A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 11, 2008
3. Watersheds
LA RIVER RESTORATION:
L.A. River move a diverting idea; ANALYSIS: Redirecting the waterway may help L.B.'s beaches stay clean, but process would be lengthy and costly - Long Beach Press Telegram
REDWOOD CREEK FISHERY:
Fish trap information beginning to shed light on creek condition - Eureka Times Standard
QUAGGA MUSSELS:
Mussels multiplying like mad; Infestation threatens to clog Hoover Dam pipes, cost millions to control - Las Vegas Review Journal
Divers scour reservoir south of San Jose looking for damaging pests - San Jose Mercury News
State game wardens fear becoming mussel-bound - San Francisco Chronicle
DELTA SMELT:
Editorial: Fins win again; More smelt protected, less water extracted -
YOLO BYPASS SALMON:
Guest Column: Salmon live in Yolo's backyard; Why fish love Yolo Bypass just as much as birds - Woodland Daily Democrat
SALMON:
Editorial: Where have the salmon gone? -
KLAMATH ISSUES:
Guest Opinion: Fish are key to deal on Klamath -
LA RIVER RESTORATION:
By Paul Eakins, staff writer
But that trash has to go somewhere. Much of it ends up in the
To fight this, city leaders have been batting around a singular solution: Remove the river entirely from near downtown
Instead of letting the river empty into
During his State of the City address in January, Mayor Bob Foster publicly aired the possible solution, which had been discussed by some city and business leaders, and said that improving water quality is a priority.
"This year we will look at a host of possible solutions," Foster said. "One option may even include diverting the mouth of the
Could such a plan really work?
It's not impossible, experts say. And the river has been diverted before.
In 1921, a $3.3 million project - no small price back then - to move the mouth of the river from Long Beach Harbor to its current location was completed, with Los Angeles County and the federal government each covering half the bill, according to a book called "The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth" by Blake Gumprecht, published in 1999.
"It was significantly relocated at its mouth to prevent it from flowing into the harbor area because of the potential damage to port activities," Gumprecht said in a recent phone interview.
Gumprecht began the book for his master's thesis at Cal State Los Angeles and is now an assistant professor of geography at the
The diversion effort was part of a series of massive flood control projects that redirected, widened, straightened and dammed the 51-mile-long river. In later years, the bed and banks of the river would be lined with concrete to better control its flow, finally marking its end as a naturally flowing waterway, Gumprecht said.
The flood control projects "changed the basic geography and ecology of the river in fundamental ways," Gumprecht said. "It used to flow out into large marshes where the harbor now is.
"Really, the
The river is even more unnatural than it actually appears, because water that has been processed at sewage treatment plants is released into the river on a regular basis, he said. About 100 million gallons of water flow through the river daily in dry weather, according to the county's Department of Public Works, which controls about half of the river corridor.
Gumprecht said this isn't the way things are supposed to be.
"The natural state is to be dry most of the year on most of its course," Gumprecht said.
Many hurdles to overcome
Even the river's regular flow in dry weather is nothing compared to the gushing force it becomes during rain.
In wet weather, the river's output increases a hundredfold, sending 10 billion gallons of water daily churning downstream - and taking everything in its path with it - to
Diverting the river to prevent this wouldn't be a simple task, said Greg Fuderer, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in
To start, a local entity (such as the city of
The Corps would determine whether the federal government has responsibility in such a project, and then would have to determine whether it's financially and logistically feasible.
"That's a multi-multi-year process," Fuderer said. "We'd have to look at environmental impacts, sociological impacts on the people, economic impacts."
That means money would be needed, he said.
"The corps can't just go do something," Fuderer said. "We have to be ordered by Congress to do it. That means Congress has to come up with the money to do it."
Likely, the local sponsor (again,
The Corps also would want to study whether moving the river would have the intended effect of reducing pollution along
Actual construction could come much later, he said.
"Something like this is a probably decades-long process from the time that somebody comes up with the idea to something happening," Fuderer said.
Fuderer and Mark Pestrella, assistant deputy of the county's Public Works Department, both said such a project could be extremely costly, though they said studies would be needed to determine just how much.
"You're looking at hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars with a project like that, and over a number of years," Pestrella said.
Nelson Kerr, the city's recreational water manager, said the concept is "really preliminary. I think it's just an idea that's been tossed around."
Fuderer and Pestrella said no proposals for diverting the river have been taken to the county or the Corps of Engineers.
