by 2.2%, rebuilding Power financial reserves by $40 million over the course of the year. The administrator will issue the final surcharge amount and rate by Dec. 15, following a public review and comment period.

BPA’s end-of-year results are available on the Quarterly Business Review webpage.
For more information about BPA’s 2025 performance, see the Annual Report published Nov. 14.

Above photo: When the pituitary glands of salmon are themselves exposed to daylight, they light up with TSH (red and green).Credit Stephen McCormick

One of the enduring ichthyological mysteries is how migratory fish know when it is time to move from their winter to summer habitats. The ability to tell when the seasons are changing is crucial for a wide range of major life events, including feeding and spawning, as well as migration.

Many animals are sensitive to photoperiods, or the changing length of the days across seasons, but while scientists have a good understanding of how photoperiodism works in birds and mammals, how exactly fish recognize changes in day length has remained a mystery—until now.

A team of researchers led by Stephen McCormick, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has just uncovered how fish know when to migrate—with the surprising discovery that their pituitary gland, located at the base of their brains, is studded with photoreceptors that can “see” the changing daylight.

The research, published recently in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, not only sheds light on the enduring migration mystery, but also will help in planning for the increasingly disruptive role climate change is already having on migrating fish populations.

“Many animals, especially in the temperate zones, need to be able the sense the changing of the seasons,” says McCormick. “They need to prepare for winter or know when the spring is arriving, and this is crucial for everything from mating to finding food. One reliable way to do this is to be able to judge the season by the amount of daylight.”

Researchers have known for years that, in birds and mammals, increased daylight triggers a whole chain of hormone activity. First, the pituitary gland produces a hormone, called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), that flows to the brain, which in turn alters the production of a deiodinase enzyme that converts the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) to its more active form, known as T3. It’s this increasing level of brain T3 that seems to stimulate all sorts of seasonal responses, from migration to growth and reproduction.

Not only are McCormick and his colleagues, who hail from the University of Tokyo, Toho University, and the University of Gothenburg, the first to confirm that this basic pathway is the same in fish, but they also discovered that the way fish sense changes in daylength is very different from how birds and mammals do it.

For their research, the team focused on Atlantic salmon. “I have a lifelong interest in the species,” says McCormick, who notes that they’re endangered and that what holds true for them should also hold true for many other anadromous, migratory fish.

Salmon normally live in freshwater streams and lakes for one to three years and, upon reaching a critical size, will migrate in the spring to the ocean. As part of this transformation, they change from being dark sided to a bright silver color, acquire a high tolerance for saltwater and begin to change their behavior by schooling and swimming downstream.

“All of this is stimulated by changes in the daylight,” says McCormick, “and now we know how and why.”

It turns out that salmon can perceive daylight with more than just their eyes—between 7-9% of the sunlight penetrates the fish’s head and reaches the pituitary gland itself, which is studded with photoreceptors. McCormick and his team discovered this by removing the pituitary glands, exposing them to various lengths of daylight, and observing as the glands’ TSH levels changed in response to long days.

This capacity of the pituitary to directly perceive changes in day-length has not been previously seen in any vertebrate.
All of this has implications for the survival of migratory fish, say researchers. Over eons, migratory animals have evolved to begin their migrations so that they arrive at their destinations in time to feast on their favorite food source, or when conditions are right for mating or raising their young. Climate change has uncoupled seasonal changes from the length of the day, however, and it is now not uncommon for migratory species to arrive in their summer feeding grounds after their food sources has itself migrated somewhere else.

“Now that we know how photoperiodism works in fish,” McCormick says, “we can get a much better sense of the pace of their evolution, and this can help us determine the best methods for helping fish to survive a warming world.”

Above photo: Inner coast transient killer whale hunting close to a Steller sea lion haulout off the outer coast of Washington. Credit by Jonathan Scordino Makah Fisheries Management.

New research has confirmed that West Coast transient killer whales who live between British Columbia and California are two distinct subpopulations: inner and outer coast transients.

Based on 16 years of data from more than 2,200 encounters, the study published in PLOS One challenges previous assumptions about this group of mammal-eating killer whales.

“I’ve been thinking about this possibility for 15 years,” says first author Josh McInnes, who conducted the research as part of his masters at University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF). “Now our findings show the West Coast transients are two distinct groups, split along an east-west divide. They eat different things, hunt in different areas and very rarely spend time with each other.”

There are three ecotypes of killer whales which frequent the West Coast of North America: transients, residents and offshore, although a fourth potential ‘oceanic’ population was recently posited. The transients consist of six populations around the world, including the West Coast transients, which is the most studied and shares distinct DNA.

This West Coast group, which are found from southeast Alaska to southern California, were previously suspected to be split in a north-south divide, but the research found they differ in a number of ways.

“The inner coast killer whales are like city dwellers,” said co-author Andrew Trites, IOF professor and director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit. “They’re experts at navigating busy, maze-like streets of nearshore inlets, bays and sheltered waterways—whereas the outer coast killer whales are more like backcountry dwellers thriving in deep canyons and rugged underwater terrain along the edge of the continental shelf.”

The research team undertook a social network analysis of orca sightings using photos from a range of sources including scientific surveys and public sightings to identify specific animals from 2005 to 2021. “We essentially drew friendship maps to see which whales spent time together, and then looked at where they were seen to figure out if they hung out in specific neighborhoods,” said Trites.

The researchers found that the inner coast transients, numbering about 350 animals, were observed on average about six kilometres from shore and in significantly shallower waters than the outer coast whales, such as the Salish Sea. They ate a diet of smaller marine mammals such as harbour seals and harbour porpoises, and foraged in small groups of about five whales on average.

Outer coast transients, numbering about 210, are mainly found within 20 kilometres of the continental shelf break, frequently near submarine canyons. They were seen up to 120 kilometres from shore and travelled over extensive distances. They ate larger prey such as California sea lions, northern elephant seals, gray whale calves and Pacific white-sided dolphins and hunted in groups of about nine on average.

These differences could be due to the different habitats the animals occupy or human effects on the ecosystem, including culling and harvesting of key prey species.

Despite some overlap in their hunting grounds, which run from Southeast Alaska to southern California, the two subpopulations rarely associated with each other, with co-mingling seen in less than one per cent of encounters. “I have seen outer coast transients acting strangely around inner coast animals,” said McInnes, co-founder of the Oceanic Research Alliance. “One of the sightings reported a group of single male outer coast orcas slapping each other with their dorsal fins and charging at inner coast females.”

Given the difficulty of surveying in offshore waters, it’s possible there are even more subpopulations hunting beyond the reach of current observations.

In the meantime, the authors emphasize that their findings highlight the transboundary nature of transient killer whales and the importance of tailoring conservation and management efforts to the distinct ecological traits of each subpopulation. “These two communities of transient killer whale inhabit very different worlds and lead distinctly different lives,” said Dr. Trites. “Protecting them will take more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Each needs a tailored plan that reflects their unique needs and the specific threats they face.”

New research from Simon Fraser University Biological Sciences researchers finds that Pacific salmon are facing escalating threats due to a lack of coordinated conservation policy and oversight.

Their study, published in FACETS outlines how the existing suite of environmental regulations across multiple jurisdictions in British Columbia is failing to manage the cumulative impacts of industrial development and climate change on salmon and watersheds, and suggests opportunities for reform.

“There’s no single smoking gun for salmon,” says lead author Marta Ulaski, who notes that salmon face pressures from multiple different stressors, including forestry, mining, urban development, aquaculture and climate change. Each of these sectors is regulated separately without coordinated oversight.

“All these different industries have their own laws and regulations that are enabling harms that, even if incremental, are adding up,” adds coauthor and SFU biological sciences professor Jonathan Moore. “There is no single policy tracking the state of salmon watersheds that looks across industries and sets hard thresholds that clearly say enough is enough.”

To address gaps in regulation the authors suggest a cumulative effects management cycle that includes collaborative on-the-ground monitoring, regional cumulative effects assessments, enforceable legal thresholds through spatial planning, regional governance, and climate-adapted policy frameworks.

“There are great tools out there that are bringing data together on the status of watersheds,” says Ulaski, “but these frameworks need to be given policy teeth so that they set enforceable thresholds.”

Underutilized tools such as Water Sustainability Plans and Modernized Land-use Planning can also play a role in reform. The authors point to collaboration between the Cowichan Tribes and the Province of B.C. on the Xwulqw’selu (Koksilah) watershed Water Sustainability Plan, and the Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum as good examples of regional plans that integrate climate science and Indigenous knowledge into watershed management.

In addition to the situation outlined in their paper, Ulaski and Moore note that this is a critical moment as both the federal and provincial governments move to fast-track major infrastructure and energy projects considered to be in the national or provincial interest.

“Without clear definitions of national or provincial interest and robust protections for ecosystems and Indigenous governance these legislative shifts risk exacerbating the cumulative harms this study warns against,” they say.

“We are asking too much of salmon and their ecosystems,” says Ulaski. “Our current piecemeal approach to industrial development and environmental regulation is not working. There is urgent need to adopt a more holistic approach to environmental regulations in B.C. to protect salmon and the people who rely on them.”

This study was the result of a collaborative project involving 14 experts in science and policy from institutions that included Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, West Coast Environmental Law, Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance and the POLIS Project of Ecological Governance at University of Victoria as part of the Watersheds Futures Initiative.

Above photo:A new report co-authored by WSU researchers concluded that Washington state could add solar panels to tens of thousands of acres of orchards and farms, making a significant dent in future energy needs without taking farmland out of production. (Photo by Sun’Agri)

What if solar power production could be developed in ways that coexist with existing farms, orchards and ranches? A new state-funded report, co-authored by Washington State University researchers, evaluates the feasibility of such an approach, known as “agrivoltaics.” Researchers found that it could work across tens of thousands of acres of Washington farmland — producing power, offering shade to protect certain crops and livestock, and keeping agricultural land in operation.

“Pulling land out of food production is not something we should be doing,” said Chad Kruger, the director of WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources and assistant director for WSU’s Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, who co-authored the report. “How can we potentially integrate energy generation and food production in a way that isn’t a proposition where one side wins and the other loses — where it really is a dual benefit?”

More study is required, and significant obstacles remain, including a high-upfront cost. But the report — titled “Low-hanging fruit for Washington’s energy future?” — concludes that there is reason for “cautious optimism” about implementing agrivoltaics in the state. In addition to preserving farmland, the approach would help prevent the conversion of undeveloped natural areas, like shrubsteppe and Palouse prairie, into single-use solar projects.

The project involved reviewing scientific literature, mapping agricultural land where agrivolataics might work, and surveying farmers. It lays out a series of recommendations for advancing the technology, including establishing demonstration projects, providing more information to farmers, and creating policy and financial incentives.

The report estimates that agrivoltaics could work on 87,000 acres of agricultural land in Washington state that are within one mile of an electrical substation. It is particularly promising for apples, berries and other perennial fruiting crops; half the land identified as feasible was orchards, primarily in central and eastern parts of the state. Dairy farms may also be a good fit.

That acreage could produce between 8.7 and 17.4 gigawatts of power; that would go a long way toward meeting estimates that Washington needs to produce 20 gigawatts of solar power to meet state-mandated clean-energy goals.

Agrivoltaics has been applied in limited places around the world, including Japan and Europe, but no such project is currently operating in Washington. Kruger is working to establish a pilot project at the WSU Sunrise Research Orchard near Wenatchee. The project has been designed, and Kruger is pursuing funding sources for construction.

Such a project could go a long way in demonstrating the approach to wary farmers.

“That’s the thing we heard repeatedly from the farmers: They’re excited by the idea and they want to see someone else do it first,” said Max Lambert, Washington’s director of science for The Nature Conservancy and lead author of the report. “One thing we learned from the survey was farmers deeply, deeply trust WSU and they trust the conservation commission and conservation districts here in Washington. We have good science suggesting this should work well, but actually seeing it happen on the ground would be that enabling condition to get them going.”

Other partners involved in the report were the American Farmland Trust, which conducted surveys of farmers, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The approach would not work well on all farms. Crops that rely on large equipment for harvesting would not be well-suited for adding solar panels. But apples and some other fruits could work well — solar panels could be installed in ways that don’t impede harvest or other field activities, and they would be particularly beneficial in preventing sunburn.

Apple growers now battle sunburn with netting or evaporative cooling systems. Solar panels above the trees could provide shading that gives growers control over how and when the shade is applied, while providing power or additional income from power generation.

There may be additional synergies. For instance, not only do solar panels provide shade protection to fruit, but the solar infrastructure could reduce irrigation costs and replace the cost of trellising, shade cloth itself, and installing and removing shade cloth seasonally.

One hundred farmers were surveyed for the report; most knew little about the technology and were not willing to alter their crop types to accommodate solar infrastructure. Still, more than half of respondents expressed moderate to strong interest in the technology.

Above photo: The streaks in this satellite image are from ships, which emit sulfate aerosols that can be toxic to humans and the environment. Aerosols also make the clouds more reflective. Efforts to curb pollution have reduced the amount of sunlight Earth reflects and accelerated warming, a new University of Washington study shows.NASA

Earth is reflecting less sunlight, and absorbing more heat, than it did several decades ago. Global warming is advancing faster than climate models predicted, with observed temperatures exceeding projections in 2023 and 2024. These trends have scientists scrambling to understand why the atmosphere is letting more light in.

A new study, published Nov. 5 in Nature Communications, shows that reducing air pollution has inadvertently diminished the brightness of marine clouds, which are key regulators of global temperature.

Between 2003 and 2022, clouds over the Northeastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans, both sites of rapid surface warming, became nearly 3% less reflective per decade. Researchers attribute approximately 70% of this change to aerosols —fine particles that float through the atmosphere and influence both cloud cover and cloud composition.

When research emerged showing that some aerosols are harmful, efforts to limit particulate pollution — specifically targeting the products of fossil fuel combustion — followed. Aerosol levels will likely continue to fall as clean energy replaces oil and gas. To improve the accuracy of global temperature forecasts, scientists need to capture the true relationship between aerosols, clouds, and heat from the sun in climate models.

“This paper is a substantial contribution to the evidence that reductions in particulate air pollutants are contributing to accelerated warming.” said Sarah Doherty, a principal research scientist at the UW Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies.

Researchers knew that low clouds over the ocean would dissipate as temperatures rose, exposing more surface area to warming sunlight and amplifying its effect. They also knew that particles in the atmosphere insulate Earth both by deflecting light and making the entire cloud more reflective.

The cooling effect from particulate pollution masked warming from greenhouse gases for decades. Accelerated warming was a potential consequence of improving air quality.

“It is clearly a good thing that we have been reducing particle pollution in the atmosphere,” Doherty said. “We don’t want to go back in time and take away the Clean Air Act.”

Passed in 1963, the Clean Air Act marked the first of many worldwide efforts to control pollution.

“Our goal is to understand what is driving current climate changes to estimate how much warming we will see in the future,” Doherty added.

The Northeastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are warming faster than almost anywhere else on Earth, threatening fishery stocks and the health of marine ecosystems. The researchers analyzed 20 years of satellite data documenting cloud dynamics above these bodies of water to identify the drivers behind the observed reduction in reflectivity.

They found that aerosols influence clouds in two ways. Small particles give water droplets something to cling to, and with a fixed amount of water, more aerosols means more small, shiny droplets in the clouds. By the same logic, reducing aerosols increases cloud droplet size. Large droplets are heavier, and quicker to fall to Earth as precipitation, which decreases the longevity of clouds, or cloud cover.

In the absence of aerosols, each cloud droplet carries more water but with aerosols, that water is dispersed between more droplets, impacting how reflective the cloud is and how long it lasts for.

“When you cut pollution, you’re losing reflectivity and warming the system by allowing more solar radiation, or sunlight, to reach Earth,” said lead author Knut von Salzen, a UW senior research scientist of atmospheric and climate science.
Updating aerosol formation and cloud droplet size in climate models improved simulations of cloud reflectivity — a critical variable for projecting future temperatures.

“We may be underestimating warming trends because this connection is stronger than we knew,” von Salzen said. “I think this increases the pressure on everyone to rethink climate mitigation and adaptation because warming is progressing faster than expected.”

While these changes to global cloud reflectivity have prompted rapid warming on Earth, scientists are researching the feasibility of interventions that could make the clouds shinier without polluting the air. One such intervention is known as marine cloud brightening, in which ships spray seawater into the air to make low-lying oceanic clouds more reflective and help minimize warming from the sun.

“You could think of it as replacing unhealthy pollutant particles with another type of particle that is not a pollutant — but that still provides a beneficial cooling effect,” said Robert Wood, a UW professor of atmospheric and climate science.
However, before they are implemented, more research is needed to confirm that these methods are safe and without unintended consequences. In the meantime, this study will help scientists better forecast the impacts of climate change at a global scale.

Additional co-authors include; Luke Fraser-Leach at the University of Toronto; Edward Gryspeerdt at Imperial College London; Ayodeji Akingunola, Jason N. S. Cole, Ruth A. R. Digby and Michael Sigmond at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
This study was funded by the University of Washington Marine Cloud Brightening Research Program, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship and a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and Puget Sound Energy announced that this year a record number of sockeye salmon returned to northwest Washington’s Skagit Bay and the Skagit River on their annual spawning migration.

From June through October 2025 more than 91,880 sockeye returned to the Skagit River system on their journey to the Baker River and Baker Lake.

Sockeye populations in the Baker River system had declined to just 99 returning fish in the mid-1980s, bringing the species to near extinction in these waters near Mount Baker.

“The rebound of the Baker sockeye population — and 2025’s record return of salmon — is a testament to successful co-management between the state and treaty tribes as well as close collaboration with Puget Sound Energy,” said Edward Eleazer, Regional Fish Program Manager for WDFW. “Together we’ve led operation of the Baker Hatchery and collaborated on fish passage and habitat restoration projects, resulting in successful seasons of fruitful fishing opportunities for the state and tribes, and a bright future ahead.”

“As the historical tribe of the Baker River Valley we are extremely pleased that PSE responded to our ask in 2003 to recover this run up to an annual average return of 75k-100k to enhance our culture, allowing our members to fish in the same locations as their ancestors did since time immemorial,” said Scott Schuyler, Natural Resources & Cultural Policy Representative for Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.

“These returns have significant meaning, spiritually and culturally, for our native people because those record returns allow us to not worry about where we’re going to get our fish this year — and that is priceless,” said Tandy Wilbur, Swinomish Natural Resources History Manager. “Having traditional fish available to us is something we’re taught by our ancestors and what we believe in wholeheartedly. It’s what the Swinomish people are all about.”

The success builds on PSE’s 2024 final expansion and completion of the Baker River Fish Hatchery, which now includes eight raceways, and four “naturalized” spawning beaches that provide enhanced conditions for artificial propagation and fish development before their release as juveniles to the Baker Project reservoirs.

“Our biologists and fisheries technicians have worked for decades with the local tribes along with government agencies to boost salmon and trout populations, particularly in rivers where we have hydropower operations,” said Ron Roberts, Puget Sound Energy’s Senior Vice Present of Energy Resources. “This partnership shows the great success and is a testament to the collaborative efforts of the various stakeholders.”

A key component of the restoration effort was PSE’s 2010 installation of an enhanced fish trap below Lower Baker Dam, which captures migrating adult sockeye and coho salmon for upstream transport around both Baker River dams — essentially providing a “fish taxi” service that allows these regionally significant salmon stocks to reach their historic spawning grounds.

Importantly, while a proportion of the juvenile fish originate from the hatchery, natural production is also a key contributor, as a proportion of the fish released to Baker Lake are conserved for natural spawning in the Baker River system. These adults spawn in the feeder streams including the Upper Baker River, contributing to the overall juvenile out-migration numbers and helping maintain natural behaviors while supporting population sustainability.

The adult releases of sockeye have also provided a relatively new and expanding recreational fishing opportunity for salmon in Baker Lake.

Earlier this year, PSE’s fish propagation and passage facilities achieved another milestone when over 1.5 million juvenile fish passed through the Baker Lake and Lake Shannon Floating Surface Collectors during their May outbound migration — also a new record.

The young salmon will journey down the Skagit River to the Pacific Ocean, with some traveling as far as the Gulf of Alaska. After spending two to three years maturing in marine waters, they return to their natal Baker River waters to complete the spawning cycle.

Above photo: Scientists excavate at the site on the Colville River where many of the fish fossils were found. UAF photo by Kevin May

The Arctic landscape during the Cretaceous Period may have been dominated by the dinosaurs, but the rivers and streams held something more familiar.

