One of the electrical switchyards at Grand Coulee Dam. (Credit: Bureau of Reclamation) Listen (Runtime 0:56) Read There’s a transfer happening at Grand Coulee Dam. After years of planning, the […]Read More
A portion of the Electron Dam on the Puyallup River has to be removed, according to a decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The federal appeals court upheld the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that a vertical metal wall portion of the dam, a temporary spillway, makes the dam a complete barrier to fish passage and Read More
In recent years, non-native American shad migrating past Bonneville Dam greatly outnumbered the total salmon and steelhead. (Credit: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center / Flickr Creative Commons) Listen (Runtime 1:10) Read […]Read More
Darren Ogden, a biologist with NOAA, watches as technician Riley Krieg nets sockeye salmon to put them into a tank on a truck. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / NWPB) Watch Listen […]Read More
At a Lower Snake River dams forum in the Tri-Cities, Chuck Bender, who said his family members are tugboat operators, fell to his knees in front of U.S. Rep. Dan […]Read More
The Columbia River west of the Gorge as it heads toward Portland and out to the Pacific Ocean. (Credit: Amelia Templeton / OPB) WATCH Listen (Runtime 1:01) Read After more […]Read More
Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said removing the four dams on the Lower Snake isn’t feasible right now. CREDIT: Bonneville […]Read More
Smallmouth bass are good indicators of methylmercury exposure to humans and wildlife because they are a common, popular sport fish and eat a variety of food during their lifetime. (Credit: […]Read More
Sockeye salmon like these are among the salmon species in peril. (Credit: Aaron Kunz) Listen (Runtime 2:57) Read For Northwest tribes, removing the four lower Snake River dams means more […]Read More
Yakama Nation biologist Dave’y Lumley shows Aleeyah McJoe, 7, an adult lamprey at the Yakama Nation’s Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration. (Credit: Courtney Flatt / Northwest News Network) Listen (Runtime 0:59) […]Read More
Sockeye salmon like these are among the salmon species in peril. Credit: Aaron Kunz Listen (Runtime 1:05) Read By Courtney Flatt and Tony Schick President Biden today directed federal agencies […]Read More
A line of about a dozen people passed buckets of summer chinook salmon to be released into Hangman Creek. (Credit: Courtney Flatt) Listen (Runtime 1:05) Read In a historic agreement, […]Read More
Yakama Nation biologist Dave’y Lumley shows Aleeyah McJoe, 7, an adult lamprey at the Yakama Nation’s Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration. (Credit: Courtney Flatt.) Listen (Runtime 4:15) Read On the banks […]Read More
El sol apenas comenzaba a salir sobre el río Columbia en Bridgeport, Washington, cuando un pescador Colville capturó el primer salmón de la temporada.Read More
The Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. CREDIT: BPA Listen (Runtime 1:02) Read At a Congressional hearing in Richland, Wash., designed to defend the four Lower Snake River dams […]Read More
Ira Stevenson preps salmon filets for the salmon bake after a First Salmon ceremony at Chief Joseph dam in north central Washington. (Credit: Courtney Flatt.) Listen (Runtime 4:04) Read The […]Read More
For 90 days, an oil leak went undetected by the Army Corps of Engineers at Little Goose Dam in southeastern Washington. CREDIT: Northwest Power and Conservation Council, Flickr Creative Commons […]Read More
Breaching the Snake River dams is one major way to protect salmon, according to a final federal report announced Friday on salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia River Basin.Read More
If two British Columbia tailings dams fail, it could spell disaster, according to two reports that analyzed the chances of the dams failing.Read More
A much-awaited report said removing the four Lower Snake River dams shouldn't happen right now, but dam removal is the best way to protect Snake River salmon.Read More
Two Pacific lamprey have made history. The eel-like fish have made it past the Soda Springs Dam on Oregon’s North Umpqua River.Read More
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are tagging and releasing lamprey to learn more about their journey to sea from inland rivers.Read More
Eric Engle was involved with the installation of the new red, white, and blue lights on Dworshak Dam. His family said he was a proud veteran. (Photo by Leevon Pinson […]Read More
Four members of the U.S. Congress recently got a close look at Washington’s Snake River dams.Read More
Researchers at PNNL tag young chinook salmon with tags slightly larger than a grain of rice Listen: Northwest News Network’s Courtney Flatt reports on data released that tracks fish and […]Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing its investigation into the deaths of around 30 steelhead trout near Idaho’s Dworshak Dam on the North Fork of the Clearwater River.Read More
Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee said they'll listen to diverse viewpoints with open minds to recover salmon and potentially breach the four Lower Snake River dams.Read More
A longstanding court battle over the federal government’s plan to manage dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers could be on hold until next summer.Read More