Kerr said it's impossible to know what kind of effect diverting the river could have on
"There's a lot of water between our port and our beaches," Kerr said.
Finding other solutions
Most of the river experts, city leaders and others interviewed said diverting the
"If we divert flows to one or another water body, you still have the issue of pollutants being in the water," Pestrella said.
If the river were to empty into the harbor, then the ports of
Art Wong, spokesman for the
"We would support the city's search for a way to stop this, but diverting it and dumping it in somebody's else's backyard, I don't think that's a solution," Wong said.
But
The city lost out when it allowed the river to be diverted away from the harbor, he said.
"They tout themselves as a first-class port, yet we've been relegated as a second-class city," Morris said. "It's truly amazing to think we gave up our greatest asset for commerce."
The mayor said last week that diverting the river is only one possibility, and not the first he plans to consider.
"The only reason I mentioned that in the State of the City is that it's been talked about and that nothing's off the table in terms of improving water quality," Foster said. "I don't think anyone should dismiss any proposal."
He said he wants to work with upstream cities to find ways to reduce river pollution. Foster also has formed a water quality task force of city staff members, environmental groups and other organizations to work on a solution and that plans to meet this week.
Meanwhile, the county already has implemented some pollution-control systems, Pestrella said.
The county is working with cities to place screens on about 20,000 rainwater catch basins - such as stormwater drains - that feed into the
One successful effort is the Dominguez Gap Wetlands area in
Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal also has said she's interested in diverting the river, but said last week that the keys are to work with other cities to control pollution and to educate the public to prevent littering.
"I do see it as an option," Lowenthal said. "I would like it fully vetted. But I don't see it as an only option."
She said immediate fixes could be found while working toward a larger goal such as diverting the river.
"There are many solutions we can look at," Lowenthal said. "What I don't want us to get hung up on is one solution that may take years and years and can take immense resources."
Gumprecht, the author, said reducing pollution in the existing river would be the best answer, but he doubted it will ever be diverted.
"Moving the mouth of the river would be such an expensive undertaking," he said, "I'm a skeptic that that's ever going to happen."
51 - Miles long
1921 - The year the river was diverted to flow toward downtown
1 - Mile to the west that the river used to flow at its mouth in
100 million - Gallons of water flow through the river daily in dry weather
10 billion - Gallons of water flow through the river daily in wet weather #
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_8220375
REDWOOD CREEK FISHERY:
Fish trap information beginning to shed light on creek condition
By John Driscoll, staff writer
Biologists tracking Redwood Creek's young salmon and steelhead for the past eight years believe that the fish may be changing their life cycle to adapt to sometimes hostile conditions in the creek.
The California Department of Fish and Game runs two fish traps on the creek. The one on the upper creek was jump-started with help from Barnum Timber Co. and has now collected eight years of information, making it one of few streams in
Biologist Mike Sparkman said the information shows that more 1-year-old steelhead are heading to the ocean than 2-year-old fish, the opposite of what happens in many other steelhead streams. Because smaller fish have less chance of survival than larger fish, the 1-year-old steelhead have less chance in the ocean, Sparkman said.
While there is information that the creek is rebounding from 1950s-era logging and the huge flood of 1964, the stream is listed as impaired by the state and federal government for having too much fine sediment clogging the stream and temperatures too high for fish in the summer.
If conditions aren't favorable in the upper creek for steelhead, they'll leave, Sparkman said.
”They are responding by modifying their life history,” Sparkman said.
He said it's critical to keep sediment out of the creek by fixing up and removing roads, and for trees along the stream to grow larger to provide shade.
Steelhead numbers have run steadily down since 2001, and chinook salmon have had wildly fluctuating numbers.
Chinook surges have been followed by sharp declines. In 2004, some 629,000 fish were estimated to have passed into the upper creek trap, but the next three years saw 40,000, 26,000, and 65,000. Coho salmon haven't been recorded in the upper watershed since trapping began -- until this year when six were trapped.
Barnum has challenged the state and federal government's determination that the creek is impaired in court. The suit against the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento County Superior Court in 2003 was tossed out by the judge, who ruled that the appropriate defendant would be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Steve Horner, general manager for Barnum, said the company is considering whether to appeal, or to pursue the EPA.
Barnum Timber interprets the fish trap information a little differently. Horner said that spikes in fish numbers show that the creek is capable of producing large numbers of steelhead and chinook, and may be evidence that environmental factors outside the watershed are behind poor years. That includes available food in the ocean, and an estuary with limited capacity to rear fish.
