After witnessing relatively high, though steadily declining, spring chinook salmon returns to the Columbia River basin over the past eight years, fishery experts have high hopes and estimates for 2008.
There will be much to talk about in court next week, and much to fix before a draft NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion on the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system goes final, according to comments filed in U.S. District Court Friday (Nov. 30) by the state of Oregon, Columbia Basin tribes and the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit.
There will be much to talk about in court next week, and much to fix before a draft NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion on the federal Columbia/Snake hydro system goes final, according to comments filed in U.S. District Court Friday (Nov. 30) by the state of Oregon, Columbia Basin tribes and the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit.
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.
Initial impressions this week of a “draft” federal Columbia River Basin salmon protection strategy ranged from sharp criticisms of the tome, to praise, to “wait and see” attitudes.
There’s much to do, and too little time to do it, the NOAA Fisheries Service this week told the federal judge who on Oct. 9 gave the agency 60 days to reconsider the status of the Oregon Coast coho salmon.
A federal court judge on Friday (Oct. 5) ordered that the status of the Oregon coast coho salmon, which has bounced on and off the Endangered Species Act list, be assessed once again.
Washington U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell this week asked for removal of a appropriations bill provision that she says threatens an ongoing collaborative process aimed at producing a new protection plan for Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The state of Idaho says U.S. courts’ rationale for voiding the federal government’s Columbia River basin salmon protection plan goes contrary to a Supreme Court ruling, as well as an appellate court order.
Federal attorneys this week argued that a U.S. magistrate wrongfully took on the role of “scientific arbiter” last month in declaring illegal the NOAA Fisheries Service’s withdrawal of its proposal to list the Oregon coast coho salmon stock under Endangered Species Act.
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday heard testimony pro and con regarding proposed legislation to expedite the process for gaining permission to lethally remove sea lions preying on federally protected salmon in the Columbia River.
A pre-emptive strike at the developing federal Columbia/Snake river salmon protection plan was turned back this Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden.
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.
Upriver “spring” chinook salmon are perhaps the most unpredictable of Columbia/Snake River salmon stocks.
But one positive signal of the relative strength of next year’s adult run comes from near-record counts of “jack” spring chinook this year.
Critics say a budding new federal plan to avoid jeopardizing salmon and steelhead impacted by the Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem represents mostly status quo strategies that have previously been declared legally deficient under the Endangered Species Act.
The Oregon House on Thursday night passed the so-called “Oasis” bill, which would draw a total of 495,000 acre-feet of water a year for 25 years from the Columbia River to help farmers in Eastern Oregon increase crop production.
A Federal Columbia River Power System draft proposed “action” and accompanying biological analyses previewed last month represents a “positive step forward” in salmon recovery efforts, according to some.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the federal government for its opinion in a legal debate regarding a Canadian company’s potential liability for lead-zinc processing byproducts that rode the current south across the border into Washington in the upper Columbia River.
Saying his words are “not a product of anger, but frustration,” U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden in a May 23 order reminded federal agencies that it is not an option to shift away from Columbia/Snake river hydro system operations designed to benefit fish.
A request for U.S. Supreme Court consideration of an international dispute over Columbia River heavy metals pollution is flawed and legally unripe, according to documents filed earlier this week by the Colville Tribes and state of Washington.
Spill began earlier this month at eight Columbia/Snake river mainstem federal hydro projects as a means of easing in-river migrations for juvenile salmon and steelhead moving downstream toward the Pacific Ocean.
A legal reaffirmation this week of the federal government’s need to fortify its Columbia/lower Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection strategy has drawn responses ranging from anger, to glee, to resolve that the job can be accomplished.
Federal attorneys said last week the two new biological opinions on protected Columbia/Snake salmon and steelhead likely would be delivered to U.S. District Court at the same time.
The attorney who won a landmark court case that threatened to undercut the threatened and endangered status of many salmon and steelhead runs on the West Coast died Sunday.
A U.S. appellate court decision making a Canadian company liable for fouled Columbia River waters below the border could well trigger a pollution war between the two countries, according to a request filed Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court.
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 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.
A “good effort” to clarify policy issues and narrow areas of scientific disagreement is ongoing, but federal agencies can’t promise that all will be happy at the end of the long-running collaboration with Columbia River basin tribes and states on the intricacies of a new hydrosystem salmon protection plan.
A Canadian metals company plans this month to ask the Supreme Court to consider the firm’s arguments that it is not liable under U.S. law for the “release” of hazardous substances into the upper Columbia River in northeastern Washington.
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.
Nez Perce tribal officials said this week that they intended to implement their plan to increase their harvest of steelhead in the Snake River basin, beginning with a single gill-net permit Thursday through Saturday in the lower Clearwater.
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.
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.
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.
The rebuilding of the federal government’s Columbia River basin hydrosystem salmon protection plan will stretch to July 31, at least, under an order issued Wednesday by Portland-based U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced that they had made official their intent to disperse a majority of the world’s largest colony of Caspian terns from their East Sand Island nesting site in the Columbia River estuary.
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.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden at an Oct. 27 hearing said he was “not disappointed” with the status of a year-long collaboration with states and tribes as the federal government works to rebuild its Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection plan.
Documents filed this week in U.S. District Court contend federal agencies are hampering a year-long collaborative process by dismissing the so-called “10-Step Conceptual Framework” as the means for determining whether Columbia River Basin hydro projects jeopardize the survival and recovery of protected salmon and steelhead.
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.
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.
Bold leadership and political compromise will be necessary if irrigators in the Yakima River Basin expect congressional approval and funding to build Black Rock Reservoir for off-stream storage.
A process to rebuild the government’s salmon protection strategy for the Columbia River hydrosystem is on track, aiming for recovery of imperiled salmon and steelhead stocks, federal attorneys told U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden July 21.
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 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.
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.
