A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
December 5, 2007
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
Delta plan aims to fix ecosystem and water supply - California Farm Bureau
INVASIVE SPECIES:
Ecologist looking to clear bay of invasive cordgrass - Eureka Times Standard
Fish and Game faces fish stocking quandary - Plumas County News
DELTA ISSUES:
Delta plan aims to fix ecosystem and water supply
By Kate Campbell, Assistant Editor
With the year-long effort to create a road map for the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta coming to a close, a blue-ribbon task force is putting the final touches on a plan that will guide public policy and operations for this vital resource now and in coming decades.
The plan for sustainable management of the delta was mandated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and requires the Delta Vision Committee to submit its report to him by Jan. 1, 2008. The report and its recommendations will also go to the Legislature. A strategic plan is required by executive order by Oct. 31, 2008 and work on that phase will begin shortly.
The report has been developed with input from a broad cross section of citizens, scientists, subject matter experts and a variety of organizations, including the California Farm Bureau Federation, through a series of stakeholder meetings and extensive public comment opportunities.
"We congratulate the task force on completing this phase of the process for restoring and protecting the delta and we look forward to analyzing the final report," said CFBF President Doug Mosebar. "Farm Bureau has devoted considerable resources to the effort to ensure the voices of all
"Of primary concern to us is the protection of
Members of the Delta Vision Committee, which has overseen the plan development process, include the
The Delta Vision Plan was created by an appointed task force and currently includes 12 interrelated recommendations based on the premise that the delta is critically important to
Two critical areas in the plan are the recommendation for water conveyance from the delta and governance--a single entity with a statewide perspective, a stable long-term funding source and sufficient authority to protect and improve the resource.
The recommendations on conveyance include beginning immediate improvements to existing through-delta infrastructure and operations while, at the same time, studying "dual conveyance" options to reach optimal solutions for the troubled estuary.
Chris Scheuring, CFBF managing counsel for the Natural Resources and Environmental Division, represents Farm Bureau on the Delta Vision stakeholder committee.
"Farm Bureau wants a forward-looking solution to the problems facing the delta," Scheuring said. "It is a critical resource, not just for agriculture, but for the entire state and we must find meaningful ways to sustain not only a healthy ecosystem, but also improved water supply reliability and in-delta water quality."
More than half of all Californians rely on water conveyed through the delta for at least part of their water. Much of
But the Delta Vision report notes that increasingly tight water supplies flowing through the delta are far from the only problem. Invasive species have changed basic aquatic food production chains. Recent studies show 95 percent of the living organisms taken in delta bottom samples are non-native species.
Nearly 400,000 people live and farm in the delta. Lives and livelihoods are protected by 1,300 miles of crumbling levees, some built nearly a century ago with minimal engineering. Almost every year a levee fails from floods or other events.
Experts say earthquakes could liquefy soils, destroy miles of levees and threaten water supplies, roads, aqueducts, power lines and gas transmission pipelines that cross the delta. The risk of catastrophic earthquakes builds over time along with the seismic pressure until a cataclysmic release.
"The delta is a resource of statewide significance and our Farm Bureau members are a microcosm of
"Just like everyone, we're grappling with the same issues affecting the delta and we're looking for political and technical solutions.
"It's abundantly clear to everyone that the delta is troubled and significant changes need to be made," he said.
At a news conference Friday to discuss the plan and its final recommendations, Delta Vision Task Force Chairman Phil Isenberg said the task force concluded that to achieve the plan's goals the state must acknowledge the "co-equal nature of protecting and improving the delta ecosystem and the water supply for Californians."
"People may say that these objectives are battling with each other, but in our view they both must be satisfied in order for each to be satisfied," Isenberg said. "This is not a case where one side can win."
Isenberg said the task force concluded that the problems in the delta cannot be solved unless related problems also are addressed, for example the notions of conservation and sustainable management, as well as ground and surface water storage.
These would be in addition to improved conveyance.
"The problems are attributable to many things, not just the exports that go to
He said near-term actions, things that must be done immediately and without regard to anything related to the "raging political questions of storage and export facilities," range from buying land in the delta to increase flood plain areas; prohibiting growth in flood-prone areas; and levee improvements, including setting performance standards for different kinds of structures.
"Our recommendation on conveyance is that it can't be viewed in isolation," Isenberg said. "Whatever the decision about conveyance--in the delta, around the delta, it doesn't matter--first we must invest in protecting and improving the existing conveyance facility.
"If you do not, then you're exposing the existing facility, which no one defends as adequate, to constant threat while you work toward a new facility, which everyone predicts will be 15 years before ground is broken," Isenberg stressed. "We need to protect what we have now, both for water supply and flood protection.
"There are more than 200 governmental agencies that 'futz' around in the delta today," he said. "These agencies all have some kind of authority. It's classic American government: Everybody's involved and nobody's in charge.
