The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week began discussing how it will handle a flood of recommendations for amending its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week began discussing how it will handle a flood of recommendations for amending its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Independent Scientific Review Panel last week completed on two projects proposed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation that are earmarked for funding in a recently announced draft memorandum of understanding between the tribe and federal agencies.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week announced draft agreements with four Columbia River basin tribes, and the states of Idaho and Montana, that would guarantee $980.5 million in funding for fish and wildlife projects over the next 10 years in exchange for support of the federal hydro system salmon recovery strategy.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council and staff, and parties interested in commenting, are set to pore through an avalanche of materials submitted as recommended amendments to the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Bonneville Power Administration this week announced draft agreements with four Columbia River basin tribes, and the states of Idaho and Montana, that would guarantee $980.5 million in funding for fish and wildlife projects over the next 10 years in exchange for support of the federal hydro system salmon recovery strategy.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council and staff, and parties interested in commenting, are set to pore through an avalanche of materials submitted as recommended amendments to the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking Project has announced the appointment of Frank L. “Larry” Cassidy Jr. as chair of its management board, which governs all aspects of the scientific endeavor to track marine animal movement up and down the West Coast.
A conference on ecosystem restoration activities in the lower Columbia River, estuary, and nearshore ocean will be held April 29-30 in Astoria, Ore.
Fish advocates say a plan to lethally remove California sea lions from base of the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam is a reasoned approach for reducing the predatory marine mammals’ impacts on returning salmon and steelhead that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Three technical documents that underpin NOAA Fisheries’ developing Columbia/Snake river hydro system BiOp and recovery planning are scientifically sound, for the most part, but in need of some shoring up, according to a review completed March 7 by the Independent Scientific Advisory Board.
Fish advocates say a plan to lethally remove California sea lions from base of the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam is a reasoned approach for reducing the predatory marine mammals’ impacts on returning salmon and steelhead that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Three technical documents that underpin NOAA Fisheries’ developing Columbia/Snake river hydro system BiOp and recovery planning are scientifically sound, for the most part, but in need of some shoring up, according to a review completed March 7 by the Independent Scientific Advisory Board.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council could as soon as next month trigger a new, multi-phased fish and wildlife project selection process that would stretch into the winter of 2011.
There were a few drier-than-average areas in February, but precipitation fell where it counts most to assure, or nearly so, that the Columbia/Snake river basin will be provided a normal water supply during the coming spring and summer.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council could as soon as next month trigger a new, multi-phased fish and wildlife project selection process that would stretch into the winter of 2011.
There were a few drier-than-average areas in February, but precipitation fell where it counts most to assure, or nearly so, that the Columbia/Snake river basin will be provided a normal water supply during the coming spring and summer.
Forty years of public efforts aimed at enhancing fish and wildlife slowed, deliberately, to a crawl last month for Frank “Larry” Cassidy with his exit from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Forty years of public efforts aimed at enhancing fish and wildlife slowed, deliberately, to a crawl last month for Frank “Larry” Cassidy with his exit from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
— From John McKern, Walla Walla, Wash.:
In reference your lead article in CBB, 02/29/2008: REDDEN SETS SPILL, TRANSPORTATION REGIMES FOR 2008 HYDRO OPERATIONS
U.S District Court Judge James A. Redden made it official Monday. Federal Columbia River Power System hydro projects this spring and summer will be operated, with a few adjustments, according to the terms of an agreement that outlined regimes for the spilling of water to accommodate salmon and steelhead migrations last year.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council earlier this month recommended $1 million in spending in fiscal year 2008 to expand the work of five ongoing Columbia River basin fish and wildlife projects, and support two endeavors that had not been funded through the Council’s program previously.
Enough electricity generation to meet loads exists in the Pacific Northwest for the next decade but much of it is in the hands of independent power producers, not utilities, says the Bonneville Power Administration.
For this year at least, the state of Montana won’t get its way when it comes to operations at Libby and Hungry Horse Dams because of a recent federal court ruling.
U.S District Court Judge James A. Redden made it official Monday. Federal Columbia River Power System hydro projects this spring and summer will be operated, with a few adjustments, according to the terms of an agreement that outlined regimes for the spilling of water to accommodate salmon and steelhead migrations last year.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council earlier this month recommended $1 million in spending in fiscal year 2008 to expand the work of five ongoing Columbia River basin fish and wildlife projects, and support two endeavors that had not been funded through the Council’s program previously.
Enough electricity generation to meet loads exists in the Pacific Northwest for the next decade but much of it is in the hands of independent power producers, not utilities, says the Bonneville Power Administration.
For this year at least, the state of Montana won’t get its way when it comes to operations at Libby and Hungry Horse Dams because of a recent federal court ruling.
But the ruling included cause for optimism for Bruce Measure, one of Montana’s two representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden today said he would turn aside suggested changes to a federal proposal that would dictate how the Columbia/Snake river hydro system will be operated to accommodate migrating salmon during the coming spring and summer.
Financial help, though not as much as desired, is on the way for Columbia River basin states’ and tribes’ efforts to repulse an annual invasion of sea lions that prey on spawning salmon and steelhead.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is renewing its insistence on a test spill of water from Libby Dam to see if the higher flows have any biological benefits for the threatened Kootenai River white sturgeon.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on a proposed standard for future electricity supplies that should serve as an early warning about the potential for future shortages in the Northwest.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden today said he would turn aside suggested changes to a federal proposal that would dictate how the Columbia/Snake river hydro system will be operated to accommodate migrating salmon during the coming spring and summer.
