Nov. 13, 2014: Today the Action Agencies released their 2013 Annual Progress Report describing their actions to protect ESA-listed Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead under NOAA Fisheries’ biological opinion for operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System.
Together with their state and tribal partners in the Columbia River Basin, the agencies have opened up thousands of miles of new fish habitat and protected more than 300,000 acre feet of water. (See graphs at right.)
Or find out more in Benefits of Tributary Habitat Improvement in the Columbia River Basin- 2014 Update.
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 | The estuary program ramped up to full implementation. Action Agencies completed eight habitat projects and greatly increased the survival benefits for salmon and steelhead.
Removing a tide gate at Sauvie Island near Portland, Oregon, restored more than 23 acres of historic salmon and steelhead habitat. |
| The Corps of Engineers has installed spillway weirs or other surface passage at all eight dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers. Surface passage systems have decreased juvenile fish travel time through the system, minimized exposure to predation and ultimately increased overall juvenile fish survival.
The 2013 estimates of subyearling Chinook dam passage survival at Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams were 90.76 and 92.97 percent, respectively. Depending on the location, time of year, and species, about 76 to 99 percent of juvenile fish go through non-turbine routes at the dams. |  |
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| Surface passage has decreased travel time through the system, particularly for steelhead. |
 | Kelt reconditioning programs made significant progress. In 2013, 69 wild female B-run kelts were reconditioned and returned to the Snake River to spawn again.
Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission kelt technician Neil Graham holds a successfully reconditioned female kelt at a tribally operated facility along Idaho's Clearwater River. Photo courtesy of CRITFC. |