[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 12/13/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

December 13, 2007

 

3. Watersheds

 

DELTA ISSUES:

Editorial: Re-routing Delta water isn't the best answer to some major questions - Stockton Record

 

LAKE DAVIS:

22,000 pounds of trout put in recovering Lake Davis; One last residue from poisoning remains, and waters will stay closed until tests show it's gone - Sacramento Bee

 

Pike Project winds down - Plumas County News

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

Gravel on its way to aid fish spawning habitat - Sacramento Bee

 

TRINITY RESTORATION:

Editorial: Trinity restoration: Promises should be kept - Eureka Times Standard

 

GRANT AWARDED:

Grant awarded for Yuba River project - Grass Valley Union

 

 

DELTA ISSUES:

Editorial: Re-routing Delta water isn't the best answer to some major questions

Stockton Record – 12/13/07

 

For 40 years, the San Joaquin Delta has been studied, studied and studied again - usually for what it should do, not for what it is.

 

Members of groups trying to advance narrow agendas and government officials under political pressure have measured, tracked, reviewed and scrutinized trends in aquatic life, ecosystems, recreational use and the quality and reliability of its water supply.

 

Special-interest plans are a constant concern:

 

» Metropolitan Water District officials in Los Angeles want Northern California water delivered when it's needed.

 

» Southern San Joaquin Valley agricultural interests need to keep their irrigation pumps working.

 

» Water managers in some East Bay municipalities worry about not getting enough water.

 

» Outdoor enthusiasts want to keep the West Coast's largest estuary brimming with fish and wildlife.

 

» Environmentalists are trying to protect and restore the ecosystem.

 

» Officials in Stockton and Lathrop, while valuing the Delta's proximity and natural beauty, also must plan for improved protection against potential floods.

 

The latest study, a 34-page report from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force that was released on Nov. 30, uses strained logic to maintain the idea that a peripheral canal - or some other means of rerouting its water - remains the most viable option for protecting the Delta.

 

Like many previous evaluations of this vital region, the Delta Vision report recommended improved governance and better protection.

 

It also raised familiar questions.

 

What will it take to end what former Sacramento Mayor Phil Isenberg calls the culture of "everyone's involved, but no one's in charge"?

* There are 200 agencies claiming a stake in the Delta's resources. The California Bay-Delta Authority (CALFED), established in 1994, hasn't resolved the issue of governance. It state and federal officials don't find a way to compromise, the courts will intervene.

 

If exports are curtailed again next spring, what's going to happen to the water supply for 25 million urban users in the Los Angeles area? Who has the authority to intervene and end the endless?

 

* The question of who has ultimate jurisdiction and conflict over state-federal responsibility complicate the situation.

When a judge shut down the pumps at Tracy this year to protect Delta smelt, he created the latest dilemma regarding how to prceed. Before rationing becomes mandatory, there likely will be lawsuits appealing the judge's ruling.

 

Would less fresh water flowing through the Delta improve it?

 

* There's renewed interest in trying to route water around the Delta to the Tracy pumping stations. A peripheral canal, rejected by voters in 1982, would mean reduced flows from Sacramento River. The answer is simple: No.

 

Where would the billions of dollars to construct a canal come from and who would provide oversight?

 

* Levee maintenance is under funded and very localized. A new conveyance system would cost more than anyone can accurately project. This might be what will make a peripheral canal unfeasible.

 

Wouldn't trying to build a canal distract from solutions to more significant problems?

 

* Continuing urban encroachment and water storage issues related to California's rapid population growth are critical dimensions. So are issues involving conservation, particularly the role of agriculture. Trying to move so much Northern California water to Southern California indefinitely might not be fair or practical.

 

State Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, is right.

 

He's made it clear that governance is the key to everything.

 

"Who is going to take control?" Machado keeps asking.

 

Until that issue is resolved, it will be impossible to address how all aspects of the Delta can be managed most fairly and effectively.

 

Then there's the question of who will enforce the laws - state and federal - that already exist.

 

A complicated web of overlapping regulations and government agencies make that difficult.

 

Trying to route water around the Delta - via a canal or other systems - is a discredited concept that won't resolve Machado's concerns or preserve and protect the Delta for what it naturally is. #

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/A_OPINION01/712130314/-1/A_OPINION06

 

 

LAKE DAVIS:

22,000 pounds of trout put in recovering Lake Davis; One last residue from poisoning remains, and waters will stay closed until tests show it's gone

Sacramento Bee – 12/13/07

By Jane Braxton Little, staff writer

 

PORTOLA – State officials planted 22,000 pounds of trout in Lake Davis Tuesday and Wednesday despite the presence of chemicals lingering in the water from poisons applied in September to eradicate non-native northern pike.