Financial help, though not as much as desired, is on the way for Columbia River basin states’ and tribes’ efforts to repulse an annual invasion of sea lions that prey on spawning salmon and steelhead.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is renewing its insistence on a test spill of water from Libby Dam to see if the higher flows have any biological benefits for the threatened Kootenai River white sturgeon.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on a proposed standard for future electricity supplies that should serve as an early warning about the potential for future shortages in the Northwest.
Pacific lamprey face all the same perils as salmon in the Columbia River basin.
But they don’t get nearly as much love — except from members of Columbia basin tribes, who have long considered the eel look-a-likes a cultural icon on par with the salmon.
The Pacific lamprey has little or no economic value, and is little sought after by the fishing public.
And they aren’t pretty, having a round, elongate, flexible cartilaginous body, skin with no scales that is slimy to the touch and down-turned mouths adapted for clinging and sucking.
Pacific lamprey face all the same perils as salmon in the Columbia River basin.
But they don’t get nearly as much love — except from members of Columbia basin tribes, who have long considered the eel look-a-likes a cultural icon on par with the salmon.
The Pacific lamprey has little or no economic value, and is little sought after by the fishing public.
And they aren’t pretty, having a round, elongate, flexible cartilaginous body, skin with no scales that is slimy to the touch and down-turned mouths adapted for clinging and sucking.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week gave the go-ahead for final design work that could lead to the groundbreaking, literally and scientifically, for a facility to rear wild-born, genetically pure westslope cutthroat.
Though mainstem Columbia/Snake River fish passage issues — flow, spill, improvements at the dams — get most of the attention, smaller-scale efforts to improve fish passage in the Basin’s upper tributaries are just as important in the regional effort to recover salmon and steelhead populations.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week gave the go-ahead for final design work that could lead to the groundbreaking, literally and scientifically, for a facility to rear wild-born, genetically pure westslope cutthroat.
Though mainstem Columbia/Snake River fish passage issues — flow, spill, improvements at the dams — get most of the attention, smaller-scale efforts to improve fish passage in the Basin’s upper tributaries are just as important in the regional effort to recover salmon and steelhead populations.
Supporters of the lethal removal of California sea lions as tool in Columbia River basin salmon recovery efforts this week hailed a federal proposal to waive protections for the marine mammals that feast below Bonneville Dam each spring.
In response to a flurry of requests, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday approved a 60-day extension of the deadline for submitting recommendations for amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday recommended a $2.4 million annual package for fish and wildlife “coordination” activities after hearing differing rationale about how much money is needed, and how it should be apportioned.
The gavel changed hands this week with Idaho’s Bill Booth taking over as chairman of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The first official prediction of the 2008 “fuel supply” for the largest source of hydropower in the Northwest — Columbia River runoff — is optimistic, according to analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Supporters of the lethal removal of California sea lions as tool in Columbia River basin salmon recovery efforts this week hailed a federal proposal to waive protections for the marine mammals that feast below Bonneville Dam each spring.
In response to a flurry of requests, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday approved a 60-day extension of the deadline for submitting recommendations for amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday recommended a $2.4 million annual package for fish and wildlife “coordination” activities after hearing differing rationale about how much money is needed, and how it should be apportioned.
The gavel changed hands this week with Idaho’s Bill Booth taking over as chairman of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The first official prediction of the 2008 “fuel supply” for the largest source of hydropower in the Northwest — Columbia River runoff — is optimistic, according to analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Fiscal year 2007-2009 fish and wildlife project funding decisions stand, at least for now, according to a Dec. 31 letter from the Bonneville Power Administration written in response to suggestions that an additional $28 million might be needed to meet “critical needs.”
The Bonneville Power Administration says that, for the first time, the amount of wind power being delivered to customers via its transmission lines has exceeded 1,000 megawatts. That amount of electricity is enough to meet average electricity demand for approximately 680,000 Northwest residences.
Fiscal year 2007-2009 fish and wildlife project funding decisions stand, at least for now, according to a Dec. 31 letter from the Bonneville Power Administration written in response to suggestions that an additional $28 million might be needed to meet “critical needs.”
The Bonneville Power Administration says that, for the first time, the amount of wind power being delivered to customers via its transmission lines has exceeded 1,000 megawatts. That amount of electricity is enough to meet average electricity demand for approximately 680,000 Northwest residences.
Implementation of the draft federal Columbia/Snake river hydro system operations would cost about $25 million more per year on average than the previous strategy and could spike as high as $100 million when water is in short supply, according to preliminary analysis previewed last week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.
With congressional funding limbo, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council at its meeting last week recommended that $1.3 million be spent through its fish and wildlife program to complete the Columbia River Hatchery Review process.
Implementation of the draft federal Columbia/Snake river hydro system operations would cost about $25 million more per year on average than the previous strategy and could spike as high as $100 million when water is in short supply, according to preliminary analysis previewed last week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.
With congressional funding limbo, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council at its meeting last week recommended that $1.3 million be spent through its fish and wildlife program to complete the Columbia River Hatchery Review process.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Thursday signaled its support for the recently released draft biological opinions for the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system and upper Snake irrigation projects, and offered help in implementing the plans for resurrecting threatened salmon and steelhead stocks.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday recommended funding of from $800,000 to $900,000 annually during fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for portions of the Comparative Survival Study, a project coordinated by the Fish Passage Center.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Thursday signaled its support for the recently released draft biological opinions for the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system and upper Snake irrigation projects, and offered help in implementing the plans for resurrecting threatened salmon and steelhead stocks.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday recommended funding of from $800,000 to $900,000 annually during fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for portions of the Comparative Survival Study, a project coordinated by the Fish Passage Center.
