The plan to remove four hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin that blocks the free flow of salmon was canceled.
Columbia River
Posted inMarch 2025: The Berry Pickers
A renewable diesel plant may put the Columbia River at risk
Farmers, tribes and environmental advocates in rural Oregon raise alarms about the empty promises of biofuels.
Posted inJanuary 2025: The West's Most Wanted
Felonious furries, bunches of bats, a coyote commune and pumpkin paddlers
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inSeptember 2024: When Migrants Go Missing
What tribal leaders think about Interior’s dams report
The federal government has acknowledged the harms of Columbia River dams. Now what?
Posted inArticles
What’s next for Willamette Falls?
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde move the second largest waterfall toward public access.
Posted inArticles
Fixing culverts can save migratory fish
A billion-dollar program is unblocking millions of killer culverts across the nation to help fish get to spawning grounds.
Posted inArticles
Dispatch from the scaffolds: Native fishing culture on the Columbia River
An Indigenous fisherman describes how to hook a salmon, the meaning of life and his faithful dog Sturg.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest
The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects
Can dam removal save the Snake River?
See the river as the climate changes, development continues and consequences grow with inaction.
Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation
The future of large landscape conservation begins with Indigenous communities
In the Yellowstone to Yukon region, Indigenous peoples manage more than a quarter of protected lands.
Posted inArticles
The untold story of the Pacific Northwest’s nuclear past
‘Atomic Days’ offers a compelling, fact-packed introduction to the most toxic place in the nation.
Posted inOctober 1, 2022: Making Refuge
Pacific lamprey’s ancient agreement with tribes is the future of conservation
Despite dams, drowned waterfalls and industrial degradation, the practice of eeling persists.
Posted inArticles
The most destructive forest pest in North America is now in Oregon
The invasive emerald ash borer threatens the state’s salmon habitat, urban forests and agency budgets.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2022: Essential
Humble suckers: Pacific lamprey have survived 5 mass extinctions but are now under threat
Cooperative efforts between tribes and non-Native institutions are helping conserve the under-researched Devonian darlings.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2022: Water Rights and Responsibilities
‘Cultural resources are not a renewable thing for us.’
The West’s largest green energy storage project would destroy a Yakama sacred site. Now, the nation is fighting back.
Posted inArticles
Corporations are consolidating water and land rights in the West
With farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats, a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water?
Posted inArticles
Invasive mussels in aquarium supplies alarm wildlife managers
Potentially devastating zebra mussels found in Northwest pet stores.
Posted inArticles
Indigenous fishers on the Columbia River confront new challenges
Beyond depleted salmon runs, the pandemic has created occupational hazards and a depressed salmon market.
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
The poet on the garbage crew
In ‘Vantage,’ Taneum Bambrick digs for refuse along the Columbia River.
Posted inOctober 14, 2019: Severed Ties
Courts can’t keep Columbia and Snake River salmon from the edge of extinction
After decades of court cases have rebuffed federal management, it may take a political fix to restore salmon in the Columbia Basin.