"We're realistic, but we have recommended on governance that an authority that has as its goals protection of the ecosystem and the water supply is in a better position to evaluate things than an agency with a single purpose," Isenberg said. "We think this would lead to a more holistic view of decisions."
CFBF Second Vice President Kenny Watkins, who represents Farm Bureau on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Steering Committee, said that, as the state and stakeholders move from the vision for the delta to tactical changes and improvements, there is much to be decided.
"But whatever happens, our members have to be assured that Farm Bureau will continue to be part of the process and at the table advocating for the best possible solutions for all of California agriculture," Watkins said. "These are complex issues facing the delta and we're going to have to collaborate with diverse interests to come up with solutions."
He said Farm Bureau has been highly engaged on this issue, for example participating in the Delta Vision process and water bond initiative discussions, as well as arranging for the CFBF board of directors to tour the delta and educating members on these complex delta issues.
"Hard decisions are going to have to be made in the future," Watkins said. "The Delta Vision task force report won't result in concrete being poured tomorrow, but it helps to build consensus. Remember, however, there are federal jurisdictions that come into play with this. All these processes are going to have to come together and go down the road at the same time to make the pieces work.
"I would not have believed a year ago that we could have accomplished this level of dialog and consensus," Watkins said. "The delta is a difficult area of policy, but there are encouraging signs that we're moving forward." #
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=947&ck=C4B31CE7D95C75CA70D50C19AEF08BF1
INVASIVE SPECIES:
Ecologist looking to clear bay of invasive cordgrass
By John Driscoll, staff writer
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is embarking on a large-scale project to rid an area in
The grass, spartina densiflora or dense-flowered cordgrass, has been in the bay since it was brought here in the ballast of a ship around the 1850s. It has been slowly taking over the salt marsh in which it thrives, choking out native plants.
It now dominates nearly all of the bay's remaining salt marshes. But ecologists have learned that using a common weed whacker with a metal blade can be effective in killing large patches of cordgrass. They're prepared to move into Mad River Slough to attempt to reverse the cordgrasses' hold there.
”We wanted to show that it's a doable thing,” said Fish and Wildlife ecologist Andrea Pickart.
The agency is asking for volunteers to help replant areas cleared of spartina with native plants like pickle weed and salt grass.
That should keep cordgrass from reinfesting the areas that are treated.
Pickart said that on the small scale, native plants have moved in on their own when spartina was removed. But on a baywide scale, Pickart said, the idea is to quickly make it so the cordgrass can't regain ground.
It's a big job, especially since there will remain lots of seed that floats in and out on the tide, Pickart said.
”There's just not enough resources among agencies to get this whole thing done,” said Fish and Wildlife contractor Ellen Tatum.
Similar large-scale efforts on
http://www.times-standard.com//ci_7638751?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
Fish and Game faces fish stocking quandary
By Diana Jorgenson, Portola Editor
Department of Fish and Game personnel shared a fish-stocking problem with members of the Pike Steering Committee at their regular November meeting.
At the October meeting of the steering committee, Ed Pert, the agency's manager for the Pike Eradication Project, had reported that only sub-catchable fish (1/2 pound to 1 pound) would be stocked this fall and that the larger stockings would happen in the spring. Personnel expected to stock 17,000 pounds of 8-12" trout before the lake froze.
Since then, the fish have apparently grown quickly, are now 1 1/2 to 2 pounds in weight, have grown too large for their quarters, no one knows how many pounds they now total, and all need to be released by Dec. 15.
While this would seem to be a wonderful turn of events to the fishing population, the problem is that the lake is not ready. It is totally impossible to have three clear water samples before Dec. 15, even if the water tested clean right now, which it does not.
DFG and the Department of Health Services require three water samples testing free of chemical residuals of CFT-Legumine in order to declare the water safe for drinking. Both of these departments are testing weekly samples for comparison.
Both departments declare that the chemical analysis takes an entire week to accomplish in their labs, which means that results are lagging long after the fact. This, too, complicates any quick decision -making.
DFG's Randy Kelly guessed that, at the current rate of chemical breakdown, the water samples were unlikely to test clear Dec. 3. He believes that Dec. 10 may be the first clean test, but that results were not going to be available until after the hatchery deadline.
Dr. David Spath said that although he could not hurry the laboratory process, he could usually get preliminary results in a few days.
That might solve part of the problem, but one clear test is not the same as three clear tests. Jim Murphy, chairman of the steering committee, reminded DFG representatives that getting three consecutive clean tests had not been easy after the 1997 treatment.
Kelly responded that, in reviewing the EIR, officials had only obligated themselves to one clean test for tributaries and for fish, thus he thought that they could re-stock if the Dec. 10 reading tested clean.
None of the steering committee members wanted to lose fish of that size and quantity and there was considerable discussion of all aspects of the problem. Discussions will be continued at the Dec. 10 meeting of the Pike Steering Committee, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. at City Hall.
In fact, it all hinges on a clear water sample being pulled from
If the fish can not be stocked at
http://plumasnews.com/news_story.edi?sid=5744
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