A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 27, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
Editorial: Flexible water policy - Contra Costa Times
Editorial: A Delta water crisis?; Courts may force political sense of urgency - Sacramento
New data back removal of Klamath dams; Opponents criticized an earlier report, but the state again finds that the plan to aid salmon makes environmental and economic sense - Los Angeles Times
PIRU CREEK:
Water issue pits toad against trout; Piru Creek’s ample flow helps one, harms the other - Ventura County Star
KILARC RESERVOIR:
Fishermen hope to keep site; Meeting is set on PG&E plan to end Kilarc Reservoir project - Redding Record Searchlight
State, feds want to remove salt-water barrier to Buena Vista Lagoon - North County Times
WILDLIFE:
Beaver dam must go, officials say; MARTINEZ: Blockage interrupts flow of Alhambra Creek, could cause problems if heavy rains fall - Contra Costa Times
DELTA ISSUES:
KGET Channel 17 – 3/26/07
That ruling was given last Friday from a state judge in
A Superior Court judge said state water officials need permits to operate their massive pumps on the Delta because too many endangered fish species are being sucked in and killed by those pumps as they pull fresh water from the Delta and send it south to farms and cities.
While sport fisherman who rely on the Delta for their livelihood are elated with the ruling, water officials in
"We were very surprised that a judge would go to this extent to impact our water operations, and frankly we consider this a significant disaster for us," said Jim Beck, the general manager of the Kern County Water Agency.
Beck and other water officials said the 60-day deadline to comply with an environmental law is unrealistic, if not impossible to meet.
"We have 15 days to respond to the judge's order and we expect an appeal will be filed on the judge's decision so the proper decision is made," said Beck.
The pumping stations are the heart of the state water project, which brings water to some 23 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland in central and southern
Water officials said shutting off the pumps would have severe consequences.
It's estimated water deliveries produce a $300 billion annual benefit to the state's economy.
Wasco grower Jim Crettol said if enforced, the judges order to shut down state water project pumps would have a ripple effect on the farm.
"He is jeopardizing cities and farms from
Late Monday afternoon, the governor did just that. Gov. Schwarzenegger, touring water projects in
The affected fish species are the Salmon and Delta Smelt.
Both are protected by the California Endangered Species Act and are considered key indicators of the overall health of the Delta.
The state will likely ask for more time to figure out how to deal with the judge's ruling.
The state is currently developing a multi-species habitat conservation plan for the entire Delta.
That plan should be done by year's end. #
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=a5a2a9b9-0c66-463d-84b2-4473b321add9
Editorial: Flexible water policy
Contra Costa Times – 3/27/07
IN A STUNNING BLOW to
The judge gave the Department of Water Resources 60 days to follow the state's tough environmental law, or the pumps sending water to 23 million Californians will be closed.
The basis for Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch's ruling is the water agency's failure to obtain a state permit to kill threatened or endangered salmon and Delta smelt. The agency does have a federal permit to destroy fish but never got a formal state permit.
State water officials argued that a series of agreements and other documents during the past two decades formed a "patchwork" of compliance with the law, whatever that is. The judge didn't buy it and ordered the Department of Water Resources to get a formal state permit to kill fish.
That won't be easy, especially in 60 days. Even if the permit is obtained, the water agency could be forced to deliver less water than it does now.
Clearly,
State officials want the judge to reconsider. They say they are trying to develop a long-term conservation strategy and that closing the pumps would be devastating.
Water resources director Lester Snow does not think it is possible to comply with the judge's order in 60 days. He's probably right.
Perhaps one solution would be for the state to issue at least a temporary permit for the water agency to kill fish. Then water officials should work with Fish and Game and other environmental interests to determine what is feasible and work on a reasonable time line.
If the judge's order serves as motivation for state officials, water users and environmental interests to come to a workable agreement on pumping water, so be it.
However, we trust that the court will be open to deadline extensions on closing the pumps if the water agency demonstrates its willingness to comply with environmental laws in a timely fashion.
What's needed is flexibility on all sides and a reasonable solution that protects fish as much as possible while allowing for the delivery of adequate water supplies to the 23 million Californians who rely on the water pumps. #
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/opinion/16980124.htm
Editorial: A Delta water crisis?; Courts may force political sense of urgency
Sacramento
A lone judge in
Judge Frank Roesch's tentative ruling, which would give the state 60 days to comply, is fairly simple. Of all the paperwork on file at the
No permit, no pumping, is Roesch's logic.
It is unlikely that the water pumps, the largest in the nation, will soon fall silent because of the court ruling. But the very possibility is enough to cause a political tsunami throughout the system. Developments throughout
Roesch's ruling came from a lawsuit by a sports fishing group seizing on a not-so-small legal technicality with the species act.