Under an agreement signed last week, the financial burden for evaluating contamination levels in the upper Columbia River, and resulting risks to human health, will shift from U.S. taxpayers to the Canadian zinc producer that long used the river as a waste repository.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden in a May 31 order has asked litigants to help him shape the remand of NOAA Fisheries’ 2005 plan for assuring that federal dam operations in the upper Snake River basin don’t jeopardize the survival of protected salmon and steelhead.
A 2005 document giving Endangered Species Act clearance to federal dam operations on the upper Snake River is illegal, U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden said in a Tuesday opinion and order.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals next week will hear oral arguments over the legality of a biological opinion that gauges the effect of the federal Columbia River basin hydrosystem on protected salmon and steelhead.
Critical habitat designations established for 19 protected West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks late last summer have flawed legal, biological and economic foundations, according to a legal warning fired early this month by agriculture, water user and homebuilder groups.
Halfway through its fiscal year, the Bonneville Power Administration is projecting substantial improvement in its financial performance and the potential for making up severe losses suffered as a result of the 2001 West Coast energy crisis.
A federal analysis that compares select hydrosystem operational effects on salmon with a hypothetical “reference” operation strays far from Congress’ and the Endangered Species Act’s intent, attorneys for four Columbia Basin tribes, the state of Oregon and a coalition of fishing and environmental groups told a federal appellate court last week.
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.
Documents filed in federal court this week detail how Federal Columbia River Power System agencies plan to implement court-ordered spill for fish passage this spring and summer and how a “collaborative” effort to rework the hydrosystem salmon protection plan is progressing.
Columbia Basin salmon management agencies have asked that fish spill regimes at John Day Dam be altered to make up for survival benefits they believe will be lost due to a power system failure that has resulted in the idling of four turbine units at the facility.
Following a March 17 teleconference with the litigants, U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden denied a request by fishing and conservation groups that the deadline for developing a new salmon protection plan for the Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem be extended by five months.
The federal government, Northwest states, upriver tribes and utility interests all feel that more than a year’s time might be needed to produce a legal and biologically sound biological opinion judging impacts of Columbia/Snake hydroelectric projects on protected salmon and steelhead.
Dept. of Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton today announced she will leave the President’s Cabinet at the end of March.
More time should allowed for the restructuring of a federal Columbia River hydrosystem salmon protection plan to assure that numerous “controversial” scientific issues, and differences of opinion, are properly explored by the federal agencies responsible for the plan, according to a motion submitted this week in federal court by plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council entered the New Year with a revised power plan in place, but with much work to do balancing power requirements with actions outlined in subbasin plans adopted recently as part of its Columbia Basin fish and wildlife program.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden said Friday he “is not disappointed with the progress to this point” on the restructuring of the federal government’s Columbia/Snake mainstem hydro salmon protection plan.
NOAA Fisheries Service chose to follow the advice of the state of Oregon this week in announcing that it feels the Oregon coast coho “evolutionarily significant unit” — a collection of wild and hatchery populations — is robust enough that it does not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The process for revising the federal government’s Columbia River hydrosystem salmon protection plan are described in a set of documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Portland.
Claims of victory came from a variety of sources following U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden’s approval of plans to spill water this spring and summer as a passage route for salmon and steelhead approaching Columbia/Snake hydro projects.
Bonneville Power Administration officials say the agency has received proposals from five entities that aspire to take over the primary functions of the Fish Passage Center, which will be phased out by the end of March.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Idaho Wednesday have filed a notice of appeal of the decisions made earlier this year by U.S. District Court James A. Redden that declared invalid federal Columbia River hydrosystem salmon protection plans.
A state-led effort to establish a more cordial process for Columbia River water sharing is moving ahead in Washington again after foundering last year in the state
Following a six-month public process on costs in an environment of volatile energy markets and uncertain fish obligations, the Bonneville Power Administration proposes to adopt adjustable wholesale power rates for the 2007-2009 period.
Six past members of Columbia River basin independent scientific review groups were offered this week as candidates to evaluate court testimony on flow and spill regimes intended to improve salmon survival.
The Independent Scientific Advisory Board has agreed to review available data regarding the biological effectiveness of the controversial, court-ordered 2005 federal hydrosystem summer spill program.
The future of Columbia/Snake river salmon restoration efforts drew comments ranging from gentle encouragement to threats Wednesday during closing exchanges at a Boise conference.
Attorneys for the federal government, Northwest states, treaty tribes and navigation and power interests continued to fence this week over timeframes and the role the courts should play in an anticipated process to rewrite a Columbia/Snake river salmon protection plan.
Fishing industry and conservation groups Thursday requested that federal judge James Redden invalidate A federal biological opinion for 12 federal reservoirs in the upper Snake River basin used for irrigation and flood control.
Fishing and conservation groups and four treaty tribes say that they would like to see work completed within a year on what is expected to be a court-ordered remand of the federal government’s Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem salmon protection plan, according to proposals filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
Long-running litigation has focused on assuring that federal Columbia River hydrosystem operations do not jeopardize salmon and steelhead stocks over the long haul.
But legal battles within that legal battle have erupted regarding near-term operations such as spill and flow augmentation that are intended to benefit salmon stocks that are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act and can affect other fish stocks as well.
Both tribal and non-Indian commercial fishers are bumping up against their limits following outings this past week, meaning they will soon join lower Columbia River sport anglers in abstaining from further harvest of returning fall chinook salmon.
Lower Snake River navigation channels will be cleared this winter, and fishing and conservation groups will get a long-sought analysis of sediment management issues and options if U.S. District Court Judge Robert S. Lasnik approves a settlement agreement submitted to his court Thursday.
Parties to the lawsuit have been given until Sept. 27 to describe their vision for remedying a federal Columbia River salmon protection plan left in question this spring by U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden.
Montana has been granted intervenor status in a lawsuit over salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia River Basin.
Legal jousting has begun once again over whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be able to implement its plan this winter for maintenance dredging of the lower Snake/Clearwater river federal navigation channel and berthing areas at certain public port facilities.
