Washington Opens Steelhead Fishing On Stretch Once Blocked By Condit Dam

After a yearlong closure, anglers will again be able to stalk southwest Washington’s lower White Salmon River in hope of hooking winter and summer steelhead making their spawning journey.

That fishing opportunity will include the roughly two miles of river from the former site of Condit Dam up to the head of its former reservoir – Northwestern Lake. That stretch of river had for nearly 100 years been submerged and inaccessible to salmon and steelhead.

LINK (via: The Columbia Basin Bulletin)

Even Bigger than Originally Thought

The world's largest dam removal project in history is even bigger than originally thought.

Due to a mapping error the estimate of the sediment load impounded by the Elwha dams was off by a 10,000,000 cubic yards.

LINK (via: The Seattle Times)

Best 2012 article on Klamath River Issues

Photo: Erica Terence

Klamblog's Felice Pace, who writes extensively on Klamath River issues, gives a shout out to an essay by Erica Terence who eloquently makes the case for removing the Klamath River dams.

LINK (via: Klamblog)

Stop Stanford University’s flawed Habitat Conservation Plan

A very important action alert from Beyond Searsville Dam.

Federal wildlife officials are poised to finalize Stanford University's deeply flawed Habitat Conservation Plan, a move that would compromise the health of San Francisquito Creek and San Francisco Bay, while posing new flooding and Searsville Dam safety concerns. Adoption of this 50-year plan, and associated federal permits to allow Stanford to incidentally harm and kill endangered species like steelhead trout, would be a major setback for ongoing watershed planning efforts to implement comprehensive habitat restoration and improve regional flood protection.

TAKE ACTION!

Please click here to sign the online petition and submit your comment today

Feds threaten to wipe out future Sacramento salmon runs

Big reductions in water releases from the federal government's Shasta and Keswick dams on the Sacramento River are poised to wipe out a major part of the Chinook salmon run, according to a statement from the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA).

"The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which controls Shasta dam, is the responsible party," the group stated. "A state water data website says water releases are forecast to decline by 14.5 percent between November 21 and November 29. The loss of this water could kill up to a third of the wild fall run salmon eggs, according to one knowledgeable source."

The Sacramento River is now full of spawning salmon and the eggs of salmon that spawned in the last few months. In order to hatch, these eggs must continue to remain submerged in water under 57 degrees. Reducing water releases to the Sacramento River from Lake Shasta "will expose many salmon eggs to air which will kill them," according to the GGSA.

"The salmon being killed are naturally-reproducing wild salmon, not hatchery salmon," the GGSA said. "Restoration of wild fish are of special concern to the Golden Gate Salmon Association and other salmon advocates including state and federal fish agencies."

LINK (via: Indybay)

Native Cutthroat's Last Stand

Bitch Creek - Native Cutthroat's Last Stand from WRKSHRT Digital on Vimeo.