Responding to public demand (and, in several cases, to direct requests from members of Congress), FERC staff held a series of meetings so that the public could raise concerns the Klamath project. The message they heard was loud and clear: restore the Klamath River and its fish.

The Eugene, OR Register Guard just published an editorial that does a good job of connecting the dots between the damage caused by PacifiCorp's Klamath river project and the West Coast's devastated salmon fishing industry. The editors see dam removal as part of the solution, saying that "the prospects for removal of the dams have never been brighter."

On the eve of a potential salmon fishing closure that would devastate coastal communities and fishing families in California and Oregon, a federal court today ruled that the Bush administration can not continue to strangle water flows in the Klamath River in years with average or below rainfall.

Oroville, CA -- Salmon and steelhead of the Feather River, along with the many people who fish and boat there, will benefit from an agreement covering operations of the Oroville hydroelectric project, to be signed today in Oroville. American Rivers praised settlement parties for reaching this agreement, which forms the basis of a new 50-year operating license for the project.

FERC's deadline for all interested parties in the Hells Canyon dams to file their recommendations for terms and conditions in the new license was January 26, 2006. The federal National Marine Fisheries Service - the agency charged with protecting migrating endangered salmon and steelhead - submitted a simple reservation of authority. In other words, the agency did nothing and failed in its responsibility to protect these endangered species.

The Endangered Species Act directs two federal agencies to save endangered species in part by protecting the places the species needs to recover. On August 12, 2005, the federal government reinterpreted the Endangered Species Act and eliminated 80% of previously protected “critical” habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead.

The new Critical Habitat policy, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), proposed to remove all habitat it considers already protected by other agencies such as the Forest Service under its Northwest Forest Plan.

A study from Idaho Rivers United shows that salmon and steelhead restoration isn't only the right thing to do, it's pretty great for our pocketbook, too.

Today the National Marine Fisheries Service (or NOAA Fisheries) issued its hatchery policy, listing determinations for 16 populations of salmon in the West, and an extension on determinations for the Oregon coastal coho and 10 populations of West Coast steelhead. Under this new hatchery policy, the federal fish agency will treat fish spawned and reared in a concrete hatchery raceway the same as a fish spawned and reared in a real stream.

PG&E Put on Notice to Protect Threatened Spring-Run Chinook Salmon; Conservation and Fishing Organizations Say Butte Creek Hydroelectric Operations Require a Second Look

San Francisco - Conservation and fishing groups have launched a legal effort to protect the threatened Central Valley spring-run chinook salmon population that spawns in Butte Creek, one of state's last, and most vibrant, populations of spring-run chinook.

Karuk Tribal members' health is declining because the Klamath River salmon that used to make up most of their diet are declining, says a Washington Post article published yesterday. The salmon that once amply supported the Tribe are now an endangered species, blocked from their habitat by dams and diseased or killed by poor water quality on their seasonal runs. According to a University of California study, the lack of fresh salmon in the Tribe's diet - and replacement of other sources of nutrition - have harmed the health of Tribal members.