The oft-scrutinized Comparative Survival Study team’s methods and aims received mostly positive reviews in a scientific report released last week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
A Nov. 21 letter from the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority suggests that as much as $56 million worth of “critical” fish and wildlife project funding needs be fitted into a looming federal power rate calculation process.
The oft-scrutinized Comparative Survival Study team’s methods and aims received mostly positive reviews in a scientific report released last week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
A Nov. 21 letter from the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority suggests that as much as $56 million worth of “critical” fish and wildlife project funding needs be fitted into a looming federal power rate calculation process.
The Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority has launched the “Status of the Resource website at http://www.cbfwa.org/sotr
The deadline for nominations to the Independent Scientific Advisory Board and/or the Independent Scientific Review Panel has been extended from Dec. 19 to Jan. 31, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Many of the details have been worked out, but funding and scope issues remain to be settled before a long-sought study can be launched to determine the best path to the ocean — transportation aboard barges or in-river — for migrating juvenile Snake River fall chinook salmon.
Participants in long-running litigation will meet in federal court Dec. 12 to discuss “issues” arising from the latest federal plan for protecting for Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has had, and will continue to have, a “major” role in efforts to assure that 13 listed Columbia/Snake river salmon stocks aren’t jeopardized by the federal hydro system and are indeed lifted toward recovery, according to the NOAA Fisheries Service’s Northwest regional administrator.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week recommended more than $364,000 in spending for within-year fish and wildlife project budget requests, including $160,000 in startup “coordination” funding for the newly formed Upper Snake River Tribes.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week approved the final draft of its Power Division’s “Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System” paper, which charts steadily growing outputs of the greenhouse gas and details what might be done to curb that growth.
An 18-member “Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force” this week voted by an 17-1 margin to recommend approval of an application from the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington for authority to lethally remove California sea lions that feast each spring on salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River.
Federal officials this week said that a better scientific understanding of the fish and their needs, and an infusion of resources to meet those needs over the next 10 years, will lift 13 threatened or endangered Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead stocks toward recovery.
Despite scientific and economic rebuffs, Montana’s Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes continue to pin hopes on fishing contests to restore ecological balance in the Flathead Lake/River system.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week distributed by letter its “Request For Recommendations to Amend the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.”
An 18-member “Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force” this week voted by an 17-1 margin to recommend approval of an application from the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington for authority to lethally remove California sea lions that feast each spring on salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River.
Public comments suggested tinkering, expanded analysis and scope and other fine-tuning, but, overall, most judged the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s draft “Carbon Dioxide Footprint of the Northwest Power System” paper as a needed “dose of reality” for the region.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council decided Wednesday to trigger on Nov. 1 the yearlong process to amend its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
A science-policy “exchange” hosted last month by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council produced few sure answers but did serve its intended goal, highlighting key uncertainties in salmon and steelhead restoration efforts.
There is only one way to restore healthy, naturally produced Columbia River basin salmon populations, according to researcher Jack Stanford.
But the region will have to swallow bitter pills to save the chosen ones – knocking back harvest and hatchery production and allowing Mother Nature to provide them a productive environment, he said.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Independent Scientific Review Panel sought perspective, and feels it got it, in a recently completed review of 16 fish and wildlife projects being carried out in the Umatilla River subbasin in north-central Oregon.
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter this week announced the appointment today of Jim Yost, a long-time gubernatorial adviser on natural resources issues, to succeed Jim Kempton as one of two Idaho members of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Technical concerns voiced by resource managers and regulatory agencies may not derail an “innovative” sea lion deterrence experiment, but the project is definitely off the fast track until the issues can be addressed.
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter this week announced the appointment of Jim Kempton, an Idaho member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, to fill a vacancy on the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.
Removing four lower Snake River federal hydro projects to improve conditions for salmon would be “counterproductive” to efforts to stem the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, according to a paper released Thursday by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council for public review.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday recommended $2.4 million in funding during fiscal years 2008-2009 for five projects that will test new methods and technologies designed to directly benefit fish and wildlife in the Columbia River basin.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has decided to stick with, at least for now, a schedule that will trigger its fish and wildlife program amendment process in November and complete the revisions by late next year.
Federal action agencies Thursday unveiled the “most comprehensive approach ever” to revive protected salmon and steelhead stocks that negotiate the Columbia/Snake river hydro system’s dams and reservoirs.
A federal judge this week dismissed claims by Fish Passage Center employees that their constitutional rights had been violated by the Bonneville Power Administration and its administrator during a process aimed at ending funding for the center.
The Bonneville Power Administration has pegged its 2006 fish and wildlife costs at $851.7 million, a total that is the second highest on record and nearly $300 million more than the previous year’s total, according to a draft annual expenditure report produced by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee this week agreed to recommend to the full Council that a package of five “innovative” project proposals requesting $2.4 million be funded during fiscal years 2008-2009.