Horner said that a study of how many adults return to Redwood Creek would be useful information. That's difficult to collect, however, since the creek is rarely clear enough to count spawning fish during the winter.
Whether or not Redwood Creek's fish are in trouble, the trapping effort appears to be. Sparkman said the upper trap hasn't been funded for the coming year, though he hopes to keep it afloat with piecemeal funding and staff.
Barnum is supportive of the effort.
”We would like to see this keep going,” Horner said.
He added that regulations in the watershed have largely been imposed based on the premise that fish are in peril, and that continuing to collect the valuable information is vital.
Redwood National and State Parks, which owns the majority of the watershed, has been keeping track of conditions in the stream channel since the 1970, and other information. Most fish monitoring efforts only last a few years, said park Natural Resource Program Manager Chris Heppe. The way fish populations fluctuate, such a short record can lead to misleading conclusions, he said.
But the Redwood Creek study has the potential to provide much longer-term information, Heppe said, and help link fish populations to other conditions.
”You want to measure as many indicators as you can,” Heppe said. “We are very supportive of seeing both those traps continue.” #
http://www.times-standard.com//ci_8222692?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
QUAGGA MUSSELS:
Mussels multiplying like mad; Infestation threatens to clog
By Keith Rogers, staff writer
Invasive quagga mussels are adapting well to life in the desert, especially in
Leonard Willett, the Bureau of Reclamation's quagga mussel coordinator for the lower Colorado River dams, said the effort to deal with quaggas, which were discovered last year first in Lake Mead and later downstream of Hoover Dam, is still in the monitoring phase, the first part of what he called the "reactive approach."
"Reactive approach means you're going to live with the mussels. You're going to control them, but you're going to live with them," he said in a presentation last week to the Lake Mead Water Quality Forum.
He projected that as the infestation sets in and begins to clog hydroelectric power cooling pipes and other hardware in Hoover Dam's operations, the maintenance-and-control bill could reach $1 million a year, especially if pipes get plugged with quagga colonies.
That would cause turbines to overheat and shut down until cooling pipes can be reamed of the pesky mollusks.
"This is an evil critter, not good," Willett said after Tuesday's meeting at the Southern Nevada Water Authority's River Mountains Water Treatment Plant in
"It is going to cause a lot of problems when we're going to have to install control measures," he said.
Among the options for controlling the invasion is to use a bacteria product that targets the quagga mussels.
While that method is still being developed, Willett said, "It looks very promising."
Other choices are mechanical filters and using chemicals like chlorine to kill them, or a combination of filters and ultraviolet light.
At the end of the day, though, there would be shells from dead quaggas to dispose of and discharge permits to obtain.
So far, conditions for quaggas to thrive appear to be more than adequate at Davis Dam at the south end of
In October, a colony coated the dam's exterior penstock gate like carpeting.
A month later, downstream at Parker Dam on
"At Parker Dam, there is a lot of colonization. At Parker, there is no hope. They colonize repeatedly," Willett said.
With warmer year-round temperatures than bodies of water in the
In addition, Havasu has the right mix of food, calcium and dissolved oxygen to sustain colonization.
With that, Willett said, "You're going to get mussels. I'm not surprised."
Near Hoover Dam, quaggas have been found more than 200 feet deep in
Not only do they pose a threat to the cooling pipe system for hydroelectric turbines, but also to the network that supplies domestic water for workers and visitors at the dam.
They prefer to cling to flat, stainless steel structures where water flows less than 6 feet per second.
"Mussels really like stainless steel. They don't like copper or brass," Willett said.
A cousin of the quagga, zebra mussels, has turned up in
According to the 100th Meridian Initiative, an organization that tracks the spread of aquatic nuisance species, quagga mussels are native to
Like the zebra mussel, they were transported to the
Quagga mussels were discovered Jan. 6, 2007, in Lake Mead's
Biologists believe they hitchhiked on a boat that was launched in the lake.
In a statement posted Jan. 16 on the California Department of Fish and Game's Web site, Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said:
"The discovery of zebra mussels in a central
Jon Sjoberg, supervising fisheries biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife in
The source is unknown, he said, although there's speculation that anglers or bait buckets could have transported them, even ducks or waterfowl.