Alaska’s fresh waters 73 million years ago were teeming with the ancient relatives of today’s salmon, pike and other northern fish. A new paper published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology has named three new species of fish from that time period, including a salmonid, dubbed Sivulliusalmo alaskensis.

“This is not only a new species; it’s the oldest salmonid in the fossil record,” said Patrick Druckenmiller, director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and the paper’s senior author. The paper also documents multiple other species of ancient fish new to the Arctic, including two new species of pike and the oldest record of the group that includes carp and minnows.

“Many of the fish groups that we think of as being distinctive today in the high-latitude environment in Alaska were already in place at the same time as dinosaurs,” he said.

The discovery of Sivulliusalmo alaskensis — the genus is named from the Inupiaq and Latin words for “to be first” and “salmon,” respectively — adds another 20 million years to the fossil history of the salmon family. Previously, the oldest salmonid documented was in fossils found in British Columbia and Washington.

It’s notable that salmonids, which tend to prefer colder water, were thriving even during the warmth of the Cretaceous, and that they lived for millions of years in regions that have gone through dramatic changes in geography and climate, said Andrés López, curator of fish at the UA Museum of the North, associate professor in the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and a co-author of the paper.

Despite it being warmer in the Arctic at that time, there would have still been big seasonal swings in temperature and light, just like there are today, he said.

“Salmon were already the kind of fish that do well in a place where those dramatic shifts were happening,” López said. “Despite all of the changes that the planet has gone through, all of the changes in the geography and the climate, you still had the ancestors of the same groups of species that dominate the fresh waters of the region today.”

The new species are the latest discovery to come from the Prince Creek Formation, which is famous for dinosaur fossils found at a series of sites along the Colville River in northern Alaska. In the Cretaceous, Alaska was much closer to the North Pole than it is today. For more than a decade, UAF scientists have been poring over thousands of sometimes microscopic fossils to paint a picture of a polar ecosystem during the age of the dinosaurs, including mammals, birds, and fish.

“These types of fossils are often overlooked,” Druckenmiller said. He and his colleagues intentionally aim to recover all the vertebrate fossils available, no matter how small.

“You couldn’t begin to understand a modern Arctic ecosystem without understanding the smallest animals that live there,” he said. The same is true for ancient ecosystems.

Fish fossils are one of the most abundant types of fossils at the Prince Creek Formation, Druckenmiller said, but they are very difficult to see and distinguish in the field. So, the scientists hauled buckets of fine sand and gravel back to their museum lab, where they used microscopes to find the bones and teeth.

The findings in the current paper are primarily based on tiny, fossilized jaws, some of which would easily fit on the end of a pencil eraser, Druckenmiller said. To get a good look at the fossils, members of the research team from Western University in Ontario and the University of Colorado Boulder used micro-computed tomography to digitally reconstruct the tiny jaws, teeth and other bones.

“We found a really distinct jaw and other parts that we recognized as a member of the salmon family,” he said.

The presence of salmonids in the Cretaceous polar regions and the absence of common lower-latitude fish from this same time period indicate that the salmon family likely originated in the North, Druckenmiller said. “Northern high latitude regions were probably the crucible of their evolutionary history.”

The lead author of the paper is Donald Brinkman of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Other UAF co-authors include Lauren Wilson and Zackary Perry. Scientists from Florida State University, the University of Colorado, Princeton University, Western University and LISA CAN Analytical Solutions Inc. also co-authored the paper.

A federal court ruled this week that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke multiple environmental laws in approving the Knotty Pine logging project in the Kootenai National Forest. The proposed project is deep in the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery zone of northwest Montana.

“This decision is a critical win for the Cabinet-Yaak’s struggling grizzly bears,” said Kristine Akland, Northern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “For decades federal agencies have turned a blind eye while roads carved up bear country, and grizzly bears have paid the price. The court’s ruling sends a clear message that the government can’t ignore facts or the law when it comes to protecting grizzlies.”

In a detailed 40-page decision, U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen found that both agencies unlawfully ignored the harms of illegal motorized road use on threatened grizzly bears — a long-standing problem across the Kootenai National Forest. The ruling held that the agencies’ analyses under the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act and National Forest Management Act excluded known unauthorized road use from key habitat and road-density calculations.

The Knotty Pine Project authorized logging, burning and new road construction across more than 7,000 acres of the Yaak Valley. The court ordered the agencies to revisit their analyses and ensure they comply with the Kootenai National Forest land management plan and its access amendment. The amendment sets strict limits on road density and requires meaningful accounting of illegal motorized use.

“The Forest Service has tried to paper over the problem of illegal road use for decades,” said Michael Garrity, executive director for the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “The court made clear that the agency can’t pretend those roads don’t exist, and that the science and the law both require real accountability for protecting grizzly bears.”

The Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population — one of six recovery zones in the lower 48 states — is among the most imperiled, with only about 50 bears remaining. Decades of logging, road building and motorized recreation have fragmented its habitat and limited recovery.

“For too long the Forest Service has ignored illegal off-road vehicle use, the presence of unauthorized roads and the harm they inflict on grizzly bears,” said Adam Rissien, rewilding manager with WildEarth Guardians. “This ruling affirms that the Forest Service must account for illegal road use, including on ‘zombie roads,’ which the agency pretends don’t exist until they come back to life for logging projects.”

“These projects on the Kootenai require significant capacity from our field crew, but we’re grateful that our citizen oversight was successful in protecting Yaak grizzlies and other components of a healthy ecosystem, utilizing the best available science,” said Rick Bass of the Yaak Valley Forest Council. “We’re grateful also to the attorneys who brought forth our case.”

Today’s ruling stems from a 2022 lawsuit conservation groups filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula to challenge the agencies’ failure to analyze the damages that logging and road use authorized by the project would do to the struggling, isolated grizzly population. In 2023 the judge halted logging and road construction pending a ruling on the merits of the case.

In another logging proposal, the Center for Biological Diversity and Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed comments opposing the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed Wilkes Cherry Project, which would authorize widespread commercial logging and new roads across more than 76,000 acres in the Lolo National Forest south of Thompson Falls.

The groups say the plan relies on outdated, unpublished science, ignores climate change and threatens imperiled wildlife.
“This massive industrial logging plan will wreak havoc on Montana wildlife by destroying and degrading hundreds of thousands of acres of this beautiful national forest,” said Akland, “This project is a textbook case of the Forest Service using a crisis narrative to push through damaging industrial logging. It’s a terrible plan based on century-old data, and it’ll deliver a major blow to elk, Canda lynx and other wildlife in western Montana.”

The Wilkes Cherry Project was approved under an “emergency” provision of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — yet it would take up to 10 years to implement.

“There’s nothing urgent about a decade-long clearcutting plan,” said Akland. “If this were truly an emergency, the agency wouldn’t be logging low-risk areas over the next 10 years.”

The Forest Service bases the project on an unpublished 1993 report that misrepresents logged 1930s landscapes as “natural,” using those inflated figures to justify large-scale cutting, say the groups. The agency’s own data contradict these claims, showing that previous regeneration harvests have created dense, Douglas-fir-dominated stands — the opposite of the “resilient” forests the project promises.

Despite citing climate resilience, the plan offers no modeling or analysis of how future drought, warming or regeneration failure will shape results, the groups say in their comments.

“The agency’s environmental assessment fails to meaningfully evaluate harms to species like grizzly bears, Canada lynx, bull trout, elk and pileated woodpeckers.

“The agency predicts bears will recolonize the area within a decade but never analyzes whether logging and new roads will block their recovery. It also violates Northern Rockies Lynx Management Direction standards by not mapping or quantifying habitat loss, omits required watershed-scale analysis for bull trout, and relies on outdated, incomplete data for elk and old-growth species.”

The groups urged the Forest Service to withdraw the environmental assessment and prepare a full environmental impact statement.

“True restoration means restoring function, connectivity and resilience, not repeating the mistakes of the past,” Akland said. “The Forest Service should start over and base this project on modern climate science and genuine public involvement.”

Image: The circles show monitoring stations in the basin and the green shows detection of a tagged salmon.

Salmon are making further progress in their return to the upper Klamath Basin, with fisheries biologists from ODFW and The Klamath Tribes celebrating a series of firsts as salmon reach areas where they have been absent for over a century.

A few weeks after a Chinook salmon was spotted passing Keno Dam on Sept. 24, another was seen on camera at the Link River fish ladder (Oct. 6). Soon after, a radio-tagged salmon was detected in the Williamson River (Oct. 10) along with multiple other salmon. This week, tagged fish were found in tributaries on the west side of Upper Klamath Lake (Pelican Bay, Oct. 14) and in the Sprague River (Oct. 14).

The milestones Klamath River salmon keep reaching have biologists scrambling to keep up. Tools like monitoring cameras and radio tags are helping track the salmon’s journey.

“The run so far this year has been incredibly exciting and we’re expanding our monitoring program on an almost daily basis to keep adapting,” said Mark Hereford, ODFW Klamath fisheries reintroduction project leader. “It is incredible to be a part of this historic return and see where these salmon go and what they do.”

Beyond passing dams, salmon are navigating through the Keno reach and Upper Klamath Lake. Biologists have been unsure how quickly salmon would navigate the less favorable conditions in upper Klamath Lake and above Keno Dam prior to reaching the abundant spawning habitat in the Williamson River and elsewhere. Salmon have exceeded expectations and are spreading throughout the basin.

The scenario playing out is exactly what ODFW, Tribes and many conservation partners had been hoping for when the dams were removed.

“What we’re seeing now is incredibly encouraging and the result of strong collaboration among state and federal agencies, Tribes, and conservation partners who have all been working towards this moment for an incredibly long time,” Hereford said.
Monitoring efforts are guided by an implementation plan developed by ODFW and The Klamath Tribes in 2021 in preparation for the 2024 dam removals.

ODFW is reminding anglers that all salmon fishing remains closed in the Oregon portion of the Klamath River Basin to support salmon recovery. Other regulations in place will help protect salmon as they return: Spencer Creek closed to fishing early this year (Sept. 30 rather than Oct. 31) to protect spawning Chinook. Other Klamath River tributaries (Williamson, Wood, Sprague) are routinely closed to all angling Nov. 1–May 21 to protect spawning redband trout and these closures will offer additional protection for returning salmon.

Two fault systems on North America’s West Coast – the Cascadia subduction zone and the San Andreas fault – may be synchronized, with earthquakes on one fault potentially triggering seismic events on the other, a new study found.

“We’re used to hearing the ‘Big One’ – Cascadia – being this catastrophic huge thing,” said Chris Goldfinger, a marine geologist at Oregon State University and lead author of the study. “It turns out it’s not the worst case scenario.”

Goldfinger and a team of researchers drilled deep-sea sediment cores representing 3,100 years of geologic history, and analyzed layers known as turbidites that are deposited by underwater landslides often triggered by earthquakes. They compared turbidite layers in cores from both fault systems and found similarities in timing and structure, suggesting the seismic synchronization between the faults.

In most cases, it’s difficult to determine the time separation between the Cascadia subduction zone and northern San Andreas fault ruptures, but Goldfinger said there are three instances in the past 1,500 years, including a most recent one from 1700, when the researchers believe the ruptures were just minutes to hours apart.

The findings have significant implications for hazard planning, he said.

“We could expect that an earthquake on one of the faults alone would draw down the resources of the whole country to respond to it,” Goldfinger said. “And if they both went off together, then you’ve got potentially San Francisco. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver all in an emergency situation in a compressed timeframe.”

Geologists have hypothesized for several decades that faults could synchronize, but there has only been one observed example of the phenomenon – in Sumatra, three months apart in 2004 and 2005.

Goldfinger has been focused on the question for decades. In fact, the origins of the just-published paper date back to a 1999 ocean research cruise. Goldfinger and the research team were drilling sediment cores in the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of Oregon and northern California, but a navigational error took them off course, about 55 miles south of Cape Mendocino in California and into the San Andreas zone.

They decided to drill a core in that area. Subsequent analysis of the core revealed a unique structure. Turbidites have a typical layering pattern, with coarser sediment on the bottom and fine-grained sediment on the top. But the researchers found the opposite pattern in this core: coarse, sandy sediment at the top and finer, silty sediment at the bottom.

This led them to conclude the fine-grained layer at the bottom was caused by a large earthquake on the Cascadia subduction fault and the coarser sediment at the top was caused by subsequent movement on the nearby San Andreas.

They then used radiocarbon to date the turbidite layers of that core and others they collected north and south of Cape Mendocino, the location where the northern San Andreas and Cascadia subduction zone faults converge.

That further analysis made it clear that the formation of that unique upside-down layering, which they call “doublets,” is best explained by earthquakes on both systems spaced closely in time, as opposed to aftershocks or other causes.

Other authors of the paper are: Ann Morey, Christopher Romsos and Bran Black of Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Jeff Beeson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Oregon State; Maureen Walzcak, University of Washington; Alexis Vizcaino, Springer Nature Group in Germany; Jason Patton, California Department of Conservation; and C. Hans Nelson and Julia Gutiérrez-Pastor, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra in Spain.

The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect two declining freshwater fish species in Oregon and California under the Endangered Species Act. Petitions were submitted for the Umpqua chub in southwestern Oregon and the northern roach in northeastern California and southern Oregon.

“These two unique Pacific Northwest minnows are suffering because of the rapid decline of our freshwater habitats and they need protections now,” said Jeff Miller, a senior conservation advocate at the Center. “The good news is that we know federal Endangered Species Act protections are incredibly effective at preventing extinction. The Fish and Wildlife Service should move fast to make sure these irreplaceable fish survive.”

The Umpqua chub is a small minnow found only in the waterways of the Umpqua River basin: They are identifiable by a distinctive upside-down heart shaped mark on top of the head behind their eyes. Five distinct Umpqua chub populations inhabit the Smith River, Elk Creek, Calapooya Creek-Olalla Creek, Cow Creek-South Umpqua River and North Umpqua River.

Umpqua chub surveys conducted in 1987, 1998 and 2006 showed a decrease in distribution over three decades, corresponding with habitat loss from stream channelization and wetland drainage, and an increase in nonnative and predatory smallmouth bass throughout the Umpqua River drainage.

The northern roach is a small, bronze-colored minnow that occurs only in the upper Pit River basin, upstream of the Pit River Falls in northeastern California, and in a few northern tributaries of Goose Lake in southern Oregon.

In Oregon, northern roach were formerly widespread and common in northern tributaries of Goose Lake such as Dry Creek, Drews Creek, Hay Creek, Dent Creek, Muddy Creek and Augur Creek. But re-survey efforts in 2022 and 2023 documented their disappearance. Northern roach have disappeared from stream reaches in the North Fork Pit River, South Fork Pit River, and mainstem Pit River from Alturas downstream to Pit River Falls.

In California, they may remain only in Ash Creek and Rush Creek in Lassen and Modoc counties; the Bear Creek tributary to the Fall River in Shasta County; and Beaver Creek in Lassen County.

“It’s important we preserve these native fish because they’re an integral part of our Pacific Northwest river ecosystems,” said Miller. “Protecting their habitat can also safeguard the clean water we need for drinking, growing food and recreation.”

Freshwater ecosystems across the United States are highly imperiled, and one in three freshwater fish species face extinction globally, says the Center.

Umpqua chubs use off-channel stream habitats with slow water velocities, low flow, silty organic substrate, abundant vegetation and cover and feed along river bottoms on midge larvae, diving beetles and mayflies.

The Umpqua chub was thought to be wiped out in the North Umpqua River, but in 2019 a small number of these rare chubs were documented in a short stream reach of the North Umpqua for the first time in 93 years.

Northern roach prefer spring pools, margins of streams, and swampy stream reaches for habitat, feeding on algae, crustaceans and aquatic insects.

Habitat for northern roach has been destroyed and degraded by water diversions for agricultural irrigation, channelization of streams, logging and livestock grazing. Northern roach are eliminated by non-native predatory fishes that have escaped from stock ponds, such as green sunfish, largemouth bass and bluegill.

On Sept. 30, the Bonneville Power Administration made its annual payment to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the 42nd consecutive year on time and in full, bringing cumulative payments to approximately $36.6 billion since 1984. The total payment for fiscal year 2025 was $1.2 billion.

“Making this payment on time and in full after three consecutive years of below-average runoff and lower-than-expected revenues demonstrates BPA’s financial resilience,” said Tom McDonald, chief financial officer. “As we prepare to deploy a large-scale grid expansion program, we will be looking to augment our financial plan over the coming year, ensuring BPA maintains financial strength while bolstering the region’s abundant, reliable and secure energy resources.”

This year’s payment includes $885.4 million in principal, $258.7 million in interest and $54.3 million in other payments. The principal includes approximately $82.8 million of additional federal debt payment made possible by Transmission Services’ strong financial performance in FY 2024, which triggered the financial plan’s Reserves Distribution Clause.

BPA is a self-financed power marketing administration that receives no annual appropriation funding from Congress. Instead, BPA recovers its costs primarily through the sale of electric power and transmission services.

Each year, BPA pays back to the U.S. Treasury a portion of taxpayers’ investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System, which includes the federal Columbia/Snake River hydropower dams and the transmission system that delivers power to communities across the Northwest.

Angling in the Big Sky state has a sizable economic impact. A recent study from the University of Montana, Bureau of Business and Economic Research and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks shows that in 2024 more than 450,000 resident and nonresident anglers spent a combined $1.27 billion on fishing trips in Montana.

“Montana’s amazing angling opportunities are no secret, but this research shows just how important fishing is to communities and businesses around Montana,” said FWP Director Christy Clark.

The BBER study found that cold water fishing (primarily for trout) accounted for most economic activity, which was generated primarily from nonresidents. Cold-water fishing generated about $1.1 billion in trip-related expenditures. More than 70% of the cold-water fishing expenditures came from nonresident anglers.

While the total economic output was lower for warm-water fishing, it still supports steady economic activity on a more local level. Warm-water species include northern pike, walleye and bass. Angling for these species generated more than $170 million in expenditures, with two-thirds of that coming from Montana residents. These trips are typically more frequent and localized, making them an important economic driver for rural communities that may not see other tourism activities.

“The large economic impact of fishing reflects the high quality of Montana’s fishery resource and related services,” according to BBER Director Jeffrey Michael. “The biggest spending categories are accommodations, outfitters and guides, and restaurants, which support thousands of Montana jobs.”

The survey was administered to a sample of adults (18 years of age or older) who purchased a Montana fishing license during the 2024 season. Survey respondents were asked to report the number of trips they took, the types of water bodies fished, species targeted, and the number of days spent fishing. They also provided detailed spending information related to travel, lodging, food, guides, equipment, and other trip-related expenses. The survey was conducted from November 2024 to May 2025. These selected participants were mailed a survey. Nearly 1,200 people completed the survey.

Trip and expenditure results from the survey were also incorporated into economic modeling to estimate the number of jobs created, personal income generated, value-added contributions to the state economy and total economic output from cold water and warm water fishing.

The study found the following:
Cold-water Fishing

Cold-water fishing generated $1.1 billion in trip-related expenditures and:
• Supported 14,355 jobs,
• Generated $385.3 million in personal income,
• Contributed $828.4 million in value-added,
• Resulted in $1.35 billion in total output, and
Nonresidents accounted for more than 70 percent of cold-water-related spending.

Warm-water Fishing
Warm-water fishing generated $170 million in trip-related expenditures and:
• Supported 1,623 jobs,
• Generated $41.9 million in personal income,
• Contributed $90.7 million in value-added,
• Resulted in $147.6 million in total output, and
Two-thirds of warm-water spending came from Montana residents.

View the full report here:
www.bber.umt.edu/pubs/econ/MT-Fishing-Econ-Impact.pdf

The Bureau of Business and Economic Research is a research center located in UM’s College of Business. BBER researchers engage in a wide range of applied research projects that address different aspects of the state economy, including survey research, economic analysis, health care research, forecasting, wood products research and energy research.

Above photo: The Kachess River restoration project improved streamflow, habitat conditions, and ecosystem function on about one mile of the upper Kachess River.

For the fifth time, the Washington Department of Ecology is getting ready to offer competitive grants for streamflow restoration projects. The upcoming grant cycle includes up to $40 million in available funding for projects that aim to improve streamflows throughout the state.

The Streamflow Restoration Competitive Grants Program began in 2018 with the passage of the Streamflow Restoration Law. The Washington state legislature authorized $300 million in bond funds over the course of 15 years to help implement projects that improve streamflow. Ecology administers these funds through streamflow restoration competitive grants. Including the $40 million available this cycle, the Legislature has authorized $180 million to date.