Widening the divide between hatchery fish and naturally produced salmon can, along with habitat improvements, can achieve Endangered Species Act recovery goals for Lower Columbia River chinook, according to preliminary findings released late last month by the Hatchery Scientific Review Group.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday approved a $640,844 infusion to keep on track the remodeling of Idaho’s Eagle Fish Hatchery, and expansion of its sockeye salmon captive broodstock program.
A paring down of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s “innovative” fish and wildlife project list stalled this week after a flood of public comment raised red flags about some of the favorites.
The Washington Department of Ecology has contracted with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group (CIG) to project how climate change will affect stream flows throughout the Columbia River Basin.
A budding initiative hopes to pool proceeds from the sale of state-owned land and federal hydro system mitigation funds to protect valuable wildlife habitat that could be threatened by Idaho’s quickened population growth and development.
Relief is coming for northwestern Montana rivers and reservoirs tapped deeply each summer to, ostensibly, benefit salmon far away in the lower Columbia River.
But it won’t come this year, federal officials told representatives of the state Tuesday.
Two key, and painstaking, Northwest Power and Conservation Council processes – fish and wildlife program amendments and project selection — will likely launch in the coming months with questions unanswered regarding Endangered Species Act funding responsibilities.
A September “science/policy exchange” focused on four complex subject areas will serve as a prelude to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s planned amendment of its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
Despite the recent hot weather and corresponding high demand for electricity, the Pacific Northwest is unlikely to face an electricity shortage this summer or for the next five years, according to an assessment by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The state of Montana and Columbia River basin salmon managers are at loggerheads, yet again, with competing plans for tapping Lake Koocanusa this summer.
Novel plans to remove contaminants from Columbia River basin sediments and discourage marine mammal predation on salmon are among the five “innovative,” on-the-ground fish and wildlife projects that are “highly justified” and merit immediate funding, according to the Independent Scientific Review Panel.
A marina upgrade project this spring dealt a blow to a multi-million dollar effort to restore kokanee salmon populations on north Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille, wiping away 15 percent of the wild fry produced this year.
A burgeoning global population that includes steady Northwest growth is changing the air, water and landscape with ripple effects on fish and wildlife and their habitat.
Yet that changing landscape is little taken into account, in the Columbia River basin or elsewhere, as experts plot fish and wildlife support and recovery strategies.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s desire to “reinvigorate” oversight of the Fish Passage Center moved forward Wednesday with the appointment of seven people to serve in that capacity.
The Bonneville Power Administrations plans to launch on June 7 an online “Report Center” that will contain a set of reports offering details about Columbia River basin fish and wildlife projects.
A total of 59 fish and wildlife proposals requesting $16.2 million are vying for $2 million in available funding during fiscal years 2008 and 2009 through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s “innovative” project category.
With the recent release of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, another step was taken toward the tribal goal of boosting summer/fall chinook salmon abundance, and reintroducing long-extinct spring chinook, in north-central Washington’s Okanogan River basin.
A conservation-minded couple and The Nature Conservancy have agreed to protect 1,244 acres of rare native prairie and oak woodlands near Eugene, creating the largest privately-owned nature sanctuary in the Willamette Valley.
Policy analyst and subbasin planning lead Tony Grover moves south of the border June 1, leaving his post with the Washington state office of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to become director of the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Division.
Salmon and trout — coldwater fish species that get the most attention and money in the Columbia/Snake river basin — are the most vulnerable to global warming, which a new scientific report calls “unequivocal.”
Reserving water behind Libby Dam, and releasing it in “pulses” to prompt Kootenai white sturgeon spawning runs, may not be as vital if a developing plan to sculpture the river’s “braided reach” above Bonners Ferry proves viable.
A pair of fish and wildlife projects, including a long-running terminal fishery program in the lower Columbia River, had their “conditional” funding labels removed Wednesday after clearing scientific and economic hurdles placed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Tuesday recommended $2.745 million in spending for fee-title acquisitions and easements and other work through the Southern Idaho Wildlife Mitigation project.
A major step toward getting Columbia River basin salmon researchers all on the same page was taken this month with the publication of the first work ever to collect, standardize, and recommend a scientifically rigorous set of field protocols for monitoring and assessing salmon and trout populations.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council in a letter this week expressed “serious concerns about the FY 2007-09 (project funding) decision process, the number of changes Bonneville (Power Administration) made to Council funding recommendations, and several policy issues.”
The so-called “select area” fisheries project in the lower Columbia River seems to perform as advertised, though additional information is needed to truly gauge its biological and economic impacts and decide whether its expansion is warranted, according to a report prepared for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday approved a schedule for amending its Columbia River basin fish and wildlife program that begins in October and, potentially conclude late in 2008.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council agreed Wednesday to reconstitute the oversight board for the Fish Passage Center, a data collection and analysis entity that has drawn both fire and praise over the years regarding the veracity of its analyses.
Sea lions camped out below Bonneville Dam continue to show a persistent and adaptive nature, perhaps shifting more of their salmon eating to the dark hours to avoid daytime human harassment.
And a trap-and-haul effort appears to be, at least at the start, ineffective in reducing predation.
Putting hard numbers to the phenomenon called “latent mortality” – the delayed effect of downstream fish passage through the Columbia/Snake hydro system — will continue to be in the near term anyone’s guess, according to a report released this week by the Independent Scientific Advisory Board.
In order to better prepare for future tasks, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and staff need a “clearer understanding” of recent fish and wildlife project funding decisions, according to a letter forwarded Monday (March 19) to the Bonneville Power Administration.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has asked for input on how it might update the guidance document it has used since 1997 in considering ocean conditions when making fish and wildlife project funding recommendations.