The state simply couldn't answer to Roesch's satisfaction a basic question: Where is the one permit that shows compliance with
How could this happen? Two state agencies are at play here. The California Department of Fish and Game protects endangered species and issues the incidental take permits. The Department of Water Resources runs the State Water Project. Roesch was quite public in his frustration that Fish and Game officials were absent from his courtroom and unable to answer his questions. If he is forcing these two agencies to work together, good.
Looking ahead, another lawsuit is challenging the environmental paperwork of the federal government's Delta pumps. The pumps are part of the Central Valley Project that sustains millions of acres of
Meanwhile in the Delta, the estuary suffers from a complicated web of problems that researchers don't fully understand.
Pumping is a factor along with numerous invasive species, levee instability, rising sea levels, changes in the food chain and other factors. The physical solutions aren't fully vetted yet. But the current system isn't working. And when it comes to water pumping, there seem to be only two basic ways to isolate the pumping's effects on the Delta. Either the existing pumps pull less water (perhaps a lot less) out of the system. Or a new set of pumps could send water around the Delta rather than through it -- the long-controversial
It is too soon to embrace any one solution. Agencies and legislators, however, will be asked to rally behind a strategy by next year. For now, an exhaustive and impartial review of the viable options is vital.
Long-standing water problems tend to get solved when there is a crisis, a looming deadline and increasing discomfort on all sides in the debate. If we're lucky, the courts will help provide the necessary climate for consensus. But as the stakes rise, so does the chance that the Delta descends into chaos and drags a big chunk of the
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/144320.html
New data back removal of Klamath dams; Opponents criticized an earlier report, but the state again finds that the plan to aid salmon makes environmental and economic sense
By Eric Bailey, staff writer
In December, the commission issued a report asserting that removing the dams and purchasing replacement power would cost roughly $100 million less than installing extensive new fish ladders for imperiled salmon and steelhead.
PacifiCorp, the Portland-based company that owns the dams, volleyed back with a 50-page study of its own suggesting that the commission study, performed by a private consulting firm, got it wrong.
The power company argued that the commission failed to consider several important economic and environmental factors and that renovating the dams to accommodate the fish would actually save $46 million more than dismantling them. The firm submitted its study to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is considering whether the dams will win a new long-term operating license.
In recent weeks, the state Energy Commission's consultant ran the numbers anew, taking in numbers PacifiCorp said it ignored. The results were far different from PacifiCorp's.
The commission's latest report said that dam removal would be even more cost-effective than its consultant originally determined — about $114 million less than relicensing the dams and installing the fish ladders.
California Energy Commissioner
PacifiCorp's four dams produce enough power for thousands of homes in the Northwest but have blocked 300 miles of upriver habitat for salmon and steelhead. Federal wildlife agencies have ordered that the dams be retrofitted with fish ladders, but PacifiCorp argues that the dams are too tall for ladders to work. The company proposed using trucks to haul fish around the dams.
Commission officials said their economic model provided all sides with a "good-faith analysis of the pros and cons" of the various options for the dams. The model is available online at http://www.energy.ca.gov/klamath . #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-klamath27mar27,1,1184293.story?coll=la-headlines-california
PIRU CREEK:
Water issue pits toad against trout; Piru Creek’s ample flow helps one, harms the other
By Zeke Barlow, staff writer
With a flick of his wrist, Joe Richey cast his black midge fly through the air, landing it in the cool waters of Piru Creek. As Richey teased the fly through the water, dozens of rainbow trout darted about, their steely skin occasionally reflecting the sun like mirrors falling through the current.
It’s a scene Richey has come to love.
The avid fly fisherman has caught and released as many as 40 fish from the creek in a day, not just a remarkable feat for any fisherman but also an anomaly in
"It looks like a fish tank," said Richey, who owns a 112-acre ranch that the creek cuts through.
For decades, a constant flow of water has come down the creek from Pyramid Dam and created one of the best, most accessible fishing creeks in
But the ample water that’s good for the fish isn’t so good for the endangered arroyo toad. After learning the artificial water flow was keeping the toad population down, officials started looking into returning the creek levels to more natural conditions, surging or shrinking with the seasons.
A group of fishermen that includes Richey is fighting to keep water in the stream so the great fishing stays in the canyon-lined walls of Piru Creek. The advocacy group California Trout is threatening to sue if too much water is taken from the creek.
Now groups with competing interests in the creek are taking sides, saying the issue pits fish against toads.