While Ecology won’t begin accepting applications until January 15, 2026, it is not too early for applicants to begin preparing. Now is the time to consider potential projects, attend workshops, schedule pre-application meetings and start working on applications. The application period will close March 17, 2026.

Funding guidelines have been updated and published and are available now. The changes include updated scoring criteria to reflect lessons learned as well as new and emerging priorities. Those eligible to receive Streamflow Restoration Competitive Grants include Tribal governments, public entities and non-profit organizations. The grants can fund a range of water supply projects focused on improving streamflows, with priority points awarded to projects that:

• Are identified in an adopted watershed plan or rulemaking process that was completed to meet the requirements of Streamflow Restoration Law

• Actively manage water to provide quantitative improvements to streamflows that will benefit instream resources

• Benefit native fish or aquatic species of concern

• Benefit ESA threatened or endangered salmonids

• Benefit overburdened communities or vulnerable populations

Examples of projects funded in the previous grant round include:

• $1,926,025 to Kittitas Conservation Trust for the Kachess River Restoration Project to improve streamflow and habitat conditions for ESA-listed bull trout and improve ecosystem function on about one mile of the upper Kachess River

• $1,186,233 to the Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation to restore streamflow and floodplain connection in degraded stream channels impacted by fire in the Okanogan and Methow river watersheds

• $735,000 to the City of Hoquiam to complete the final design and permitting to remove the West Fork Hoquiam River Dam and restore the stream

• $5 million to the Kittitas Reclamation District to enclose a portion of the reclamation district’s South Branch Irrigation Canal to eliminate water loss and use the saved water to supplement streamflows on Manastash Creek to improve salmonid habitat

To support potential applicants as they prepare their project ideas, Ecology will offer virtual applicant workshops November 4 this year and January 22, 2026. These workshops will be designed to provide potential applicants information on the funding opportunity, including funding guidelines, eligibility requirements, application requirements and how projects will be evaluated.

The November workshop will be recorded and posted on our streamflow restoration grants webpage. Preapplication meetings will also be available and remain the forum for discussing specific applicant needs.

Angling has been closed on the lowest reach of Eagle Creek in Oregon’s Clackamas basin from Sept. 27 through Oct. 31 to give coho salmon a safe resting area amid ongoing low water flows. The closure is from SE Dowty Road downstream to the Clackamas River confluence.

Similar to last year, early light rain events followed by hot, dry weather caused good numbers of coho to migrate out of the Clackamas mainstem into lower Eagle Creek. As flows in Eagle Creek dropped, fish remained in this area, concentrating them and making them susceptible to illegal snagging.

Unfortunately, illegal behavior on the part of some anglers has resulted in daily calls to Oregon State Police, numerous citations, and a threat to vulnerable fish. Coho salmon are listed as threatened under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts and are an economically, culturally, and ecologically important species in Oregon.

Visit the Willamette zone regulations updates page to see the updated information https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/willamette-zone.

If you know of or suspect crimes against fish, wildlife or habitat, please report to the Turn In Poachers (TIP) Line. 1-800-452-7888 or *OSP (*677) from a mobile phone. Or email: TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Reporting parties can remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward or hunter preference points if their tip leads to an arrest or citation.

Above photo: Okanagan Nation Alliance staff, Tyson Prince helps secure a fish transport tube from Chelan PUD’s transport truck to the hatchery’s raceway.

Adult sockeye salmon migrating to Canada’s Okanagan River Basin will have a better chance to survive and spawn during drought years following a successful, “trap-and-haul” pilot project carried out July 16, 2025 by Grant PUD, Chelan PUD and Canada’s Okanagan Nation Alliance with ample support from agencies on both sides of the border.

The pilot project mitigates for the “thermal barrier” that occurs during periods of drought or otherwise elevated water temperatures in the Okanogan River, where it meets the larger, colder Columbia River, just north of Brewster, Wa. Elevated water temperatures cause sockeye to pause or even halt their migration up the Okanogan to spawn, potentially resulting in death.

“Obtaining the necessary approvals for this pilot was a complex process, but it shows what’s possible when agencies on both sides of the border work together with a shared commitment to restoring Okanagan Sockeye,” said Catherine Willard, senior fisheries biologist with Chelan PUD.

“This pilot study illustrates the strong partnership and commitment that has been forged among Chelan PUD, Grant PUD and the Okanagan Nation Alliance to restore sockeye populations to the Okanagan River Basin,” said Tom Dresser, Grant PUD’s manager of Fish, Wildlife and Water Quality. “We’re seeing the results of that collaboration.”

Through a collaborative effort, 105, migrating adult sockeye were trapped at Douglas County PUD’s Wells Dam and successfully transported by tank truck across the border to the ONA’s “kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ Sockeye Hatchery” near Penticton British Columbia, for spawning.

The project proves that a trap-and-haul strategy can circumnavigate thermal barrier and ensure enough sockeye broodstock are available to support hatchery production.

From the Upper Columbia River, the Okanogan River, spelled “Okanagan” in Canada, is a salmon’s only unaided route into Canada to spawn. No fish passage exists at the federal dams of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee, both upriver of Wells Dam.
Return of the sockeye to its historic spawning range in the Okanagan River Basin is a well-documented success story. The effort began in the early 2000s with experimental fry (young salmon) releases into Canada’s Skaha Lake, followed by work to strategically improve river flow through the Okanagan Basin, restore habitat, remove barriers to spawning.

To fulfill the sockeye-survival obligations of their licenses to operate their Columbia River dams, Grant and Chelan PUDs funded the construction and operation of the kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ Sockeye Hatchery, which has the capacity to rear up to 5 million, or as many as 8 million with future upgrades.

The two public utilities signed agreements with the Okanagan Nation Alliance to continue funding and monitoring the operation through 2060.

Other collaborating agencies on the “trap and haul” pilot included, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The Walla Walla basin is a complex watershed that crosses the border between Oregon and Washington. Its rivers and streams connect the two states, but the watershed is chronically short on water and struggles to meet the needs of local communities. Watershed restoration and water management projects are increasingly important to the basin and those efforts will soon receive new support from both Washington and Oregon.

The Washington Department of Ecology is awarding $1.46 million in grants to 10 projects that address long-standing challenges like meeting water demands, managing floodplains, and restoring habitat. In addition, Oregon’s recently signed House Bill 5006 provides a further $2.5 million to fund water projects in the basin.

“This investment underscores the power and value of collaboration to tackle difficult water supply challenges and build climate resilient ecosystems,” said Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller. “By joining forces across state lines and partnering with local communities, we can strengthen water reliability, restore habitats, and manage our floodplains for the long term.”

The work to bolster water supplies and improve habitat and floodplain management in the Walla Walla River Basin is a collaborative effort between Washington, Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), and an advisory committee representing agriculture, environmental interests, recreation and quality of life, economic development, and local governments.

“We’re extremely pleased by the strong support we’ve seen for our work in the Walla Walla, despite the difficult budget conditions in both states this year. To ensure these precious dollars go as far as possible, Washington’s funding will be complemented by matching funds from Oregon,” Anton Chiono, CTUIR Habitat Conservation Project leader, said. “Together, these investments will be tremendously important to both our ongoing planning work, as well as our implementation of critical projects to improve water conditions for fish, farms, and people. This a great example of what we can accomplish by working together.”

Chris Kowitz, North Central regional manager for the Oregon Department of Water Resources, explained that the combined investment in the Walla Walla basin by both states underscores the significant progress that has been made over the past few years.

“With the support of many basin partners, the two states and the CTUIR have been able to leverage funding to make meaningful progress on implementation of the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Strategy,” Kowitz said. “The state of Oregon is committed to working with our colleagues in Washington on policy and infrastructure needs over the next biennium and beyond.”

Annie Byerley, Walla Walla County Conservation District Manager, explained how the funding will allow the conservation district to contact landowners that may not be familiar with the conservation district or the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Strategy.

“The more opportunities we have to share water quantity concerns and information about the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Strategy with the community, the more the needle moves on conserving this resource,” Byerley said. “Many community members likely don’t realize the impact that they could have on water conservation. Water conservation is a basin wide problem, and it will take basin wide approach to address the problem.”

All of the projects that received funding were identified as priorities in the Walla Walla Basin Watershed Strategy. The sponsors and projects receiving grant funds in 2025 from Ecology include:

Project Sponsor Project summary

Tri-State Steelheaders Mill Creek Fish Passage Improvement at Gose Street will remove a fish passage barrier to open 60 miles of upstream habitat, while restoring floodplain and riparian areas with sloped banks and plantings to improve habitat quality, floodplain function, and fish populations.

Washington Water Trust Water Right Transactions-Project Development will work with water right holders in Washington and Oregon to keep more water in local rivers, helping endangered fish and making streams healthier and more resilient to climate change.

CTUIR Walla Walla Subbasin Salmonid Monitoring and Evaluation will improve CTUIR’s ability to monitor both juvenile and adult migrations through the Walla Walla Basin.

Walla Walla County Conservation District Aquifer Recharge Water Quality Monitoring will support comprehensive water quality monitoring at the Stiller Pond recharge site within the Walla Valley.

Walla Walla County Conservation District Touchet River Mile 42 Restoration Project will restore a 1.4-mile stretch of the Touchet River starting at river mile 42.

City of College Place Garrison & Stone Creek Streamflow Gauging will develop and install river gauges, which will help track and manage instream flow targets.

Tri-State Steelheaders Walla Walla River Bridge-to-Bridge Phase 3 Restoration will improve instream complexity with 28 large wood structures, improve 8.7 acres of riparian habitat, and achieve a healthy, natural floodplain.
Washington Water Trust Touchet River-Hofer Dam Assessment & Design Study will analyze the effects of flow on sedimentation and fish passage at Hofer Dam.

CTUIR Túuši Wána Restoration will support a 2.7-mile-long floodplain and fish habitat restoration project on the mainstem Touchet River.

Walla Walla County Conservation District Heritage Gardens will promote residential landscaping that prioritizes native plant diversity, low water usage, and habitat for pollinators and other wildlife.

Above photo: Rivers in Alaska are changing rapidly. (Credit: Peyton Thomas)

For millennia, Indigenous people living in Alaska and Canada’s Yukon territory have relied on Chinook salmon. The large, fatty fish provide essential nutrients for Arctic living and have influenced traditions and languages across generations.

But over the past three decades, many communities have been unable to fish Chinook amid a sharp salmon population decline.
The situation could worsen as climate change warms rivers in the Arctic, stunting salmon growth, according to a University of Colorado, Boulder-led study published in Scientific Reports.

The study, “Warming Alaskan rivers affect first-year growth in critical northern food fishes,” can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-14711-8

“The fish are really important for maintaining the culture and language of Indigenous communities,” said Peyton Thomas, a research associate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

In collaboration with locals on the ground, the team is now working to help communities prepare for the changes ahead.
Over the past two summers, Thomas and her team visited many Alaskan tribes to understand changes to the lands and communities.

“People pointed to not being able to teach their children the names of the fish or the practices of how to process them,” Thomas said.

The silver lining: Some rivers in the area could remain suitable for young salmon, and a less popular fish species, Dolly Varden, might benefit from warming waters.

Over the past 50 years, the Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average. Climate change has melted sea ice, thawed frozen ground and eroded coastlines, reshaping the Arctic landscapes Indigenous peoples have called home for generations.

In Alaska, Indigenous community members told Thomas that these changes have disrupted many aspects of their life: In winter, they haven’t been able to access neighboring villages, because the river connecting them didn’t freeze. Thinning and fragmented sea ice has made travel and hunting harder and riskier, cutting off sources of food and income. The area has seen more frequent and intense extreme weather events like typhoons, further damaging already limited infrastructure.

Prior research has suggested that increased river temperatures can affect fish species adapted to cooler environments. Chinook salmon in the Arctic are a prime example. These fish spend their first one to two years in cold river water bulking up, before embarking on a journey of hundreds of thousands of miles to the ocean. There, they spend the next six years growing, to up to 100 pounds, before returning to the rivers to spawn.

In recent decades, river communities in Alaska have seen a major decline in the number of young and adult salmon in the water. One study estimated that Chinook salmon populations in the Yukon River, Alaska’s largest, plummeted by more than 57% between 2003 and 2010.

When Thomas and team visited Indigenous tribes near the Alaska-Yukon border along the Yukon River, community members told them that they hadn’t been able to fish Chinook in 30 years.

“The loss of fish, as well as the loss of access to fishing and foraging grounds, means people are relying more on buying food from the store, which is really expensive and doesn’t meet their nutritional needs,” Thomas said.

Working closely with Indigenous communities in Alaska, Thomas and her team set out to better predict how climate change would affect fish populations in the seven river basins spanning watersheds in Alaska and Yukon.

After talking to tribal members, the team focused on two species important for subsistence, Chinook salmon and Dolly Varden, a type of trout.

Using computer models, the team simulated how the region’s climate and rivers might change by mid-century. They found that summer river temperatures could rise by 1.26 °C (2.27 °F) by mid-century compared to the average between 1990 and 2021.
When they combined these data with a fish growth model, they found that in the warmest future years, four out of seven river basins would experience water temperatures surging above what juvenile Chinook salmon can tolerate.

On the other hand, Dolly Varden thrive in slightly warmer water than Chinook salmon. The simulations suggested that these fish might nearly double their growth in many rivers.

“It is good news that not all species are going to decline under warming,” Thomas said. “But communities have different preferences about fishing Dolly Varden. We’re trying to show that maybe in warm years, Dolly Varden could be an alternative.”

The team also identified some rivers that may serve as refuges for Chinook. For example, the Aniak and Andreafsky rivers, both tributaries of the Yukon River in Alaska, are likely to remain suitable habitats. Protecting and restoring juvenile salmon in these rivers could bring the greatest benefit, Thomas said.

“We are hoping to provide communities with some applicable information, like when and where the water would be too warm for salmon, which could help them decide whether to reduce fishing,” she said.

This study comes just a year after Alaska and Canadian authorities agreed to pause Chinook salmon fishing, both commercial and subsistence, for seven years in a bid to allow their populations to recover.

The fishing ban only applies to Canadian-origin Chinook. Commercial fishing continues for the Alaska stock.
“Everything has an impact on fish populations. We need more studies to look into not just the environmental factors, but also how fishing activities play a role,” Thomas said.

Wild Fish Conservancy, a nonprofit conservation group, has filed a petition with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to have Alaska Chinook salmon receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, which would ban commercial fishing of this species. The decision is still pending.

Meanwhile, Thomas plans to return to Alaska next year.

“The coolest part of this work is just being able to see how we’re all trying to connect with each other,” Thomas said. “We learned so much from history and people’s daily lived experiences in these places. Everyone should be a part of all of this work, because we can’t do it just by modeling.”

Above photo: Students traveling along a forest road in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon to conduct snow survey measurements. Photo: Mark Raleigh.

Measuring mountain snowpack at strategically selected hotspots consistently outperforms broader basin-wide mapping in predicting water supply in the western United States, a new study found.

The study, “Snow monitoring at strategic locations improves water supply forecasting more than basin-wide mapping,” can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02660-z#:~:text=Here%20we%20show%20that%20adding,with%20and%20without%20existing%20stations
.
Researchers analyzed more than 20 years of snow estimates and streamflow data across 390 snow-fed basins in 11 western states to evaluate two potential strategies for expanded snow monitoring. This analysis revealed locations the researchers are calling hotspots — localized areas where snowpack is not yet measured but is especially predictive of water supply — and their importance.

They found that hotspot monitoring can improve water supply predictions in most basins, with typical gains of 11-14% compared to 4% from basin-wide mapping of snow.

“Measuring snow in the right places can benefit forecasts more than measuring it everywhere,” said lead author Mark Raleigh, a snow hydrologist at Oregon State University. “This could guide our thinking about how snow monitoring might evolve to become more optimal for water forecasting.”

Snowmelt is a key water source for about two billion people globally, including in many agricultural regions, such as the western United States. On average, about half of the water in western streams is driven by snowmelt, Raleigh said.

“Our findings can help water agencies make informed decisions for more efficient water monitoring,” Raleigh said.
For about 100 years, statistical water supply forecasting in the west has relied on snow measurements at ground-based stations. The researchers analyzed data from these snow stations and found that they accurately predict year-to-year shifts in water supply, but the stations are sparsely located and sample a small area.

As a result, there is untapped potential to improve forecasts through expanded snow monitoring across a basin, though the predictive value of each location is not usually known in advance. The study provides a framework to assess a basin’s potential for improvements and identify where the greatest and smallest gains might be found.

Basin-wide surveys are the most comprehensive method to quantify the total amount of snow in a basin. This total snow volume over a basin is most accurately measured from airplanes. Satellite data can also support snow estimates over large areas. However, deploying these types of large-scale mapping technologies can be costly compared to the sort of localized monitoring included in this study.

In the new study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, the team compared the water supply predictive ability of the basin-wide surveys versus the hotspot approach. The researchers found that although both strategies can enhance water supply predictions, the hotspot approach typically yields better or similar improvements, despite measuring snow over a much smaller portion of the basin.

“Focusing new snow measurements at hotspots is a cost-effective alternative to basin-wide surveys, with potential for more accurate water forecasts,” Raleigh said. “This efficiency is critical as we move into a time when budgets are tightening and the demand for reliable water information remains high.”

Co-authors of the paper are Eric Small and Karl Rittger, University of Colorado Boulder; Edward (Ned) Bair, Leidos Inc., a national security and health company; and Cameron Wobus, CK Blueshift, a consulting group focused on the intersection of climate and water.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District has awarded a $15 million construction contract to Syblon-Reid Co. to build a new fish ladder at the Mill Creek Diversion Dam in Walla Walla.

The current fish ladder at the Diversion Dam, built in 1982, no longer meets the standards set by the National Marine Fisheries Service for successful fish passage – raising concerns for steelhead, Chinook salmon and bull trout returning to spawn in Mill Creek.

The new fish ladder will feature improved attraction flow and passage design, significantly reducing the time fish spend navigating the diversion dam and improving access to critical spawning habitat in upper Mill Creek. In addition, the project includes improvements to the dam’s downstream stilling basin, a bypass channel for juvenile fish traveling downstream, and bypass gates for flushing sediment past the dam.

The project requires replacing a small section of the earthen portion of the diversion dam on the Rooks Park (North) side for the upstream end of the new ladder, as well as replacing a section of the levee in Rooks Park on the downstream end. It also will pave the way for future fish identification, counting and PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag facilities, allowing for better monitoring and management of fish populations.

Construction is scheduled to take place between the summer of 2025 and the fall of 2027. Site preparation work, such as surveying and staging area preparation will begin in September. Closure notifications will be issued in advance of any on-site work impacting public access.

To ensure continued flood risk management and minimize impacts to fish, in-water work will be carefully phased.
“Upon completion, the new fish ladder will not only benefit fish populations but also will enhance USACE’s ability to manage flows during flood events, improving both fish passage and flood risk reduction for the Walla Walla Valley. This project represents a significant investment in both environmental stewardship and community safety,” said the Corps in a press release.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, has completed major rehabilitation to the South Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River, marking the end of a decade-plus effort to restore the three jetties that protect one of the nation’s busiest trade corridors. Work on the $171.3 million South Jetty wrapped up in August 2025 after six construction seasons.

“The completion of the South Jetty rehabilitation reflects our commitment to delivering vital engineering solutions that support both the local economy and interstate commerce,” said Col. Dale Caswell, Portland District commander. “Thanks to our partners and the hands-on effort of hundreds of experts – from geologists to excavator operators – we completed this extraordinary mission.”

Construction work carried out by contractor J.E. McAmis included rebuilding three miles of the jetty’s trunk and head with more than 462,000 tons of stone, some weighing up to 40 tons each. The project required stone from seven quarries across Oregon and Washington; stone was chosen for density and resistance to weathering to withstand the Pacific Ocean’s relentless waves. The most dangerous and technically demanding work came at the head of the Sout Jetty, where crews battled heavy surf and overtopping waves, while using GPS-guided excavators to place the largest stones with precision.

The South Jetty, built between 1885 and 1895, stretches 6.6 miles along the Oregon side of the Columbia River entrance. It was the last of the system’s three jetties to undergo major rehabilitation. Jetty A’s $20 million rehabilitation was complete in 2016, and the North Jetty’s $42 million rehabilitation wrapped up in 2019.

The jetties stabilize the six-mile-long federal navigation channel at the river’s mouth, where extreme conditions routinely generate 10- to 20-foot waves. According to the Port of Portland, more than 40,000 jobs in the region depend on seaport activity along the lower Columbia River. The Columbia/Snake River system is the nation’s top export gateway for wheat and barley and a leading hub for wood products, minerals, and automobile imports.