"It's like they dropped out of the sky," Sjoberg said. #
http://www.lvrj.com/news/15502852.html
Divers scour reservoir south of
By Lisa Fernandez, staff writer
Divers scoured the glistening Calero Reservoir just south of
Luckily, state Department of Fish and Game diver Pat Foy and his small team didn't find any of the quagga or zebra mussels that have infiltrated many waterways in the
The quagga mussel was discovered for the first time in
"So far, so good," Foy said as he emerged in a red-and-black diving suit after searching portions of the 350-acre, 47-degree Calero Reservoir today. "It's odd, looking really hard for something you don't want to find."
Still, the Fish and Game department and the Santa Clara Valley Water District used today's media event as a pre-emptive attack on the mussels. The agencies are trying to get the word out - especially to boaters - to be on the lookout for these quarter-size, seemingly innocuous looking mussels on their crafts.
Boats were most likely the mode of transportation for both mussels when they first entered the
The mussels love to cling to hard surfaces, such as boat bottoms, anchors, hulls, axles and even cars. Last year in
Fish and Game officials are passing out fliers urging boaters to wash down their watercraft with high-pressure hoses, and use chlorine, to clean off the mussels. Drying them out is key. They die out of water, typically in about five days.
Santa Clara Valley Water District manager Bruce Cabral said keeping the mussels out is key. Once they've arrived, he said, they multiply like crazy, and it's virtually impossible to destroy them.
In the
Though there isn't any mussel infestation at this point, Cabral acknowledged it's "debatable" whether
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED in learning more about the mussels, call (866) 440-9530 or click on www.dfg.ca.gov/invasives/quaggamussel/. #
http://www.mercurynews.com//ci_8209128?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
State game wardens fear becoming mussel-bound
San Francisco Chronicle – 2/9/08
By Steve Rubenstein, staff writer
Scuba divers plunged into a reservoir south of
In this case, it's the dread zebra mussel, a native of
Last month, the mussel turned up in San Justo Reservoir near Hollister (
The mussel, about the size of a dime, clumps together in large colonies that can block reservoir valves and clog water pipes as surely as plaque in the aorta. It began turning up in the Great Lakes in the late 1980s and it has spread - most likely by hitchhiking rides on private pleasure boats - to Lake Mead on the Colorado River and to several bodies of water in
State Game Warden Patrick Foy, one of the divers, slipped into his black wetsuit and hopped into the murky water of Calero Reservoir near the boat ramp and pier. He spent about 10 minutes swimming alongside the pier, feeling the structure with his bare hands to see if mussel colonies had begun to take hold.
Water officials stood on the shore and waited nervously, like patients awaiting test results from the lab, while Foy's air bubbles made a neat trail on the surface of the reservoir on a sparkling winter morning.
After 10 minutes, Foy emerged and said the news was good - for now. There were no traces of zebra mussels in Calero Reservoir and there were also no quagga mussels or
"It's pitch dark down there," Foy said. "The water is 47 degrees. You're looking very, very hard for something you don't want to find. It's kind of odd."
The two species of mussel and the snail have no natural enemies in these parts, and are virtually unstoppable once established. The only surefire way to eradicate them is to drain the reservoir.
After the divers returned to dry land, other game wardens unveiled their new publicity campaign - dubbed "Don't Move a Mussel" - designed to educate boaters and anglers about the problem and urging them to inspect and clean their boats and gear whenever leaving the water.
Ominous posters with dire warnings are being posted on docks, parking lots and park entrances. The posters urge boaters to wait five days between launches into different bodies of fresh water.
Were it not for the trouble it causes, the mud snail would be something of an admirable organism. The pinhead-size critter has survived through the ages because it can pass, undigested and unharmed, through a fish's gut until it is expelled at the other end. And the snail can reproduce asexually - which means that its messy and unsatisfying life is a testament to the tiny snail's will to survive.
As for the zebra mussel, in the Eastern United States it has completely clogged 3-foot-wide intake pipes, ravaged entire water systems, consumed vast quantities of plankton, starved indigenous species and cost the power industry more than $3 billion. A single mussel can release up to 1 million eggs a year.
Get involved
There is a lot you can do to help stop the spread of invasive species like the quagga and zebra mussels and the
-- Thoroughly clean all equipment you use in an infected waterway, including fishing equipment, waders, boots, boats, rafts and inner tubes. Pets should also be thoroughly inspected for any hangers-on.
-- When possible, freeze or completely dry any wet gear.
-- Never transfer live fish or plants from one waterway to another.
-- Spread the word about the problems with introducing nonnative species to new areas.
