Kokanee eggs at Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Cabinet Gorge Hatchery, Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho. Photo by Cecilia Brown, BPA
The Columbia River Basin is home to a diversity of fish species. While some - such as salmon and steelhead - migrate through dams to the ocean and back, others spend their entire lives in the rivers, streams and lakes of the Basin. These are referred to as resident fish.
Many populations of resident fish are of great cultural, economic and biological importance. Some resident fish populations, including bull trout and sturgeon are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Others, such as burbot, westslope cutthroat trout and kokanee, are not listed.
Under the Northwest Power Act, BPA protects and mitigates resident as well as migratory fish. Some of the actions include removing non-native predators, restoring spawning grounds for bull trout, and hatchery production to protect and enhance wild kokanee populations.
The Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program Web site at
www.cbfish.org provides access to the current portfolio of projects designed to protect and rebuild fish and wildlife populations affected by federal hydropower development in the Columbia River Basin.
Adult male bull trout in Granite Creek, tributary to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. Photo by Cecilia Brown, BPA
For more information about BPA’s projects for resident fish, explore:
Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (cbfish): This is a web application that allows BPA and its partners to manage fish and wildlife activities and accomplishments. See details on the hundreds of projects completed or underway.