Repairs began after years of damage from powerful waves and increasing storm activity weakened the century-old structures. Previous interim fixes were completed in the mid-2000s, but full rehabilitation required new contracts beginning in 2016.
With the South Jetty work now complete, USACE has restored all three jetties to reliable condition for the first time in decades.

“Restoring the Mouth of the Columbia jetties secures safe passage and economic stability for our region—this milestone protects what matters most to our communities and nation,” said Neil Maunu, Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association “The jetties are vital to supporting the nation’s largest wheat export gateway, and in 2023 facilitated more than 51 million tons of cargo movement, worth over $25 billion, and maintaining them is key to preserving past investments and creating future opportunities for economic growth.”

On Sept. 5, USACE recognized the completion of the jetty construction with a ribbon-cutting ceremony near the Columbia River South Jetty Observation Tower at Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon. Among the attendees were U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici from Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, Maunu from PNWA, USACE leadership, Clatsop County Commission Chair Mark Kujala, Warrenton Mayor Henry Balinsifer, and representatives from the project contractor, J.E. McAmis.

Northern Arizona University and University of California Berkeley scientists working along the region’s California’s Eel River have discovered a micro-scale nutrient factory that keeps rivers healthy and allows salmon to thrive.

The scientists’ new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how a partnership between algae and bacteria works like nature’s clean-nitrogen machine, turning nitrogen from the air into food that fuels river ecosystems without fertilizers or pollution. The hidden nutrient factory boosts populations of aquatic insects, which young salmon rely on for growth and survival. The diatom Epithemia plays a massive role in keeping rivers productive.

At the heart of the scientists’ discovery is a type of diatom—a single-celled aquatic plant in a glass-like shell—called Epithemia. The golden-brown diatom, smaller than a grain of table salt and approximately the width of a human hair, plays a massive role in keeping rivers productive. Inside each diatom live bacterial partners housed within the cell called diazoplasts—tiny nitrogen-fixing compartments that transform air into plant food. The diatom Epithemia captures sunlight and makes sugar, which the diazoplast uses to turn atmospheric nitrogen into a nutrient form. In return, the diazoplast provides nitrogen that helps the diatom keep photosynthesizing.

“This is nature’s version of a clean nutrient pipeline, from sunlight to fish, without the runoff that creates harmful algal blooms,” said Jane Marks, biology professor at Northern Arizona University and lead author of the study.

By late summer, Marks said, strands of the green alga Cladophora are draped with rusty-red Epithemia along the Eel River. At this stage, the algae–bacteria duos supply up to 90% of the new nitrogen entering the river’s food web, giving insect grazers the fuel they need and powering salmon from the bottom up.

“Healthy rivers don’t just happen—they’re maintained by ecological interactions, like this partnership,” said Mary Power, co-author of the study and faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Angelo Coast Range Reserve, where the field study took place. “When native species thrive in healthy food webs, rivers deliver clean water, wildlife and essential support for fishing and outdoor communities.”

“It’s like a handshake deal: Both sides benefit, and the entire river thrives,” said Mike Zampini, a postdoctoral researcher at NAU and the study’s isotope tracing lead. “The result is a beautifully efficient cycle of energy and nutrients.”

This partnership isn’t unique to the Eel River. Epithemia and similar diatom–diazoplast teams live in rivers, lakes and oceans across the world, often in places where nitrogen is scarce. That means they may be quietly boosting productivity in many other ecosystems.

Beyond its role in nature, this clean and efficient nutrient exchange could inspire new technologies such as more efficient biofuels, natural fertilizers that don’t pollute or even crop plants engineered to make their own nitrogen, cutting costs for farmers while reducing environmental impacts.

When nature engineers solutions this elegant, Marks said, it reminds us what’s possible when people, places and discovery come together.

Other researchers involved in the study included NAU faculty Bruce Hungate and , staff members Michael Wulf and Victor Leshyk and graduate students Raina Fitzpatrick and Saeed Kariunga; University of Alabama professor Steven Thomas and graduate student Augustine Sitati; and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers Ty Samo, Peter Weber, Christina Ramon and Jennifer Pett-Ridge. The research was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Rules of Life/Microbiome program (#2125088). Research at Lawrence Livermore National Labs was conducted under U.S. Department of Energy Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

From corn chips to tofu, climate change is messing with the menu.

A new global study led by the University of British Columbia shows that hotter and drier conditions are making food production more unstable, with crop yields fluctuating more sharply from year to year.

For some, it may mean pricier burgers; for others, it can bring financial strain and hunger.

Published in Science Advances, the study is the first to show at a global scale how climate change is affecting yield swings of three of the world’s most important food crops: corn, soybean and sorghum.

For every degree of warming, year-to-year variability in yields rises by seven per cent for corn, 19 per cent for soybeans and 10 per cent for sorghum.

While previous research has focused on climate-driven declines in average yields, this study highlights a compounding danger: instability.

For many farmers, those swings aren’t abstract. They’re the difference between getting by and going under.

“Farmers and the societies they feed don’t live off of averages—they generally live off of what they harvest each year,” said Dr. Jonathan Proctor, an assistant professor at UBC’s faculty of land and food systems and the study’s lead author. “A big shock in one bad year can mean real hardship, especially in places without sufficient access to crop insurance or food storage.”

While average yields may not plummet overnight, as year-to-year swings grow, so does the chance of ‘once-in-a-century’ crop failures, or very poor harvests.

At just two degrees of warming above the present climate, soybean crop failures that once struck once every 100 years would happen every 25 years. Corn failures would go from once a century to every 49 years, and sorghum failures to every 54 years.
If emissions continue to grow, soybean failures could hit as often as every eight years by 2100.

Some of the regions most at risk are also the least equipped to cope, including parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and South Asia, where many farms rely heavily on rainfall and have limited financial safety nets.

The consequences won’t be limited to lower-income regions. In 2012, for example, a drought and heatwave in the U.S. Midwest caused corn and soybean yields to drop by a fifth, costing the U.S. billions and sparking concern in markets around the world. Within months, global food prices jumped nearly 10 per cent.

To understand how these overlapping stresses affect crops at a global scale, the researchers combined global harvest records with high-resolution measures of temperature and soil moisture from stations, satellites and climate models.

“A key driver of these wild swings? A double whammy of heat and dryness, increasingly arriving together,” said Proctor.
Hot weather dries out the soil. Dry soil, in turn, makes heatwaves worse by allowing temperatures to rise more quickly. And climate change intensifies these processes.

“If you’re hydrated and go for a run your body will sweat to cool down, but if you’re dehydrated you can get heatstroke,” said Proctor. “The same processes make dry farms hotter than wet ones.”

Even brief spells can slash yields in these conditions—disrupting pollination, shortening growing seasons and stressing plants beyond recovery.

For soybeans and sorghum in particular, the growing overlap between heat and moisture explains a large portion of the increase in volatility.

Irrigation can effectively reduce yield instability, the study shows, where irrigation water is available. Many of the most at-risk regions, however, already face water shortages or lack irrigation infrastructure.

To build resilience, the authors call for urgent investment in heat- and drought-resistant crop varieties, improved weather forecasting, better soil management and stronger safety nets, including crop insurance.

But the most reliable solution is to cut emissions driving global warming.

“Not everyone grows food, but everyone needs to eat,” said Proctor. “When harvests become more unstable, everyone will feel it.”

The study was co-authored with Lucas Vargas Zeppetello (University of California, Berkeley), Duo Chan (University of Southampton), and Peter Huybers (Harvard University).

Following a “thorough review of the best available scientific and commercial information,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has determined that listing the Northern California-Southern Oregon distinct population segment of fisher under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted.

Fishers are relatives of mink, otters and wolverines, and live in old-growth forests.

West Coast Fishers once roamed forests from British Columbia to Southern California but now their U.S. range is limited to two native populations in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, plus another in Northern California and southwestern Oregon. There are also small, reintroduced populations in the central Sierra Nevada, in the southern Oregon Cascades, and in the Olympic Peninsula, Mt. Rainier and the North Cascades in Washington state. The Northern California-Southwestern Oregon population — centered in the biodiverse Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains region — is the largest remaining one but is severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation caused by logging, high-severity fire and post-fire salvage logging.

–See CBB, June 16, 2023, Under Legal Agreement, USFWS To Reconsider Whether To List West Coast Fisher, Rare Forest Carnivore, Under ESA https://staging.columbiabasinbulletin.org/under-legal-agreement-usfws-to-reconsider-whether-to-list-west-coast-fisher-rare-forest-carnivore-under-esa/

Although fishers face threats including wildfire and toxicants, the Service found that the Northern California–Southern Oregon is not currently in danger of extinction or likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. This assessment considered population trends, distribution, connectivity and habitat conditions across the DPS.

“The Service’s decision reflects a rigorous science-based assessment of the species and the power of collaborative stewardship,” said the Service’s Oregon State Supervisor Kessina Lee. “While threats to fisher remain, coordinated efforts across public and private lands are helping to sustain and support this population.”

Fishers are managed as a sensitive species across many federal lands, which are roughly half of this population’s range. Additionally, several tribal governments recognize the cultural importance of fishers and have incorporated fisher-specific considerations into forest management practices. These practices support the restoration of old-forest structures such as retaining cavities in large trees and preserving woody debris — while enhancing overall habitat and forest health.

Long-term voluntary conservation planning has occurred with state and private partners, resulting in candidate conservation agreements with assurances covering more than 3.4 million acres and habitat conservation plans spanning over 575,000 acres. These partnerships with the timber industry and other land managers include a wide range of measures that actively contribute to the protection and recovery of fishers in the region.

The Service says it “remains committed to collaborating with state and federal agencies tribes and industry partners to support the long-term conservation and resilience of fishers, while also promoting sustainable, productive working lands.”

A notice of this finding and relevant documents is available in the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov or www.regulations.gov by searching docket number FWS–R1–ES–2023–0123.

For more information on fisher, please visit: https://www.fws.gov/species/fisher-pekania-pennanti.

This summer, Idaho Fish and Game biologists are testing whether trail cameras can help estimate the number of black bears in one of the state’s most popular bear hunting areas, Unit 32A.

The pilot project is designed to determine if remote cameras can produce a reliable population estimate for the 60-mile-long unit, located east of Council. Known for quality bear hunting, the unit’s population trends have drawn increased attention from both hunters and wildlife managers following recent changes in hunting seasons.

In wildlife management, “abundance” refers to the number of animals of a species in a given area. Knowing how many animals are in a population, and how that number changes over time, helps biologists set hunting seasons and harvest limits that ensure sustainable populations.

Some species lend themselves to straightforward surveys. For example, deer and elk bunch up on open winter ranges where aerial counts work well. Black bears don’t. They’re mostly solitary, favor dense cover, are active mostly at dawn and dusk, and hibernate for months, which makes traditional counting methods tough.

“Bears are one of the hardest species to survey,” said Regional Wildlife Manager Regan Berkley. “And that makes obtaining adequate population data to inform decision making one of the biggest challenges of black bear management.”

Across the state, Fish and Game biologists mostly rely on harvest data to monitor trends in bear numbers. It’s useful data for wildlife managers, but it isn’t perfect: Harvest data focuses on the portion of the population that are being harvested, and it doesn’t offer a complete picture of the overall population size or dynamics.
Over the years, Fish and Game has continued to work on efficient and reliable methods of estimating black bear populations to supplement the metrics they get from harvest data. Prior to now, one preferred method has been using hair-snare sampling for DNA analysis.

The new camera-based method could offer another reliable way to estimate populations, adding another tool to Idaho’s black bear monitoring toolbox.

In early summer 2025, Fish and Game deployed 150 trail cameras at randomly assigned locations across 32A. The cameras span a variety of habitats, from sagebrush-covered rangelands to dense forests and alpine meadows.
Cameras will operate through the summer and early fall before being retrieved. Each unit is expected to record up to tens of thousands of images.

Biologists will begin reviewing and analyzing the images this fall. Processing the data will take months, meaning the first population estimate from this project is unlikely before spring 2026.

Until then, hunters and recreationists in Unit 32A may spot cameras in unexpected places. If you do, they are likely part of this study — quietly gathering information that could help shape the future of bear management in Idaho.

For details on how black bears are managed statewide, see the Idaho Black Bear Management Plan.

Above: The new AI model from Dale Durran, University of Washington professor of atmospheric and climate science, and graduate student Nathaniel Cresswell-Clay, simulates up to 1000 years of the current climate using less computing power than conventional methods. It captures atmospheric conditions like the low pressure system over the central US pictured above. NASA Earth Observing System/Interdisciplinary Science (IDS) program under the Earth Science Enterprise (ESE)

So-called “100-year weather events” now seem almost commonplace as floods, storms and fires continue to set new standards for largest, strongest and most destructive. But to categorize weather as a true 100-year event, there must be just a 1% chance of it occurring in any given year. The trouble is that researchers don’t always know whether the weather aligns with the current climate or defies the odds.

Traditional weather forecasting models run on energy-hogging supercomputers that are typically housed at large research institutions. In the past five years, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for cheaper, faster forecasting, but most AI-powered models can only accurately forecast 10 days into the future. Still, longer-range forecasts are critical for climate science — and helping people prepare for seasons to come.

In a new study published on Aug. 25 in AGU Advances, University of Washington researchers used AI to simulate the Earth’s current climate and interannual variability for up to 1,000 years. The model runs on a single processor and takes just 12 hours to generate a forecast. On a state-of-the-art supercomputer, the same simulation would take approximately 90 days.

“We are developing a tool that examines the variability in our current climate to help answer this lingering question: Is a given event the kind of thing that happens naturally, or not?” said Dale Durran, a UW professor of atmospheric and climate science.

Durran was one of the first to introduce AI into weather forecasting more than five years ago when he and former UW graduate student Jonathan Weyn partnered with Microsoft Research. Durran also holds a joint position as a researcher with California-based Nvidia.

“To train an AI model, you have to give it tons of data,” Durran said. “But if you break up the available historical data by season, you don’t get very many chunks.”

The most accurate global datasets for the daily weather go back to roughly 1979. Although there are plenty of days between then and now that can be used to train a daily weather forecast model, the same period contains fewer seasons. This lack of historical data was perceived as a barrier to using AI for seasonal forecasting.

Counterintuitively, the Durran group’s latest contribution to forecasting, Deep Learning Earth SYstem Model, or DLESyM , was trained for one-day forecasts, but still learned how to capture seasonal variability.

The model combines two neural networks: one representing the atmosphere and the other, the ocean. While traditional Earth-system models often join atmospheric and oceanic forecasts, researchers had yet to incorporate this approach into models powered by AI alone.

“We were the first to apply this framework to AI and we found out that it worked really well,” said lead author Nathaniel Cresswell-Clay, a UW graduate student in atmospheric and climate science. “We’re presenting this as a model that defies a lot of the present assumptions surrounding AI in climate science.”

Because the temperature of the sea surface changes slower than the air temperature, the oceanic model updates its predictions every four days, while the atmospheric model updates every 12 hours. Cresswell-Clay is currently working on adding a land-surface model to DLESyM.

“Our design opens the door for adding other components of the Earth system in the future,” he said, especially components that have been difficult to model in the past, such as the relationship between soil, plants and the atmosphere. Instead of researchers coming up with an equation to represent this complex relationship, AI learns directly from the data.

The researchers showcased the model’s performance by comparing its forecasts of past events to those generated by the four leading models from the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, or CMIP6, all of which run on supercomputers. Climate predictions of future climate from these models were key resources used in the last report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

DLESyM simulated tropical cyclones and the seasonal cycle of the Indian summer monsoon better than the CMIP6 models. In mid-latitudes, DLESyM captured the month-to-month and interannual variability of weather patterns at least as well as the CMIP6 models.

For example, the model captured atmospheric “blocking” events just as well as the leading physics-based models. Blocking refers to the formation of atmospheric ridges that keep regions hot and dry, and others cold or wet, by deflecting incoming weather systems. “A lot of the existing climate models actually don’t do a very good job capturing this pattern,” Cresswell-Clay said. “The quality of our results validates our model and improves our trust in its future projections.”

Neither the CMIP6 models nor DLESyM are 100% accurate, but the fact that the AI-based approach was competitive while using so much less power is significant.

“Not only does the model have a much lower carbon footprint, but anyone can download it from our website and run complex experiments, even if they don’t have supercomputer access,” Durran said. “This puts the technology within reach for many other researchers.”

Other authors include Bowen Liu, a visiting UW doctoral student in atmospheric and climate science; Zihui (Andy) Liu a UW doctoral student in atmospheric and climate science; Zachary Espinosa, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric and climate science; Raúl A. Moreno, a doctoral student in atmospheric and climate science and Matthais Karlbauer, a postdoctoral researcher in neuro-cognitive modeling at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

This work was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Department of Defense, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation of China, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research and the NVIDIA Applied Research Accelerator Program.

A federal judge in Oregon last week confirmed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s legal duty to consider preventative measures — rather than a “spray first, ask questions later” approach — in its program allowing insecticide spraying to kill native grasshoppers and crickets on millions of acres in 17 western states.

The court’s rulings also require APHIS to be more open with the public about where, when and why it is spraying pesticides on public lands.

“We’re looking ahead to an APHIS grasshopper program that centers non-chemical prevention as a primary focus, because pesticides also harm bees, butterflies, and all the other wildlife that depend on insects,” said Sharon Selvaggio, pesticide reduction specialist at the Xerces Society. “The court’s rulings will help keep public rangelands and wildlife healthy for the long term.”

In August 2024 the court ruled that APHIS violated the law by focusing only on spraying pesticides to suppress grasshoppers and Mormon crickets under the program, which seeks to prevent these insects from competing with livestock for forage. It also found unlawful APHIS’s state-level environmental assessments for Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

“The court’s message is clear. APHIS can no longer blanket millions of acres of western rangelands and important wildlife habitats with toxic pesticides and only then question the impacts of its actions,” said Andrew Missel, staff attorney at Advocates for the West. “For far too long, the agency has acted above the law. This should serve as the start of a new chapter for APHIS. We will be watching closely.”

The judgment finalizes the court’s ruling in the remedies phase requiring APHIS to complete a new environmental impact statement covering the 17-state program within two years. Importantly, the court also confirmed that APHIS has a legal duty to use integrated pest management — an approach to managing pests that combines multiple strategies to minimize economic, health and environmental risks — in controlling grasshopper populations. This should mean a reduction in harm to sensitive rangeland pollinators, especially native bees, butterflies and moths, and all the species that rely on them for food, including imperiled greater sage grouse.

“This ruling is a major win for anyone who cares about the American West and the amazing biodiversity that makes these lands so special,” said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Any authorization of pesticide spraying, especially when it’s covering millions of acres of our federal public lands, will now require careful analysis of alternatives and methods to minimize damage to the environment. It shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to force federal officials to be open with the public, but now that we’ve prevailed we’ll be watching APHIS closely to make sure it complies.”

Represented by Advocates for the West, the Xerces Society and the Center for Biological Diversity sued APHIS in May 2022 over the agency’s failure to properly assess the broad environmental harm from the spraying, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. States where the insecticide spraying is conducted include Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

In recent years APHIS’s secrecy and disregard for key cultural and environmental considerations has resulted in public outcry. It also prompted Congress to issue a statement in March 2024 directing APHIS to operate its program with greater transparency.

In June 2023 the Bureau of Land Management and the New Mexico State Land Office withdrew from a 25,000-acre aerial spray planned by APHIS on public lands in the Rio Chama watershed of northern New Mexico days before it was scheduled to begin. The spray area included a wilderness study area on Navajo Peak and a designated area of critical environmental concern, but Tribal, recreational and environmental communities were not informed about the spray by APHIS or land managers. In March 2024, APHIS pulled an environmental assessment for Arizona’s program after significant omissions dealing with Tribal interests and national monuments were identified during the comment period.

Public rangelands in western states are important, multi-use lands that provide critical habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects that –– along with native grasshoppers –– support a rich diversity of birds, wildlife and plants. Greater sage grouse, monarch butterflies and many other species inhabiting western lands are already in steep decline and vulnerable to harm from APHIS’s pesticide spraying. Multiple bumble bee species native to western states have disappeared or declined from areas they once occupied.

APHIS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, oversees and funds the application of multiple pesticides harmful to a wide range of wildlife on western rangelands. In recent years, APHIS has approved and carried out spraying adjacent to or within national wildlife refuges, popular public recreation areas, endangered species habitats and wilderness areas.