Wind power projects are being rapidly developed throughout the Northwest, and the region’s existing power system can most likely accommodate the 6,000 megawatts of wind energy anticipated by 2024 – or perhaps much sooner given the current pace of development, says a new plan released this week.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week decided to seek further clarification on fiscal year 2007-2009 funding shifts that represent both contractual fine-tuning and the imposition of policy choices that are, from its standpoint, yet unresolved.
The decision to trigger the nomination process for a Fish Passage Center oversight board has been delayed for at least a month at the request of fish managers who want input on the composition and responsibilities of the panel.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week recommended spending $500,000 during fiscal year 2007 to further the goals of the Yakama Nation’s Yakima Side Channels fish and wildlife project.
Three Columbia River Basin tribes announced Wednesday a coalition agreement for better advocacy regarding fish and wildlife resources impacted by hydroelectric systems on the upper Snake River.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Independent Economic Analysis Board Wednesday presented to the Council its review of Revenue Stream, a report prepared by the staff of several fishing associations and environmental groups.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council continues to mull whether it should officially respond to Bonneville Power Administration Feb. 26 fish and wildlife project funding decisions that strayed in many respects from the Council’s desires.
Project data reporting and collection must be shored up before a valid assessment can be made about the biological benefit to be earned with the planned $143 million annual investment through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River basin fish and wildlife program.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council, NOAA Fisheries, and the Bonneville Power Administration last week unveiled a new Internet-based tool that provides access to a vast reservoir of information about fish, wildlife, and water in the Pacific Northwest.
A 16-year stint with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council ends this week (March 9) for fish and wildlife division director Doug Marker, who resigned recently to pursue other career opportunities.
Northwest electricity ratepayers could pay $400 million to $550 million a year to replace the power capabilities of the four lower Snake River dams if those dams were removed, the Bonneville Power Administration said in a press release.
Caspian terns’ consumption of juvenile salmonids grew last year, as did the sheer numbers of another avian predator — doubled-crested cormorants — in the Columbia River estuary and elsewhere, according to a draft research report released this week.
The goal of having a third lower Snake River hydroproject outfitted with a “removable spillway weir” in time for the 2007 spring-summer salmon migration will be missed due to construction delays, according to federal officials.
While calling a recent report on the cost and benefits of removing the four Lower Snake dams “unreliable,” the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s independent economic advisors say that “perhaps” the region should again study the economic and ecological impacts of removing the dams.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday decided to seek assurances that long-term fish and wildlife funding agreements hammered out in federal court proceedings adhere to provisions of the Northwest Power Act.
The latest scientific information in, potentially, five complex subject areas will be reviewed and digested later this year when the Northwest Power and Conservation Council convenes a science/policy conference as preparation for planned Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program amendments.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week issued a plea to fish management entities to fuel research that might decide whether Snake River fall chinook salmon that migrate in-river to the ocean survive better to adulthood than those that are collected and barged downstream through the federal hydrosystem.
With the Fish Passage Center’s funding future assured for at least the near-term, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council spoke last week of “re-energizing” its oversight of the data collection and analysis entity.
Does the Pacific Northwest electric power system have a surplus supply of electricity for the next 10 years or does it currently have an electricity deficit the size of a nuclear power plant?
Bonneville Power Administration officials said that the bottom lines are essentially the same, but Northwest Power and Conservation Council members left their meeting Wednesday with budgetary and legal questions about a fish and wildlife project funding package unveiled by the federal power marketing agency.
A Bush Administration proposal to speed Bonneville Power Administration repayments to the U.S. Treasury would drive up Northwest power rates and cause job losses as well other negative economic effects in the region, according to a draft analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Power Division staff.
Declining water supply forecasts could well mean that desired flow augmentation from the Snake River basin for migrating salmon and steelhead will be in short supply this summer.
An evaluation of the survival of in-river Snake River fall chinook salmon migrants vs. that of fish barged downriver through the hydrosystem appears stalled, at least for this year, despite the urgings this week from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Technology that has been field tested by tracking Columbia Basin salmon as they migrate north along the Pacific coast will be refined and expanded worldwide thanks to $45 million in grants announced Monday by Canada’s Foundation for Innovation.
A federal appellate court on Wednesday – in response to a request by Columbia River basin tribes and fishing and conservation groups – ordered the Bonneville Power Administration to “continue its existing contractual arrangements to fund and support” the Fish Passage Center.
Columbia Basin tribes and fishing and conservation groups are jubilant, and Idaho’s senior U.S. senator is frustrated, over a Wednesday order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requiring continued federal funding for the Portland-based Fish Passage Center.
A newly-bestowed priority designation for the 260,000 square mile Columbia River basin has provided impetus for the Environmental Protection Agency to accelerate its efforts to reduce what is viewed as a significant threat to salmon and other forms of life — toxics pollution.
Even the driest of winters would not test the “adequacy” of the Northwest’s supply of electricity despite the region’s heavy reliance on hydro power, according to recent analysis produced by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Power Division staff.
A recent hydrosystem operations/fish and wildlife project funding agreement between the Bonneville Power Administration and five Columbia River tribes was described Wednesday as a step toward a broader agreement on how funding resources should be directed across the basin.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council added its voice to the chorus of U.S. interests asking that the British Columbia government require a more exhaustive environmental review of potential consequences before allowing a coal mining project to commence in the Flathead River’s Canadian headwaters.