NOAA Fisheries Service announced this afternoon (Aug. 12) that it has released its final critical habitat designations for 19 “evolutionarily significant units” of salmon and steelhead in California and the Northwest that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
With one legal issue rendered moot and little time left to argue a second point, attorneys for power customers and federal agencies managing the Columbia River hydrosystem have ended attempts to halt court-ordered spill at the dams that is intended to aid fish passage.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday ruled that a lower court’s order to spill water for fish passage during late summer at five federal Columbia Basin mainstem dams did not abuse the court’s discretion and was “well-grounded in governing statute.”
In the wake of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding a lower court order requiring spill at Snake and lower Columbia River dams this summer, federal officials, who argued vigorously against the spill, say they will continue pursuing a consensus approach to hydro operations, as well as region-wide recovery plans.
Knowledge about the effects of harvests on naturally spawning Columbia River salmon and steelhead populations has advanced notably but the region still lacks the data and tools necessary to determine whether recovery efforts are hindered by carefully managed fisheries.
Idaho Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo says a key fish restoration effort in the upper Columbia Basin is an example of how collaboration can serve as an alternative to listings and litigation under the Endangered Species act.
A federal judge is allowing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its “critical habitat” designations for bull trout in the Pacific Northwest, and the service’s regional recovery coordinator says the intent is to reinforce the rationale for excluding habitat originally proposed for designation.
An attempt to stop implementation of a court-ordered spill plan at five Columbia/Snake River federal hydro projects was rejected this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but an appeal of the operations was put on the fast track.
NOAA Fisheries on Thursday issued the final policy it will use when considering the status of hatchery produced fish in the agency’s determination of whether particular fish stocks will require protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Rejecting suggestions that it is not the court’s role to make such decisions, U.S. District Court Judge James A. Redden announced Friday that he would order the U.S. Corps of Engineers to spill water for fish passage this summer at federal hydro projects on the Columbia/Snake river mainstem where the collection and transportation of young salmon has historically been the emphasis.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week released its final environmental impact statement justifying its plan to clear sediment from the federal navigation channel and berthing areas at certain public port facilities on the lower Snake and Clearwater rivers in Washington and Idaho.
Tribal interests and hydropower customer representatives were alternately elated and deflated by the news that basic elements of the federal government’s Columbia/Snake salmon protection plan had been deemed by a judge as “arbitrary and capricious” and illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
The Nez Perce Tribal Executive Council Tuesday (March 29) voted to accept the terms of the proposed settlement of the Tribe’s water right claims included in the Snake River Basin Adjudication.
Attorneys for fishing and conservation groups, the state of Oregon and tribes in Feb. 11 court documents detail why they feel a federal Columbia River salmon protection plan twists both the laws of the land and those of science in declaring that hydrosystem operations won’t jeopardize the survival of 12 stocks of fish.
Despite continuing legal threats hovering in the background, federal “action” agencies have begun to push for rapid implementation of actions they say will raise salmon survival through the Columbia River hydrosystem, and beyond, and foreclose the possibility that certain of fish stocks will become extinct.
A federal judge ruled this week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
violated the Endangered Species Act when it downlisted Northwest Montana
wolves from endangered to threatened, drawing cheers from conservation
groups and leaving state and federal wolf managers pondering the
implications of the ruling.
After President Bush signed into law this week the $388 billion Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would begin planning to start the $150.5 million Columbia River navigation channel dredging project next summer.
Federal officials on Tuesday announced a package of Columbia/Snake river hydrosystem operations and off-site fish mitigation actions that they feel will both ward off the extinction of protected salmon and steelhead and parry potential legal thrusts like those that forced a December 2000 strategy to be rewritten.
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation and Douglas County Public Utility District have settled a longstanding dispute over tribal lands flooded by Wells Dam.
Greg Delwiche, a 20-year veteran of Columbia River energy and natural resource management, is the new vice president of Environment, Fish and Wildlife of the Bonneville Power Administration, the agency announced this week.
The first legal shots were fired over the bow of the federal government’s draft Columbia River basin salmon protection plan this week by litigants who forced a reworking of the existing strategy, and by the judge who last year called the prevailing strategy illegal under the Endangered Species Act.
Another chunk of the Snake River Basin Adjudication was settled last week with an agreement among parties on water rights in six Idaho rivers federally designated as Wild and Scenic Rivers and in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.
Northwest Environmental Advocates has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw its Record of Decision on its Columbia River channel improvement project in light of new information that NWEA said could substantially change the economics of the project.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are
requesting proposals for conservation and restoration projects that will be funded with
$1.3 million in community service payments from polluters.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries Thursday finalized new regulations establishing what the agencies say is a more efficient approach to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval process for pesticides.
Conservation and fishing groups on Monday threatened legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, calling slipshod the agency’s process for determining whether pesticides affect salmon and steelhead survival.
A U.S. District Court judge on Wednesday approved a preliminary injunction stopping the implementation of a hydrosystem spill reduction plan that federal proponents said could reap as much as a $28 million windfall without harming the salmon and steelhead that spill is intended to help.
Federal attorneys on Thursday said that fishing and conservation groups have neither a legal nor biological basis for asking that a U.S. District Court stop implementation of hydrosystem spill reduction plan or declare invalid a NOAA Fisheries endorsement of that plan.
Delaying judgment in a lawsuit challenging federal dam operations on the Upper Snake River would be doing a legal disservice to the plaintiffs, and a continuing biological disservice to salmon and steelhead downriver that are listed under the Endangered Species Act, according to conservation groups pressing the litigation.
A lower court injunction banning the spraying of certain pesticides near salmon-bearing streams will stay in place while agricultural interests and chemical companies appeal the decision, according to a ruling this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) amended this week its original lawsuit that challenges NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s dredging operations in the lower Columbia River and at the river’s mouth.
The salmon stock that has literally been at the eye of biological and political storms over the past several years — the Oregon coastal coho — is officially off the Endangered Species Act list.
A report released this month by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) describes how various laws and treaties interact in federal Northwest fish and wildlife activities.