Above photo: A family fishes for hatchery Chinook in lower Whatcom Creek in downtown Bellingham. Photo by Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

More than 7,000 Chinook salmon are expected to return to Whatcom Creek in downtown Bellingham, Washington this season thanks to an ongoing collaboration between Bellingham Technical College, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, and the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe.

“We’re forecasting the largest return of Chinook on record back to Whatcom Creek over the next two months and are thrilled by how successful this partnership has been,” said Edward Eleazer, WDFW’s North Puget Sound Region Fish Program manager.

“These hatchery salmon provide prey for Southern Resident killer whales in important foraging areas, support recreational salmon fisheries in marine areas and lower Whatcom Creek as well as tribal treaty and youth fisheries, and help train the next generation of fisheries professionals at BTC — it’s a win-win-win,” said Eleazer.

“We have been working collectively and diligently to bring back salmon for all of our tribal people, as well as all Washington state residents and our future generations,” said Lisa Wilson, vice chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and a member of Lummi Nation leadership. “We created a 10-year, co-managed hatchery plan for these Chinook and we are now seeing the results of this hard work.”

Chinook begin arriving at the mouth of Whatcom Creek in mid-August and will continue returning into October. Though they’re following the same instinctive urge as their cousins in nearby rivers, these hatchery-produced salmon are not intended to reproduce in the wild or even make it more than a mile up the urban creek.

The Chinook in Whatcom Creek originate from the Samish River, where WDFW’s Samish Hatchery staff take eggs and milt (sperm) from adult broodstock. At the hatchery WDFW is joined by students from BTC’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences program who assist with the egg collection, spawning and fertilizing process before transferring more than half a million eggs annually to BTC’s Perry Center in Maritime Heritage Park.

There, students and faculty incubate the eggs until they hatch and grow into fry, then feed and rear the tiny Chinook until they are big enough to survive on their own. With support from NWIFC and Lummi Nation, they carefully clip their adipose fins to mark them as hatchery-raised salmon. Finally, the students and staff release the fish near where Whatcom Creek flows into Bellingham Bay—all with three specific goals in mind:

• To provide an additional food source for struggling Southern Resident killer whales (SRKWs) during the salmon’s return migration through the Salish Sea. Increased hatchery production to increase food for orcas — particularly near foraging areas important for SRKW such as the San Juan Islands — was recommended by the Southern Resident Orca Task Force in its final report (PDF).
• To support tribal and recreational salmon fishing opportunities throughout Puget Sound and in an accessible urban area in lower Whatcom Creek where a boat or other expensive fishing gear is not required.
• To create opportunities for BTC students to learn how to raise salmon and operate a fish hatchery, preparing them for jobs with the state, Native American tribes, or other agencies or private aquaculture businesses.

“We ask Bellingham residents and visitors to please be respectful of state and tribal fishers,” said Julie Klacan, district fisheries biologist for WDFW. “The hatchery Chinook salmon returning to Whatcom Creek are a collaborative success story between Bellingham Technical College, the state, co-manager tribes, and the City of Bellingham.”

“The Chinook program has provided a wonderful expansion of the hands-on hatchery training for our students,” said Brittany Palm-Flawd, BTC Fisheries & Aquaculture Sciences Faculty and Hatchery Manager. “Not only does it help them build valuable skills, but they also get to see Washington’s co-management system in action. As the Chinook return to the college hatchery each year, BTC students really see their work make an impact on our fisheries and aquatic ecosystems.”

The state-managed salmon fishery in lower Whatcom Creek is open Saturdays and Sundays only through Sept. 14. Fishing is closed Monday through Friday.

A valid fishing license and salmon Catch Record Card are required. Only hatchery Chinook may be retained; any other salmon caught must be released. Fishing is closed at night from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.

An Anti-Snagging Rule is in effect during the state fishery, meaning fishing gear is restricted to a lure or bait with one single-point hook; check the regulations or Fish Washington mobile app for details. Snagging is defined as an effort to take fish with a hook and line in a manner that the fish does not take the hook or hooks voluntarily in its mouth.

The fishery is open from the Whatcom Creek mouth upstream to the footbridge below Dupont Street. WDFW and City of Bellingham have posted signs (PDF) near the fishing area boundaries.

Tribal fishers enrolled with the Lummi Nation or Nooksack Indian Tribe may fish Whatcom Creek according to their fishery rules and schedules. These co-managers have several special fisheries planned such as Tribal Youth Chinook Fishery days.

More information on tribal fishing and salmon fisheries co-management is available on this WDFW webpage or at nwtreatytribes.org.

Chum and pink salmon may also return to Whatcom Creek and must be released if caught by recreational anglers unless opened to retention under an emergency Fishing Rule Change.

At July’s Northwest Power and Council meeting in Portland, staff from the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee discussed a new 10-year outlook they’ve produced showing regional utilities’ forecasted electricity demand and planned resources.

Further, they discussed recent trends, opportunities, including key issues they’re working on, and emphasized the importance of regional collaboration to address the twin challenges of significant future load growth and a shifting resource mix in the Northwest, says a Council press release.

PNUCC Executive Director Crystal Ball noted that the information included in PNUCC’s annual Northwest Regional Forecast (NRF) is provided by utilities and the Bonneville Power Administration. The annual outlook provides a way of tracking trends using consistent assumptions for annual energy, winter and summer peak, but is not an evaluation of resource adequacy.

The forecast projects that regional loads could increase by about 7,800 aMW to 31,600 aMW by 2035, more than a 30% increase, which is in line with the 2024 NRF. Summer peak demand is projected to grow by 9,400 megawatts (MW), and winter peak demand by about 9,100 MW by 2035.

At the same time, regional utilities have approximately 30,000 MW of resources planned in the pipeline by 2035.

“Along with the surge in expected demand, we also have these ambitious resource acquisition plans,” said Gillian Charles, a consultant working with PNUCC.

“However, regional utilities are facing growing pressure. The success of these plans really depends on many factors, including coordinated regional action. The data adds up to an unprecedented number of 30,000 megawatts of nameplate capacity in the next 10 years, an extraordinary number of added resources to develop within that timeframe.”

Charles noted several challenges to getting these projects onto the grid and delivering power: project development timelines are getting longer, and local opposition can delay or defeat proposed projects in permitting, siting, and approval processes. Transmission interconnection queues are congested, she said.
PNUCC Analytics and Policy Director Aliza Seelig highlighted the utilities’ efforts to pursue demand response, seeing it as an important resource for addressing the peak needs in the future.

“Winter demand response programs are becoming more prominent in this picture,” Seelig said. “This is an important and growing resource for utilities, along with the investments that they’ve made in energy efficiency to help keep the grid reliable. It is an important resource for the future.”

Ball cited several key takeaways that utilities have identified to help navigate through this uncertainty successfully:

• Regional utilities are feeling uncertainty and mounting pressure to add generating resources.
• Resource additions are at risk of not being deployed, thus threats to reliability are increasing.
• Natural gas and electric systems are increasingly interdependent, so they need to be carefully coordinated to mitigate reliability risks.
• Regional collaboration is essential for serving the needs of customers and Northwest communities.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the next round of Wildlife Diversity Grant recipients, awarding approximately $1 million in funding for the next two years. This investment supports eight collaborative projects focused on some of Washington’s most at-risk wildlife species.

Several projects funded during the initial grant round from last year’s cycle have been awarded second-phase funding, enabling project partners to build on early results and expand recovery efforts. WDFW is also funding a number of new proposals that address emerging conservation needs statewide.

“These follow-up phases are essential,” said Jenna Judge, assistant division manager for WDFW’s Wildlife Diversity Division. “This kind of work doesn’t end in one season. It takes years of persistence and collaboration to get real results.”
All funded grants, both continuing phases and new projects, are designed to move the needle on long-term species recovery. By continuing a competitive selection of high-impact projects and supporting a host of new ones, WDFW is investing in both momentum and innovation in biodiversity conservation, Judge noted.

Grant recipients

From protecting rare snakes and monitoring endangered shorebirds to creating artificial burrows for burrowing owls to controlling invasive bullfrog populations, the funded projects represent a wide range of conservation priorities across Washington:

• Bumble bee long term monitoring – Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
• Bullfrog control for endangered pond turtle recovery – Mt. Adams Resource Stewards
• Artificial burrow installation for declining burrowing owl populations – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Coastal dune shorebird monitoring – Ecostudies Institute
• Streaked horned lark population monitoring at Olympia Airport – Ecostudies Institute
• Oregon spotted frog recovery actions – Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
• Monitoring and protecting desert-striped whipsnakes – Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy and Central Washington University
• Tufted puffin reintroduction feasibility assessment – Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge

These grants reflect WDFW’s “broader strategy to restore and protect biodiversity through sustained, collaborative, science-based action,” said the agency in a press release. Funding for the Wildlife Diversity Grant Program comes from a legislative investment in species of greatest conservation need and species of greatest information need and the department anticipates continued funding in future biennia as long as funding is available.

This year, WDFW received 60 applications requesting more than $12 million—”demonstrating both the capacity and energy that exist across Washington for species recovery work. Due to budget constraints, the Department was only able to fund a fraction of the proposed projects, investing $1 million in this round,” said WDFW.

“The infrastructure we’ve built to run this program means we can successfully manage a larger portfolio of projects if more funding becomes available,” said Hannah Anderson, wildlife diversity division manager. “Species recovery doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a coordinated community of conservationists, researchers, landowners, tribes, and volunteers—backed by consistent support. This grant program helps make that possible, and with continued and growing investment, we can make progress on the conservation needs created by decades of under-investment in this kind of work.”

A full list of grant recipients, project results is available on WDFW’s website.

Above photo: Adult sunflower sea stars feeding on mussels at UW Friday Harbor Laboratories. The stars suck out and ingest the soft tissues of mussels, then discard the shells, which collect at the bottom of the tank. The sea star on the bottom, “Charlotte,” is a mother of the lab’s stars grown in captivity.Dennis Wise/University of Washington

Sunflower sea stars are the largest sea stars in the world — they have up to 24 arms and grow to the size of a bicycle tire. Starting in 2013, these creatures and other sea star species along the west coast of North America died in epidemic proportions.

The stars had harrowing symptoms: Their arms contorted before falling off completely. Over the past decade, sea star wasting disease has killed billions of sea stars in up to 20 species by effectively “melting” their tissues.

The disease has wiped out more than 90% of the once-common sunflower sea stars, most critically in the continental U.S., landing them on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of critically endangered species. The loss of sunflower sea stars, which support kelp forests by feeding on kelp-eating sea urchins, has had widespread and lasting effects on coastal ecosystems.

Until now, no one knew what caused sea star wasting disease. But on Aug. 4, an international research effort including scientists from the University of Washington has finally revealed the cause: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida. Vibrio is a genus of bacteria that has devastated coral and shellfish as well as humans (for example, Vibrio cholerae is the pathogen that causes cholera).

The researchers published this finding in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

“This is the discovery of the decade for me,” said co-author Drew Harvell, a UW affiliate professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Friday Harbor Laboratories. “We have studied both the cause and the impacts of this disease for the entire epidemic. What’s crazy is that the answer was just sitting right there in front of us. This Vibrio is a sneaky critter because it doesn’t show up on histology like other bacteria do.”

“From initial studies, we thought the culprit was a virus,” Harvell continued. “So it was a surprise to find the pathogen in a more common group of bacteria.”

The long-awaited result showing V. pectenicida strain FHCF-3 as the causative agent comes after a four-year research process. Scientists explored many possible pathogens, including viruses. At first, the researchers looked in sunflower sea star tissues before they homed in on the high levels of V. pectenicida in sick sea star “blood,” or coelomic fluid.

“When we looked at the coelomic fluid between exposed and healthy sea stars, there was basically one thing different: Vibrio,” said senior author Alyssa Gehman, a marine disease ecologist at the Hakai Institute and the University of British Columbia. “We all had chills. We thought, ‘That’s it. We have it. That’s what causes wasting.’”

Harvell attributes the team’s success to:

– Having the right facilities at the U.S. Geological Service with proper quarantine and high-quality water flow

– A talented research team that had pathology, virology and bacteriology experience

– Having access to a source of the right test animals, including sunflower sea stars raised in captivity by co-author Jason Hodin, UW senior research scientist at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

“I observed and collected health data on nearly every single sea star twice a day for the majority of experiments for all four summers,” said co-author Grace Crandall, a UW doctoral student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. “I have loved sea stars and have been fascinated by diseases since childhood. To get to participate so actively in research that combines both of these interests has been a dream come true. I’m excited about getting to work on a project with such consequential findings for the conservation of these important sea stars: to find both the cause of sea star wasting disease, and to better understand their immune response.”

To confirm that V. pectenicida was the culprit, co-author Amy M. Chan, a research scientist at UBC, created pure cultures of V. pectenicida from the coelomic fluid of sick sea stars. The team then injected the cultured pathogen into healthy sea stars, which developed symptoms of sea star wasting disease — the final proof.

“When we lose billions of sea stars, that really shifts the ecological dynamics,” said lead author Melanie Prentice, an evolutionary ecologist at the Hakai Institute and UBC. “In the absence of sunflower stars, sea urchin populations increase, which means the loss of kelp forests, and that has broad implications for all the other marine species and humans that rely on them. So losing a sea star goes far beyond the loss of that single species.”

Now that scientists have identified the pathogen behind sea star wasting disease, they can look into the drivers of disease and potential hallmarks of resilience. Researchers are particularly interested in studying the link between sea star wasting disease and rising ocean temperatures. The effects of the disease seem to be stronger in warmer water, and other species of Vibrio are also known to proliferate in warm water, Gehman said.

Researchers and project partners hope the discovery will help guide management and recovery efforts for sea stars and the ecosystems affected by their decline.

“It’s just heartbreaking to watch them die,” Harvell said. “Sunflower sea stars are enchanting creatures and they’re quite interactive. At feeding time, they will come toward you. If you throw clams to the stars, they can catch them. It’s so gratifying to finally have an answer.”

Additional co-authors on this paper are Katherine M. Davis and Jan F. Finke at UBC and the Hakai Institute; Paul K. Hershberger at the U.S. Geological Survey; Andrew McCracken at the University of Vermont; Colleen T. E. Kellogg, Rute B. G. Clemente-Carvalho and Carolyn Prentice at the Hakai Institute; and Kevin X. Zhong and Curtis A. Suttle at UBC. The research was supported by The Nature Conservancy of California, the Tula Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund Infrastructure award, the University of British Columbia, the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Threats Research Program, Ecosystems Mission Area and the Quantitative and Evolutionary STEM Traineeship.

Above diagram depicts the role of the extremely warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and a developing El Niño in the tropical Pacific on the occurrence of the longest lasting 2023 heat wave event that impacted the southwestern US. The yellow-red shading over land represents the location of extremely warm land surface temperatures.

Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. In a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists found a link between the long-lasting 2023 heatwave over the southwest US and Mexico and the record warm sea surface temperatures in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

In 2023, a severe heat wave event occurred over the southwestern United States and Mexico, which lasted from mid-June to early August, affecting over 100 million people, and was responsible for over 300 deaths. The compounded effect of extreme heat and drought was responsible for $14.5 billion in economic loss, making this event the costliest North American weather and climate disaster of 2023. This event featured extreme temperatures, with Phoenix, Arizona experiencing both the longest continuous stretch of daily maximum temperature exceeding 104°F (55 days) and the warmest nighttime minimum temperature on record (97°F). This heat wave was far reaching, setting new all-time record temperatures throughout the southern US in places like New Orleans, Louisiana and the Caribbean.

In this study, scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) show a physical link between the long duration extreme heat over the southwest US and Mexico and the record warm North Atlantic sea surface temperatures and a growing El Niño in the Pacific.

El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, a recurring climate pattern that occurs on average from 2 to 7 years, which involves changes in the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Through observations and model simulations, scientists show that the extremely warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were responsible for the persistence of the heat wave in the region. The warm sea surface temperatures impacted large-scale wind patterns which created a high-pressure system that persisted for more than six weeks, greatly increasing land surface temperatures, reducing precipitation, and causing the heat wave to grow and last.

The high tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature was found to be the dominant factor, which increased the likelihood of heat waves over the region. Meanwhile, the influence of El Niño was much smaller. However, the combination of a warm Atlantic and a warm Pacific significantly amplified regional heat waves, doubling their number, tripling their days, and increasing their duration by about 50%.

“This 2023 heat wave lasted twice as long as usual, putting a real strain on human health and essential services/infrastructure,”said Hosmay Lopez, AOML oceanographer and lead author of the study. “The main culprit? Record-warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures. A developing El Niño in the Pacific also played a smaller role.”

“Our study reveals that closely watching how the ocean and atmosphere interact is vital, “Lopez added. “These interactions are crucial for making better long-range forecasts of extreme weather.”

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2023 was ranked as the second warmest year in the global surface temperature record since 1850 (only surpassed by 2024), setting warm surface temperature records over more than 20% of the global land surface.

Heat waves can significantly impact human health, the environment and the economy in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, energy and much more. Improving the knowledge of these events can greatly benefit these industries. Improving heatwave predictions and future projections hinges on understanding both shorter-term weather and climate variability, and longer-term drivers of heatwave patterns. The aim is to enhance predictions beyond the typical weather forecast range, the research authors said.

A major installation project is underway at Montana’s Libby Dam to add flexibility to project operations and improve the dam’s overall electrical reliability.

The Generator Unit 6 installation project signals a milestone in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, Seattle District’s continued efforts to enhance overall efficiency, reliability and performance of the dam’s hydropower-generating infrastructure.

The $34.8M installation project, which involves designing and constructing a new hydropower generating unit, along with all associated equipment to modernize its operation, was awarded May 29, 2024. Installation is expected to be completed April 2027.

“The new unit will allow us to maintain the five existing units more frequently, and ensure we remain a good steward of the environment and equipment entrusted to us,” said Ayden Capps, electrical engineer with Libby Dam.

In addition to the installation project, USACE is upgrading the selective withdrawal system at Libby Dam, to enable continued and enhanced ability to manage river temperatures downstream of the dam, which is critical for aquatic ecosystem, including resident trout species, threatened bull trout and endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Biological Opinion for Kootenai River white sturgeon requires that five generating units be available for the annual sturgeon pulse. In addition to this requirement, having five units available during the spring reservoir refill period allows USACE to more consistently provide flood risk management in the Kootenai River valley downstream of Libby Dam.

“Libby Dam has provided flows for Kootenai River white sturgeon recovery in conjunction with flood risk management operations each spring since the 1990s,” said Libby Dam Fishery Biologist Greg Hoffman. “The addition of Unit 6 enables the Army Corps to continue to reliably provide ecosystem function flows and reservoir refill as we operate to provide flood risk reduction and hydropower production.”

Libby Dam spans the Kootenai River 17 miles upstream from the town of Libby in northwestern Montana.

USACE began construction of Libby Dam in 1966 and completed the structure in 1972, with the first commercial power coming on-line on August 29, 1975. By March 1976, three more units were put on-line, and the fifth unit was finished in 1984. The powerhouse was originally designed to accommodate eight generators.

On Aug. 23, 2025, USACE Seattle District will recognize Libby Dam’s 50 years of operations, providing flood risk management, hydropower, recreation, navigation and environmental stewardship, with a Memorial unveiling and Open House.

While megawatt-Hours (mwhs) generated by the dam vary by water year, in Fiscal Year 2019, the dam generated 161,51,000 mwhs, with an estimated market value of up to $57,322,000 (according to historical monthly market prices).

Public tours of the powerhouse will cease for summer 2025 and potentially throughout 2026, but there will be no power service interruptions to residents.

Above photo: ODFW Director Debbie Colbert (at podium) and Coquille Tribe Chairwoman Brenda Meade (to the right in black jacket) on July 31, 2025 in Bandon, Ore. to announce a major step forward in their combined management effort on salmon recovery in the Coquille River. The first fall Chinook fishery since 2021 will be proposed for the Coquille River following the efforts of the Coquille Tribe, ODFW staff and STEP (Salmon Trout Enhancement Program) volunteers to improve the performance of the hatchery program.

Leadership of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Coquille Indian Tribe came together near the mouth of the Coquille River last month to announce a major step forward in the combined management effort on salmon recovery.

ODFW is proposing to restart Chinook salmon fishing in the Coquille River this fall following the efforts of the Coquille Tribe, ODFW staff and extensive community volunteer work to improve the performance of the hatchery program.