A solicitation for “innovative” fish and wildlife project proposals was approved this week, but its fleshing out awaits a Bonneville Power Administration determination on what it is willing to fund and how much it is able to spend.
A signed agreement filed Tuesday in federal court promises the support of five Columbia River tribes for a specific set of 2007 federal dam operations designed to improve salmon and steelhead survival in exchange for the promise of funding for more than $5 million worth of fish and wildlife projects.
A decision to operate Libby Dam under “strict VARQ” flood control operations this year will likely mean less water will be available than in recent years from the dam’s reservoir to augment flows in the lower Columbia River this summer for migrating salmon, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., will headline one of two meetings Jan. 15 in Kalispell on coal-mine development in British Columbia’s Flathead drainage.
In a significant development, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council is taking up the issue at its meeting this month.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to follow recommendations from Montana and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in operating Libby Dam this year, one of Montana’s members on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council said Wednesday.
New Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter announced one appointment on Wednesday to a key natural resources position in his administration, and another to an Idaho seat on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Bonneville Power Administration and five Columbia Basin tribes are working this week to seal an agreement that outlines Columbia/Snake river hydropower/fish passage operations for the 2007 juvenile salmon migration season, and provides funding for tribal fish restoration projects.
A new piece has been thrown into the puzzle that is Snake River fall chinook salmon life history.
New research shows that a certain share of juvenile fish not only scatter throughout the Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem to prepare for ocean life, but also settle in freshwater below Bonneville Dam for the winter.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council last week approved a $657,800 within-year budget request to shore up a Kootenai white sturgeon hatchery water supply system that was overtaxed this year by high flows.
A Washington climate change impacts analysis will be expanded to include the entire Columbia River basin with the help of a grant approved last week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday bid its economic advisers to review a report issued recently by a coalition of conservation and fishing groups that claims the removal of four federal dams on the lower Snake River would provide net biological and economic benefits for the region.
A Northwest Power and Conservation Council initiative to better define appropriate costs for wildlife operation and maintenance projects gained momentum this week with discussions kindled on a variety of fronts.
A long-running terminal fishing program in the Columbia River estuary costs more than the benefit it generates but does perform better economically than other basin harvest-producing enterprises, according to a recently completed draft report.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday put the cap on its 2007-2009 recommendation process with a final decision document that details how and why it made its decisions on specific fish and wildlife project funding and programmatic issues.
Now up and running is a new peer-reviewed process for technical analysis regarding impacts of Federal Columbia River Power System operations upon salmon, steelhead and resident fish.
The so-called Comparative Survival Study this week earned partial funding for fiscal year 2007, enough to prepare a “retrospective” report describing the 10-year-old project’s methods and results and to outfit some 240,000 juvenile salmon with PIT tags so their survival can be tracked.
A $2.5 million funding package has been recommended for five entities’ “coordination” activities over the next year while they and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council work to better define what that term means.
Construction of the latest “removable spillway weir” to be added to the Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem fish passage toolbox is behind schedule by an estimated 32 days, threatening its installation in time for the 2007 spring juvenile outmigration.
The final data checking and fine-tuning is under way in what is said to be the most comprehensive attempt yet to “track the status of fish and wildlife populations throughout the Columbia River Basin” and provide access to that information for managers and others.
A congressionally driven process is building momentum toward its goal of delicately balancing Columbia River Basin hatchery production so it provides desired harvest and, at the same time, protects threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.
The Pacific Northwest has an ample supply of electricity for the coming winter months, according to an analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council next week will ponder a wealth of newly-arrived advice when decides how it wants to allocate available fish and wildlife funding for the next three years across the Columbia River Basin.
While stressing that recently previewed analysis and determinations are preliminary, the Bonneville Power Administration has said that ultimately it intends to judge whether Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program projects present “in lieu” problems and seek corrective action.
A $10.7 million deal to protect 1,761 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. land in Montana’s Swan Valley has been completed.
Federal, state and tribal officials last Friday (Sept. 22) celebrated the completion of the Yakima Basin Phase II fish screen project, which over the past 14 years has involved modifying or rebuilding and maintaining 31 diversions that help keep fish from dying in irrigation canals and ditches.
Only three adult sockeye survived the 900-mile trip up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers this year, matching the low since 1999, when hatchery-origin fish used to keep the run alive first began returning.
Draft fish and wildlife project funding recommendations approved this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council would largely balance provincial and mainstem on-the-ground/multi-province budgets at allocation targets for fiscal years 2007-2009, and come in at more than $10 million under budget in the basinwide category.
A three-judge appellate panel on Tuesday focused its questions on whether or not the Bonneville Power Administration used the proper rationale in deciding to end funding for the Fish Passage Center, and whether that decision aligned with language in the Northwest Power Act.
Even as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council enters its budget-setting stretch run, it is hearing that the nation’s largest fish and wildlife mitigation effort is not large enough.
A panel representing a broad spectrum of interested parties will help Washington State launch a new water management program for the Columbia River aimed at balancing economic needs with the needs of fish and healthy watersheds.
The Bonneville Power Administration will have the tools to raise power rates in dire times, if need be, to meet Endangered Species Act costs stemming from ongoing litigation in federal court, according to a report filed earlier this month.
