Columbia Basin Bulletin - August 11, 2025

First Sockeye Returns Since 2015, Tribes Reintroducing Salmon, Forecasted Steelhead Return Gets A Boost... and more

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Columbia Basin Bulletin
August 11, 2025

Idaho’s first endangered sockeye salmon arrived at a Sawtooth Basin fish trap July 23, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The Colville Tribes and the Tribes’ project partners, the Spokane Tribe and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, have been reintroducing Chinook salmon to the waters upstream of Grand Coulee Dam since 2017. On July 8th, a juvenile Chinook salmon was caught and photographed in the Kettle River, just downstream from Cascade Falls in British Columbia. It’s the first report of a Chinook in the Kettle River since the reintroduction began.

A bleak preseason forecast for summer steelhead turned positive this week when a team of fisheries biologists recorded more steelhead passing Bonneville Dam than had been expected this year and nearly tripled the forecasted return.

Plaintiffs in litigation that challenged the U.S. government over a biological opinion and environmental impact statement for the operations of Columbia and Snake river dams and their impacts on salmon and steelhead have returned to court.

Anticipating extra turbidity and an interruption of the clean drinking water it withdraws from the North Santiam River, the City of Salem declared a state of emergency at its City Council meeting last week. The expected turbidity is due to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ deep drawdown next year of its reservoir backed up behind Detroit Dam to aid juvenile salmon and steelhead passage, particularly for salmon and steelhead listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Harvest and effort by recreational anglers during fall fisheries in the Columbia River last year are among the best in the past 45 years, according to a joint state staff report by states and tribes.

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

The deadly, record-breaking heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest in June 2021 continues to be the subject of intense interest among scientists, policy makers and the public. A new study from some of the region's top climate scientists synthesized more than 70 publications addressing the causes and consequences of the extreme heat wave and the potential for similar high-heat events to happen in the future.

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

Two environmental groups are suing to halt what they say is pollution released from three commercial net pen aquaculture facilities that produce steelhead located on the Columbia River in Eastern Washington. The groups say Pacific SeaFood Aquaculture LLC has been violating its Clean Water Act permits since 2020 and has been harming wild fish and the river’s ecosystem, home to anadromous fish species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

A federal district court in Missoula has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it determined that gray wolves in the western U.S. do not warrant federal protections. The ruling means that the Service’s finding that gray wolves in the West do not qualify for listing is vacated and sent back to the agency for a new decision, consistent with the ESA and best available science.

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

The Bonneville Power Administration say it is “strategically raising power and transmission rates to meet customer needs and support national priorities for more abundant, reliable and secure energy.”

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