Under a Chinook proposal to be considered by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Sept. 12 in Ontario and a wild coho proposal to be considered Aug. 15 in Salem, the following regulations would be in effect on the Coquille River this fall:

• Open for salmon fishing Sept. 13-Oct. 15 from the Hwy 101 bridge upstream to the Hwy 42S Sturdivant Park Bridge near the town of Coquille
• Daily bag limit of two adult salmon (hatchery Chinook and wild coho only, but only one may be a wild coho) and a season limit of 3 wild coho

If approved, the season would mark the first fall Chinook opportunity on the Coquille River since 2021 and add to wild coho fishing opportunities that returned in 2024. Members of the public can comment on the proposals via the ODFW rulemaking page.

Fall Chinook fisheries on the Coquille River have primarily been supported by abundant wild populations. But wild Chinook returns to the Coquille River fell dramatically in 2018 due to the illegal introduction and spread of smallmouth bass, a voracious predator of juvenile salmon. Warming river temperatures, low flows and poor ocean conditions also played a role.

The long-running hatchery program, which relied heavily on wild broodstock, also experienced several setbacks. ODFW was unable to collect sufficient broodstock/eggs, so fewer smolts were released.

ODFW and the Coquille Tribe signed a historic Memorandum of Agreement in June 2022 to collaborate, share resources and work as partners to enhance fish and wildlife populations. They quickly leaned into their relationship and started working together more closely, alongside volunteers from local STEP (Salmon Trout Enhancement Program) groups.

This broader effort increased brood collection efforts so more hatchery fish could be spawned and more smolts released. Improvements in design and operations at the Ferry Creek broodstock collection trap helped meet broodstock collection targets. A new smolt acclimation and adult collection site was also developed on the Tribe’s Lampa Creek property.

The effort is just one of several actions ODFW, the Coquille Tribe, and volunteers are taking to restore fisheries in the Coquille River. Other efforts include:

• Habitat restoration and protection: Collaborative projects between the Tribe, ODFW, SWCD in Coos County and other partners using federal and other grant funds to improve fish passage and restore habitat.
• Electrofishing to remove smallmouth bass: Nearly 40,000 smallmouth bass have been removed from the Coquille River.
• Conservation hatchery program: An additional hatchery program to supplement the wild population is underway, rearing some fish at Elk River Hatchery and releasing them in the upper basin at a size and time when they are less vulnerable to smallmouth bass.
• Experimental hatchboxes: Unfed fry are being released from hatchboxes (aka streamside incubators) at several locations with genetic sampling of adult returns planned to help determine the experimental program’s effectiveness.

During a press conference announcing the proposals in Bandon, Ore., ODFW Director Debbie Colbert and Coquille Indian Tribe Chairwoman Brenda Meade expressed their commitment to continuing to work together to enhance salmon and steelhead populations and fishing opportunities. They say given the unique past, current, and anticipated future conditions of the Coquille system, a unified, holistic management approach is essential to achieve this mission.

“Coquille people have a sacred duty to care for fish and wildlife that aligns with the mission of the ODFW well,” said Chair Brenda Meade. “Our shared vision is that the Coquille and Coos systems will be widely recognized as a premier salmon and steelhead fishery and a cornerstone of the cultural, social and economic well-being of the region. We are calling this the “Hot Zone” – a Harvest Opportunity Zone. Our MOA and work we do under it is not only about government-to-government work and respect, but also about truly listening to this community and involving the community in our work as valued partners with knowledge, ideas, and contributions to give too.”

“We needed to act after the Coquille River reached a tipping point a few years ago with the drastic decline of wild Chinook from an average of about 10,000 returning adults to just 300 in 2019 due to low flows, warming river temperatures and invasive predators,” said Colbert. “The situation called for an all-out effort to pull Coquille River’s salmon and fishing opportunities back from the brink.”

I’m thrilled we can celebrate this positive step in the right direction,” Colbert continued. “I hope the collective efforts of the Tribe, ODFW and volunteers bring more results for salmon in the future, including for wild runs which remain very low.”

ODFW and the Tribe remain committed to management actions and projects that grow salmon and steelhead abundance and enhance harvest opportunities, with both natural and hatchery produced salmon playing an important role.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has confirmed the detection of a non-native brown trout in the Flathead River upstream of Pressentine Fishing Access Site near Evergreen, and anglers are encouraged to submit any additional brown trout caught within the drainage.

To assess the extent of the issue, FWP is deploying environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling technology to detect any additional presence of brown trout in the Flathead River and tributaries This method will help identify areas where brown trout may be present, guiding future management actions.

FWP strongly urges anglers who catch a brown trout in the Flathead River or its tributaries to kill the fish immediately and report the catch to the FWP Region 1 office at 406-752-5501. Anglers are asked to provide the fish as well as the location and date of the catch to assist in monitoring efforts.

Brown trout can harm native trout species, such as bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, by outcompeting them for resources and preying on juvenile fish.

“Protecting our native trout populations is a priority,” said FWP Regional Fisheries Manager Mike Hensler. “Brown trout pose a threat to native species in the Flathead drainage, and we need the public’s help to manage this invasive species.”

Moving live fish from one waterbody to another is illegal. The illegal introduction of non-native fish and other invasive species can have devastating ecological, recreational and economic impacts. These species disrupt aquatic ecosystems by altering food webs, reducing biodiversity, and threatening native species critical to Montana’s fisheries.

Brown trout are identified by their golden brown to yellow-brown color, with dark spots often surrounded by lighter halos, and sometimes with red or orange spots.

Clear-cutting can make catastrophic floods 18 times more frequent with effects lasting more than 40 years, according to a new University of British Columbia study.

In one watershed, these extreme floods also became more than twice as large, turning a once-in-70-years event into something that now happens every nine.

“This research challenges conventional thinking about forest management’s impact on flooding,” said senior author Younes Alila, a hydrologist in the UBC faculty of forestry. “We hope the industry and policymakers will take note of the findings, which show that it matters not only how much forest you remove but also where, how and under what conditions.”

The UBC-led study draws on one of the world’s longest-running forest experiments at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina and is published in the Journal of Hydrology.

The research team analyzed two adjacent watersheds, one north-facing, the other south-facing, that were both clear-cut in the late 1950s.
“We found seemingly minor landscape factors—like the direction a slope faces—can make or break a watershed’s response to treatment,” said first author Henry Pham, a doctoral student in the faculty of forestry.

In the north-facing watershed, which receives less direct sunlight and retains more moisture, floods became four to 18 times more frequent. Average flood sizes increased by 47 per cent compared to pre-treatment levels, and the biggest floods grew by as much as 105 per cent.

In the south-facing watershed, the same treatment had virtually no impact on flood behaviour.

Most conventional flood models use simplified assumptions: cut X per cent of trees, expect Y per cent more water runoff. But this study found that such models fail to account for extreme and erratic flood patterns that emerge after landscape disturbances.

“This experimental evidence validates our longstanding call for better analysis methods,” said Alila. “When we apply proper probabilistic tools to long-term data, we find much stronger and more variable impacts than older models suggest.”

In short, he adds, forest treatments don’t just raise average flood levels—they can fundamentally reshape a watershed’s entire flood regime, making rare and catastrophic events much more common.

The most concerning finding was that flood effects in the north-facing watershed persisted for over 40 years, confirming that forestry treatments can lead to long-term changes in a watershed’s flood response, especially as climate change brings more extreme weather, putting downstream communities at greater risk.

The findings have immediate relevance for forest management practices, particularly in B.C. where there are similar terrain types and forestry operations in the form of clear-cut logging.

Alila noted that the model used in this study can be used to predict which parts of B.C. are currently more at risk of extreme flooding. It can also be used to investigate how much of the severity of Sumas Prairie floods in 2021 and the more recent Texas floods can be attributed to global warming and/or land use and forest cover changes. “Our findings highlight how multiple landscape factors interact in complex ways. As climate conditions shift, understanding those dynamics is becoming increasingly important for forest and water management.”

Above photo: Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute staff measure the thickness of the sea lion’s blubber in preparation for an x-ray. Photo courtesy Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute

A California man was sentenced on July 14 to 3 years in state prison for kicking and clubbing a stranded California sea lion, with a 4-foot-long piece of driftwood. The incident took place near the Ventura Pier in Ventura, California.

In June 2025, Christopher Hurtado, 32, of Santa Paula, California, pleaded guilty in state court to felony counts of animal cruelty and drug possession. Aggravating factors—such as the female sea lion being pregnant—led to a more severe sentence.

NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, Ventura Police Department, and California State Parks conducted this joint investigation. Hurtado was charged under the state’s animal cruelty law because of the aggravating factors.

“The violent acts committed in this case were not only cruel, but violate the law,” said Eric Morgan, acting assistant director, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, West Coast Division. “This kind of offense demands accountability, and we have greatly appreciated working this joint investigation to a successful conclusion with the Ventura Police Department and California State Parks.”

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Benjamin, a member of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office General Trials Unit, prosecuted the case. “Our office takes acts of cruelty to animals very seriously and we are committed to holding those individuals accountable when animals are unnecessarily harmed,” Benjamin said.

A beachgoer’s report on March 6 led Ventura Police Department dispatchers to monitor the sea lion on rocks near the Ventura Pier through surveillance cameras. The sea lion appeared to be affected by domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by a harmful algal bloom that can cause animals to become disoriented and experience seizures.

Dispatchers watched as Hurtado approached the stricken animal and kicked it in the head. After sitting down briefly on the rocks nearby, he stood and picked up a 4-foot piece of driftwood. He lifted the driftwood above his head and then brought it down, striking the sea lion’s body twice. Ventura Police who arrested him found 0.06 grams of methamphetamine in his pocket.

Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute stated to officers that a marine mammal stranding response team brought the injured sea lion in for treatment of domoic acid poisoning. An ultrasound examination found that the animal was pregnant. However, the animal had to be euthanized. The Institute is part of the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network coordinated by NOAA Fisheries.

Sea lions and other marine mammals are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If you see someone harming or harassing a marine mammal, report it to the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement Hotline at (800) 853-1964. Beachgoers should always give marine mammals plenty of space, especially if they appear to be sick or affected by harmful algal blooms.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has hired Peter Cogswell as its new executive director. Cogswell’s first day at the Council will be Monday, July 7th.

Cogswell brings experience in regional energy policy to the role, most notably working at Bonneville Power Administration from 2007-2021 where he was the Council liaison for many years and served as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. His resume also includes time spent with PacifiCorp, as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to former Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, and more recently as an energy consultant. At Bonneville, his portfolio included state, national, and tribal affairs; as Council liaison, he helped navigate the development of two Northwest Power Plans.

At the Governor’s Office, he led efforts to adopt several early clean energy policies, including Oregon’s first renewable energy standard, said the Council in a press release.

Cogswell is a University of Oregon graduate and attended the University of Idaho’s Utility Executive Course. He and his family live in southeast Portland.

“I am very fortunate to have engaged extensively with the Council over the course of my career,” said Cogswell. “I am excited about the opportunity to build on that experience by working with members, staff and a broad group of partners, including tribes, states, utilities, and advocates, to ensure the Council continues its important work in the region.”

“After meeting with many qualified candidates, the Council is thrilled to be able to bring Peter on board as the next Executive Director,” said Council Chair Mike Milburn of Montana. “He is an experienced leader with an impressive energy policy background who is deeply connected to the region. We’re confident that Peter will be able to hit the ground running at this critical time as we ramp up our work on the next Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program and Ninth Northwest Regional Power Plan.”

Cogswell replaces Bill Edmonds, who stepped down from the role in April after five years with the Council.

Cultivated salmon is now being served at Kann, a Haitian restaurant in Portland, Oregon, led by the culinary talents of James Beard award-winning Chef Gregory Gourdet. This milestone marks the very first for cultivated seafood anywhere in the world, signaling meaningful progress in bringing cultivated meat and seafood from pilot facilities into real-world kitchens.

Cultivated seafood, also known as cell-cultured seafood, is real seafood produced by growing fish cells in a controlled environment, rather than harvesting it from the ocean or raising it through aquaculture. This process involves taking cells from a living fish and providing them with the necessary nutrients and conditions to multiply and form muscle and fat tissues, mimicking the natural growth process.

The lab salmon breakthrough created by Wildtype joins Mission Barns’ Federal Drug Administration’s “no-questions” letter for its cultivated pork fat earlier this year, with the company now awaiting routine U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection before its product hits grocery store shelves.

Overfishing, ocean warming, and pollution continue to threaten seafood supply chains just as global seafood demand is projected to rise 14% by 2030 (relative to 2020 levels). Relying on wild fisheries and aquaculture alone isn’t sufficient or sustainable — cultivated seafood can help meet growing demand and ensure American protein security while lessening pressures on at-risk ocean ecosystems, says the Good Food Institute. (Check out GFI’s white papers on the climate and biodiversity benefits of alternative seafood.)

As outlined in GFI’s recent report on cultivated meat and seafood, scientific innovation is happening faster than expected. The industry has made significant strides in reducing input costs, with 2024 data showing cell media costs dropping by over 99% from a pharma-grade baseline, driven by key ingredients being derived from affordable, food-grade alternatives.

“Cultivated salmon on the menu of a U.S. restaurant – what a moment. It’s a first glimpse into how we can meet rising global seafood demand, deliver on the table stakes of taste and nutrition, and ease pressure on an overfished ocean,” said Claire Bomkamp, GFI’s lead scientist for cultivated meat & seafood. “As cultivated seafood production scales up, American consumers can enjoy foods they love made in far more efficient, lighter footprint ways. The U.S. is showing how scientific innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit can deliver delicious wins for consumers and healthy ocean ecosystems. This is a milestone moment for science, for chefs, and for anyone with a stake in sustainably feeding billions of people.”

Lookingglass Creek, a tributary to northeast Oregon’s Grande Ronde River at Palmer Junction, opened for spring Chinook fishing from Wednesday, June 18 through Sunday, June 29. The open area is from the mouth upstream to the confluence of Jarboe Creek.

After early season projections made it appear impossible for a fishery to be open, a late push of Lookingglass fish recently crossed over Bonneville Dam. Not only are more fish coming up the river, but there have also been a decent number of fish trapped at the Lookingglass weir. With these two factors combined, projections are now looking good for a fishery.

“This has been a unique year for predicting the run to Lookingglass. Based on data from tagged fish, Lookingglass Creek Chinook are still coming over Bonneville Dam,” said Ethan Brandt, ODFW District Fish Biologist in La Grande. “A few weeks ago, when using the average run timing, the chance for enough fish to return to make up the gap to have a fishery was slim to none.”

For Oregon spring run Chinook to still be coming over Bonneville this late is rare. Most years, the run of Lookingglass fish over Bonneville is completely done by mid-June. After thinking that this fishery would not be open this year, it is exciting that the streak of open years can continue for the fourth year.

Anglers may retain two adipose fin-clipped Chinook adults and five adipose fin-clipped jacks per day. Jack salmon are less than 24 inches in length. Anglers do not need to record jack catch on their combined angling tags, but it is illegal to continue fishing for jack Chinook once the adult bag limit is met. Unmarked (wild) fish must be released carefully and unharmed.

Lookingglass Creek anglers are restricted to artificial flies and lures while fishing for salmon. The use of bait is prohibited in order to protect bull trout, a threatened species.

Anglers should be aware that private timberlands open to public access border a majority of the area open to sport fishing, and private residences downstream of the Moses Creek Lane Bridge are not open to public access. Anglers are reminded to respect all private property by picking up trash when leaving and respecting the privacy of nearby residents.

Additionally, there is construction occurring at the Lookingglass hatchery. Large equipment may be going up and down the road during the day. Anglers will need to make sure they are parked well off the road so that equipment can get through.

Anglers are also reminded to ensure they have both Columbia Basin Endorsement and Combined Angling Tag in addition to their fishing license.

For the latest on Northeast Oregon and Snake River fishing in-season regulation changes, visit:
https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/northeast-zone
https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/snake-zone
https://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2025/06_Jun/061725.asp

Above: This chart compares the black carbon emissions from boreal wildfires. The red line shows actual recorded emissions. The solid blue line is the estimate from the CMIP6 model, while the dotted blue line is the estimate adjusted based on the recent increase in fires.Blanchard-Wrigglesworth et al./PNAS

A new University of Washington–led study projects that in the next 35 years increasing boreal fires will actually slow global warming by 12% globally and 38% in the Arctic. Because the aerosols in smoke reflect more sunlight and make clouds brighter, summer temperatures during fire season drop, leading to reduced sea ice loss and cooler winter temperatures.

Even if you live far from the boreal forests in Canada and Siberia, you’ve likely noticed an increase in smoke from their forest fires. During major blazes in 2023, the smoke oranged the New York sky and drifted as far south as New Orleans. These blazes have surged in the last decade due to the effects of climate change — warmer summers, less snow cover in the spring, and the loss of sea ice. Experts expect that trend to continue.

Yet recent climate change projection models have not accounted for the increase. For instance, the widely used sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, or CMIP6, released in the late 2010s, kept these fires constant at a relatively low severity.

The UW projects that in the next 35 years these increasing boreal fires will actually slow warming by 12% globally and 38% in the Arctic. The study is the first to identify the divergence between the observed boreal fire increase and the constant fires used in climate models. Because the aerosols in smoke brighten clouds and reflect sunlight, summer temperatures during fire season drop in northern regions, leading to reduced sea ice loss and cooler winter temperatures. This effect is despite the warming effects of the fires themselves from factors such as soot that falls on the ice.

Researchers published their findings, “Increasing boreal fires reduce future global warming and sea ice loss,” June 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2424614122

“This study helps us begin to better project the impacts of climate change. The dramatic increase in these fires in the last years is itself a symptom of that,” said lead author Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, a UW research associate professor of atmospheric and climate science. “It’s important to remember that these increasing fires still have a lot of negative impacts for human health and for forest biodiversity. And if the fires continue to increase, eventually they could burn through the forests and the trend could reverse. So I wouldn’t say this is good news. But it helps us better understand nature and these trends.”

Every six or seven years, climate modeling centers around the world collaborate to update their projections, using numbers going back to the 19th century and projected numbers through 2100. These data comprise things like wildfires and human-caused carbon emissions. For CMIP6, which was modeled before boreal fires became a clear anomaly, the wildfires were kept constant from 2015 to 2100.

“If you look at the time series of the fires, it starts increasing around 2015, but it really spikes in 2019 and 2021, just as this modeling was being completed,” Blanchard-Wrigglesworth said. “Those are the big years of Siberian fires. And then 2023 was the even bigger Canadian fire season.”

Because climate scientists don’t expect the causes of this increase in fires to abate anytime soon, the team re-ran one of the CMIP6 models with a new boreal fire projection based on the recent observed trends, resulting in a four-fold increase from 2015 to 2060. This adjusted the modeling for the smoke aerosols. It also accounted for factors like the fires’ soot, which settles on Arctic ice and darkens it, causing it to absorb more heat from sunlight (the same way sun heats asphalt). But the increased reflection of sunlight from aerosols overwhelmed this warming.

While the fires occur only in the summers, researchers actually found a greater cooling effect in the winters, because the fires block some of the summer sun, resulting in thicker Arctic ice that lasts into the following winter.

The study found impacts far from boreal forests. The smoke cools temperatures across all seasons from the Arctic down to the latitude of Northern California at 40 degrees north. The fires also push tropical rains further south because tropical precipitation depends in part on the temperature difference between hemispheres.

The authors say future work should adjust other climate models to account for increasing boreal fires and investigate possible effects of changes in the land after fires.

“I hope our work raises awareness of this issue for further study and of the potential effects of any future human management of these remote fires,” Blanchard-Wrigglesworth said. “If the increase in boreal fires continues unabated over the next decade or two, society may decide we want to manage boreal fires more. But before we put a lot of resources toward that, we need to try to understand the possible consequences.”

Patricia DeRepentigny, of Université Catholique de Louvain, and Dargan Frierson, a UW associate professor of atmospheric and climate science, are co-authors on this paper. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the European Union.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that it is launching a summer strike team in partnership with federal and local agencies to combat livestock depredations by gray wolves in Siskiyou County and the Sierra Valley (spanning both Sierra and Plumas counties). With landowner permission, the task force will provide round-the-clock CDFW staff support seven days a week for livestock producers experiencing frequent conflicts with wolves, among other program benefits.

“Today’s announcement showcases the power of collaboration in effectively and safely managing California’s growing gray wolf population,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “This strike force allows CDFW to work more closely with our key partners and impacted ranchers and provide new tools to protect cattle and other livestock from harm. Together, we are doing everything we can to keep both livestock and wolves safe. Thank you to our partners in this effort for making this strike team possible.”

