A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 26, 2007
3. Watersheds
DIVERSION DAM REMOVED:
ACID dam removed at Caldwell Park; Workers begin taking out boards diverting Sacramento River - Redding Record Searchlight
The salmon? They're back - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
KLAMATH ISSUES:
Ocean council hears Klamath, fishing issues - Eureka Times Standard
MARSH CREEK EXHIBIT:
Panels give details about Marsh Creek; Signs give viewers information about area's ecosystem, history and future - Contra Costa Times
DIVERSION DAM REMOVED:
ACID dam removed at Caldwell Park; Workers begin taking out boards diverting Sacramento River
Redding Record Searchlight – 10/26/07
By Dylan Darling, staff writer
It's a sure a sign that it's autumn as workers this week are pulling the planks from the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District diversion dam at Caldwell Park.
The tightrope act is performed by eight lifejacket-clad workers with long poles from a catwalk above the dam and can take as many as 10 days to complete, said Stan Wangberg, ACID general manager.
"It's not a one-day thing," he said.
Along with pulling the last 360 of the close to 500, 12-foot long Douglas fir flashboards that form the dam, the workers take down the steel structure that held the planks in place as well as the catwalk, he said.
The wood and steel are hauled to a building on the south side of the
While the wood and steel are removed at the end of the growing season and returned at its beginning, the concrete base of the dam stays in place, Wangberg said. The dam has held strong since it was built in 1916.
With the removal of the dam's flashboards,
Soon anglers will be wading into the returning shallows, casting their lines for trout that cluster behind spawning salmon in hopes of dining on eggs floating downstream, said Mike Berry, environmental scientist for state Department of Fish and Game.
Anglers need to watch where they put their feet so they don't disturb salmon spawning nests called redds, he said. #
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/oct/26/acid-dam-removed-at-caldwell-park/
The salmon? They're back
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 10/26/07
By Bob Norberg, staff writer
Chinook salmon, the reason
"It absolutely worked," said Sean White, a biologist with the Sonoma County Water Agency, referring to the conservation measures that were taken. "
Now it has 37,000 acre-feet, its lowest for this time in any of the past five years, but enough to increase the
The number of fish that have been counted so far, however, is fewer than that seen in any of the seven years the fish have been monitored.
Biologists aren't sure whether the fish are returning late to spawn or young fish suffered during their
"We can't be concerned yet," Manning said. "There is anecdotal evidence we are seeing in other streams that fish are just late."
After a dry spring and with less water being diverted from the
The water agency asked the cities and districts that buy its water to implement conservation measures. The measures put in place by the agency's customers resulted in a 21.7 percent reduction as of Wednesday, water officials said.
Much of the river water saved by the customers came from the use of alternatives, such as well water.
"We've made it," water agency spokesman Tim Anderson said.
The federal government requires the agency to keep the
On Thursday, the river was running at 172 cubic feet per second and was being increased to 185 cubic feet, Manning said.
The water agency began counting chinook salmon in 2000, establishing for the first time that there was a viable population.
"Everyone assumed that the chinook were functionally extinct," Manning said. "People thought there were few left. We found the opposite."
Using DNA tests, scientists also established that it was a distinct native chinook run unrelated to salmon in other
The salmon will spawn in the main stem of the
The peak count was in 2003, when 6,081 chinook were counted and some 200,000 juvenile fish swam downstream to the ocean, Manning said.
By this time that year, there already were 1,120 chinook counted moving through the fish ladder, compared with 67 this year.
The counts are being made this year with a new $12,000 digital video system, which uses underwater cameras and lights in the two fish ladders at the 12-foot inflatable dam at Mirabel. The dam is usually up from April to December.
The camera feeds are transmitted live to the agency's
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20071026/NEWS/710260321/1033/NEWS01
KLAMATH ISSUES:
Ocean council hears Klamath, fishing issues
By John Driscoll, staff writer
Local fishermen, scientists and agency representatives bent the ears of top-level state resource officials Thursday, urging more cooperation on a variety of issues from the
The Ocean Protection Council met at the
California Department of Fish and Game senior advisor Greg Hurner told the council that a group of tribes, fishermen, agencies and other stakeholders hopes to wrap up settlement talks surrounding four dams on the Klamath by year's end. A settlement, if it's successful, would form agreements on water supplies for farms, flows and water quality for salmon, and water for
The talks are confidential, giving the groups room to express concerns and work out sensitive issues, he said.
”It's to share ideas without repercussions,” Hurner said. “It's allowed people to get out of their comfort zone.
The talks began as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began considering dam owner Pacificorp's request to relicense the dams for another 30 to 50 years.
State resources secretary and council chairman Mike Chrisman began the meeting by saying that the effort to establish “marine protected areas” along the 1,100-mile coast has been “historic.”
But two commercial fishermen urged the council to slow down and determine what effects the reserves are having before setting restrictions along the
”We're concerned that it could be the end of our livelihoods,” Hensel said.
The state is currently working on protected areas -- zones with varying restrictions on different uses -- along the north central coast out to 3 miles. It's unknown whether it will shift its attention to the
”The state waters should be protected for fishermen,” he said, “not from fishermen.”
David Hull with the
Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond also offered up the university's resources to the council. #
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_7285754
MARSH CREEK EXHIBIT:
Panels give details about Marsh Creek; Signs give viewers information about area's ecosystem, history and future
Contra Costa Times – 10/26/07
By Hilary Costa, staff writer
OAKLEY -- Marsh Creek Trail just became more visually interesting.
On Wednesday, representatives from the East Bay Regional Park District, Natural Heritage Institute, Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed and the
The illustrated panels, three of which are already in the ground, detail the ecosystem, history and future of Marsh Creek and the surrounding lands.
"I think there are folks that are still shocked to think that there are salmon that run up marsh creek every fall," said Mike Moran, a naturalist with East Bay Regional Park District.
Moran, who works out of the Black Mines Regional Preserve, helped write the panels' text. He said he hopes the signs will bring attention to a creek that he said has historically been overlooked.
Marsh Creek has its headwaters in the Morgan Territory Regional Preserve and runs north toward Big Break Regional Shoreline. The Marsh Creek Trail stretches from
Moran said that at 50 square miles, Marsh Creek is the second largest creek in
Sarah Puckett, a senior restoration ecologist with the Natural Heritage Institute, said often people don't realize the creek, which can resemble an irrigation canal in some spots, is a creek at all. But it is a thriving ecosystem, she said, that is home to river otters, turtles, frogs, muskrats and a myriad of bird species.
The panels cost $10,000 and were funded as part of a $400,000 grant from CalFed, a joint venture of 25 state and federal agencies aimed at improving the state's water supply and ecological health of the Delta.
According to one of the panels, located at the Dutch Slough restoration site in Oakley, the Delta has lost close to 95 percent of its wetlands since the California Gold Rush of the late 1840s.
A number of other Marsh Creek restoration projects are currently in the works. Complete funding was identified this fall to build a fish ladder that will help salmon travel further upstream to prime spawning areas. And a recent agreement by a
Oakley Vice Mayor Bruce Connelley, who sits on the board of the
"A lot of this stuff has been a long time coming," Connelley said.
The three panels already installed are located at the intersection of the bridge and Big Break Regional Trail at Dutch Slough in Oakley; at
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