With the Obama administration expected to announce its position on the 2008 hydro BiOp by this Friday, a last-minute PR blitz by BiOp critics has spilled over into proposed legislation that calls for more study of "all" recovery options for Columbia Basin salmon--"all" being the code for breaching lower Snake dams. ...more

Last week, BiOp judge James Redden gave federal officials another month to work on their final position vis a vis the latest plan for operating dams and saving salmon, but it looks less likely that any kind of settlement with plaintiffs in the ongoing litigation will be reached. ...more

Columbia Basin harvest managers expect about 20 percent more fall chinook to return in 2009 than last year, when nearly 450,000 made it back to the river, according to the July 16 joint staff report from Washington and Oregon fish and wildlife departments. ...more

It's only a matter of time before Northwest hydro operators will be plagued by millions of tiny mussels, said a government scientist at the July meeting of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. ...more

Water temperatures in Northwest rivers rose along with surface temperatures last week, causing fish managers on both sides of the border to worry about the heat's effects on both young and old migrating salmon. ...more

The wildlife portion of the region's BPA-funded Fish and Wildlife Program got a boost last week after the Northwest Power and Conservation Council approved $70 million in funding over the next five years. The money will pay for 34 projects vetted by the independent science panel that reviews the merit of F&W proposals. ...more

The Ninth Circuit Court has nixed an appeal by conservation groups that argued the National Marine Fisheries Service had not properly factored recovery of Puget Sound's listed chinook into its harvest plan and biological opinion for the ESA-protected run. ...more

After predicting a 2009 return of more than 10 million sockeye, Canadian biologists are stunned at the poor show of the country's premier sockeye run. ...more