Recent depredation of livestock in the Sierra Valley and Siskiyou County signals the need for additional and increased support for livestock producers during the summer and fall of 2025. Interested producers are encouraged to participate in the program. The summer strike team will take a multifaceted approach to combat livestock depredations, including through:

• In-person, on-the-ground support from CDFW staff. Working both day and night seven days a week, CDFW staff will be available to support ranchers facing livestock depredations. The strike team will use a combination of radio telemetry and real-time information from local ranchers to locate wolves (collared and uncollared) to proactively push them away from livestock.
• Developing conflict risk management plans for participating ranchers. Livestock producers who volunteer to participate in the program and take any necessary training will have a plan tailored to their unique property and livestock needs to help mitigate future conflict through nonlethal methods. These plans may include a variety of tools, including livestock management, additional barriers, predator aversion devices or injurious harassment
• Outreach, education and training. In partnership with experts in livestock production and management like the University of California Cooperative Extension, training and outreach events will be held in Sierra Valley to help provide producers techniques and strategies ranchers can take to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts through nonlethal practices.

CDFW is also working in conjunction with Sierra and Plumas counties to create a county agricultural protection position that will support depredation investigations and capture and collar methods, as well as develop carcass removal programs to mitigate wolf attraction to ranch properties.

The task force will be led by CDFW’s law enforcement and scientific staff and will increase CDFW presence in communities to effectively implement these measures. The program began June 9 and is anticipated to run through the summer.

“This program is still in its early stages, so there will be a need to learn by doing together. More details will be shared as it progresses. But this is a good start, and I appreciate that,” said Plumas County Supervisor Dwight Ceresola.
Sierra Valley, which spans both Plumas and Sierra counties, has had higher-than-normal levels of livestock depredations by gray wolves in the Beyem Seyo pack over the past year. As ranchers move their cattle to the valley floor for summer grazing, additional support from this pilot program will be needed to protect livestock from wolves.

“I am thankful the state and county can do something together. We are hopeful that this additional presence will reduce the immediate losses and provide CDFW with a clear understanding of the day-to-day challenges ranchers have faced for months,” said Sierra County Supervisor Paul Roen.

Siskiyou County also has a higher level of livestock depredations compared to other counties, in relation to the Whaleback pack in particular. The county has made significant efforts in slowing depredations and working collaboratively with CDFW staff, including the hiring of a county wolf liaison, but the need for additional support remains. As part of this task force, CDFW will be providing enhanced information on wolf data to Siskiyou County staff, and Siskiyou will assist the department in investigating and collecting additional data.

“This pilot effort in all three counties is made possible through sustained coordination between county supervisors, county sheriffs, local ranchers and state and federal agencies. Importantly, it also reflects the growing calls from local sheriffs calling for CDFW to step up and help,” said Director Bonham. “I thank Sheriffs Mike Fisher, Todd Johns and Jeremiah LaRue for their help to get going on our efforts this summer. I also thank all the Northern California sheriffs and county supervisors who have been key voices for their communities.”

In addition, last month CDFW announced the release of a brand-new mapping tool designed to provide regular location information on GPS-collared gray wolves in California to help prevent wolf-livestock conflict.

The Wolf Location Automated Mapping System, available to the public on CDFW’s website, shows the approximate location of GPS collared wolves across the state. The goal of the map is to better enable livestock producers to understand the movement of collared wolves near their properties and to assist them in mitigating wolf-livestock conflicts.

“California’s rural livestock producers living near wolves have faced real challenges as the wolf population grows in California. This is one more tool in our shared toolkit to protect their herds from wolf-livestock conflict,” said Director Bonham said. “CDFW is focused on transparency, best practices, and ensuring impacted communities have the knowledge they need to help prevent conflict. We will continue to partner with ranchers and communities to navigate a positive path forward.”

CDFW already provides regular and timely updates to livestock producers, law enforcement offices, and local officials regarding the movement of collared wolves near their communities, but this is the first time CDFW is providing automated data on wolf movements to the public.

CDFW’s GPS collars collect wolf location data roughly four times a day and transmit those locations to CDFW each morning. When received, the location data will be automatically transmitted to the online map. The most recently received location of an individual wolf is shown as a hexagonal cell and, when clicked, provides information about the wolf’s pack, the general area they are in, and the last transmission date. As wolves regularly travel hundreds of miles across the state, information on their location can be a critical tool for ranchers to protect their property and livelihoods.

“Knowing where California’s collared wolf population is means that ranchers have access to critical information,” said California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass. “We appreciate CDFW’s focus on transparency to help farmers and ranchers navigate the growing number of wolves in the state.”

The map provides information exclusively on collared wolves, a subset of the overall gray wolf population. As of May 2025, 14 wolves across California have GPS collars. Collaring wolves with GPS devices helps CDFW and the state better understand wolf populations, movement, and habitats.

“As wolves increase in number and range, California ranchers are in dire need of additional tools to protect the animals under their care. Knowledge is power, and this mapping tool will empower ranchers throughout wolf territory to better understand where wolves might threaten their livestock, enabling them to increase human presence and adjust their herd management as necessary to deter wolf attacks,” said Kirk Wilbur, Vice President of Government Affairs, California Cattlemen’s Association. “CCA appreciates the Department’s communication and transparency, which we hope will ease the burdens borne by cattle ranchers who steward California’s wolf habitat.”

The location of a wolf on the map is approximate and not reflective of the exact or current location of any individual wolf or pack. Generalizing the location data helps protect California’s gray wolf population, classified as both federally and state endangered, from potential harm, a crime punishable by law. It also helps prevent trespassing on private property. Data from specific areas, such as at known den sites where wolf pups are believed to be present, will not be available during certain times of the year. CDFW reserves the right to modify or discontinue the publication of the mapping tool if it is believed to result in any harassment of gray wolves or other wildlife or trespassing on private property.

Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center in Kalispell has treated six bald eagles and one golden eagle with elevated lead levels in 2025.

Of those, one bald eagle and the golden eagle succumbed to lead poisoning, one bald eagle remains in treatment, and four bald eagles have been successfully rehabilitated and released.

Lead poisoning is a common cause of death for eagles in northwest Montana, following vehicle collisions. Of the 45 eagles tested at the center from 2017 to 2025, 55 percent showed lead levels above normal environmental levels. This year, two eagles had lead levels so high they were unreadable. Even low-level lead exposure can impair coordination for eagles, increasing the risk of fatal accidents, such as vehicle strikes.

Eagles are exposed to lead primarily by scavenging carcasses and gut piles containing fragments from lead-based ammunition. Spikes in lead poisoning occur during and after the fall rifle hunting season, when lead-shot deer and elk remains are prevalent, and to a lesser extent in spring, when Columbian ground squirrels are targeted with lead bullets. Hunters can help reduce eagle deaths by switching to nonlead ammunition, such as copper.

Please report any dead, injured, or sick eagles to the FWP Region 1 office at 406-752-5501.

Reaction was swift over President Trump’s decision to terminate the federal government’s “Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement,” with parties both condemning and celebrating the move.

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation:

The Trump Administration today issued a Presidential Memorandum terminating the federal government’s December 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement with the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes, and the states of Washington and Oregon. This landmark agreement supported federal investments in a comprehensive plan for salmon restoration, energy development, and transportation infrastructure in the Columbia Basin.

Crucially, it also provided a long-term stay of ongoing Endangered Species Act litigation over federal hydrosystem operations – litigation the United States has consistently lost in federal court for the past several decades.

“The Administration’s abrupt termination of the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement jeopardizes not only tribal Treaty-reserved resources but also the stability of energy, transportation, and water resources essential to the region’s businesses, farms, and families,” stated Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis. “This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives. The Administration’s decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government’s historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump’s stated commitment to domestic energy development.”

“The Yakama Nation is deeply disappointed by this unilateral decision to terminate the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, particularly without prior consultation,” Chairman Lewis emphasized. “The federal government’s historic river management approach is unsustainable and will lead to salmon extinction. Courtroom battles cannot provide the innovative, holistic solutions we need. This termination will severely disrupt vital fisheries restoration efforts, eliminate certainty for hydro operations, and likely result in increased energy costs and regional instability.”

“The Yakama Nation remains committed to collaborative efforts to restore healthy and abundant Columbia Basin fisheries, working alongside our tribal, state, federal, and regional partners,” affirmed Yakama Fish & Wildlife Committee Chair Jeremy Takala. “The economic and ecological well-being of our region and our Nation depends on healthy salmon populations, as mandated by our Treaty rights. We reserved the right to actually catch fish, not merely the right to dip our nets into barren waters.”

Nez Perce Tribe:

“This action tries to hide from the truth. The Nez Perce Tribe holds a duty to speak the truth for the salmon, and the truth is that extinction of salmon populations is happening now,” stated Shannon Wheeler, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. “People across the Northwest know this, and people across the Nation have supported us in a vision for preventing salmon extinction that would at the same time create a stronger and better future for the Northwest. This remains the shared vision of the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Nez Perce tribes, as set out in our Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative. It is a vision we believe is supported, publicly or privately, by most people in the Northwest. And it is a vision underlaid by the treaties of our Northwest tribes, by the U.S. Constitution that protects those treaties, and by the federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect salmon and other species from extinction.”

Confederated Tribes Of Warm Springs:

Earlier today, the Trump administration announced, through Executive Order, that the federal government would be withdrawing its commitments from the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA), a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the states of Oregon and Washington, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. government.

This MOU, signed on Dec. 14, 2023, led to the court ordered stay of over 30 years of litigation in the Columbia Basin. It was a plan to comprehensively restore Columbia River Basin salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honor federal commitments to Tribal Nations, deliver affordable and reliable clean power, and meet the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region.

Please consider the following statement from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs:

“The right to take fish from our traditional usual and accustomed fishing areas was reserved in our 1855 Treaty with the United States government. We gave much, including millions of acres of our land, but reserved these rights to steward the Creator’s gifts: the fish we rely upon to feed our people and continue our culture, and the clean water to sustain them.

“The RCBA was a commitment from the United States government to honor its obligations to ensure healthy, thriving fish stocks through investing in hatcheries, improving fish passage throughout the Columbia River, and improving fish habitat and was the result of years of coordination and collaboration among the regions’ sovereigns and fish managers. We hope that the federal government recognizes the importance of these agreements and will work with our nations to identify new ways to collaborate to improve the health of our fisheries.

“The Columbia River Treaty Tribes’ very future depends on our salmon. While this decision will challenge our efforts, we remain committed to our efforts to restore these critical Treaty resources.”

Plaintiffs Represented by Earthjustice:

President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum today to unilaterally and abruptly withdraw the federal government’s support for the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, a comprehensive partnership to restore the basin’s imperiled salmon, steelhead and other native fisheries to health and abundance. The agreement promised increased funding for fisheries projects and infrastructure, a federal-state partnership to analyze replacement of the energy, transportation, irrigation and recreation services provided by four dams on the lower Snake River, and investments in new tribal clean energy projects.

When the historic agreement was signed in December 2023, it was widely hailed as a turning point in the long-standing effort to protect and restore Columbia Basin salmon that could face extinction without urgent and bold action. Parties to the agreement included multiple federal agencies, four Columbia Basin tribes — the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs — the states of Washington and Oregon, and Earthjustice plaintiffs including conservation, fishing, and clean energy groups.

In a fact sheet that accompanied the Presidential Memorandum, the White House also said that it is revoking a Presidential Memorandum signed by President Biden in September 2023 that preceded the agreement and supported native fish restoration across the basin.

The Columbia agreement had set the Northwest on a path to implement a comprehensive blueprint developed by the tribes and states for Columbia Basin recovery that addressed native fish recovery alongside the region’s energy, transportation, irrigation, and recreation needs. The agreement, while it was in place, also formed the basis for a long-term stay of litigation over the operation of federally-owned hydroelectric dams that are lethal to salmon.

For months, Earthjustice and its partners have sought to secure the continued implementation of the agreement even as the Trump administration cut funding for salmon restoration programs and replacement service studies, forced out experienced federal employees, and created chaos within the federal government. While the administration’s decision to abandon the agreement continues its pattern of breaking promises, ignoring science, and devaluing our iconic lands and wildlife, the fight for Columbia Basin salmon is far from over. Earthjustice and the conservation, fishing, and clean energy groups it represents will continue to use all available tools to prevent extinction and advocate for rebuilding healthy and abundant salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin.

The following statements are from Earthjustice and our plaintiffs:

“The Trump administration is turning its back on an unprecedented opportunity to support a thriving Columbia Basin — and ignoring the extinction crisis facing our salmon,” said Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin. “Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration. This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.”

“Withdrawing from this agreement that set the Northwest on a path to restore the Columbia Basin’s once fabled salmon and steelhead is wrongheaded and counterproductive,” said Sierra Club Snake/Columbia River Salmon Campaign Director Bill Arthur. “Commitments were made by the federal government in December 2023 to restore these salmon and honor tribal treaty rights. This decision sets all of that back, but the good news is that Northwest tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington will continue to lead these basin restoration efforts – and we will rally to support them.”

“The Northwest power system is in transition and the Columbia Basin Agreement created a unique opportunity to lead the nation in coordinating clean energy development and salmon recovery efforts.” said NW Energy Coalition Executive Director Nancy Hirsh. “Withdrawing from this collaborative effort is short-sighted and harmful to the reliability of our grid. This agreement was always broader than dam removal — it offered a comprehensive, strategic and positive approach to not only restore salmon and the basin, but to also ensure abundant, affordable and reliable clean energy across the region.”

“We are proud to continue to support the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative and its goal of restoring abundant, harvestable runs of salmon,” said Columbia Riverkeeper Legal Director Miles Johnson. “The Trump administration’s short-sighted decision to end this agreement will hurt river communities and interrupt — but not derail — our region’s progress and strong partnerships for salmon recovery and Lower Snake River dam removal,”

“The administration’s decision to abandon these commitments is exceptionally shortsighted and deeply troubling,” said Idaho Rivers United’s Executive Director Greg McReynolds. “We know wild Columbia-Snake River salmon exist on borrowed time. We also know what we must do to reverse their march toward extinction – and we had started down that path under the agreement. The federal government’s withdrawal from these commitments will harm these iconic and incredibly important species and set back economic development and wellbeing of the entire Pacific Northwest as we face growing needs to modernize our energy grid and transportation infrastructure.”

“This agreement had set us on a path to restore a strong fishing economy, honor tribal treaty rights and secure a bright future across the Northwest. To throw away this innovative agreement that engaged stakeholders across the region to restore Columbia Basin fisheries to abundance while also building a clean energy future and modernizing our region’s transportation is a waste,” said Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association Policy Director Liz Hamilton. “It’s a big loss for the Northwest’s economy, and a dagger to the heart of our industry. The sportfishing industry is a cultural and economic engine generating over $5 billion in economic output for the region, creating jobs for nearly 37,000. If we lose our irreplaceable salmon, we’ll lose this too.”

“This move by the Trump administration to throw away five years’ worth of progress is shortsighted and reckless,” said Idaho Conservation League Salmon & Energy Strategist Mitch Cutter. “The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was a landmark achievement between the federal government, states, Tribes, and salmon advocates to find solutions for salmon and stay out of the courtroom. Now, it’s gone thanks to the uninformed impulses of a disconnected Administration that doesn’t understand the Pacific Northwest and the rivers and fish that make our region special. The Idaho Conservation League will continue to do what it must to safeguard our wild fish and restore them to true abundance.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, representing Tri-Cities and central Washington:

Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s memorandum revoking the Biden administration’s executive actions targeting the Lower Snake River dams.

“Throughout my time in Congress, I have stood firm in my support for the Lower Snake River Dams and the critical role they play in our region’s economy,” said Rep. Newhouse.

“Today’s action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets. I want to thank the President for his decisive action to protect our dams, and I look forward to continuing to work with the administration for the benefit of the Fourth District.”

The Memorandum signed today revokes the Biden Administration’s “Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin” Memorandum.

This Memorandum directs the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to withdraw from agreements stemming from Biden’s misguided executive action, including the December 14, 2023, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) filed in connection with related litigation.

The specified agencies will coordinate with the Council on Environmental Quality to review and revise environmental review processes related to the matters in the MOU, save federal funds, and withdraw from the MOU.

During his tenure in Congress, Newhouse has led the charge in combating efforts to breach the four Lower Snake River dams.

In March of this year, Newhouse led a coalition of lawmakers from the Pacific Northwest, backed by regional stakeholders, in introducing a package of legislation to protect the Lower Snake River dams and strengthen hydropower as a reliable, affordable source of base load energy.

In January of this year, Newhouse and Senator Jim Risch of Idaho introduced the Northwest Energy Security Act to require the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the Lower Snake River dams remain operational and continue to support the region’s energy needs.

In October 2024, Newhouse criticized the Biden administration for wasting taxpayer dollars on more studies to find ways to replace the energy produced by the dams.

In June 2024, Newhouse opposed the Biden administration’s creation of a politically motivated Columbia River Taskforce, made up only of administration officials, to find ways to breach the dams.

In March 2024, Newhouse called out Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a hearing for refusing to acknowledge the long-term implications of the Columbia River Systems Operation Agreement are a de-facto breach of the Snake River Dams.

In December 2023, Newhouse slammed the Biden administration’s announcement of a package of actions and commitments in the Columbia River System Operations (CRSO) mediation.

In September 2023, Newhouse led a letter to then-Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallary addressing the lack of public and stakeholder input throughout the mediation process of the four Lower Snake River dams.

In June 2023, Newhouse hosted the House Natural Resources Committee for a field hearing in Pasco, Washington on the importance of protecting the dams on the Snake River.

In August 2022, Newhouse held a rally with over 100 community members from the Tri-Cities in Howard Amon Park to show support for the Lower Snake River Dams.

Inland Ports and Navigation Group:

The Inland Ports & Navigation Group (IPNG) supports President Trump’s executive action today to rescind the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the six sovereigns regarding the management of the Columbia Snake River system.

“The MOU put our region on a path toward breaching the 4 lower Snake River dams, failing to consider the devastating economic impact such action would have on the region and the vital role that the river system plays in supporting the Pacific Northwest and national economy”, said IPNG Co-Chair, Leslie Druffel of the McGregor Company. “We’d like to thank our congressional advocates, including Representatives Baumgartner (5th-WA), Bentz (2nd-OR), Newhouse (4th-WA), and Fulcher (1st-ID) as well as Senators Crapo (ID) and Risch (ID) for the continuous support for reliable and efficient navigation on the river system.”

President Trump’s decision to rescind the MOU is a significant step towards ensuring the continued prosperity of the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia Snake River system is a critical transportation route for the region, as well as for agriculture producers in the upper Midwest, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and contributing billions of dollars to the economy each year. It is the largest wheat export gateway in the U.S.

“Dams and salmon can co-exist,” said IPNG Co-Chair Patrick Harbison, of the Port of Kalama (WA). “In fact, salmon runs have actually increased since the construction of the dams due to state-of-the-art bypass systems and fish ladders that were installed at each of the dams on the system.”

Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (of which IPNG is a part) Executive Director Neil Maunu stated, “The divisive issue of dam breaching has prevented the type of partnerships necessary to work together on productive strategies and actions to improve salmon populations for the benefit of all Pacific Northwest residents.” IPNG supports a comprehensive approach to salmon recovery in the region that focuses on projects that truly benefit salmon, such as reintroduction above Grand Coulee, habitat access and restoration, predator abatement, toxics reduction, and hatchery improvements. “We can have salmon and a robust economy at the same time”, said Maunu.

Washington Association of Wheat Growers:

The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) applauds today’s Presidential Memorandum revoking the Dec. 14, 2023, Memorandum of Understanding filed by the Biden administration.

“We appreciate the efforts of the Trump administration to ensure that the dams remain intact while protecting the integrity of the river system and salmon populations. Washington’s wheat industry relies on the continued operation of dams along the Columbia-Snake River System,” said WAWG Executive Director Michelle Hennings. “Over 60 % of Washington wheat exports utilize the river system, which is essential for supporting a thriving overseas export market along with providing nearly 4,000 jobs in the region.”

WAWG has been engaged on this issue for many years and is encouraged by the actions of the administration to protect the dams. The actions taken through this announcement reflect an understanding of not only the needs of family farmers and ranchers, but the totality of the regional economy. We look forward to working with the Trump administration to protect critical transportation networks for U.S. agriculture products as well as the many other benefits the dams provide, such as clean energy generation and recreational access. WAWG thanks Congressman Dan Newhouse for his long-standing advocacy of Marine Highway 84 and as well as support from Congressman Michael Baumgartner and the rest of the Washington state congressional delegation for their continued leadership in Washington, D.C., to protect the integrity of the Columbia Basin River System, particularly the lower Snake River dams.

