Video by Michelle Helms
Double-crested cormorants on East Sand Island - draft EIS
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District
July 15, 2014 | 1:26
The Corps of Engineers has prepared a draft Environmental Impact Statement and management plan to reduce predation of ESA-listed juvenile salmon and steelhead by double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River Estuary.

As part of our responsibility under the National Environmental Protection Act, the draft EIS evaluates alternatives designed to reduce the cormorant colony to about the 1997-1998 population levels. These levels are based on predation rates from analysis completed by NOAA Fisheries and identified in the 2008 Biological Opinion. To reach this base period population, the colony needs to be reduced by 56 percent, or about 5,600 nesting pairs on East Sand Island.

The Corps is seeking public comment on the alternatives outlined in the draft EIS prior to finalizing the document later in 2014.
More