Snake River

Hells Canyon is the deepest river canyon in the United States. Now scientists have solved the mystery of when it formed.

The little town of Robinette was flourishing, nestled in eastern Oregon by the Snake River. Then one day, the town was gone, wiped off the map and drowned under a reservoir.

On Monday, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) began treating several ponds in the Snake River with potash, which is used to exterminate quagga mussels.

Average salmon and steelhead counts in the Columbia River Basin over the last decade are still well below officials’ goal of five million fish per year.

Idaho State Department of Agriculture has found juvenile quagga mussels once again in the Twin Falls area – though at lower levels prior to chemically treating 16 miles of the Snake River last year.

Conservationists want to save two small snails to help protect rivers in the West.

One estimate says a quagga mussel infestation would cost the Pacific Northwest $500 million a year to deal with.

The Interior Department is spending another $70 million to reopen habitat for native fish in many parts of the U.S., including the Mountain West.

The rapid timeline from when the Idaho State Department of Agriculture found invasive quagga mussel larvae in the Snake River in September to when it deployed a chemical treatment two weeks later, was unparalleled in the world of invasive mussel control.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture is releasing a copper-based chemical into the Snake River to target invasive quagga mussels and larvae.