Columbia Insight

1 week ago | columbiainsight.org | Kendra Chamberlain

By Kendra Chamberlain. May 7, 2025. Two federal agencies have decided to push back a public comment period on an issue related to the breaching four Lower Snake River dams. The move has sparked concerns that the Trump administration may be working to undo—or at least bury—the historic settlement agreement between a group of Pacific Northwest Tribes and the federal government to restore salmon populations that have been harmed by dam operations in the Columbia River Basin.

2 weeks ago | columbiainsight.org | Dawn Stover

By Dawn Stover. May 1, 2025. This year’s report on gray wolves from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife had bad news for the species—and for efforts to relax wolf protections. The number of wolves counted in Washington dropped for the first time since wolves returned to the state in 2008. The count of successful breeding pairs also declined significantly, despite a slight increase in the number of wolf packs.

2 weeks ago | columbiainsight.org | Kendra Chamberlain

By Kendra Chamberlain, April 28, 2025. The Clearwater River Basin, dubbed a Noah’s Ark for chinook salmon, steelhead and native trout by the conservation group American Rivers, has been added to group’s annual list if Most Endangered Rivers. The move comes after a controversial U.S. Forest Service land management plan stripped protections for 700 miles of river corridors in north-central Idaho’s Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.

3 weeks ago | columbiainsight.org | Chuck Thompson

By Chuck Thompson. April 23, 2025. Keep on truckin’ isn’t a phrase you hear much these days, but it’s one that applies to the April 12 efforts of Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Planning Department employees, volunteer divers and others who pulled three vehicles from Johnley Pond near the Cayuse community. The cleanup team had expected to recover just one vehicle in the 30-foot-deep pond located north of the Umatilla River in northeastern Oregon.

4 weeks ago | columbiainsight.org | Kendra Chamberlain

By Kendra Chamberlain. April 16, 2025. As mule deer populations continue to decline across the West, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) says it will use better data to manage its annual mule deer hunts. Specifically, the department wants to update the state’s mule deer hunting units to track population changes. “Mule deer are struggling across the western United States,” ODFW’s spokesperson Michelle Dennehy told Columbia Insight.