The Nez Perce Tribe is reclaiming an ancestral village site in the Eastern Oregon town of Joseph more than a century after being pushed out the area. This month, the tribe purchased 148 acres of an area known as “the place of boulders,” or Am’sáaxpa. Read More
Oregon and Washington have joined 26 states and cities in suing the Trump administration over a new rule that weakens emission standards for cars and trucks. Continue Reading Washington And Oregon Join Multi-State Lawsuit Read More
Regulations that began Jan. 1 restrict bottom trawl fishing on about 90% of the seafloor off Washington, Oregon and California. Continue Reading 2020 Brings New Protections For West Coast Seafloor HabitatRead More
A new Trump administration plan to scale back a bedrock environmental law could affect all kinds of projects in the Northwest, including timber sales, hydroelectric dams, and large energy developments like the controversial Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project with its 235-mile Pacific Connector pipeline. Read More
Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California-Berkeley looked at which forests in the Western United States should be prioritized for preservation under climate change scenarios. Continue Reading Not Logging Read More
The Yakama Nation and the states of Oregon and Washington are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare a new Superfund site on the Columbia River at Bradford Island alongside Bonneville Dam. Continue Reading Read More
Environmental groups have been pressing PacifiCorp for years to close more of its coal plants sooner and speed up its transition to renewable energy. But leaders in states like Wyoming, where the utility’s coal plants are stationed, say the company would be hurting local economies and betraying their trust by closing coal plants early. Read More
Scientists have detected a marine heat wave off the West Coast that they say is reminiscent of the massive stretch of warm water nicknamed “the Blob” in 2014-15. Continue Reading Return Of ‘The Blob’? Marine Read More
Too much fishing with trawl nets led to a devastating collapse in fish populations in the 1990s. Widow rockfish were one of 10 different groundfish species that were declared overfished, and trawl boats were restricted from catching them. Continue Read More
On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide $11 million to improve unsafe and unsanitary living conditions at tribal fishing sites on the Columbia River. Continue Reading U.S. House Passes Read More
Federal agencies and Northern California’s Yurok Tribe have released a plan to reintroduce critically endangered California condors to the Pacific Northwest. Continue Reading New Plan Would Return California Condors To Northwest SkiesRead More
As coal plants retire across the country, Portland-based NuScale Power wants to replace some of that electricity with its small-scale nuclear plants. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems wants to build a 720-megawatt nuclear plant at the Idaho National Laboratory site in Idaho Falls. Read More
Lawmakers in both Washington and Oregon are considering bills that would ban single-use plastic bags statewide to reduce plastic pollution. Continue Reading Lawmakers Consider Statewide Plastic Bag Bans In Washington And OregonRead More
Oregon’s bottle deposit system is recycling more containers than ever before despite major disruptions in global recycling markets. Continue Reading Oregon Bottle Deposit System Hits 90 Percent Redemption RateRead More
For years, Oregon and Washington have been searching for the best way to catch more hatchery fish while letting the wild fish return unharmed to their spawning grounds. Now, one group says they’ve found it. Continue Reading Banned Fish Read More
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has started killing sea lions below Willamette Falls to protect a fragile run of winter steelhead. Continue Reading Oregon Starts Killing Sea Lions At Willamette FallsRead 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
Federal fishery managers are increasing the catch limits for several West Coast species that were overfished and severely restricted for years. Surveys show depleted populations of yellow eye and bocaccio rockfish, cow cod and ocean perch — all classified as groundfish — are rebounding decades ahead of schedule. Read More
Congress has agreed to make it easier to kill sea lions threatening fragile runs of salmon in the Northwest. A bill approved by the House this week changes the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lift some of the restrictions on killing sea lions to protect salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River and its tributaries. Read More
The Northwest is already seeing the effects of climate change, according to a new national climate assessment. Continue Reading Report: Climate Change Is Already Bringing Problems To Northwest — And It Will Get WorseRead More
Federal and state energy regulators will hold back-to-back meetings in Portland and Seattle for a proposal to reclassify some of the high-level nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Site. Continue Reading State And Federal Regulators Read More
