A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 9, 2008
3. Watersheds
DELTA ISSUES:
QUAGGA MUSSELS:
Casitas board to consider boat ban to keep harmful mussels out of bass fishing lake - Ventura County Star
MUD SNAILS IN SHASTA:
Mud snails encroaching; Anglers asked to dry gear, prevent spread - Redding Record Searchlight
AMERICAN RIVER
Big storm knocked out instruments measuring it; NOAA was able to collect early data before full force cut power to its gear - Sacramento Bee
MUIR WOODS CELEBRATION:
Iconic Muir Woods turns 100; First national monument from donated land set tone for future conservation efforts - Inside Bay Area
DELTA ISSUES:
NPR – 1/9/08
By Tamara Keith
Day to Day, January 8, 2008 · The storms that battered California over the weekend dropped several feet of much-needed snow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
The runoff from that snow melt this spring will be crucial for water resources in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That's the hub of a complicated water supply system that serves much of
But, if climate change predictions come true, the delta's role may change.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is where two major rivers and the
Then a century ago, a thousand miles of levees were built, creating dozens of delta islands and draining the marsh.
Now, there's a system of channels and pumps designed to carefully manage all the precious water that moves in and out of the delta.
On
"It comes down the Sacramento here, turns left and toward San Francisco Bay and is sucked back up to the pumps and is exported to 4 million people in the Bay Area, 3 million acres of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, and 21 million people in Southern California," says University of California Professor Jeff Mount.
Mount says climate change is conspiring against the fragile balance at work in the delta. In order to serve millions of Californians, the salty water of the
Change Drives Salt Inward
"The climate change is driving the salt inward," Mount says. "Where we are sitting now, which is now fresh because of heroic efforts that we're doing to manage water supply, this will inevitable be salty in the future."
Mount heads an independent board of
Mount says there are two types of levees: Those that have failed, and those that will fail. On
"It's a game of inches out here. You're just sort of clinging to the edge here, with very little margin for error.
Regrettably the sea level is rising. So, that's going to go over the tops of the levees much more often in the future," Mount says.
Islands Lose Elevation
And to make matters worse, delta islands lose about an inch of elevation a year, as soil is oxidized and blown away.
That's a problem because, as Mount puts it, nature abhors a vacuum.
"We may be as much as 15 feet below sea level. And just on the other side of this levee is water that is at or above sea level, and it is trying real hard to get in here. And it is just that crummy little levee that is keeping it from getting in here," he says.
Mount and most delta experts agree that the current situation in the delta isn't sustainable. Eventually, that fragile balance of salt and fresh water will shift in favor of salt.
"It's going to do one it of two ways," Mount says. "It's going to do it gradually — sea level rise and changes in inflows — or it's going to do it suddenly through the collapse of the levees."
And if there's a major levee collapse, Mount says, water will rush in so quickly it will suck salty water out of the bay and into the delta in what Mount calls "the big gulp."
"Just the noise of the water rushing into this island, and it's the sound of like a waterfall as this rushes in, and scours this hole in the ground as the water rushes in, and hurling pieces of soil way out onto the island. I mean, the power of these levy breaks is immense, unimaginable, and there's nothing you can do about it," he says.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17929496
QUAGGA MUSSELS:
Casitas board to consider boat ban to keep harmful mussels out of bass fishing lake
By Zeke Barlow, staff writer
The Casitas Municipal Water District board today will debate the possibility of banning most personal boats on
While board members recognized it could be an unpopular decision among those who cite the lake as one of the best bass lakes in the West, they said immediate, if not radical, action has to be considered. They say the exotic species needs to be kept from entering the lake, which could alter the habitat and cause immeasurable and expensive damage to the district's water delivery system.
"There is not an upside in this. There are only downsides," said board member Bill Hicks. "It's such a big thing that we can't afford to get this darned thing in the lake."