-- If you frequently fish or visit various reservoirs or waterways, use separate pieces of equipment. For example, use a separate pair of waders at infected areas and store those waders separately.
-- When cleaning your boat or other equipment, don't forget about washing vehicles and trailer hitches.
For more information, go to www.dfg.ca.gov/quagga mussel. #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/09/BAO5UV6S9.DTL&hw=mussel&sn=001&sc=1000
DELTA SMELT:
Editorial: Fins win again; More smelt protected, less water extracted
This week went from bad to worse for two-legged Californians, courtesy of two state panels and lawsuits by environmental activists determined to make humans the most dispensable creatures.
Wednesday, the California Coastal Commission supported a rat over a tollway.
Thursday, in response to an activists' suit, the California Fish and Game Commission decided that a second fish, the longfin smelt, should join the delta smelt as an endangered species.
Further, protecting the longfin smelt, like the delta smelt, from becoming extinct in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta (smelt are plentiful elsewhere) requires pumping less delta water to the 25 million Californians dependent on it for years.
In January, according to a group of agencies that deliver water to localities, a court cut delta water deliveries by 42 percent from fall to spring, when delta smelt breed. That's enough to supply about a half-million homes for a year.
The different life cycle of the longfin smelt, alas, requires extending that reduction from earlier in fall to further into spring.
All this despite little persuasive evidence that pumping delta water causes smelts' dwindling numbers, and even less that pumping less water will revive them. Poor water quality and invasive species are likely culprits, and problems addressed by any plan the state is devising to restore the delta's ecology and convey its water. Here's a start: End the protected status of non-native striped bass, big eaters of protected smelt.
The president of the Fish and Game Commission himself found its decision “repugnant.” It is, but the fault lies in laws drafted by environmental activists and passed by legislators fearful of losing their votes. More sensible folk outnumber activists by the millions in the state and nationwide. Sometime, somehow, they must make lawmakers far more fearful of them. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080209/news_lz1ed9bottom.html
YOLO BYPASS SALMON:
Guest Column: Salmon live in Yolo's backyard; Why fish love Yolo Bypass just as much as birds
Woodland Daily Democrat – 2/9/08
By Ted Sommer, Senior Environmental Scientist with California Department of Water Resources
The recent rainy weather gives us hope that we will not have another drought year, and the sight of water in the Yolo Bypass is a reminder that in about two-thirds of years, winter and spring rains cause the Sacramento River and its tributaries to spill out into the Yolo Bypass, creating a vast inland sea.
One of the most visible changes during flood is the inundation of the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, the largest area of public open space in
For the past 10 years, my team has been doing research on how fish use the Yolo Bypass, especially during floods.
We started studying the system because it is the largest floodplain of the
Chinook salmon is perhaps the best example of why Yolo Bypass is so important to fish. Locally, the process typically starts in fall when adult salmon migrate upstream to their "home" streams along the
The most important finding from our work is that Yolo Bypass is one of the primary nursery areas for young salmon.
During floods, fish that move into the Yolo Bypass stay for long periods, typically one month or more. Compared to the narrow, rip-rapped channels of the
Rearing salmon grow much faster in Yolo Bypass than in the
The food web is fueled by midge, an insect that is a key food source for fish, bats, and birds. Midges (technically known as chironomids) are present in dramatically higher numbers in the Yolo Bypass than the
The young salmon also are apparently fairly good at leaving Yolo Bypass once floodwaters recede.
The Yolo Bypass has a relatively even grade with few obstructions, allowing most of the fish to drain off with the floodwaters . The Yolo Bypass rejoins the Sacramento River near the Delta town of
Although some fish are trapped in ponds in Yolo Bypass, they are a minor portion of the overall population, and provide a useful food resource for predators including egrets, herons, raccoons, and otters.
The legacy of Yolo Bypass for salmon does not end after the fish swim off of the floodplain. Our research on tagged fish suggests that the fast-growth rates of salmon that rear in Yolo Bypass helps them throughout the rest of their lives.
Young fish tagged in Yolo Bypass during flood events typically produce as many or more adult salmon in the ocean than groups tagged in the
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_8217350
SALMON:
Editorial: Where have the salmon gone?
Most people don't think about salmon until it arrives on their plates properly prepared, having been delivered by truck.
Few realize that life starts in
The number of Chinook salmon returning to
Other counts were marginally higher. Tim Ford, a biologist for the
The
On our three rivers, the situation is neither acceptable nor sustainable.