The Bonneville Power Administration has signed agreements with the region’s investor-owned utilities that the agency says will benefit consumers of electricity throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Under a proposal announced today (April 16), the Bonneville Power Administration’s costs would decrease while residential and small-farm customers of investor-owned utilities would get certainty about future benefits from the Federal Columbia River Power System.
Attorneys for the state of Oregon and tribal fish managers told a federal judge today (April 16) that they had deep concerns about a federal proposal that makes dams and reservoirs part of the environmental baseline and judges the perils faced by salmon on day-to-day operations alone.
Red tape and short staffing are causing the government to miss deadlines
for Endangered Species Act “consultations” 40 percent of the time in the
Northwest, a new report from the General Accounting Office concludes.
“Citizens have the right to challenge governmental decisions that violate the law, and the mere desire of other persons to continue those programs is not a right that can be invoked to foreclose consideration of the challengers,” claims, wrote Portland attorney James Buchal in a memorandum filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court.
Legal jousting continued last week with the Justice Department asking that a Portland U.S. District Court judge stay one legal challenge to the federal government’s salmon recovery plan until a separate lawsuit completes its first stage.
The judge presiding over one legal challenge to the federal Columbia River basin salmon protection plan will remain as magistrate of record in a separate lawsuit that attacks the fish strategy from a different angle.
Administration officials visiting the Columbia River basin last week took the time to visit what they say is a shining example of the federal/local cooperation they feel necessary to hasten the recovery of salmon and steelhead stocks.
President Bush submitted a 2005 environmental budget this week that the Administration says includes the highest level of funding ever requested by a President for high-priority environment and natural resource programs.
States and tribes this week sent a letter to the federal government suggesting a “collaborative scientific process” as part of the writing of a new NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion for the federal Columbia River power system.
The Nez Perce Tribe last week initiated a lawsuit against three federal agencies in an attempt stall a plan to harvest 42 million board feet of timber in north-central Idaho Lochsa River drainage.
It’s hard to tell which will occur first – the western migration of gray wolves from Idaho or Oregon’s development of a plan to manage the predators.
With as many as three dozen “new” wolves on Idaho’s western border, packs could be established in northeastern Oregon within the year, an expert told members of Oregon’s Wolf Advisory Committee, meeting in La Grande Jan. 12.
The Idaho Water Users Association this week forwarded to NOAA Fisheries and the Bureau of Reclamation a new scientific paper contending that flow augmentation from Idaho reservoirs provides little benefit for salmon and steelhead, and that the effects of water withdrawals on fish travel time are “small to insignificant.”
David Allen admittedly has only just begun to burrow into the complexities of those issues in his immediate environment, the Columbia River basin, and other locales in the Pacific Region. But he agreed this week to offer some of his first impressions about the efforts of his agency, and of others, to maintain and restore the Columbia Basin’s fish and wildlife resources.
Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo sent a letter Thursday (Nov. 20) to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton urging her to explore ways to increase the use of state management programs in federal wolf recovery efforts.
The letter was also signed by Senators Larry Craig, R-Idaho; Conrad Burns, R-Montana; Max Baucus, D-Montana; Gordon Smith, R-Oregon; and Craig Thomas, R-Wyoming.
Last week the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed the conference report to H.R. 1904, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.
The House voted 286-140; the Senate approved the measure by voice vote. The legislation, intended to improve the health of the nation’s forests, will now be sent to the President for his signature.
The Northwest congressional delegation issued statements, reactions and analyses of the impact of the legislation upon the region and Columbia Basin:
An alliance of Idaho water users this week filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue several federal agencies as part of what it describes as an “aggressive” strategy to protect Idaho water.
Federal action agencies released a plan this week that outlines how the agencies will implement conservation measures in the NOAA Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinions for the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS).
U.S. Justice Department attorneys say, in a Nov. 14 brief, that expanding the scope of the court-ordered Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion remand to include the upper Snake would be illegal.
“I’m disappointed that the plaintiffs are discussing the Upper Snake in Judge James Redden’s court,” Crapo said. “We take this threat to Idaho water and state water sovereignty very seriously. As long as the plaintiffs pursue a litigation strategy, we will be forced to aggressively defend Idaho’s water and we will do just that.”
Four special interest groups have agreed to drop their lawsuit against the federal government on the promise that NOAA Fisheries will deliver its findings on the Endangered Species Act status of eight Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead stocks by March 31, 2004.
The Bonneville Power Administration and members of the two major utility groups in the region have signed a proposed litigation settlement that would roll back the Bonneville Power Administration’s wholesale rates 7.4 percent if ratified by all remaining public utility litigants, BPA officials said this week.
The head of the has urged senators to pass legislation allowing Bureau of Reclamation the agency to fund and construct fish screens and passage improvements at non-federal irrigation facilities in Oregon and Washington state to aid salmon recovery.
The final legal hurdle blocking a project to deepen the Columbia River navigation channel was settled in Vancouver, Wash. last week and, for a brief period of time, that leaves financing as the only barrier still blocking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ project.
A coalition of conservation groups that filed, and then withdrew, a notice of intent to sue the federal government over salmon and water issues in Idaho announced Oct. 10 that the notice would not be re-filed after 30 days as planned.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne last week formalized an agreement with federal, tribal, and private partners he says will provide a framework for the long-term protection of threatened endangered native fish species and their habitat.
After increasing its prices by 2.2 percent this week, a settlement among its customers that is likely to be set in motion next week could allow the Bonneville Power Administration to drop its electricity prices by nearly 10 percent by early next year.
Two sets of special interest groups that are normally at total loggerheads found enough to talk about Saturday that they plan to meet again, with Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo as facilitator, to discuss the allocation of Upper Snake River basin water for farms and for fish.
Several efforts are in the works to purchase and set aside more wetlands
in the Columbia River estuary, but will those purchases count towards
a
mitigation requirement set by the National Marine Fisheries Service
for
a river channel deepening project?
