The water level in the Crooked River took a dramatic drop this week after dam operators cranked down the gates at Bowman Dam due to drought conditions that produced historic low levels in Prineville Reservoir.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture is sponsoring three free waste pesticide collection events statewide starting Oct. 1.
An 8.7 percent bump in the Bonneville Power Administration’s Fish and Wildlife budget in fiscal year 2024-25 is the largest increase for fish and wildlife since 2010. The increase will give the power marketing agency, which pays for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, more flexibility to “get things done.”
The limits have been removed because of a planned emptying of the reservoir due to required maintenance of the dam gates. Draining the reservoir will result in extremely low pool conditions and water quality that is unsuitable for gamefish.
The Department of the Interior this week released new guidance to improve federal stewardship of public lands, waters and wildlife by strengthening the role of Tribal governments in federal land management.
The river plan aims to better manage river access. Access is being barred in some places. Some areas are being restored to be more natural. Access is being improved in other areas in a way that is workable for users and healthier for the river.
Angling for steelhead in central Oregon’s John Day River will close next week because the minimum abundance threshold for wild steelhead has not been met at Bonneville Dam. The count so far this summer is 25 percent short of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s abundance goal that would have allowed the John Day to remain open.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week approved Oregon’s water quality report on temperature in the state’s waters.
No fishing for any salmon or steelhead downriver of the dam will be allowed from Friday morning until further notice. Fishing remains open upriver from Bonneville and, for hatchery coho salmon, in the ocean off the river’s mouth.
