Apparently, salmon don’t like the smell of watercress. The aroma of shrimp doesn’t pique their interest either. And the fragrance, eu de steelhead? A definite no-go. Continue Reading Scent Research Could Help More Salmon Find Their Way HomeRead 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
Almost 40 years ago, Scott Nicolai started his stream restoration career taking logs out of the water. A project that’s putting more than 6,000 logs back into remote streams across Central Washington. Continue Reading Helicoptering Logs In 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. Continue Reading Lost No More: Coho Salmon Return To Oregon’s Lostine River 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. Continue Reading EPA Must Protect Northwest Salmon From Warming Waters, Judge RulesRead More
It's the bear body-positive competition you didn't know you needed. The results are in. And this year's winner in Katmai National Park and Reserve's annual "fattest bear" contest is 409 Beadnose. Continue Reading Alaska’s Katmai National 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
The Seattle waterfront is getting a redesign to be friendlier to fish. The city is redesigning this area for migrating salmon, making it more like the shoreline that was here before there was a city. Continue Reading Seattle’s New Seawall Is Built To Help Read More
In the past few days, dam advocates and people who want more wild salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers have been putting on their best shows. At the U.S. House committee hearing on Monday, dam advocates gave the bulk of the testimony. Read More
On Sunday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m., the Washington State Department of Transportation closed Blewett Pass for five days to replace fish-blocking pipes with a fish-friendly concrete box. The construction will cost taxpayers $1.2 million, although that’s nowhere near the full cost of the project. Read More
In a clash of protected species, Pacific Northwest members of Congress are coming down in favor of salmon. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to vote to make it easier to kill sea lions who feast on Columbia and Willamette River salmon and steelhead. Read More
The U.S. House approved a bill Jun 26 that makes it easier to kill a limited number of sea lions that threaten imperiled salmon and steelhead populations. Continue Reading U.S. House Bill OKs Killing Sea Lions To Protect Columbia River Read More
A tie in the U.S. Supreme Court may cost Washington state $2 billion. The court split 4-4 June 11 in a long-running court battle between tribes and the state over salmon-blocking road culverts. Continue Reading Supreme Court Gives Read More
The Puyallup Tribe welcomed the first salmon of the year back to the Puyallup River in Tacoma on Tuesday. Strangely, perhaps, that chinook’s epic journey from mid-Pacific Ocean to a Puyallup fishing net begins with a sloshing tanker truck. Continue Reading How The Read More
The U.S. House passed has approved a bill that would circumvent a federal judge’s order for dams on the lower Snake River to spill more water and protect current dam operations through the next four years. It was sponsored and pushed by two Washington state Republicans. Read More
One of the eco-labels Wilcox Farms acquired in recent years is “salmon-safe,” a label more often seen on craft beer and Northwest wine bottles than egg cartons. The salmon and steelhead in the Nisqually River have been declining for decades, and that’s a huge concern for the Nisqually Tribe. 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
The federal government will have to spill more water over Columbia and Snake river dams starting Tuesday in an effort to help young salmon migrating to the ocean. This will make up the biggest planned water spill over dams for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read More
Seventeen years ago, 21 tribes sued Washington state to fix road culverts. On April 18, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to take on the case. The question is whether state taxpayers should have to dish out billions to dig up roads so salmon can get through. The court’s decision will have repercussions for tribes all over the West. Read More
Orcas survive largely on a single food source: Chinook salmon migrating from Northwest rivers. As Chinook populations have declined, orcas have struggled to find enough to eat. Continue Reading Three Things You Should Know About Chinook Read More
Ocean conditions off the Pacific Northwest seem to be returning to normal after a three-year spike in water temperature. It’s promising long-term news for fishermen who are looking ahead in the short term to yet another year of low salmon returns. Read More
If all goes according to plan, there could soon be salmon above the Grand Coulee Dam again. That’s according to Cody Desautel, director of Natural Resources for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville. Continue Reading After 70 Read More
While the orcas of Puget Sound are sliding toward extinction, orcas farther north have been expanding their numbers. Their burgeoning hunger for big fish may be causing the killer whales’ main prey, chinook salmon, to shrink up and down the West Coast. Continue Read More
Every year, wildlife officials keep track of how many salmon return to their spawning grounds. This year, they expect low returns of salmon in Washington state—and that could change the fishing outlook.
Continue Reading Forecasts Predict Low Read More
Salmon researchers in the Northwest are turning to sound to learn more about the fish they’re trying to understand. Continue Reading Listen Up: Northwest Researchers Have Started Tracking Salmon With SoundRead More
Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit filed against 30 private companies and government entities for cleanup costs associated with pollution at the Portland Harbor Superfund site are expected to start in April. Continue Reading Yakama Nation Sues For Read More
Each time it rained during an eight-week period in the winter of 2015, someone from Jenifer McIntyre’s team drove up to Seattle and collected stormwater near the Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington. Continue Reading Researchers In Seattle Read More
Every winter, hundreds of bald eagles migrate through Idaho’s panhandle. This year, eagles numbers are at a record high. Migrating eagles start to arrive in mid-November, just as the blue-backed kokanee salmon return to the lake. Continue Reading Read More
It took the threat of a lawsuit, but a federal agency is no longer killing the Beaver State’s beavers. Environmental groups had challenged the practice in Oregon because, they said, it’s a threat to more than just the state animal. Like much in the Northwest, it touches on salmon. Read More
Researchers had long suspected salmon have lost huge amounts genetic diversity over the years. But they’d never tested the hypothesis -- until now. Continue Reading Big (And Fishy) Problem: Salmon Losing Their Genetic DiversityRead 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
Sixty different entities in a salmon recovery project have been collaborating for nearly a decade, trying to solve the mystery of why so many of the juvenile fish die after they swim out to the ocean. Can artificial intelligence help? Continue Reading Could Read More
They’ve been called devil fish. They’re No. 1 on the hit-list for invasive aquatic life in Washington waters. And they’re creeping farther and farther down the Columbia River system. Continue Reading Invasive ‘Devil Fish’ Read More
A Chinook salmon. Listen One of Idaho’s struggling salmon species could eventually become self-sustaining in the wild under the federal government’s new recovery strategies. The two new recovery plans are… Continue Reading ‘A Read More
Coho salmon, left, and Chinook salmon, swim past viewing windows at a fish ladder at the Ballard Locks in Seattle. Photo credit: Elaine Thompson / Associated Press Listen It… Continue Reading How Salmon Sex Shapes Landscapes And WatershedsRead More