Washing away toads’ eggs
Everyone seems to be struggling with the best solution for how to return an unnatural ecosystem to a more natural state.
The issue began in 1973 when Pyramid Dam was built as part of the State Water Project. As mitigation for the construction, officials agreed to release downstream at least 25 cubic feet of water per second to allow for good fishing. At other times, great gushes of water were released from the dam to let water out of
But when the arroyo toad was put on the endangered species list in 1994, everything changed. Under the Endangered Species Act, any agency or person responsible for the death of any listed animal can be held criminally liable. In 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for enforcing the act, was alerted that exceptionally high water releases were washing away some of the toads’ eggs.
Biologists found that years of constant flow also changed the composition of the river. A natural
Fishers threaten lawsuit
"It turned from a normal
In 2005, only 13 clutches of toad eggs were found in the river.
The next year, the Department of Water Resources, which owns Pyramid Dam, simulated a more natural water flow. It released only the same amount of water that came into
The dam release has mimicked a natural flow ever since, but the flow could still be changed back to the heightened releases.
The State Water Resources Control Board has to sign off on the new flow, but fishers are hoping they won’t, and if they do, they are threatening a lawsuit.
"They will have destroyed the river and eliminated any of the mitigation they provided," said Jim Bloomquist, a consultant of Friends of the River. He said the permit by the State Water Resources Control Board may violate some of the provisions of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
‘It’s a one-species solution’
Bloomquist and others say the natural flow is going to kill their beloved fish. They say the Department of Water Resources is required to release enough water for the trout in order to mitigate the effects of the dam. They also are hoping another endangered species might bolster their case, the steelhead trout.
Genetic tests have shown the trout in Piru Creek are related to the steelhead, but a trout is only a steelhead once it reaches the ocean. Because the trout can’t get to the ocean because they are blocked by Santa Felicia Dam on
Bloomquist claims the Department of Water Resources is using the arroyo toad as an excuse to keep from having to release some of the water in
"It’s a one-species solution," Bloomquist complained of the proposal.
Scientists say the trout and all other native creatures may do well with the new flows. Though some of the stocked fish may die, the native trout that live in the upper tributaries of Piru Creek should do well, said Mark Capelli, a steelhead recovery coordinator with National Marine Fisheries Service.
Sweet thinks reduced flows will help kill off many of the nonnative species such as bass and bullfrogs that eat young trout.
Richey hopes that whatever the outcome, there will still be some fish left in the creek for him to try to trick with his flies.
"I would like to see both the trout and the toad thrive together," he said between casts. "It’ll be such a tragedy if they dry it up, because this is one of a kind around here." #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_5445527,00.html
KILARC RESERVOIR:
Fishermen hope to keep site; Meeting is set on PG&E plan to end Kilarc Reservoir project
Redding Record Searchlight – 3/27/07
By Dylan Darling, staff writer
It's the classic Western tale of hydropower versus fish, but with a twist.
For the sake of a popular trout fishing hole near Whitmore, locals are clamoring for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to keep Kilarc Reservoir in place.
"It's sort of a local treasure that no one wants to see lost," said Maggie Trevelyan, who lives near the 41/2-acre reservoir.
But PG&E has marked the Kilarc hydropower project for decommission, meaning the dam on Old Cow Creek, powerhouse and reservoir could come out.
The century-old project's license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission expires today and PG&E now begins the federal process of closing down the power operation. That starts with a public meeting at 7 p.m. today at the
PG&E officials will explain the decommissioning process and field questions from the public, said PG&E spokeswoman Lisa Randle.
A plan detailing how and when the project would be shut down is due in March 2009, she said.
After reviewing the 3.2-megawatt Kilarc powerhouse with stakeholders, as well as federal and state resource agencies, PG&E announced in March 2005 that it wasn't an economic source of power.
The company said the planned decommissioning of Kilarc, as well as the nearby 1.8-megawatt Cow Creek powerhouse on South Cow Creek, also would provide more habitat for federally protected spring run chinook salmon and steelhead trout in the creeks.
The two stonework powerhouses, which were built in the early 1900s, provide enough power to supply 3,750 homes.
Synergics Energy Services of Annapolis, Md., had considered buying the facilities, but the deal fell through, Randle said.
A member of the Friends of Cow Creek, Trevelyan said she and others who want to save the reservoir will be at tonight's meeting.
The reservoir is a "high recreation area," said Glenn Dye, a member of the Friends of Cow Creek. He said it is used not just for fishing, but also for picnicking and hiking.
With its five-catch-a-day limit and rules that allow for everything from bait to spinners to be tied on anglers' lines, the reservoir is most known for its fish, said Mike Berry, environmental scientist at the California Department of Fish and Game in
"It's a real popular fishery," he said. "It's a good place to take kids to learn how to fish."