 

By the end of the week the Plumas County reservoir will have 33,000 pounds of Eagle Lake trout, all of them between 2 and 4 pounds, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

 

But the lake remains closed to fishing due to the continued presence of Fennedefo 99, one of several chemicals used to help disperse the poisons into the water.

 

Although the chemical poses no human health issues, state officials agreed to continue the public closure until Lake Davis shows no signs of toxins for three consecutive tests, said Randy Kelly, Lake Davis pike coordinator for Fish and Game.

 

The pressure to release trout into the reservoir before it is completely chemically free came from the American River hatchery, he said.

 

The fish intended for Lake Davis were growing too large to remain in the hatchery tanks, he said.

 

"We risked losing them to another lake," said Kelly.

 

Fennedefo 99 is the last remaining residue still detectable from the state's $16.7 million chemical treatment, said David Spath, who is overseeing the project for the state Department of Health Services.

 

Rotenone, an organic insecticide used to kill all of the fish in the lake, is now undetectable in the water, he said.

 

After the poisoning, department officials said no fish would be planted until lake waters tested chemical-free in three consecutive tests. They decided to plant the trout this week on the advice of state health officials, Kelly said.

 

Fennedefo 99 is commonly used as a food additive in gum and several soft drinks, he said. It was used in Lake Davis as a distribution agent for the toxins. It poses no risk to human health, he said.

 

It's apparently safe for fish, too.

 

Last month department officials put trout in cages for 96 hours at five different depths in the reservoir. All survived, said Kelly.

Trout fishing at Lake Davis has been declining since 1994, when pike were first found in the reservoir.

 

Eradicating the voracious Midwestern native species was the goal of a 1997 chemical treatment, which ended up costing the state $20 million.

 

When pike were discovered in Lake Davis 18 months later, state officials began working with the local community to control the pike population and contain them in the reservoir.

 

Pike escaping from Lake Davis could make their way downstream to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where officials feared their impact on the state native and commercial fishery.

 

In January they announced plans for a second chemical treatment, which was conducted throughout September.

 

The chemical treatment aimed at northern pike killed all the fish in the reservoir.

 

State officials removed nearly 50,000 pounds of dead fish after they poisoned the reservoir and its tributaries in eastern Plumas County. Pike represented around 6 percent of the total, said Kelly. Over 80 percent were bullheads.

 

Less than 1 percent of the fish removed from the former trophy-trout lake were trout, he said.

 

Kelly was optimistic that Lake Davis would reopen in time for ice fishing, a popular sport there.

 

The department plans to release around 75,000 rainbow trout into Lake Davis in the spring, said Martarano. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/564180.html

 

 

Pike Project winds down

Plumas County News – 12/12/07

By Diana Jorgenson, Portola Editor

 

Department of Fish and Game, said his good-byes to members of the Pike Steering Committee and fellow agency and project colleagues at the November meeting of the steering committee.

Pert is moving to San Diego and has already been appointed as regional manager for DFG in that area. He stated that he has already begun his duties there, but will remain available for consultation on the pike eradication project if he is needed.

Randy Kelly, who has been Pert's second-in-command on the project all along, has been named to the project manager position. Pert said that Kelly was familiar with all the issues so he expected an easy transition.

Pert had nothing but thanks for the members of the Pike Steering Committee, and told them, "I think that working together with you on this project has really been a positive one for me. We've worked through a lot of difficult issues."

Although the masses of DFG personnel have left the area, a number of issues remain unresolved before the project can come to a close. Some of these include: fish re-stocking issues, fish studies to determine bioaccumulation and bioconcentration levels of toxin residues, tabulation of fish statistics of Lake Davis populations by number and by weight, and, probably the most important of all, water quality reports.

The economic impact on the area can now only begin to be measured and the Pike Steering Committee sub-committee has already begun working with legislators regarding possible legislative re-dress. #

http://plumasnews.com/news_story.edi?sid=5763

 

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

Gravel on its way to aid fish spawning habitat

Sacramento Bee – 12/13/07

By Matt Weiser, staff writer

 

RANCHO CORDOVA – Federal officials on Monday will begin delivering hundreds of tons of gravel to the banks of the American River for a project to improve fish spawning habitat.

 

The $1.5 million project by the Bureau of Reclamation will be on the north bank of the river between Nimbus Dam and Sailor Bar. For two to three weeks dump trucks will stockpile gravel along river. The 30 to 40 truckloads a day will be delivered only on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

 

Starting next summer, the gravel will be spread on the river bottom to increase spawning areas for salmon and steelhead. The project also includes creating side channels to provide refuge and spawning areas for fish.

