The Latest from ICL

A dry winter and hot spring fuels Idaho’s wildfire risk
Randy Fox Randy Fox

A dry winter and hot spring fuels Idaho’s wildfire risk

The 2025-26 winter delivered far less snow than most Idahoans wanted and what the State needs to replenish water supplies and suppress wildfires this year. As we kicked off summer, rivers and streams peaked with runoff much earlier than usual. The snowpack is all but gone from the mountain tops and valleys, leaving little to keep streams flowing with clean, cold water to support fish, wildlife, and Idaho’s communities.

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Headwaters to the Deep Blue Sea: Salmon and Orca
Blog Editor Blog Editor

Headwaters to the Deep Blue Sea: Salmon and Orca

Recognize Orca Action Month by learning about the journey of Columbia and Snake River salmon from their spawning grounds to the ocean and back, their intrinsic relationship to Southern Resident orcas, and the ways in which the dams along the route hinder their journey and survival.

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Columbia and Snake River Salmon, by the Numbers
Abbie Abramovich Abbie Abramovich

Columbia and Snake River Salmon, by the Numbers

Historically, millions of wild salmon and steelhead returned to Idaho’s rivers each year. Today’s salmon runs are a fraction of their historic numbers. Dams have pushed these fish to the edge of extinction. Oftentimes, numbers are skewed to make fish look like they are recovering; in this blog, ICL breaks down the facts and shows that when it comes to salmon, the numbers don’t lie—and they reveal an alarming reality.

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The Data Center Boom and Idaho’s Resource Future
Cynthia Gibson Cynthia Gibson

The Data Center Boom and Idaho’s Resource Future

We’re in an artificial intelligence boom, with AI now influencing everything from internet searches and meeting transcriptions to cloud storage. Yet data centers are not new—they have been a part of our digital infrastructure for decades. What has changed is their scale.

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