Though the board has the option of voting on the measure that was added to the agenda as an emergency item Monday, most board members said they wanted today's meeting to be an informational one without a vote. However, a final vote on the matter could come before the end of the month and before a $10,000 first-prize bass tournament is scheduled.
After learning about the quickly planned meeting, some local fishermen started to rally against the measure they fear could limit their favorite fishing spot.
"There has to be another way," said Cy Chan, owner of Stanton Marine in
Board acts swiftly
One option on the table is to not allow anyone to bring their boats for day use, but to allow people to store their boats at the lake for exclusive use there.
Fishermen would still be able to rent boats at the lake, but many said serious fishermen who have their own boats are not likely to rent them.
The board has moved quickly since first taking up the issue in November, when it voted to inspect every boat that comes into the lake.
The fear is that the quagga mussel will enter
"These decisions are not easy to make, but I'm convinced that we have to protect our water resource," said board member Russ Baggerly, who introduced the emergency agenda item. "Recreation and fishing does not take precedence over it."
Quagga mussels were found in Lake Mead in
Some lakes have banned private boats while others are looking into developing high-powered sprayers to kill mussels on boats.
Mussels alter ecosystem
The mussels first came to the
While fishermen applauded the district's desire to keep the mussel at bay, some wondered if banning all day-use boats is too much.
"I'm proud that the lake took steps proactively to keep out exotic species," said
Gary Wolfe, owner of Lake Casitas Boat Rentals at the lake, said something needs to be done but not without looking at all the options.
"I don't know what the answer is," he said. "I just don't want to do anything rash."
35 fishing tournaments a year
No analysis has been done to see what kind of economic impact the banning of imported boats may have, but local fishermen said the effects would be significant.
About 670,000 people visit the lake annually. The lake, which has a national reputation for the fat, hungry bass it holds, attracts about 35 fishing tournaments every year.
Board member Pete Kaiser said he wants more information before making any decisions, including facts about what other alternatives are out there before banning the boats. He also wondered why boats should be banned if birds can also transmit the mussel among lakes.
Kaiser said he thought today's meeting was too hastily called and that the public needs more time to be able to weigh in on the issue.
Some fishermen agreed.
"To me it sounds like they are just being quick to make a major decision like this," said Eric Huff, owner of Eric's Tackle Shop in
If the issue is not settled today, there could be a special hearing to address it, board members said.
But some, including
That way they'd still be able to fish the lake, even if it was infected, he said. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/09/casitas-board-to-consider-boat-ban-to-keep-out/
MUD SNAILS IN SHASTA:
Mud snails encroaching; Anglers asked to dry gear, prevent spread
Redding Record Searchlight – 1/9/08
By Dylan Darling, staff writer
In an effort to stop the spread of a tiny, invasive snail, anglers are being asked to freeze or dry out their waders after a dip at
Last month the lake was discovered to be the latest body of water in
"There is no known way to eradicate them," he said.
So officials are asking for the public's help in preventing them from spreading into new waters.
To do so, anglers should put their waders in a deep freeze, or let them dry out completely, after fishing at
Boaters should also take time to wash down their hulls after pulling their boats from the water, Orr said. People should check other gear that came in contact with the water, as well as their dogs, for the snails.
First found in the Owens River in
The mud snails are asexual, meaning they do not need a male or a female to reproduce, so a solitary snail can spring into a robust population.
The mud snails also don't have parasites or predators to keep their numbers in check as they do in their native New Zealand, Orr said, so their population can explode to as many as a million in about 9 square feet of waterway. The snails can survive being eaten by fish because they can pass through their digestive systems alive and unscathed.