Tribes across the Northwest called for immediate action to remove the four Lower Snake River dams during a two-day Salmon and Orca summit in western Washington. The group called on President Biden and congressional members to “take bold action, now.”Read More
A wide-ranging proposal to save wild salmon by removing the four Lower Snake River dams may be dead in the water. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray say any proposal for the controversial dams needs a “science-based,” “community-driven” approach.Read More
The Upper Columbia United Tribes are working together to prove salmon can be reintroduced – and can survive – in the waters above Grand Coulee. Read More
This month, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho issued a bold plan that called for removing those same dams to save the salmon. In between those two acts were decades of litigation that show no sign of ending and $17 billion worth of improvements to the dams that did little to help fish.Read More
A $33.5 billion stimulus package would breach the four dams by 2031. Much of the funding would go toward solutions for what would be lost, including hydropower, less access to irrigation, grain transportation and economic development for Lewiston and the Tri-Cities.Read More
Fans of rapper Eminem, whose movie "8 Mile" featured his hit song “Lose Yourself” might note, as the song’s lyrics do, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” Now, the public has an opportunity to comment on the environmental review of the aging Eightmile Dam in central Washington's Alpine Lakes Wilderness.Read More
The campaigning is done. Now what's left is the counting. Here is how candidates in Washington’s 4th and 5th Congressional districts have talked about key environmental and natural resource issues during the campaign.Read More
After four years of study, the Record of Decision makes the federal agencies’ preferred option official. Managers and dam supporters say it will benefit salmon, reliable hydropower and the economy. Wild salmon advocates, tribal representatives and renewable energy advocates say this decision will hurt salmon and the orcas that depend on them for food.Read More
Debates have dragged on for decades about whether to remove or alter the four dams. The Army Corps, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration received almost 59,000 comments on the draft EIS this spring. The agencies are expected to finalize this plan by Sept. 30.Read More
A dam removal that has been 20 years in the making reached an important milestone this week. Explosives ripped through the concrete on the Middle Fork Nooksack, east of Bellingham. Read More
Water temperatures are expected to increase as the climate warms. Rivers saw a glimpse of what the future could hold five summers ago, when low water flows and hot temperatures killed thousands of salmon.Read More
If you want to attend public hearings on the federal government’s plan to manage the Columbia and Snake River dams, you’ll have to do it by phone. The previously scheduled in-person meetings are now teleconferences.Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration laid out a range of six alternatives in a draft environmental impact statement. The most controversial measure would have been to remove or alter the four Lower Snake River dams.Read More
For years, engineers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have worked to design a hydroelectric turbine that’s safer for fish. They’ve recently installed a new design that’s improving energy efficiency and improving fish survival along the Snake River, with plans to upgrade more turbines over the next several years.Read More
The environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper has sued dam operators along the Columbia and Snake rivers. They hope to reduce oil spills, require operators to monitor how much oil is leaking into the water and ask dam managers to look into using eco-friendly oil. Read More
If you live at the foot of a dam – or downriver – you may wonder what could happen if an earthquake rumbled nearby. Dam managers say it’s something they’re constantly watching, but major shaking east of the Cascades shouldn’t cause too much damage. Read More
Washington's Snake River dams are important to wheat farmers.The state's wheat crop brings $700 million into the state's economy, more than any crop except apples. The vast majority of that wheat gets exported, most of it to Asia.Read More
Tucked into Washington’s $52.4 billion operating budget passed Sunday night by the Legislature is controversial funding for a “stakeholder group” tasked with looking into what would happen should the four Lower Snake River dams be removed or altered.Read More
A new agreement aims to help more young salmon make their way past dams along the Columbia and Snake rivers. The agreement, reached this week, spells out new strategies for spilling more water over the dams — and sending less water through power-generating turbines — each spring. Read More
For the last 40 years, something has been missing from Oregon’s Lostine River: coho salmon. Now, 42 coho have made it to the waters in the last two weeks.Read More
A federal court ruled Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency must come up with a plan to protect salmon from warm water temperatures.Read More
As the Northwest’s killer whales have gained worldwide attention, more calls are being made to bolster the population of salmon they eat. One big way to do that, supporters say, is by removing Lower Snake River dams. But the federal government isn’t so sure that’s the answer.Read More
