Columbia Basin Bulletin - Memorial Day Weekend Edition

Salmon Cold Water Refuge, NOAA ESA Lawsuit, Large-Scale Habitat Restoration On Lower East End ... and more

Habitat work by Columbia River tribes is in progress to maintain and rejuvenate refuges of cold water in the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam in partnership with the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.

The Wild Fish Conservancy filed a lawsuit this month in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. in an effort to speed up NOAA Fisheries’ review of the Washington-based conservation group’s proposal to list Chinook salmon in Alaska under the federal Endangered Species Act.

This spring, the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership broke ground on a large-scale salmon habitat restoration project on the lower East Fork Lewis River in Washington State. This project will support the recovery of threatened steelhead and salmon on one of the few undammed rivers in the Lower Columbia River watershed.

In its first in-season run size update of the 2025 spring Chinook season, the U.S. v Oregon Technical Advisory Committee on Monday, May 19, raised its expectations for the upriver run by 21 percent to 155,500 fish.

Public comments are open until June 6 on whether and how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should implement a deeper fall drawdown at its Detroit Reservoir as well as whether the agency should permanently end hydropower production at eight dams in Oregon’s Willamette River basin.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) says the Trump Administration’s spending plans for the Army Corps of Engineers would steer hundreds of millions of dollars more in construction funding to red states while cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in construction funding for blue states.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says forecasted 2025 total Alaska commercial salmon harvest will be approximately 214.6 million fish, which is 111 million more salmon than the 2024 harvest.

Scientists at Washington State University have found that juvenile European green crabs can do as much damage as adults to shellfish and native sea plants, calling into question current methods to eradicate the invasive crustaceans.

The largest grant in University of Idaho’s history, intended to provide payment directly to Idaho producers for developing sustainable agricultural practices, was terminated last week as a result of new criteria implemented by the United States Department of Agriculture.

OSU Analysis Suggests Thousands Of Animal Species Threatened By Climate Change, Invertebrates Increasingly Invulnerable

A novel analysis suggests more than 3,500 animal species are threatened by climate change and also sheds light on huge gaps in fully understanding the risk to the animal kingdom.

The South Fork Snake River is one of the last major conservation strongholds for Idaho's state fish – the cutthroat trout -- but they are losing ground and only occupy 34% of their historical range in the lower Snake River drainage. Anglers willing to harvest rainbow trout can help change this trajectory.

Higher than expected revenues, lower expenses and debt management have resulted in the Bonneville Power Administration forecasting net revenues of $210 million, $70 million above agency targets. The encouraging results improve on the first quarter net revenue forecast of negative $44 million, which was impacted by the dry winter weather.

President Trump’s proposed budget would end funding of research for America’s bees coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey Bee Lab. The budget proposal eliminates all $307 million in funding to the Ecosystem Management Area, a division within the USGS that funds biological research, including the Bee Lab.

New research reveals mountain glaciers across the globe will not recover for centuries – even if human intervention cools the planet back to the 1.5°C limit, having exceeded it.