 

Salmon and steelhead spawn by depositing eggs in gravel beds on the river bottom. But there isn't enough gravel habitat in the two miles below Nimbus Dam, in part because the dam blocks movement of gravel downstream. The project, authorized under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, is designed to remedy that.

 

In total, about 290 truckloads of gravel – about 50,000 cubic yards – will be added to the river over five years. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/564418.html

 

 

TRINITY RESTORATION:

Editorial: Trinity restoration: Promises should be kept

Eureka Times Standard – 12/13/07

 

History holds many lessons for us, and current efforts to force the federal government to honor its financial commitment to a healthy Trinity River conjure up many of them.

 

The U. S. push westward left behind it many broken treaties with Indian tribes, such as the 1877 seizure of the Black Hills of South Dakota (yes, home of the noble monument at Mount Rushmore), despite a treaty that recognized the Sioux Nation as owner in perpetuity.

 

In southeastern California's Owens Valley, the 1920s “water wars” pitted valley farmers against the city of Los Angeles, which coveted the rural area's water for itself. Once verdant, the Owens Valley now features a dried-up lake and alkali dust storms. (This tragedy was immortalized in the movie “Chinatown”.)

 

Also in the 1920s, in northern California, the Hetch Hetchy Valley -- said to be even more beautiful than Yosemite Valley -- was dammed and filled with water to provide a reservoir for San Francisco, despite protests by John Muir and other early environmentalists.

 

Even closer to home in 1964, the Lewiston Dam began diverting Trinity River water to the Central Valley. The Bureau of Reclamation promised Congress that 45 percent of the water would stay in the Trinity to sustain its abundant salmon and steelhead populations.

 

That turned out to be a lie. Up to 90 percent of the flow was sent south. Not only did this have a tragic effect on the Trinity itself, depleting the fishery by 80 percent, but the Trinity is the only Klamath River tributary producing harvestable quantities of endangered species of salmon. The Klamath, in turn, is an economic lifeline for native people as well as for commercial and sport fishermen for 900 miles along the California and Oregon coast.

 

Then in 1992, Congress approved a law to fix rivers damaged by excess water diversion. In 2000, Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed a so-called “Record of Decision,” promising to fund the restoration of the Trinity's water levels and the riverbed. But soon George Bush came into office, and his administration began dragging its feet, despite a 2002 decision by the federal courts upholding the commitment.

 

Today, the Trinity agreement is five years behind schedule and receiving only half its annual funding, $8 million. Yet fulfilling a promise to the Trinity seems much cheaper that the recent payout of $60 million in federal aid to fishermen and businesses devastated by the 2006 salmon season failure.

 

That's why North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson is seeking the passage of a bill, HR 2733, mandating that the Bureau of Reclamation do what it promised to do. BOR Director Robert Johnson has made it clear that he won't do it willingly, opposing the bill because it “reduces the discretion of the executive branch.” That's why we support HR 2733, because that's what it will take.

 

Remember the desolate Owens Valley? In 1997, Inyo County, Los Angeles, farmers and environmentalists signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” laying out how the lower Owens River would be rewatered by June 2003. They're still waiting. #

http://www.times-standard.com//ci_7708591?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com

 

 

GRANT AWARDED:

Grant awarded for Yuba River project

Grass Valley Union – 12/13/07

By Laura Brown, staff writer

 

A grant of $45,000 was recently awarded to map and appraise three large properties in private ownership along the Yuba River watershed where owners are exploring public access for recreation.

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy awarded $45,000 to the Sierra Fund for project development, property appraisals and environmental assessments on three properties totaling more than 4,000 acres and spanning 12 miles of the Yuba River, according to a news release from the conservancy.

The properties offer the longest single stretch of potential river acquisition in the state, the release said.

"Currently on the table, there is nothing like it," said Janet Cohen, a former executive director for the South Yuba River Citizens League who has contracted with the Sierra Fund to serve as the project manager for what is being called the Yuba River Wildlife Area Phase I Plan.

For now, the grant will conserve the lands and make them accessible, Cohen said. Shawn Garvey, another former SYRCL director, will serve as the liaison with the property owners involved in the project, Cohen said.

The properties are located throughout the watershed and include the former Rice's Crossing Bridge, which linked Marysville with Carson City during the Gold Rush.

The land, which was cut off from public use for years, offers recreational promise for fishing, hiking and biking. Freeing up the properties could aid in efforts to restore salmon and steelhead populations. Some properties link to existing public lands and others would "unlock" public lands considered "landlocked," Cohen said. #

http://www.theunion.com/article/20071213/NEWS/112130179

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