A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 3, 2007
3. Watersheds
LAKE DAVIS PIKE:
Lake poisoning seems to have worked to kill invasive pike - San Francisco Chronicle
DELTA SALMON ISSUES:
Delta saga gets fishier - Stockton Record
LAKE DAVIS PIKE:
San Francisco Chronicle – 10/3/07
By Peter Fimrite, staff writer
(10-02) 10:46 PDT Portola (Plumas County) - -- There may be something that is still alive in Lake Davis, but crews with the state Department of Fish and Game have not yet found it.
Game wardens in an armada of 25 boats poured 16,000 gallons of the fish poison rotenone into the scenic Sierra reservoir a week ago in an attempt to exterminate a voracious invader known as the northern pike.
Some 41,000 pounds of dead fish have since been scooped from the lake at the northern headwaters of the Feather River in
"No one wants chemicals dumped in their lake to kill fish and we don't like doing it, but you have to look at the big picture," said
Drastic measures were the only surefire way to get rid of the pike, which had wiped out the area's famous trout, destroying the local tourist economy. Citizens and merchants in nearby Portola, most of whom rely on anglers and tourists to make ends meet, supported poisoning the once and future source of their drinking water if it solved the pike problem.
"For some reason, pike are especially susceptible to rotenone," Martarano said. "We expect some trout to survive, but not pike. The level we are using should be very potent for the pike."
So far, however, brown bullheads - a type of catfish - make up about 75 percent of the dead fish plucked from the lake. About 8 percent of the poisoned fish were pike, including one 47-inch beast weighing about 20 pounds. Rainbow trout made up less than 1 percent of the total, Martarano said.
The other dead species found in the reservoir included largemouth bass, golden shiner, and pumpkinseed sunfish. Coyote, herons and other wildlife were busy this week scavenging fish corpses, which game officials said pose no danger to mammals.
Work crews are collecting and bagging most of the dead fish, which are then put into refrigerated trucks and transported to a landfill near
The city of
It is a matter of debate whether rainbow trout historically reached as far as Portola before the dam was built. Indigenous or not, the community now relies almost completely on trout fishermen and campers to spend money in Portola.
In 1994, northern pike were illegally introduced into the lake, most likely by anglers who enjoyed fishing for them in the Midwest and
The torpedo-shaped fish soon took over the lake, hiding out in grassy areas and ambushing trout with their razor-sharp teeth.
The trout population was devastated, but fisheries experts and environmentalists were most afraid that the pike would escape from behind the dam.
Once out, the aggressive marauders could destroy the already fragile salmon and steelhead populations in
Martarano said he expects restocking of trout to begin in the lake later this fall once testing shows there is no longer any trace of chemical residue. The plan, he said, is to introduce 100,000 small rainbow trout and 15,000 larger trout of various strains before the lake ices up this winter. Some 2,000 more rainbows will be planted in the tributaries and streams.
In the spring, 750,000 rainbow and 3,000 fingerling brown trout will be plunked into the lake. Another 2,000 brook trout fingerlings will be placed in the lake's tributaries, he said.
"We're really expecting fishing this spring to be outstanding," Martarano said.
Once a new water treatment facility is completed next year, the citizens of Portola will again begin drinking lake water, which they haven't done since a failed attempt to poison the pike 10 years ago struck fear of contamination among residents. The pike resurfaced after that poisoning attempt, possibly because after a saboteur once again reintroduced the pike.
Meanwhile, Grizzly Valley Dam will remain shut for up to 45 more days to allow the compounds to degrade naturally in the reservoir. The U.S. Forest Service has closed campgrounds in the area and is staffing check points along
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/03/BAOHSI41V.DTL
DELTA SALMON ISSUES:
Delta saga gets fishier
The federal judge who ordered reductions in water pumped from the Delta next year to preserve smelt will take the bench again today - this time to talk salmon and steelhead.
Fishing and conservation groups and an American Indian tribe are challenging a federal report that allows pumps near Tracy to send water south, despite alleged harm to five species of salmon and steelhead.
A similar report analyzing the pumps' effect on smelt was tossed earlier this year by Judge Oliver Wanger, who then in August ordered water exports cut by up to one-third next year while officials prepare a new report that likely would permanently curtail pumping. The pumps create reverse flows in the south Delta and suck in young smelt, as well as salmon and steelhead.
Unlike the finger-long smelt, salmon and steelhead have recreational and commercial value.
If Wanger throws out the report for salmon and steelhead following today's session, another hearing would be held to determine how to protect those fish.
A similar proceeding for smelt took several days and included testimony from witnesses and evidence exhibits. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/A_NEWS/710030325
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