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Snake River

Scott Pattee, a water supply specialist with the National Resources Conservation Service, checks snow levels at Stevens Pass ski resort in Washington's Cascade Mountains.

Record-low snowpack in Pacific Northwest could be ‘dress rehearsal’ for climate change

Environment

Low levels of snow melt in California and the Pacific Northwest could be harbinger of things to come, but one expert says the silver lining is that it gives officials a way to examine and prepare for global warming.

The World

Point of No Return, Part 1 Continued

The World

Point of No Return, Part 1: A River Tamed

The World

SNAKE TRADE: OPERATION ROCKCUT STINGS

The World

Salmon Run for Their Lives

The World

Salmon Versus Cows

Dams are traditionally blamed for declining salmon populations, especially on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. But as Henry Sessions reports from Oregon, trouble also starts further upstream, where grazing cows and lumbering disrupt water flow and spawning grounds for the fish.

Snake Crossing

Forest Service road 345 is the only road in the U.S. that closes not for foot traffic, but snake crossings. The road lies smack in the middle of the reptiles’ yearly migration route. Host Steve Curwood talks with herpetologist Scott Ballard about just how heavy this snake traffic can get.

The World

Point of No Return: A River Tamed, Continued

Sandy Tolan’s journey through the Columbia River system and its dams picks up in Lewiston, Idaho, an inland port for cargo ships that may have to make way for salmon.

The World

Point of No Return, Part 1: A River Tamed

Producer Sandy Tolan travels the Columbia and Snake Rivers for the story of the transformation of these rivers, with gigantic hydroelectric dams replacing dozens of salmon runs. There are now intense debates going on in Idaho and Oregon and Washington about what may have been lost as well as gained.

White House Says Dams Will Stay

Host Diane Toomey talks with Seattle Post Intelligence reporter Robert McClure about the Clinton administration’s decision to oppose, at least for now, the removal of four dams on the Lower Snake River in the Pacific Northwest.