If Debrah Marriott, executive director of the Lower Columbia River
Estuary Program (LCREP) gets her wish, the efforts would be additive,
which could result in thousands of acres of new habitat being added
to
the estuary in the next …
migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead each year, many of them from
populations listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The plan’s goal is to attract many of the birds down river to nest at
East Sand Island, where more marine fish are available as prey. Salmon
made up 75 percent of Rice Island terns’ diet according to a study
last
year compared to 40 percent at East Sand Island. By dislodging the
colony, the work group expects to reduce salmon smolt losses this year
by 25 to 40 percent
Second-year Council member Larry Cassidy of Washington was elected Wednesday
as chairman of the Northwest Power Planning Council as it prepares to reshape
its Columbia Basin fish and wildlife program and establish new procedures
for allocating funding of fish and wildlife restoration projects.
The leadership change comes as federal agencies approach important decisions
on how to best recover listed Basin salmon and steelhead species.
Now is the time for action on fish and wildlife recovery
An agreement being negotiated between the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian
Reservation, Westland Irrigation District near Hermiston and the Bureau
of Reclamation could lead to federal legislation for a third and final
phase of the Umatilla Basin Project in Northeastern Oregon.
The first and second phases of the federal water-exchange project, which
cost $56 million over nine years, delivers Columbia River water to three
irrigation districts, which, in exchange, leave water …
Northwest tribes are preparing to sue the federal government if the
region does not choose to breach the four lower Snake River dams as part
of its effort to recover endangered Snake River salmon stocks.
Donald Sampson, executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission, said the four lower Columbia River tribes, which CRITFC
represents, and the Shoshone-Bannock tribe in Idaho are considering litigation
because of the impacts the loss of salmon have had on the Native …
The recent listing of the only known bull trout populations in Montana
east of the Continental Divide will afford new protections to populations
that biologists have only recently studied.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week announced the listing of
St. Mary and Belly River bull trout as threatened species, along with an
isolated population off Washington’s Puget Sound.
“It’s one of those situations where we don’t have much information on
what was there historically,” said …
Clinton administration officials this week said the new U.S.-Canada
Pacific Salmon Treaty agreement is being jeopardized by Congress’ refusal
to adequately fund its implementation and attempt to rewrite its terms.
President Clinton on Tuesday vetoed the FY2000 spending bill for the
departments of commerce, state and justice in part because of the funding
problem and objectionable legislative riders being demanded by the Alaska
congressional delegation and state Gov. Tony Knowles.
The …
An agreement announced Wednesday paves the way for the removal Condit
Dam, an 125-foot-tall concrete wall that since 1913 has blocked salmon
and steelhead from spawning in upper reaches and tributaries of Washington’s
White Salmon River.
The voluntary agreement was reached after two years of negotiations.
The dam removal is slated to begin in 2006. The negotiations between the
Yakama Nation, PacifiCorp, American Rivers, the state of Washington, the
U.S. Department of Interior, …
Three conservation groups that say warm water discharges from a Potlatch
Corp. pulp and paper mill near Lewiston, Idaho, harm fish and are unlawful
are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force changes in
Potlatchs Clean Water Act permit.
The lawsuit brought against the EPA on Aug. 9 seeks to force the agency
to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife about the effects of Potlatchs warm water discharges on endangered
salmon, …
wide, 1.75 mile channel to Tongue Point based on
the speculation that the facility would be used.
?Today, there still is not a user for that site,?
she said.
Huhtala said CDOG had concerns other than those
addressed by Hicks, such as toxic waste on the
floor of Portland?s harbor, radioactive materials
in the Columbia River that could be stirred up
with the dredging operation and the turbidity
caused by blasting and dredging.
Carl Erickson, hydraulic engineer for the Corps,
said it had
A proposed extension on seven water rights permits to irrigate desert
farmland near Boardman, Ore., would provide enough water to further develop
state lands for agriculture, but only if the developer agrees to certain
conditions that would mitigate for potential impacts on fish and wildlife.
Some say the proposed final order and the settlement that produced it
is a compromise that protects the environment while allowing for further
agricultural development.
Others say the settlement …
Participants in U.S. v Oregon negotiations were exhorted Tuesday to
come up with a new Columbia River Fish Management plan to guide hatchery
and harvest activities.
‘"I can’t express how much I want you to be successful in these
negotiations," U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm F. Marsh said during
a status conference in his Portland courtroom.
"It would be sad if you had to return to this court with one piece
of litigation after another" to settle treaty …
West Coast commercial fishermen have told President Clinton they oppose
an increase in his $100 million Pacific Coast salmon recovery fund budget
now before Congress.
West Coast governors and members of Congress are seeking to increase
the amount in the fiscal year 2000 federal budget to $200 million or even
more.
In a March letter to Clinton, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s
Associations, which represents commercial and family businesses in California,
Oregon, …
A "good faith" effort to create a new regional forum for coordinating
Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife management activities will move
ahead despite a failed first attempt at unanimity.
The Columbia River Basin Forum became official last Friday (Jan. 29)
after 14 of 23 entities — states, federal agencies and Indian tribes —
involved in Basin fish and wildlife management signed a memorandum of agreement.
Another six parties, including the Yakama Indian Nation and the …
A protracted legal battle came to a close earlier this month when Avista
Corp. (formerly Washington Water Power) agreed to pay the Nez Perce Tribe
more than $39 million over the next 44 years as compensation for lost fishing
opportunities.
A mediator determined that a potential harvest of 1.5 million fish was
lost during the years the Grangeville and Lewiston dams blocked access
of salmon and steelhead to their historic Clearwater River spawning grounds
in central Idaho.
The …
The city of Portland laid out steps Tuesday to work with the National
Marine Fisheries Service along with state and local partners to aid in
the recovery of Lower Columbia steelhead, a species listed as endangered
by NMFS in March 1998.
Portland is the only major metropolitan area in the Northwest to be
affected by a listing of an aquatic species under the Endangered Species
Act. (NMFS is considering listing Puget Sound chinook in March.) The Willamette
River fall chinook and five other
Economic advisers for the Northwest Power Planning Council say lack
of information is making difficult for them to fully evaluate the economic
analyses being produced for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Lower Snake River
Feasibility Study.
