dams

Scientists have developed a new way to study really small fish. They’ve designed a tag that’s about the size of a grain of rice.

For years, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse has argued the Lower Snake River dams make up an important energy source for the Northwest and that they can coexist with salmon. Now, he’s introduced a bill on the issue.

Less than two years ago, the administration of President Joe Biden announced what tribal leaders hailed as an unprecedented commitment to the Native tribes whose ways of life had been devastated by federal dam-building along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.The deal, which took two years to negotiate, halted decades of lawsuits over the harm federal dams had caused to the salmon that had sustained those tribes culturally and economically for thousands of years. To enable the removal of four hydroelectric dams considered especially harmful to salmon, the government promised to invest billions of dollars in alternative energy sources to be created by the tribes.This story comes to you from Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

(Runtime 0:56)There’s a transfer happening at Grand Coulee Dam. After years of planning, the Bonneville Power Administration will start running some…

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 must be removed.

(Runtime 1:10)As salmon and steelhead swim upstream, they’re now facing one more challenge in fish ladders. It’s a non-native fish competing for space:…

(Runtime :56) On the banks of the Snake River in far eastern Washington, sockeye salmon have had a rough summer. The water behind the last major concrete…

(Runtime 1:21)In the Tri-Cities, a forum recently drew mostly people who want to keep the Lower Snake River dams in place. They raised some…

(Runtime 1:01) After more than six years of difficult negotiations, the U.S. and Canada have figured out some key points of the Columbia River Treaty, a…

(Runtime 0:52)After decades of courtroom drama, a document leak and years of negotiation, federal officials agreed with six Northwest tribes to restore…