In the Media

Breach or Die: It’s Time to Free the Lower Snake River and Save Idaho’s Wild Salmon

On a hillside above the Salmon River, Kyle Smith, his setter, and I stood there and panted. Still catching our breath from the climb, we looked down to see a fish break the water’s surface. The big Chinook rolled in a deep pool, a fine place to rest during her long trip home from the Pacific. Swimming more than 500 miles up the Columbia and Snake Rivers before taking a left up the Salmon, this fish dodged predators, avoided gillnets, and fought through walls of concrete to carry the next generation upstream.

Many residents say publicly they support maintaining hydropower at Willamette River dams

The trade-offs between hydropower dams and endangered salmon in the Willamette Valley have been on full display in public feedback in a series of meetings hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The public meetings took place as an operational change at two dams meant to help fish is deluging rivers with mud.

Willamette Valley residents and conservationists weighed in on the future of eight hydropower dams operated by the corps and the future of endangered salmon in three public comment sessions on Monday and Tuesday. The meetings coincide with preparation of a corps’ report to Congress on whether hydropower production should be removed at some or all eight of the power-producing dams in its Willamette Valley project.

Billions of seeds replace dams on restored Klamath River

Plans to revegetate 2,200 acres along the reconfigured river include planting more than 100 native species from hand-harvested seeds.

In the shadow of the nation’s largest dam removal effort — the dismantling of four dams on the Lower Klamath River — ecologists are focused on an intensive rebuilding project that will spring from 20 billion seeds.

Restoration crews are preparing to begin planting new vegetation on 2,200 acres of soon-to-be-exposed reservoir beds and along up to 60 miles of the reconfigured waterway. Starting next year, they will begin to sow billions of native seeds across Oregon and California, recreating the landscape that once bordered the river.

Biden admin nears settlement on Pacific Northwest dam dispute

The Biden administration revealed Tuesday it is near a settlement in the long-running legal battle over the future of 14 controversial dams in the Pacific Northwest and expects to reach agreement in the case by mid-December.

In a joint motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the Justice Department asked for six weeks to seek final approval on “a package of actions and commitments” but did not offer further details on the expected settlement.

Sites Reservoir and Greenhouse Gases

Eco 712: We spoke with Jann Dorman, Keiko Mertz, and Ron Stork of Sacramento-based Friends of the River. They have recently released a report that offers important new perspectives. It’s called Estimate of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the Proposed Sites Reservoir Project using the All-Res Modeling Tool. Supported by Patagonia, the report reveals astonishing amounts of greenhouse gases likely to be emitted by Sites, not only the construction fumes, but “naural” emissions produced by such factors as algae and vegetation decay. One more reason to oppose Sites.