Long-term, consistent operations that will support juvenile migration in spring and summer and keep water temperatures cooler in the Columbia and Snake Rivers are included in a new draft of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Other top priorities include maintaining critical assets like hatcheries and fish screens and continuing to invest in habitat restoration projects.

2025 has been a busy year for the Council and the Power Division staff as they develop a new 20-year plan for the Pacific Northwest’s electricity grid, which is called the Ninth Power Plan. With the end of the year fast approaching – and some critical analytical milestones and decision-making points looming early in 2026 – check out this recap of the Council’s work on the Ninth Plan so far, and a timeline for what’s going to happen next.

Slow growth, invasive species, and passage concerns are likely contributing to the decline in abundance of white sturgeon between Hells Canyon and Lower Granite dams. 

At October’s Council meeting in Donnelly, Idaho, Power Division staff presented results of a new needs assessment that examines a simulation of the Northwest power system in 2031 under intentionally limited circumstances.