Idaho Republican U.S. Sen. James Risch:

U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) released the following statement today celebrating President Trump’s move to undo the Biden administration’s disastrous “Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.”

“The Biden administration’s one-sided, backroom agreement blatantly disregarded the essential role the lower Snake River dams play and the Idaho communities that rely on them,” said Risch. “Today’s announcement by President Trump represents a return to sound science and common-sense. I’ve long fought the attempts by radical Democrats, unelected bureaucrats, and activist litigants to tear down our dams. Congress authorized these dams, and only Congress has the power to remove them.”

The four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River provide multiple benefits to Idaho and the region, including:

• Transportation of agricultural products, including more than 15 million metric tons of wheat in 2020 with nearly 10% of all U.S. wheat moving out on the Snake River alone;
• $686 million in jobs and businesses associated with Idaho’s Port of Lewiston, the furthest inland port on the West Coast;
• A 95% emission-free power portfolio generated by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), allowing small public utilities across the Northwest to lead in clean energy production;
• Clean, always-on energy that can uniquely keep the lights on during extreme weather events where relying on wind and solar would cause blackouts; and
• Irrigation.

Risch has been a staunch defender of the lower Snake River dams and introduced the Northwest Energy Security Act to protect the operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System.

Following the release of the agreement, approved by the Biden administration on December 14, 2023, Risch chastised the Biden administration’s dam breaching efforts and its failure to consult Idahoans who rely on the Columbia River System.

Northwest RiverPartners:

The Trump Administration announced today it would withdraw from the 2023 Federal Columbia River Power System settlement, known as the “12/14 Agreement.”

The agreement was reached by the Biden Administration and the Six Sovereigns, which includes the States of Oregon and Washington, the Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.

The 12/14 Agreement and its resulting commitments were developed during six months of secret negotiations that excluded the States of Idaho and Montana and organizations representing the voices of millions of people in the Pacific Northwest, including NW RiverPartners. The agreement and its implementation threatened to dramatically increase the chance of blackouts and customer electricity bills.

“Now is the time to come together and chart a sustainable path toward effective solutions that protect salmon and maintain affordable and reliable hydropower needed by millions of people in the Pacific Northwest,” says Clark Mather, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners. “This politicized agreement between the former administration and only a fraction of impacted sovereign entities, devalued hydropower, our region’s largest source of affordable, clean electricity. Northwest RiverPartners remains committed to working with all sovereign Tribes, state leaders and other stakeholders to identify science-based, durable solutions.”

During the process, NW RiverPartners submitted nearly 40 comments and studies on behalf of its members. Yet, no meaningful effort was made to include the perspective of the millions of electric utility customers, ports, agricultural organizations and businesses that NW RiverPartners represents. Lacking representation and transparency, concerns were raised about the durability and outcome of the agreement.

Strong public support for hydropower and growing affordability challenges further highlight how critical a secure and sustainable energy ecosystem is for our region’s future. An October 2024 survey, administered by research firm DHM, found that three in four Pacific Northwest residents support hydropower produced by dams across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. 84 percent of Pacific Northwest residents ranked electricity affordability as their top concern in the same survey.
In addition to undermining our region’s energy needs, the agreement threatened food production, regional water supplies and our river transportation system, which would have drastically impacted the region’s economy. Further, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agreement ignored the serious threat of rising sea surface temperatures, deemed the most significant cause of salmon declines in the Pacific Basin.

Fish returns have more than tripled since federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers began operating. More than 456,000 adult salmon and steelhead were counted in 1938 when Bonneville Dam, the first federal dam on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, was built. In 2024, that number topped 1,770,000, which is 3.8 times more fish than in 1938.

“The livelihood of Washington wheat growers and rural communities depends on their ability to utilize key benefits from the Columbia River System, including transportation, irrigation, and reliable energy, but without the Lower Snake River dams that won’t be possible. We look forward to working with the federal government and all policymakers to ensure dams and salmon can continue to coexist, and we stand firm in our support of sound science and reliable data to make informed decisions,” says Michelle Hennings, Executive Director, Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

At a June 4 hearing, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the decision to eliminate the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. The proposal is included in President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the department.

During a Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on Trump’s 2026 budget request, Murray detailed NOAA’s role in the nation’s fisheries and the importance of salmon to Washington state’s way of life, noting Trump’s request to zero out funding for this key regional salmon program.

“Now, I do want to ask you while you’re here, one of the agencies you oversee is NOAA. It is absolutely essential to supporting sustainable fisheries, protecting our natural resources, and making sure that we have accurate weather forecasts. Cutting away at NOAA—as you have been doing and as your budget proposes to do further—is going to do serious harm. Among other cuts, your budget would completely eliminate the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. That would be a catastrophic failure—it would abandon our communities, our Tribes, and our industries who rely on salmon. And across the Pacific Northwest, salmon are not just fish—they are a way of life, and they are foundational to our economy and our culture. So, I would like you to explain quickly why you proposed that cut, and I want to ask you, did you consult with our Tribes or fishing communities who count on it before making that decision?”

Lutnick replied, “The issues are that we do the same thing in multiple ways in NOAA. We have not cut any hydrologists, which are the people who study the water.”

“You eliminated the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. That is what I’m precisely asking you about. Did you talk to our tribes or fishermen before you did that?” Murray asked.

“Of course,” said Lutnick.

Murray said, “Well, I have spoken to the tribes, I’ve talked to the scientists, I’ve talked to the fishermen. No one—no one—in the Pacific Northwest supports those cuts. And I want everyone to know I will not vote for an appropriations bill that eliminates that funding.”

“NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) provides funding to states and tribes to protect, conserve, and restore Pacific salmon and steelhead fish populations,” currently says NOAA Fisheries’ website.

“The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/endangered-species-conservation/pacific-coastal-salmon-recovery-fund funds the protection, species conservation, and restoration of salmon and steelhead species for the benefit of local communities, including tribal communities. Each PCSRF project advances the common goal of full recovery and sustainability of Pacific salmon and steelhead populations. The continued commitment and collaboration from our partners are vital to reversing the decline of salmon and steelhead species.

“As of 2023, PCSRF has appropriated $1.8 billion to state and tribal salmon recovery programs and projects. With this funding, states and tribes have leveraged additional resources to collectively implement nearly 16,000 salmon recovery projects to conserve West Coast salmon. This has resulted in significant changes in salmon habitat conditions and availability. As of October 2023, nearly 1.2 million acres of spawning and rearing habitat have been restored, created, or protected for salmon. Additionally, access to more than 12,000 miles of previously inaccessible streams has been re-established.”

NOAA Fisheries’ website notes that in 2000, “Congress established PCSRF to reverse the decline of Pacific salmon populations. PCSRF is a competitive grant program through which NOAA Fisheries administers funding to states and tribes to protect, conserve, and recover these populations.”

The site also documents: “Several studies indicate that a $1.0 million investment in watershed restoration, in which PCSRF and state matching funds play a significant role, creates between 13 and 32 jobs and between $2.2 and $3.4 million in economic activity. Furthermore, habitat restoration projects exemplify ecosystem services and mitigate forces against natural disasters and climate change. For example, floodplain restoration reduces flood risk and can lower flood insurance rates. Planting native trees and vegetation naturally sequesters carbon and stores it in plants and soils, increasing nature’s carbon storage. The greatest socio-economic implication of salmon recovery is in securing healthy ecosystems that ultimately provide vast public and private benefits for current and future generations.”

In another hearing this week, Washington’s other Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined meteorologists from across the country for a virtual presser to “sound the alarm” on cuts to the National Weather Service as the United States heads into peak hurricane and wildfire season – and call on the Trump Administration to restore the agency to full capacity.

“For at least a half a century, the National Weather Service has provided forecasts for 24 hours a day, seven days a week — until now. At least eight weather forecasting offices no longer have a meteorologist to cover overnight shifts. They are planning on eliminating the NOAA buoy program. You can’t map a hurricane if you don’t have the buoy information,” Cantwell said. “NOAA has been transparent that they can’t keep up. They have said that they can’t keep the lights on in a number of forecast offices. The Department of Commerce needs to be clear to the American people that the staffing shortages will impact our ability to compute that science [and] get those wildfire crews and emergency response where they need to go.”

Over the past several months, the NWS lost over 560 employees due to layoffs and retirements under the Trump Administration. On Monday, they announced they’d hire 126 – amounting to “a flimsy band-aid,” Cantwell said.

“This dangerous decision to leave critical jobs unfilled comes as the National Interagency Fire Center, a partnership which includes NWS, released its Fire Maps for the next four months predicting above normal significant fire potential across the West, in Hawaii, the coasts of North and South Carolina, and parts of Texas and Florida., said a Cantwell press release.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has captured invasive European green crabs (EGC) at two new locations between northern Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet during an early detection trapping effort.

WDFW Aquatic Invasive Species Division crews working in collaboration with the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe caught two of the green crabs near Port Gamble this week. Another green crab was caught in Races Cove west of Hansville. These detections are the first time the crabs have been found in WDFW’s South Central Puget Sound Management Area for EGC control.

“We designed our early detection monitoring to identify European green crabs in areas where they’re most likely to spread next,” said Raquel Crosier, the state’s European Green Crab Emergency Incident Commander and a WDFW Aquatic Invasive Species management coordinator. “While these new detections are disheartening, finding them early gives us the best chance at suppressing the population and preventing further spread into southern Hood Canal and Puget Sound.”

WDFW, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, other co-managers, and permitted partners are planning additional collaborative trapping events this summer to assess the number of EGC in the area and to remove as many as possible.

The European green crab is a globally damaging shore crab species that threatens native shellfish, estuary habitats, eelgrass, aquaculture industry and businesses, and other tribal, cultural, economic, and environmental values.

WDFW published a long-term management plan to control this invasive species in September 2024 following input from dozens of co-managers, tribes, and partners.

A map showing EGC detections and WDFW monitoring efforts in 2024 is available online (PDF), as well as a map showing all EGC management areas (PDF). An interactive green crab catch count and more information is available on WDFW’s EGC online hub.

“Thanks to continued funding from the Washington State Legislature, WDFW, along with our co-managers and partners, is working to reduce the spread of European green crabs and keep populations low enough to prevent harm to critical nearshore habitat, fisheries, shellfish aquaculture, and cultural resources,” said Incident Commander Crosier.

More than 1.7 million EGC have been captured and removed from Washington waters since a Governor’s emergency order was declared in early 2022 directing state agencies and partners to prioritize coordinated efforts to control invasive green crabs on the Washington Coast and within Washington’s portion of the Salish Sea.

WDFW is also coordinating with Canada, Alaska, Oregon, and California on invasive species management efforts throughout the West Coast, as well as to request additional federal support.

If you find a suspected European green crab or its shell in Washington, take photos and report it as soon as possible at wdfw.wa.gov/greencrab or through the Washington Invasive Species Council’s WA Invasives mobile app. Crab identification guides and resources are also available on the European green crab online hub and the WDFW EGC webpage.

As a prohibited invasive species, it is illegal to possess a live EGC in Washington. Currently, WDFW is not asking the public to kill suspected EGC. This is to protect native crabs, which are often misidentified. More information on EGC regulations is available on WDFW’s webpage and in the Washington Sport Fishing Rules.

Targeting EGC with traps requires a permit from WDFW. For those who own or manage shellfish beds, beaches, or tidelands, support and permits for European green crab control may be available. Please contact ais@dfw.wa.gov.

Also see:
–CBB, May 23, 2025, “Washington State’s Green Crab Invasion: WSU Study Finds Juvenile Green Crabs Do As Much Damage As Adults” https://staging.columbiabasinbulletin.org/washington-states-green-crab-invasion-wsu-study-finds-juvenile-green-crabs-do-as-much-damage-as-adults/

Above ODFW photo: Otter Rock Marine Reserve is a favorite local spot to surf.

What do western Oregonians think about the five iconic protected areas, known as marine reserves, that dot the state’s coastline? A new study shows the answer depends on when and where the question was asked.

Researchers from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have been collecting data on local residents’ attitudes toward the state’s marine reserves for more than a decade. Their work showed these Oregonians viewed the marine reserves in an increasingly positive light over time. Residents who live near the reserves and residents of densely populated metropolitan areas had the most favorable views overall.

Their new research paper presents a fresh analysis of these attitudes and how they have changed over time. The researchers, including Kristen McAlpine, Mark Needham, Lori Cramer, and Thomas Swearingen, surveyed different representative samples of thousands of western Oregon residents at different points in time. The novel feature of this research is that they also surveyed the same set of Oregonians over time.

Across different samples, researchers found similar patterns of general attitudes that were favorable overall and becoming even more favorable over time. These residents also said they were more likely to vote in support of the marine reserves when asked in 2021 as compared to 2016 or 2013.

Mark Needham, Professor at OSU and lead principal investigator for this study, said “We found that every year we sampled residents, they felt positively about Oregon’s marine reserves, and these positive attitudes increased every year we replicated this study. What makes these results unique is most studies like this are only conducted once and never repeated, whereas we have data across almost 10 years.”

For marine resource managers at ODFW, broad and increasing public support is crucial to the ongoing success of these areas. This study highlights the importance of continued trust-building and information sharing with Oregonians. Sarah Klain, a social scientist in ODFW’s marine reserves team, who was not part of this study, said, “a one-time snapshot of public attitudes toward a habitat management initiative is a good start, but this kind of longer term research on how attitudes change over time is even more valuable for policy makers, researchers, and managers.”

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is ramping up its efforts to protect the state’s lakes, rivers, and streams from aquatic invasive species. Seasonal boat inspection stations are now open, and roving crews will be out this year at boat ramps offering watercraft inspections and decontamination.

Even though Oregon agencies have not detected the presence of invasive freshwater mussels in our waterways, the risk is now higher than ever before. In addition to the longstanding concern over quagga and zebra mussels, golden mussels were found in California last year.

“Golden mussels were detected for the first time in North America last year which means the threat to Oregon is very serious,” said Keith DeHart, ODFW Invasive Species Coordinator. “Golden mussels are similar to zebra or quagga mussels, but they can establish in a much wider range of temperatures and water salinity,” added DeHart.

Combined with quagga mussel detections in Idaho in the Snake River last year and in 2023, the risk of aquatic invasive species spreading to Oregon waterways has been steadily increasing.

Invasive freshwater mussels can damage water infrastructure, such as irrigation and hydropower systems. Invasive freshwater mussels can also degrade water quality and limit recreational activities such as fishing and boating.

ODFW and the Oregon State Marine Board manage the state’s watercraft inspection stations at five entry points around the state. Anyone transporting any type of watercraft—motorized or non-motorized—must stop at open boat inspection stations. This includes kayaks, canoes, rafts, and stand-up paddleboards.

DeHart recommended that boaters can make the process of boat inspections quick and easy by cleaning and draining watercraft before leaving a waterbody. He noted that all boaters must pull their watercraft’s drain plug before leaving Oregon’s waterbodies.

“Clean, drain, and dry is the most effective way to prevent the spread of invasive species,” said DeHart. “And having a clean and dry boat is also the fastest way to get through an inspection station.”

How to know a boat inspection station is open:

• Open stations are clearly marked with large, orange Boat Inspection Ahead signs, followed by Inspection Required for All Watercraft.
• Inspection station hours vary by day and season. Inspections and any necessary decontamination are free of charge, funded by Oregon’s Waterway Access Permit program.

Inspection Station Locations:

• Ashland – I-5 at the Ashland Port of Entry
• Brookings – Hwy. 101 at the Brookings weigh station
• Klamath Falls (new location 2025) – US-97 at the Midland Rest Area
• Ontario – I-84 at the Ontario Rest Area
• Umatilla – Hwy. 730 at the Umatilla Port of Entry
• Roving Stations – Crews may set up temporary inspection sites at various boat ramps across the state.

For more information on protecting Oregon’s waterways and to buy a Waterway Access Permit, visit ODFW’s aquatic invasive species page.

To learn more about invasive species, Key Conservation Issues affecting Oregon, and the State Wildlife Action Plan, visit: https://www.oregonconservationstrategy.org/key-conservation-issue/invasive-species/

Above photo: Aerial view of the Ridgefield Pits in the foreground on the East Fork Lewis River before restoration. The Daybreak Pits can also be seen and are located adjacent to the Ridgefield Pits. The project will focus on restoring the nine Ridgefield Pits. Credit: Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership

This spring, the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership broke ground on a large-scale salmon habitat restoration project on the lower East Fork Lewis River in Washington State. This project will support the recovery of threatened steelhead and salmon on one of the few undammed rivers in the Lower Columbia River watershed.

The work is expected to inject millions of dollars into the local economy and generate hundreds local jobs in construction, heavy equipment operations, trucking, engineering, forestry, and other industries.

In addition, the work is intended to help maintain fishing opportunities that further contribute to the local economy.

In 1996, Steve Manlow, Executive Director of the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, watched in horror as a 500-year flood event destroyed crucial salmon and steelhead habitat on the lower East Fork Lewis River. Flood waters breached the levees around nine abandoned gravel mining pits, fundamentally shifting the river’s course.

This once-braided, multi-channel river began flowing through the excavated pits. It formed a series of interconnected warm-water ponds that prevent salmon and steelhead from migrating upstream for much of the year. The river channel deepened, cutting off floodplain habitat and causing severe erosion downstream.
Now, after nearly 30 years struggling to raise the funds, Manlow and dozens of project partners and advocates will witness the rebirth of this section of the river. NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation awarded $7.6 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support the Lower East Fork Floodplain Reclamation project.

The effort will:

• Improve fish passage to high quality upstream habitat for fall Chinook, winter and summer steelhead, coho, and chum salmon
• Reconnect 300 acres of floodplain and 1.3 miles of side channel habitat
• Restore 2.5 miles of spawning and rearing habitat
• Reestablish 100 acres of floodplain forest to absorb and distribute flood waters
• Reduce flood and erosion risks to homes, businesses, a popular hiking trail, and other infrastructure
• Support the genetic diversity of a wild steelhead population

“It’s a good feeling to know that through persistence and long-term dedication, it’s possible to undo decades of damage,” said Manlow. “By increasing the amount and variety of habitat in this key stream corridor, we can improve the survival of five salmonid runs protected under the Endangered Species Act.”

Over the next 2 years, workers will:

• Fill in the gravel pits while retaining areas of cooler water
• Recontour the floodplain
• Reactivate historic channels
• Install habitat features
• Plant trees and other vegetation along the river

This growth of trees and plants will provide future shade and lower water temperatures, allowing cold-water-loving salmon and steelhead to migrate through this portion of the river. Filling in the pits and recreating a more natural environment will help reestablish salmon in this area.

Contractors will also excavate floodplain habitat and place up to 5,000 logs and pieces of large woody debris in the river channel. This type of habitat provides juvenile salmon with safe places to grow, hide from predators, and feed on their favorite food source: insects drifting by in a cool, flowing river.

“By filling the pits and reconstructing the river channels, salmon will be able to use the site immediately,” said NOAA Marine Habitat Resource Specialist Paul Cereghino. “After restoring the river and floodplain processes, the system can reshape itself for the rest of time.”

The work will also help support a wild steelhead “gene bank.” No hatchery-born steelhead have been introduced to the lower East Fork Lewis River since 2014. The steelhead here have been able to evolve naturally and adapt to changing conditions in the Lower East Fork Lewis River watershed.

“This is a unique native fishery—the biggest steelhead ever caught and recorded in the state of Washington came out of this river,” said Paul Kolp, Restoration Program Lead for the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership.

“This river is world-famous for fly fishing, and the fishing companies are looking for those wild steelhead. Completing this project will help ensure more winter and summer steelhead can reach their natal grounds upstream and successfully reproduce.”

The entire project will improve recreational opportunities for the community and protect nearby infrastructure. Tapani is moving a public hiking trail further from the river’s edge, where severe erosion has been progressively eating away at the stream bank. Enabling this river access to its full historic floodplain habitat can also help reduce future flooding for homes and businesses up to 4 miles downstream.

In total, the project is expected to generate more than $40 million for the local economy around Southwest Washington. These economic numbers are estimates based on a study done in Oregon which found that every $1 million spent on watershed restoration results in 16.7 new or sustained jobs and $2.2 to $2.5 million in economic activity.

“NOAA funding helps our partners implement transformational habitat projects and take part in restoring beloved natural areas,” said NOAA Marine Habitat Resource Specialist Adrianne Grimm. “Salmon restoration projects like this one do more than bring back fish—they bring jobs, stability, and a sense of pride to local communities.”

Additional partners include:

• Clark County
• Columbia Land Trust
• Cowlitz Indian Tribe
• Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board
• Storedahl and Sons
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Washington Department of Natural Resources