A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 24, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA SMELT:
Hearing on Delta smelt delayed - Stockton Record
LAKE DAVIS PIKE:
Calif. hopes to hook lake's pike problem - USA Today
HYDRILLA:
More hydrilla plants found in Clear Lake around Soda Bay - Lake County Record Bee
WATERSHED RESTORATION FUNDS:
DWR Awards $10 Million in Grants to Study, Restore, and Value Watersheds - News Release, Department of Water Resources
DELTA SMELT:
Hearing on Delta smelt delayed
The hearing began Tuesday and was expected to last until today. A death in the family of one of the attorneys will delay today's testimony until Wednesday, a spokesman for Earthjustice said. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070824/A_NEWS/70823012
LAKE DAVIS PIKE:
By John Ritter, staff writer
PORTOLA,
The pike so thoroughly infested
Health concerns and bitter protests marked that nine-month ordeal in 1997-98. Word spread in the trout world: avoid
Now, eight years later, the state wants to poison
"Hopefully it'll work this time," says Tammy Milvey, owner of Gold Rush Sporting Goods, who depends on fishermen and campers for 85% of her business. "I don't know if the community, the businesses, can handle another failure."
Milvey got $33,000 from a $9.1 million settlement approved by the California Legislature in 1998 after what wildlife officials concede was a botched effort to get rid of the pike. It wasn't enough, she says. "We're all losing now. People are just not coming to the lake," she says. "Where do we get compensated for our losses now. I'm just barely paying the bills."
Pike not only could destroy the lake's trout but also migrate into waterways draining into the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta above
State learned from mistakes
Bill Powers was mayor of this town of 2,200 during the first poisoning. He and three others swam in the lake, chained themselves to a buoy and flirted with hypothermia in an attempt to stop it. Now, he's convinced the state learned from its mistakes and has a better plan.
"No one wants to see it done. It's sad that it has to happen," Powers says. "But after 10 years of chasing down answers, I think at least we can say it's going to be a one-shot deal and pose no health effects to the public."
A group called Save Lake Davis thinks unexplained illnesses were a consequence of the 1997 poisoning, including higher rates of cancer and learning disabilities, says Dan Wilson, an organizer. Research has not supported those claims, but
"I agree with the scientists who say there's no safe levels of carcinogens in drinking water," he says. The city hasn't depended on lake water since 1997, but
Sarah Bensinger, owner of a store and campground near the lake, says Save Lake Davis represents fringe opposition and most people are eager to get the pike out. "I still get calls wanting to know are we going to blow up the lake, is it going to be drained, is there still poison in it," she says. "More harm's been done to me in the last eight years by not doing anything than if they took care of the issue right now."
The state's first pike eradication plan was flawed, but officials also did a poor job of public relations, Martarano says. This time, the department staffed an office in Portola, held several public meetings and involved residents in planning. It hired an economic consultant to assess local impacts.
When pike reappeared two years after the first poisoning, the state concluded that the fish escaped into streams and springs that drain into the lake, then returned once the chemicals dispersed.
This time, Martarano says, all the lake's tributaries, even small pools in the mountains, were identified with satellite technology.
They'll be poisoned first, shortly after Labor Day, then the lake itself will be treated, before tributaries get a second dose.
Want tourists to return
The same poison will be used as in 1997: rotenone, which deprives gill-breathing fish of oxygen but doesn't harm other wildlife.
A different method of spreading rotenone will be used so it disappears in a few weeks instead of months like last time,
Martarano says. The department will spend $16 million, deploy 550 people over several weeks and dump 17,000 gallons of poison into the lake, the biggest operation in its history.
"We often hear people say, 'Well, we fish pike in
Biologists believe pike were illegally introduced years ago into
Trout thrive in
"People are pulling out lots of fish, trout 20-24 inches long," says Margie Braddy, host at a campground on the lake. "It's just a matter of knowing how to do it."
Others say the fishing hasn't been as good this year because the state canceled its annual spring restocking in anticipation of the poisoning.
The city and
"Last time, once the lake tested clear and the state restocked it, we joked that there were so many fish you could catch a limit on a hook with no bait," says city manager Jim Murphy. "I think that will excite the tourist and the fisherman." #
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-08-23-lake-davis-trout_N.htm
HYDRILLA:
More hydrilla plants found in Clear Lake around Soda Bay
By Tiffany Revelle, staff writer
LAKE COUNTY -- Another 10 hydrilla plants were spotted in Clear Lake over the past several days by agricultural technicians out looking for the invasive weed as part of the California Department of Agriculture's (CDFA) hydrilla eradication program for
Patrick Akers, CDFA's supervising scientist for the hydrilla project, said while the prolific aquatic plant is in several water bodies throughout the state,
"We were expecting hydrilla to reappear after we stopped treating," said Akers in a Wednesday interview with the Record-Bee.
"We didn't know how much, but were expecting it to come back. That's part of the reality of this plant."
The CDFA has battled the hydrilla plant on
"Hydrilla can look like it's gone for a long time, and once the control pressure is off they can come back," said Akers, adding that the CDFA bumped its crew up 50 percent this year in anticipation of just that.
The plant sprouts from tubers, which are potato-like seeds the size of navy beans. Akers said they can sit dormant in the sediment on the bottom of a water body for five to seven years waiting for ideal conditions to sprout into plants.
And once they do, they can double their biomass in a week to 10 days under ideal conditions, Akers explained.
Akers said while the weed has taken over water bodies stretching from
"We're kind of running a big experiment here," said Akers of the CDFA's eradication efforts. "We don't have a lot of experience to draw on from other places to see how the game will play out with this plant." Akers added that the plant has reduced water delivery in the Imperial Irrigation District by 85 percent.
Approximately 150 acres on
"We take it very seriously about controlling the plants as young as we can possibly get them," said Akers, adding that in prime conditions the plants can produce new tubers in three weeks.
Akers said September is the time the plant usually starts producing tubers, although the particular type found in
Prime conditions for the plant to grow are when the water is above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, lots of sun and plenty of nutrients.
"The thing about Clear Lake is it's so murky that down at the bottom of the lake there's not a lot of sunlight, so it doesn't grow as fast," said Akers, adding that he's not convinced the plants agricultural technicians have been finding could make new tubers in three weeks. Still, he said, he knows they're getting close. #
http://www.record-bee.com/local/ci_6705535
WATERSHED RESTORATION FUNDS:
DWR Awards $10 Million in Grants to Study, Restore, and Value Watersheds
News Release, Department of Water Resources – 8/16/07
Contact: Kristyne Miller, 916-651-9621
The money comes from the sale of $3.4 billion in bonds approved by voters as Proposition 50 in November 2002.The projects range from assessing the condition of watersheds to restoring local creeks and rivers to placing an economic value on the watershed approach.
A watershed is a region draining into a creek, river, river system or other body of water. In
The list of 27 grant recipients is on-line at:
http://www.watershedrestoration.water.ca.gov/watersheds
The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. #
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