In comments on the Drawdown Regional Economic Workgroup’s water supply
analysis, the Council’s Independent Economic Analysis Board (IEAB) said
this lack of information hampers the economists ability to fully evaluate
the workgroup’s conclusions regarding
The Columbia River Basin’s healthiest salmon stocks are expected to
continue their resurgence during 1999.
But little rebound is expected for wild upriver steelhead and other
salmon runs that have the potential to dictate overall fish harvest levels
and as well as other activities along the river.
Preliminary forecasts are for a return of 190,000 upriver bright fall
chinook this year, the biggest return since 1989 and nearly 50,000 more
than in 1998. A large portion of that total …
A policy to suspend road construction in roadless areas in the Columbia
River Basin is still being considered by the Forest Service.
Forest Service officials say the agency has been trying to resolve some
basic questions the policy raises — questions like, "What are roadless
areas?"
"As you get into the operational side of these administrative rules,
there are problems you begin to see," said Rhey Solomon, the Forest
Service’s assistant director of ecosystem …
The Pacific Fishery Management Council last week sent a draft description
of "essential fish habitat" (EFH) for salmon out for public review.
The 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) mandates describing EFH for
all commercially exploited fish species and recommending conservation measures.
The SFA amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act.
Defining "essential fish habitat" for salmon has been an upstream
struggle.
"Most of …
In response to deep cuts in the Army Corps of Engineers’ salmon recovery
budget, federal, state and tribal representatives met Wednesday to shed
about $30 million in proposed fish passage projects at Columbia/Snake River
mainstem dams.
The System Configuration Team, a multi-agency technical team, is charged
annually with recommending Columbia River Fish Mitigation program spending
priorities. The Corps, as the action agency, ultimately decides which programs
to carry out.
The …
Budgets approved Wednesday keep the Northwest Power Planning Council
"on track" to reduce its spending to $6.2 million annually by
2001, according to Steve Crow, the Council’s executive director.
At its meeting in Whitefish, Montana this week, the Council approved
a revised $7.155 million budget for fiscal year 1999 and a draft 2000 budget
of $6.724 million.
The draft 2000 budget compares to a peak Council allocation of nearly
$8.5 million in 1992. A staff analysis shows the
The National Marine Fisheries Service Monday (Aug. 3) listed the Oregon
coastal coho as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act
in order to comply with a federal ruling in June.
U.S. Magistrate Janice Stewart ruled the ESA does not allow NMFS to
consider future, voluntary actions under the state’s recovery plan as a
basis for rejecting a listing. Both NMFS and the state of Oregon have appealed
the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stewart had …
WHITE SALMON, Wash., — The breaching of the Condit Dam seems to be
the only logical business choice that could be made to satisfy fish passage
requirements, according to PacifiCorp officials.
A crowd of about 135 mostly White Salmon River drainage residents heard
that message Tuesday at a special meeting called to explain dam removal
options.
A large majority of those who offered comments cheered the prospect
of removing the impediment to salmon and steelhead passage. Others, …
A $13.4 billion Interior Appropriations bill includes language crafted
by Senator Slade Gorton that would allocate $2 million to initiate removal
of the lower Elwha River dam near Port Angeles contingent upon approval
of accompanying legislation limiting the ability of federal agencies to
modify the Columbia/Snake hydropower system without congressional authorization.
Information distributed by Gorton’s office says the Columbia River Basin
bill "prevents federal or state …
In order to provide "the deference owed the managers on fish and
wildlife issues," tribal attorneys for four Columbia Basin treaty
tribes are proposing a significant modification in the way $127 million
in fish and wildlife restoration projects are chosen for funding each year.
The proposal has already generated opposition from the staff of the
Northwest Power Planning Council, which manages the project selection process.
The Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, …
The recent listing of bull trout as a threatened species could give
bulls the same considerations as downstream salmon, and the state of Montana
could have more leverage in its efforts to influence dam operations, says
one of the state’s lead biologists.
Brian Marotz, fisheries program officer for the Department of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks, contends that salmon have been the favored species
for federal agencies that influence Montana’s dam operations. But that
may change with the …
The White Sturgeon Recovery Team has endorsed the dam release formulas
backed by the state of Montana, despite efforts of federal agencies to
discourage them.
The unanimous endorsement adds weight to Montana’s position in a tug-of-war
that has developed between salmon interests and those interested in the
welfare of inland native species like sturgeon.
The multi-agency sturgeon team met in Spokane June 4 to review a draft
recovery plan for sturgeon. The plan repeatedly calls for the
Interested parties have until July 24 to make comments
on suggested refinements to the Corps of Engineers’ mainstem capital construction
program.
A staff "issue paper" released May 19 by the Northwest Power
Planning Council focuses on potential efficiencies in Corps engineering
processes in terms of both improving design and reducing costs on Columbia
and Snake river fish passage improvement projects. The Council was asked
by Congress last year to conduct reviews of the …
Favorable ocean conditions are credited in large part with recent years’ revival of Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead stocks, but they do not appear to have overridden harm done to juvenile outmigrants as they swam toward the Pacific during 2001’s severe drought, according to analysis done by state and federal scientists.
Idaho’s Sen. Mike Crapo has taken on the challenge of refocusing a long-running and fractious debate about how much water, if any, should be siphoned from Idaho’s upper Snake River Basin to augment downstream Snake/Columbia flows for migrating salmon and steelhead.
The following is the transcript of President’s Bush’s remarks on Columbia Basin salmon restoration delivered August 22 at Ice Harbor Dam on the Lower Snake River.
A coalition of business, fishing, and conservation groups have sent a legal warning to the federal Bureau of Reclamation and NOAA Fisheries that the operation of 10 dams and reservoirs on the upper Snake River in Idaho needs to be re-evaluated to avoid harm to salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Four eastern Washington city councils approved this week a settlement that would free up water from the Columbia River to meet the cities’ water needs for the next 50 years.
The settlement now must go for final approval to the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board, which asked the groups to seek a settlement outside the court to avoid a costly and time consuming court battle.
