Oceana speakers told the council to postpone final action and require NMFS to complete a benchmark assessment and a formal management-strategy evaluation (MSE) before finalizing reference points and harvest-control rules; they said interim measures could undermine existing rebuilding protections.

Open-source technology could lead to low-cost surveillance systems in the battle against this devastating fishing practice

Researchers reported that 2025 monitoring across 36 colonial waterbird sites found substantial, reach‑specific predation on ESA‑listed salmonids — with some steelhead populations losing roughly one in four smolts before reaching downstream dams and cumulative losses as high as about 35% for some stocks.

Study reveals significant increase in microplastic deposition and river contamination after Helene.

Board requests timely evaluation of harvest rules amid declining Tule Falls Chinook populations.

Annual studies of fisher and bobcat carcasses reveal widespread rodenticide exposure.

Council develops strategies for the conservation and management of sagebrush ecosystems statewide.

Tribes reach a compromise on ecosystem conservation for Lake Pillsbury area.

3 years Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mycology/Forest Ecology at University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna; The Department of Ecosystemmanagement, Climate and Biodiversity, Institute of Silviculture is currently seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate (project employment). Extent of employment: 20 hours per week. Duration of employment: 1st of June 2025, limited to 31st of May 2028. Allocation in compliance with the Collective Agreement for University Staff to job group:

First study combining DNA extracted from seawater with DNA from faecal samples of several whale species, including great whales.

DEQ staff presented the 2026 Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (CHIP) amendment framework — an amendment (not a full rewrite) that focuses on ecosystem assessment/report cards, strategic habitat area validation, and nonregulatory management guidance across divisions and commissions.

At the hearing on HR 96‑21, state fishery managers and tribal co‑managers argued targeted removals are part of a recovery toolbox, while independent scientists warned removals alone may not reverse long‑term declines and could produce unintended ecological consequences.

City forester Larry Burns told the council that after years of reactive pest control the city is moving to long-term stewardship for its 200-acre urban forest, outlining treatment cycles, a propagation program for disease-resistant beech stock and ongoing fundraising that raised $30,000 to seed the effort.

The Town Board unanimously adopted Resolution 26-143 urging the New York Legislature to pass Assembly Bill A4514/Senate Bill S5936 to permit targeted, professional application of nutrient inactivants (e.g., alum) to reduce phosphorus and harmful algal blooms; the board directed the Town Clerk to send the resolution to state legislators and NYSFOLA.

A county official said the recent Blind Pass closure was anticipated after Hurricane Ian altered sand patterns and that the county will launch an inlet-management-plan update this year, with a likely completion around 2028.

Babin introduces SUSHI Act to empower NIST in tackling illegal fishing and poaching.

Speakers told the Riparian Buffers Working Group that placing buffer protections under the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act would align with environmental statute interpretation and the technical capacity of wetlands agencies, while zoning placement could prompt narrower judicial construction and overlapping jurisdiction. The group asked DEEP’s

The Select Natural Resource Funding Committee approved bill draft 26LSO-157, a 2026 large-project funding bill covering six landscape and fish-passage projects (including fish screens and cheatgrass treatments). The bill passed by committee vote 5–0 with one member excused.

Social justice, Digital Equity, Poverty, Accessible Technology, Marginalized communities, Pacific, COFA, Veterans, Low-Income, Affordable housing

CPAD staff won a nearly $500,000 Commerce grant to pilot a county-scale "net gain" framework that maps ecological debits and credits at watershed scale, develops metrics and monitoring, and will produce a report to the Department of Commerce by June 2027.

After weeks of debate over how much detail to include in public minutes, the Forest Practices Board directed staff to adopt a streamlined, timestamp-linked format and approved the 2026 BERC work plan, with staff returning revised minutes for final approval in August.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to adopt an Interim Final Preferred Alternative redefining Pacific sardine in U.S. waters as a single coastwide stock, and asked staff and NOAA Fisheries to prioritize a coastwide assessment, review harvest control rules, and plan management analyses and advisory-body work this summer and into 2027–2028.

Council discusses effects of federal withdrawal from salmon conservation agreement.