Category – Fish and wildlife

Council members approved funding for nonrecurring maintenance of fish screens and hatcheries.

The Hanford Reach of the Columbia River is the only free-flowing portion of the river in the U.S., home to 70 percent of the Chinook salmon that spawn in the Columbia system.

Despite good ocean conditions in the recent years, the trend for the future is not encouraging, according to NOAA Supervisory Research Fish Biologist Brian Burke.

The Council was briefed on the continued support for addressing non-recurring maintenance needs for past fish and wildlife investments in hatcheries, fish screens, and mitigation lands.

WDFW & IDFG gave an overview of the 2022 adult Chinook, coho, sockeye, and chum salmon and steelhead runs for the Columbia River and expectations for the 2023 fisheries, including information on the Snake River Basin salmon and steelhead returns and the forecast returns for 2023.

When invasive and non-native species become introduced into a location, the results can be devastating. From aquatic mussels to wild pigs, they can spread disease, feed on endangered species, compete for resources, overwhelm native species, reduce diversity, and often create cascading effects to the food web.

This new tool is designed to help evaluate the performance of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The Program Tracker compiles and displays data and information on Strategy Performance Indicators to track the status of ecological and biological conditions.

The Program Tracker is a new tool designed to help evaluate the performance of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

Sea lion predation on salmon, steelhead, and white sturgeon in the Columbia Basin has been a growing concern since the late 1990s, especially in the area below Bonneville Dam.

This innovative program, which helps balance the water needs of landowners with the needs of salmon, steelhead, and resident fish, requires close collaboration.