Federal agencies, all four Columbia River basin states and farming, navigation, irrigation and utility interests last week all rallied to the support of the NOAA Fisheries’ salmon and steelhead protection strategy that has been declared illegal in U.S. District Court.
The Bonneville Power Administration estimates its wholesale power rates could go up approximately 5 percent over current rates for the next three years, beginning Oct. 1.
That’s significantly less than the 15 percent increase proposed last February. The agency reported the preliminary number this week in a draft record of decision in its rate process.
A request by the Umatilla Tribes for federal adjudication of treaty-reserved water rights has been linked to a senate bill in the Oregon Legislature that seeks to increase the state’s share of water from the Columbia River for economic development.
The state of Oregon is reopening public comment in its review of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $133.6 million plan to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel by three feet.
At the same time, the state is floating a complicated new proposal that would alter the Corps’ plan to restore shallow water habitat in the lower Columbia River estuary.
Wolf foes and proponents added their opinions to a state wolf management plan Wednesday in northwest Montana.
Montana unveiled its draft wolf recovery plan this week, but state officials cautioned that federal government needs to share in the costs of managing wolves.
The 288-page draft environmental impact statement lays out five possible approaches toward de-listing, ranging from strict to liberal controls on wolf populations.
Three Northwest Indian tribes filed notices today (Feb. 14) with the Pollution Control Hearings Board of Washington that challenge water rights permits issued in January by the Washington Department of Ecology.
The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, which provides matching grants to West Coast states and Columbia River tribes for habitat restoration and other projects, has come under fire from the Bush administration.
The White House Office of Management and Budget criticized the program for failing to target funds to help those species that are most at risk, not having program-wide performance measures and being slow to distribute grants.
A review of the available science surrounding salmon survival and the impacts of hydropower resources as well as municipal and irrigation water diversions in the Columbia River Basin in Washington begins in February.
The National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council appointed 13 scientists to complete the review and report their findings to the Washington Department of Ecology.
The face of Oregon’s Northwest Power Planning Council delegation is rapidly changing with the state’s former Senate president, Republican Gene Derfler, on Nov. 8 taking the seat that has been held by John Brogoitti.
The second of two Oregon spots on the NWPPC will shift from Eric Bloch to Melinda Eden on Jan. 1. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber made the appointments last week.
A federal judge has denied an injunction request that would have scuttled a planned six-year evaluation of the egg-to-fry survival of kokanee salmon in northern Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille.
The study is intended to further test the findings of an Idaho Department of Fish and Game study indicating that kokanee fry survival is greater when the lake is held at a higher winter level (2,055 feet above sea level) than levels maintained for the most part since the 1970s (2,051).
In an effort to better meet the water needs of a diverse population and, reduce the need for legal battles over the limited water supply, the Washington Department of Ecology on Tuesday formally filed a proposal to develop a new way for managing the waters of the Columbia River.
An eight-month effort to resolve issues through mediation has ended, coincident with a cavalcade of new filings in the lawsuit brought to challenge the federal government’s Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan.
Plaintiffs in the case, National Wildlife Federation, et al. v. National Marine Fisheries Service, are asking the court to require NMFS to withdraw its 2000 Federal Columbia River Power System biological opinion and reinitiate consultation on hydrosystem operations.
A Citizens’ Forum pledged to consensus building will present a conceptual “White Paper” that supports hatchery supplementation as a tool for rebuilding salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin.
The diverse group, which has been meeting since its organization in February of 2001, was the outgrowth of meetings started in 1999 between staff and policy makers of the Oregon Wheat Growers League and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Coastal commercial salmon fishermen and conservation groups were joined by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-California, Thursday in filing papers in U.S. District Court that challenge the federal government’s ten-year plan for managing irrigation in the Klamath River Basin.
The plan leaves migrating salmon high and dry, according to the groups.
The Nez Perce Tribe’s hatchery supplementation program — and to some extent Mother Nature — can be credited for this year’s fall chinook salmon count at Lower Granite Dam, which is expected to set a record with a return of 10,000 adult fish.
On Monday, 604 fall chinook were counted at the dam, located 20 miles northwest of Lewiston, Idaho, on the Snake River. That’s higher than the total fall season counts in six individual years since the dam was built in 1975.
Bonneville Power Administration administrator Steve Wright last week challenged the Columbia Basin’s federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife managers to identify potential cost reductions that could help the agency limit future power rate increases.
There was no middle ground this week as members of the public got their first chance to express their opinion about an updated $156.2 million proposal to deepen the lower Columbia River’s shipping channel to accommodate the deeper draft vessels that are becoming more common in maritime trade.
There was no middle ground this week as members of the public got their first chance to express their opinion about an updated $156.2 million proposal to deepen the lower Columbia River’s shipping channel to accommodate the deeper draft vessels that are becoming more common in maritime trade.
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Wednesday released a preliminary draft hatchery policy that reaffirms the agency’s emphasis on building self-sustaining salmon and steelhead populations in their natural ecosystem with careful consideration of the risks and benefits that hatchery fish might bring to the recovery process.
Endangered species listings, jeopardy opinions and related major decisions by federal agencies would be required to undergo scientific peer review under a bill approved Wednesday by the House Resources Committee.
The Bush administration has changed its position and now supports legislation to require fish and wildlife agencies to give greater weight in making endangered species listings and other decisions to peer-reviewed and field-gathered scientific information.
An envisioned 10-year plan for managing the federal Klamath Project failed to clear its final hurdle this week with the Bureau of Reclamation’s regional chief criticizing federal fish agencies’ strategies for protecting fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
The federal action agencies say they are “right on track” in implementing measures called for in a December 2000 federal fish recovery plan for the Columbia Basin.
Critics call that assertion a “fairy tale.”