About 35 percent — an estimated $29 million — of the fiscal year 2007 Columbia River Fish Mitigation program budget will be focused on projects to provide surface bypass for juvenile salmon and steelhead at hydro projects on the Columbia and Snake rivers, according to priorities set by the System Configuration Team.
A number of funding decisions remain in limbo as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council enters the stretch run in deciding which of $1 billion in funding requests will fit into a fish and wildlife program budget that holds about half that amount for fiscal years 2007-2009.
Changed troll fishery management intended to benefit Canadian fish appear to have the pleasant side effect of reducing the toll on at least one protected Columbia River basin salmon stock, according to a report prepared for the Pacific Salmon Commission.
A Bonneville Power Administration interpretation of the Northwest Power Act would “render meaningless the detailed congressionally mandated processes” for deciding which Columbia River basin fish and wildlife projects are funded, according to briefs filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A July 21 letter from the Bonneville Power Administration’s CEO Steve Wright reiterates the agency’s intent to defer funding for new Nez Perce tribal hatchery facilities while the project’s full biological benefits are weighed in an ongoing court-ordered process.
A Nez Perce proposal to minimize summer spill at Dworshak Dam and use resulting proceeds to police Columbia River fisheries got a mixed review during a Thursday meeting of the Implementation Team.
Federal attorneys have attempted to trivialize the government’s responsibility under the 1980 Northwest Power Act to fund Columbia River basin fish and wildlife restoration activities, according to a legal brief filed Monday for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and federal agencies have opened a new chapter in efforts to conserve and recover Kootenai River white sturgeon.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Board likes the concept, but says a proposal to make all Columbia River basin fish and wildlife data available through one internet source should start first as a demonstration/pilot project.
A rapid, late spring snowmelt that caused harm to northwest Montana resident fish could, in a round-about way, also bring those same trout long-sought benefits.
Implementing the purposes of the Northwest Power Act is a balancing act that requires discretion, and the Bonneville Power Administration’s CEO used it well last winter in deciding not to issue a new contract to fund the Fish Passage Center, according to a federal brief filed in federal court.
Survival of juvenile Snake River spring chinook salmon from Lower Granite Dam to Bonneville Dam was higher in 2006 — 58 percent — than it has been since federal research began in 1993, according to researchers.
Federal officials — reluctant July 6 to implement a hydrosystem operational strategy offered by Montana — will next week consider an alternative that would draw down Libby and Hungry Horse faster than the state would like but not as fast as is now planned.
The state of Montana and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho have joined a lawsuit contesting Libby Dam operations on different sides but with similar goals.
Montana intervened as plaintiffs in a lawsuit initiated by the Center for Biological Diversity, which has staunchly advocated higher flows in the Kootenai River for the benefit of white sturgeon, an endangered species. The Kootenai Tribes, meanwhile, joined in support of a recent biological opinion that the lawsuit challenges.
With advice from a variety of sources now in hand, Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff will begin piecing together a recommendation for how available fish and wildlife monies will be spent in fiscal years 2007-2009.
Montana officials will have to wait another week to find out if their long-sought summer outflow plan from Libby and Hungry Horse dams will be accepted by regional interests and implemented by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.
The Bonneville Power Administration ignored provisions of the Northwest Power Act and followed instead non-binding congressional report language last year when it chose to stop funding Fish Passage Center operations, allege briefs filed June 16 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week endorsed expansion of the hatchery captive broodstock program that is the sole barrier between Snake River sockeye salmon and extinction.
A Snake River sockeye salmon captive broodstock hatchery program that continues the genetic line of “Lonesome Larry” earned a groundswell of support this week after receiving a critical scientific review.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is criticizing an ongoing spill over Libby Dam, suggesting it could have been avoided if not for pressure to store water for Columbia River salmon.
The near edge of that “black box” called the Pacific Ocean has been pried open by NOAA Fisheries scientists who say they can gauge how well juvenile salmon and steelhead survive during that crucial time when they move from Columbia River freshwater to saltwater.
A hoped-for June start to construction on a $16.4 million Northeast Oregon Hatchery complex has been deferred as the project’s funding source, the Bonneville Power Administration, awaits assurances that it will bring desired Endangered Species Act “credit.”
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on its fifth annual report to the Northwest governors on Bonneville Power Administration expenditures to implement the Council’s program to protect and rebuild fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.
New “PIT tag” data analysis developed by NOAA Fisheries should better allow the agency to calculate survival rates of adult salmon and steelhead as they attempt their spawning journey up through the Columbia and Snake rivers’ system of dams and reservoirs.
The Independent Scientific Review Panel last Friday (June 2) issued its preliminary review of projects proposed for inclusion in the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River basin fish and wildlife program during the 2007-2009 funding cycle.
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s recently issued biological opinion for operations at Libby Dam in northwestern Montana.
Montana this week pressed regional hydro and fish managers for a more gradual drawdown of Montana reservoirs during this year’s salmon migration season.
Fish and wildlife project contracts expiring this fall will be judged on a case-by-case basis and either renewed or brought to “smart closure” ahead of other projects submitted for funding during the fiscal 2007-2009 period, according to a staff plan endorsed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee Tuesday.
An initial review of mainstem/systemwide fish and wildlife proposals puts 28 projects in a “Core Program” category and another 32 in “High Priority,” marking another step in selecting projects for Bonneville Power Administration funding during fiscal years 2007-2009.