The snails are a nuisance because they can cause a drop in the number of bottom-dwelling invertebrates, a food source for native fish, Orr said. This can cause fish numbers to drop as well. #
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jan/09/mud-snails-encroaching/
AMERICAN RIVER
Big storm knocked out instruments measuring it; NOAA was able to collect early data before full force cut power to its gear
Sacramento
By Matt Weiser, staff writer
It was billed as the "perfect storm" to gather data for a major research project in the
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tracked weather barreling into the Central Sierra for two years to learn more about storms that can cause catastrophic floods in Sacramento. A special network of about 20 monitoring stations between the
But on Friday, about one-third of those weather stations were knocked out by power outages or rendered inoperable by fierce winds, said project manager Tim Schneider.
At the storm's peak, a radar antenna at
"The wind would actually flip the dish over every time we tried to look into the wind with it," Schneider said. "I'm guessing the winds probably crept up over 70 knots, and that's when we really couldn't operate."
Another station at Cazadero on the coast ran on batteries after a power outage. But those died after two days.
Key stations at
By Monday, power was restored at the weather stations, the
The NOAA project aims to learn more about "atmospheric rivers" – more commonly known as "pineapple express" storms – which funnel huge volumes of tropical moisture toward
Despite the challenges, the project collected valuable data as the storm moved in.
A key interest is something called the barrier jet, or winds that split off from the front of a storm when it collides with the
These barrier jets can focus a storm's moisture into individual canyons, potentially directing rainfall into dangerous areas.
"We caught the first parts of the barrier jet forming and as it began to evolve," Schneider said of the storm.
"It beat us, but it didn't kill our project." #
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/620360.html
MUIR WOODS CELEBRATION:
Iconic Muir Woods turns 100; First national monument from donated land set tone for future conservation efforts
Inside Bay Area – 1/9/08
By Douglas Fischer, staff writer
Muir Woods celebrates its centennial today, marking 100 years of preserving that singular icon of
The national monument just 12 miles from downtown
"Muir Woods was the last old-growth stand in the Bay Area," said Muir Woods Ranger Timothy Jordan. "We get to expose a lot of people to what the forest could have been and to the idea of what was lost ... andwhat it means for them and their children and their grandchildren to have these redwoods around. So often I see people who come in and their jaws just hit the ground."
The timeless trees may serve as a balm in today's hurly-burly, instant-message-filled era. But the monument, in many ways, set the standard for philanthropy-based conservation efforts that predominate today.
Muir Woods was the first national monument to be created from donated land. It showed,
On Monday, Save-the-Redwoods League, co-founded by Muir Woods' original donor, announced the purchase of two key redwood tracts, for a total of $1.1 million, in
The 100-acre parcel in San Mateo County protects a ridge immediately upslope of the popular Butano State Park; the 39-acre Humboldt property near Freshwater Lagoon protects second-growth trees slated for residential development.
"The work over the past 100 years has been to build a network of parks and preserves that people can enjoy," said Ruskin Hartley, Save-the-Redwood's executive director. "The acquisitions are modest, but they're critical additions ... to protect the watersheds and the land."
That's exactly how Muir Woods came about. Philanthropist and future congressman William Kent bought 611 acres in 1905 from the Tamalpais Land and Water Co. for a discounted price of $45,000 — $74 an acre. It was a reluctant purchase:
Two years later, a water company in nearby
On Jan. 9, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed those 295 acres the
The forest faces its challenges: The monument sees nearly 1 million visitors a year, forcing managers to balance preservation and public use. A fungus running rampant on the old-growth trees renewed calls for controlled burns in Muir Woods.
In the forest on Tuesday, however, it was as if little changed: Storm winds rustled branches high in the canopy, while 200 feet below a drizzly rain kept visitors at bay, enhancing the grove's cathedral-like hush. Storm-swollen Redwood Creek gurgled onward as it has for eons.
"I really enjoy seeing families come in for the first time and see these big trees and feel the awe,"
The Muir Woods centennial celebration begins today with speeches at 10 a.m. and continues at 11 a.m. with various activities including nature walks, restoration efforts, art creation and other events. For more information, including an agenda, see http://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/muir-woods-centennial.htm. #
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