A federal court in the District of Columbia has approved a settlement
agreement submitted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, thereby
ending a lawsuit initiated by the National Association of Home Builders in
exchange for the agency’s removal of “critical habitat designations” from
19 West Coast salmon and steelhead populations.
A state proposal to mitigate for taking a limited amount of groundwater — coupled with a recently completed but not fully reviewed study that links groundwater removal with river flows in the middle-Deschutes River basin — has Central Oregon residents worried.
The Senate on Thursday passed a sweeping energy bill that would allow owners of non-federal hydroelectric dams to change new fishway requirements if they showed they could meet environmental standards in less costly ways or benefit power production.
The National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday (March 11) teamed with
home building groups and others in asking the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to allow the withdrawal of critical habitat
designations for 19 Pacific salmon and steelhead populations listed
under the Endangered Species Act.
Thirteen environmental and fishing groups on Tuesday sought to intervene
in a federal court lawsuit that is challenging the Endangered Species
Act protected status of coho salmon in the Klamath River basin.
Citing “years of inaction” by the Oregon Board of Forestry, a coalition
of conservation and fishing groups has brought suit against the state
agency, claiming its top official is allowing logging practices that
violate the federal Endangered Species Act.
Six years after failing to reach consensus on federal legislation to
authorize and fund a third phase of a water-exchange project in the
Umatilla River Basin, parties are attempting again to work out their
differences in time to convince Congress to add about a quarter of a
million dollars to the Bureau of Reclamation’s budget to start a
feasibility study.
Two conservation groups filed a complaint late last month in federal
court seeking a final decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
protect the Kootenai River burbot of northern Idaho and northwest
Montana under the Endangered Species Act.
A Montana-based federal court judge on Monday stalled a proposal to
harvest 176 million board feet of charred timber on the Bitterroot
National Forest until the U.S. Forest Service complies with the federal
Appeals Reform Act.
Oregon’s senators have agreed on a $175 million federal spending plan to alleviate conflicts between agriculture and endangered species over water in the Klamath Basin.
A federal decision to revisit Endangered Species Act listing decisions
for 23 of 25 West Coast salmon and steelhead stocks has provoked a
variety of opinions about the future of the region’s fish recovery
efforts.
U.S. District Circuit Judge Michael Hogan on Tuesday turned aside
arguments that federal protection for Oregon coastal coho and their
habitat be continued while the federal government rethinks the status of
the salmon’s wild and hatchery produced populations.
No less than five administrative “de-listing” petitions — targeting
fish stocks from the Puget Sound to northern California and Oregon’s
Klamath Basin — have landed on federal fish managers’ desks in recent
week.
Seven environmental and fishing groups on Tuesday filed a series of
legal measures they hope will lead to an appeal of U.S. District Court
Judge Michael Hogan’s Sept. 10 decision that has resulted in the
delisting of the Oregon coastal coho.
An administrative petition calling for the delisting of seven Columbia
Basin salmon and steelhead stocks is, perhaps, the first legal broadside
delivered in response to a recent federal court decision declaring
illegal the Oregon coast coho’s listing under the Endangered Species
Act.
A surprisingly low July water supply forecast and the delayed startup of
the Northwest’s only nuclear power plant caused the Bonneville Power
Administration to say no to summer spill at today’s (June 29) combined
meeting of federal executives with states and tribes.
A lawsuit filed Thursday asks the U.S. District Court to order the
federal government to rethink a Columbia Basin salmon recovery plan that
the plaintiffs say is rife with faulty scientific assumptions and doomed
to failure because of a lack of Bush Administration support for
implementation funding.
A federal judge ruled last week that the Army Corps of Engineers has not
considered its obligations under the Clean Water Act at four lower Snake
River dams in any of its decision documents and ordered the agency to
draw up a plan within 60 days outlining how it will bring the dam
operations into compliance with water quality laws.
Environmental groups withdrew this week a petition asking for a
moratorium on handing out water withdrawal permits when Washington Gov.
Gary Locke announced plans to sponsor a regional initiative that would
develop a state water management strategy for the mainstem Columbia and
Snake rivers
Speakers this week at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hearing in
Portland supported the agency’s proposal to streamline its hydroelectric
dam licensing process, but worried the shortened process would harm
either the environment or the bottom line.
FERC is required by legislation to look for efficiencies in that process
and is holding six hearings around the country to listen to comments on
its proposal.
Panels made up of regional scientists, researchers and representatives
of economic interests were asked last week to offer their views on the
federal salmon recovery planning “process, science basis and prospects
for success.”
The setting was a Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Wildlife and Water hearing in Boise chaired by Idaho
Republican Sen. Mike Crapo.
The Senate has given final approval to an annual spending bill that
would provide some $170 million for West Coast salmon recovery,
primarily in the Northwest.
President Clinton is expected to veto the measure over unrelated
provisions, however. With the Senate having recessed this week, Congress
won’t take up a modified version until after Tuesday’s election. A lame
duck session is scheduled to begin on Nov. 14.
Reaction to Washington’s and Oregon’s denial of water quality permits
for deepening the Columbia River estuary ranged from proposed
celebrations in Astoria to a belief in Portland the process will still
work.
“Please pinch me, I might be dreaming,” said Peter Huhtala, executive
director of the Columbia Deepening Opposition Group in Astoria.
A Thursday morning session with a top Administration official produced
little satisfaction for Columbia Basin tribes who insist federal salmon
recovery plans miss a major mark by forestalling a decision to breach
four hydroelectric projects on the Lower Snake River.
“Today I was obliged to deliver the message to Mr. George Frampton,
representing the White House, that the federal decision not to breach
the lower Snake River dams is a purposeful and conscious decision to …
The Port of Portland proposed this week to take over cleanup efforts in
the lower 5.5 miles of the Willamette River from Swan Island to the
river’s confluence with the Columbia River to avoid an imminent
Superfund listing.
A new incarnation of a massive plan for federal lands in the Northwest
will be released for comment in the next month.
Second-year Council member Larry Cassidy of Washington was elected
Wednesday as chairman of the Northwest Power Planning Council as it
prepares to reshape its Columbia Basin fish and wildlife program and
establish new procedures for allocating funding of fish and wildlife
restoration projects.
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