Restoration Efforts in Columbia Basin Helping Salmon

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Agencies responsible for operating 14 federal dams in the Columbia River Basin say $500 million spent annually on habitat restoration projects and improvements at dams are helping salmon, steelhead and other wildlife.

The Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a report Thursday outlining projects from 2007 to 2015.

The work includes adding 3,000 miles of spawning and rearing habitat as well as 14 square miles of estuary habitat where young fish prepare to enter the ocean.

The agencies say the document will be used as part of a process to develop an environmental impact statement ordered by a federal judge in May.

The court ruled that the massive habitat restoration effort to offset the damage the dams pose to Northwest salmon and steelhead is failing.