DFG stocks the reservoir with 9,000 rainbow trout each year, said Pat Overton, a senior hatchery supervisor at DFG's
If the reservoir is removed, those fish would be put somewhere else, he said.
"Don't know where they'd go" though, he said. #
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/mar/27/fishermen-hope-keep-site/
State, feds want to remove salt-water barrier to Buena Vista Lagoon
By Barbara Henry, staff writer
Three agencies ---- the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the state Department of Fish & Game and the state Coastal Conservancy ---- are studying four options for Buena Vista Lagoon, but the "preferred alternative" is to remove a low concrete dam near the beach to allow the ocean to come in, said Jane Hendron, spokeswoman for the Carlsbad office of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
"It certainly provides a more environmentally diverse habitat," she said Monday, adding that it would increase the variety of birds and plants that could live within the lagoon area and eliminate a mosquito-breeding habitat.
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Birds that would benefit from the mostly salt-water option include two endangered species ---- the
For several years, wildlife officials have been pushing to make changes at the lagoon, which has had a dam across its mouth since the 1940s. Cattails and other plants are forecast to take over the lagoon's remaining open water areas in the next decade. Eventually, in 30 to 50 years, there may be no lagoon at all, a recent state-funded study found.
The question is what to do about it.
Costly choices
The wildlife agencies will collect comments on the saltwater proposal and the three other lagoon renovation options during an April 18 meeting that's part of the regular environmental review process. The agencies sent out meeting notices to
In addition to the dam-removal option, there's the choice of enhancing the existing freshwater system, creating a mixed saltwater/freshwater system, or even not doing anything at all.
The agencies' preferred saltwater option calls for making extensive changes to the lagoon, including removing up to 2 million cubic yards of sediment as well as taking out a low concrete dam near the beach. Jetties could be built to help keep the ocean channel open and modifications could be made to bridges over the lagoon.
It's the most expensive choice. Project consultant David Cannon said the most recent estimates put the cost at $39.9 million to $116.1 million, depending on how much work is done. The saltwater proposal costs the most because it involves making the most changes to the lagoon system, he added.
However, all the options, other than doing nothing, are pricey. Even the cheapest alternative ---- maintaining the lagoon as a freshwater system through extensive dredging work and a rebuilt dam ---- has an estimated cost of $37.3 million to $98.3 million.
The other choice ---- creating a saltwater system in the lagoon's western end and a freshwater system east of Interstate 5 ---- is estimated to cost $40.6 million to $109.1 million.
How the cost would be handled is still being debated. Wildlife officials have said in the past that state environmental bonds might be used.
Dropping a line
Nothing will happen quickly, Hendron said, calling the project a "multi-year effort."
But Andy Mauro, conservation chairman of the Buena Vista Audubon Society, said he wants work to start as quickly as possible.
"It's something that we've long wanted to see happen at the lagoon," he said.
The society estimates that 200 bird species currently use the lagoon. That's a nice respectable number, but there could be 300 species if the saltwater plan moves forward, he said. And the new species would include ones that are facing extreme habitat loss in other parts of the state, he added.
However, changing the habitat is expected to change the fish.
While dropping a fishing line in the lagoon just east of the dam Monday,
"They can't handle the salt water," he said.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/27/news/coastal/32607202604.txt
WILDLIFE:
Beaver dam must go, officials say;
Contra Costa Times – 3/27/07
By Bargis Nooristani, staff writer
The water in Alhambra Creek is at a standstill. The vegetation along the creek banks is mysteriously thinning, with only jagged tree stumps remaining.
Two blocks down, the fate of the trees is revealed: A 15-foot-wide, 5-foot-high web of twigs and saplings traps the water south of
"Beavers in downtown
Lucas, a downtown resident, often walks along the creek. A couple of months ago she noticed the stumps, spotted the remains of the trees and realized beavers were busy at work in the creek.
"Those were some pretty big trees they were chomping down," she said. "All that water is just backed up because of these little guys."
City officials say the beavers' handiwork will have to be removed. The California Department of Fish and Game has agreed to permit that.
Lucas said that although it would be a shame to demolish the natural structure, the standing water cannot be left to fill with sediment.
"What do you do, let the creek block up and let the algae grow and flies multiply?" she said. "Or do you knock it down?"
Stagnant water is just part of the reason the dam will have to be torn down, said Don Salts, deputy director of the
"(The dam) seems to be growing in size," Salts said. "If we have a substantial rain, it may pose a problem." #
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/email/news/16980160.htm
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