A $16.4 million Nez Perce hatchery construction project was given a conditional green light by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Tuesday, though state water permitting and Endangered Species Act hurdles remain before the first shovel of dirt is turned.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week recommended more that $6 million in “within-year” fish and wildlife project funding adjustments with the vast majority coming its capital expense account.
A preliminary, and admittedly “coarse,” look at proposed cost-sharing with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s fish and wildlife program has turned up some impressive numbers, potentially adding one-third to the total amount spent.
Fish and wildlife project contracts expiring this fall will be judged on a case-by-case basis and either renewed or brought to “smart closure” ahead of other projects submitted for funding during the fiscal 2007-2009 period, according to a staff plan endorsed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee Tuesday.
Anglers targeting native northern pikeminnow this spring and summer on the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers once again can reap numerous rewards — satisfying their fishing urge, earning money and helping boost salmon recovery.
One of Montana’s representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council says the state will pursue a lawsuit if the federal government attempts to use “spill” at Libby Dam to help the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has released for comment its plan for developing a basinwide system for evaluating the success of its fish and wildlife mitigation and restoration projects.
The Spokane Tribe and others affected by the repeated rising and falling of north-central Washington’s Lake Roosevelt have long chaffed at perceived inequities in how the huge reservoir is managed.
A favorable vote next month by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council would trigger a summertime start to construction on the Northeast Oregon Hatchery, part of a vision first adopted into the Council’s Fish and Wildlife program nearly 20 years ago.
An Army Corps of Engineers study of the Columbia River basin flood control system should be tightly focused on that topic, and not on providing additional flows for fish, and should not be paid for with dollars from electricity ratepayers, according to a letter penned this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Thursday pitched new and alternative energy production and urged the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to recognize concerns about endangered species in the upper Columbia River Basin.
The Bonneville Power Administration announced this week that it has extended its existing funding agreement for the Fish Passage Center through Nov. 30 in order to assure compliance with a recent court order.
A Canadian-based effort to track salmon and other sea-going creatures up the North Pacific coast’s continental shelf will fully flower this spring and summer with the goal of detailing fish movements and survival that have to this point mostly mystified fish managers.
The Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife departments beginning April 1 will expand on federal efforts to keep sea lions and other pinnipeds ill at ease in the waters below Bonneville Dam.
A developing tool to assess the effects of Columbia/Snake river dams and dam operations on migrating salmon and steelhead should buoy future decision-making processes if remaining technological gaps are filled, according to a March 15 Independent Scientific Advisory Board Review.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at the 11th hour issued a three-paragraph order that would appear to keep the Portland-based Fish Passage Center in operation for at least the near term.
A request for a temporary restraining order that would keep the Fish Passage Center operating was turned aside this morning (March 17) by a Portland federal district court judge who told litigants that he lacked the jurisdiction, and the conviction, to respond favorably.
Court-ordered spill for fish passage at eight federal Columbia/Snake river hydro projects will mean about $60 million less in revenues, but will not affect the Bonneville Power Administration’s ability to answer Northwest power demand, according to analysis conducted by Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council members and others in the region this week questioned the advisability of moving forward with a $30 million study to evaluate how Columbia River basin flood control operations might be changed to provide more water in-river for migrating salmon and steelhead.
An independent scientific review agrees with criticisms on numerous technical points but says the Fish Passage Center’s ongoing Comparative Survival Study is generally heading in the right direction and doing well with the tools at hand.
The Bonneville Power Administration struck the proper balance in following a congressional directive to no longer fund the Fish Passage Center while staying within Northwest Power Act guidelines, according to a March 3 federal filing in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Some 7.5 million juvenile “tule” fall chinook salmon released from Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery Thursday (March 2) will have intricate juvenile bypass systems, the turbines and the relatively new “corner collector” for passage routes as they head downriver through Bonneville Dam.
Representatives of federal agencies and Northwest states say they need more time to digest a Corps of Engineers’ “reconnaissance” report that suggests it may be possible to adjust Columbia River basin flood control operations to bring benefits to protected salmon and steelhead.
Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff last week unveiled a first iteration of a document that it will use to resolve problems or “issues” that arise in the process to decide who receives fish and wildlife project funding from a budget that could total as much as $537 million for fiscal years 2007-2009.
Even though the Klickitat Subbasin Anadromous Fishery master plan’s hatchery scheme is still a work in progress, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Committee has recommended that $474,000 be spent this fiscal year for an environmental review of related passage improvement proposals.
A reduction in “load following” at federal Columbia/Snake river hydroelectric projects could have serious implications that need to be understood before a study of their effects on fish is launched, Bonneville Power Administration officials said this week.
A review and analysis of existing research says that salmon-related dam operations reduce average Columbia River basin hydroelectric generation by 9 percent annually and irrigation withdrawals from the Columbia and Snake rivers cut power production by 5 percent.
Conservation and fishing groups last week asked the federal Ninth Circuit of Appeals to put a hold on plans dismantle the Fish Passage Center and transfer many of its present tasks to two other entities.
Nearly $4.2 million in within-year fish and wildlife project funding budget expansions got the endorsement Wednesday of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The 15 largest utilities in the Northwest collectively reduced demand for electricity by 108 average megawatts in 2005, enough power for about 63,000 homes, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council reported this week.
President Bush’s proposed fiscal year 2007 budget released to Congress this week calls for the Bonneville Power Administration to use any surplus power sales (“net secondary”) revenues it earns above its historical high level of $500 million in a year to make early payments on its federal bond debt to the U.S. Treasury.
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