Sea Justice

Someone's been a bad boy in Astoria.  Several Sea Lions and a harbor seal have been found shot near Astoria, Oregon recently and there is now a $5,000 reward for the unknown marksman. LINK  

Another, well-loved and well-known sea lion named Nessie was also recently found shot in the head on a sandbar near the Cowlitz River near Longview, WA.  LINK

In related news, video has surfaced of seals being trained for possible retaliation in a secret Russian training facility.

Washington battling major threat to Columbia salmon

Sea lions, cormorants, terns.....now you can add northern pike to the list.

Washington is in a running battle with a sharp-toothed, voracious, predatory alien invader, the northern pike.

The biggest fear is that the prolific breeders might make it down river from Box Canyon Reservoir and into the Columbia River.

LINK (via: The Statesman Journal)

Federal proposal: Kill salmon-eating seabirds

First it was the sea lions, then the Caspian terns and now the double crested comorants.

Federal officials are proposing to kill half the large colony of cormorants in the Columbia River estuary because the large black seabirds eat too many young salmon and steelhead.

LINK (via:The Statesman Journal)

Feds' latest Columbia River plan: Play me an old-fashioned melody

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The federal government has just come out with a new biological opinion (BiOp) on how to conduct the operations of its Columbia River system dams. The feds have been issuing Columbia River BiOps since Bill Clinton sat — and did whatever else he did — in the White House. And for all that time, the federal courts have been slapping them down.

The newest version was unveiled on January 17. It looks remarkably similar to the last one, which was prepared by the administration of George W. Bush and repackaged with little substantive change by Obama officials.

LINK (via: Crosscut)

Woody Guthrie's Fertile Month on the Columbia River

In May 1941, folk singer Woody Guthrie spent one month working for the federal government. His job was to travel to the Pacific Northwest and write songs promoting huge hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River.The government faced powerful opposition from private utilities and hoped that folk songs would prompt more public support.

Out of this month of work came some of Guthrie's best-known songs.

LINK (via: NPR Music)

Columbia River: Great River of the West

On a soggy May morning, Bruce Ely and Jamie Francis stuffed a Chevy Blazer and set off east. Among the cameras, tripods and camping gear was a shared dream of creating a beautiful and lasting film from the Columbia River. The result — “Columbia River: Great river of the West” — is the product of a four-month search, a quest to discover the unseen. Along the way, they learned that the Columbia unifies and divides, provides and provokes, but also sustains and defines us.

To see more videos and learn more about the project.

(via: The Flyfish Journal)