A year ago, the Eagle Creek Fire was spreading quickly through the Columbia River Gorge. The fire ravaged many popular hiking trails, burning footbridges, toppling trees and creating hazardous landslides. Continue Reading A Year On, See Read More
The next time you’re shopping for beer in Oregon, take a close look at the bottle. A select few will be thicker and heavier than usual with the word “refillable” stamped into the glass. Continue Reading Oregon Launches First Statewide Refillable Read More
A variety of forest experts say that one of the best ways to reduce the threat of these mega-blazes is to use fire itself. They say we need to increase the pace of prescribed fire and let some wildfires continue to burn when it’s safe to do so. Of course, there’s not nearly as much political support for letting fires burn as there is for putting fires out. Read More
Somewhere under the rocks in Hood Canal, neuroscientist Allison Coffin may find the secret to protecting people’s hearing cells or even regenerating the ones we’ve lost. Continue Reading Washington Scientists Study ‘Singing Fish’ For Ways To Read More
Scientists say a starfish populations are recovering from a devastating die-off with help from a massive baby boom. Continue Reading A Baby Boom Is Helping West Coast Starfish Recover After Die-OffRead More
After issuing two drinking water advisories for toxins produced by a harmful algae bloom, the city of Salem is testing out a possible solution. Continue Reading Salem Tests A New Way To Remove Toxins From Drinking WaterRead More
Over the past year, more than 10,000 tons of Oregon’s recycling has been dumped in landfills because there was nowhere else for it to go.
It’s one of the consequences of new restrictions on shipping recyclables to China. Continue Reading This Is Why A Read More
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has decided not to elevate the endangered species status of the marbled murrelet after all. Continue Reading Oregon Reverses Course On Increasing Protections For An Imperiled SeabirdRead More
A small hot spot flared up early Tuesday morning about a half-mile east of the Herman Creek Trailhead. It’s less than a quarter of an acre with little chance that it will spread. Firefighters are using nearby creek water to extinguish it. Continue Reading Read More
In July, seven Oregon craft breweries will start selling beer in reusable glass bottles in the country’s first statewide refillable beer bottle program. Continue Reading The Refillable Beer Bottle Is Making A Comeback In OregonRead More
The U.S. Forest Service says it will have more money to fight wildfires and more tools to prevent them thanks to the new wildfire funding bill Congress recently approved. Continue Reading Forest Service Says Disaster Funding Bill Read More
The U.S. Forest Service plans soon to reopen some of the trails in the Columbia River Gorge that have been closed since the Eagle Creek Fire last year. Continue Reading Some Columbia River Gorge Trails Closed By Eagle Creek Fire To Reopen This Read More
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is gearing up for its biggest-ever planned spill of water over dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. It’s a move ordered by a federal court to help endangered fish. To make sure it’s done right, dam managers tested options first using miniature models of Northwest dams way down in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Read More
Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek is proposing an amendment to a controversial cap and trade bill that would allow the Legislature to delay voting on key details until next year. Continue Reading Oregon’s Carbon-Reducing Cap And Read More
The whales off the West Coast depend on sound to communicate, navigate and find food. So, what happens to their health when we fill their habitat with noisy ship traffic? Continue Reading How Do Whales Respond To Noise Pollution? Drones May Tell UsRead More
Oregon lawmakers held a joint committee hearing Monday on a bill that would create a cap and trade program to reduce the state’s carbon emissions. Continue Reading Oregon Lawmakers Hear Opposing Views On Carbon Tax BillRead More
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced plans to reopen the West Coast to offshore oil and gas leasing. But with strong opposition and unproven oil and gas reserves, it’s unclear whether anyone will take that chance. Continue Read More
SolarWorld, based out of Hillsboro, Oregon, is hiring back workers and planning to ramp up its production now that President Donald Trump has approved a 30 percent tariff on imported panels. Continue Reading Oregon Solar Panel Maker Ramps Read More
A federal judge has approved a plan to spill more water through dams in the Columbia River Basin this spring. Continue Reading Salmon Plan Approved Allowing More Water Over Columbia River DamsRead More
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized the next big step in cleaning up the Portland Harbor Superfund site: inking an agreement for how pollution levels will be tested. Continue Reading EPA Reaches Agreement With Oregon On Read More