"(The
Dean Marston, a biologist with the state Fish and Game, was more specific: "Terrible would be the word."
There are fishermen who recall seeing salmon filling the Tuolumne from bank to bank, brushing against each other as they swished aside gravel to make their nests and lay their eggs.
What remains is a tiny fraction of those numbers. No one suggests
Unfortunately, no one knows how to keep us from going over the edge.
Irrigation districts, environmental organizations and the state and federal governments have made enormous efforts to improve habitat. More than $10 million has been spent on the
Firms such as FishBio and Stillwater Sciences have been studying the rivers and salmon for more than a decade.
Their studies consistently have shown that if rivers have more water when salmon are spawning and migrating to the ocean, more fish will return to the rivers two or three years later. Higher flows provide more oxygen, lower water temperatures and help migrating young fish avoid predators such as striped bass.
But the connection between high water and more fish has been broken. In 2005, the river was roaring, with flows of 1,013 cubic feet per second in the first week of February. (By comparison, last week's average flow was 167 cfs.) With such high flows in 2005, some of the fish should have made it out then returned to spawn as 3-year-olds.
In 2006, when this year's 2-year-olds were rushing toward to the ocean, the average flow was a spectacular 2,803 cfs, giving rise to hopes that thousands of fish would return to spawn in 2007.
Instead, there are only hundreds. Scientists are confounded, and there are just too many places to look for answers.
Many have focused on the delta, which clearly is in peril. Last year, Judge Oliver Wanger shut down state pumps in response to lawsuits to save the delta smelt; similar lawsuits were filed to save migrating salmon. Now, striped bass are in trouble and some shad populations are falling. The state Fish and Game Commission voted Thursday to consider listing the delta longfin smelt as threatened or endangered, meaning pumping this year could be reduced by enough to supply an estimated 500,000 homes. More cuts might be coming.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will relicense the irrigation districts to operate Don Pedro Dam in 2015, and some environmentalists want the agency to order higher water releases to help the salmon and other fish. That could mean farmers and valley cities will have to do with less water.
That would be annoying, but the consequences of the salmon collapse are worse elsewhere. Some are insisting this year's salmon fishing season be canceled. If that happens, communities that depend on salmon fishing, such as
Altering the salmon season and shutting down the pumps are stopgaps. We need a thorough examination of state water policy and a consensus on priorities and how to pay for them. But first we must agree to do no more harm.
Last year, Gov. Schwarzenegger and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata proposed bonds to address our most pressing water issues. Disagreements over funding approaches derailed their plans; new Senate leaders need to solve this issue.
Salmon need water, and enough must be released to accommodate them. They must be able to reach the ocean, and the pumps must be silenced long enough to let that happen. If we don't have the specifics about how much water and how long to turn off the pumps, we need to find out. And fast, or that fresh salmon on your plate will be just a memory. #
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/story/207376.html
KLAMATH ISSUES:
Guest Opinion: Fish are key to deal on Klamath
By Clifford Lyle Marshall, hairman of the
As chairman of the Hoopa Valley Reservation, which has the Klamath and Trinity rivers running through it, I want to clarify my tribe's position regarding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.
The Bee's editorial noted disparate parties have finally agreed to "quell decades of bitter dispute" about the removal of four aging hydropower dams blocking 350 miles of Klamath River fish habitat. The editorial criticized the Hoopa tribe for not endorsing the agreement because we want "guaranteed flows in the Klamath."
After more than two years of negotiating with other tribes, farmers, government agencies, fishermen and environmentalists, the Hoopa Valley Tribe cannot accept the draft agreement because it does nothing to remove dams from the
PacifiCorp, the ownerof the dams, left the negotiating table two years ago. The agreement discusses no money for dam removal and has no commitments from PacifiCorp.
The editorial mentions spending almost $1 billion to "retire water rights, restore wetlands and improve habitat for salmon." These are good things, but the agreement ignores the fundamental fact that fish need water.
Without water guarantees, the agreement will set the stage for another 68,000-fish kill like the Klamath disaster in 2002, after the Bush administration used politicized science to bend environmental policy.
Water rights are upside down in the agreement. The agreement guarantees water for Bureau of Reclamation project irrigators and refuge users, while Hoopa and Yurok senior fishing rights, dating back to 1855 and 1864, are not guaranteed.
The agreement puts all the drought-year risks on the fish.
Tribal treaty rights are the thin ramparts protecting the fish from extinction. Federal agencies and irrigators have opposed setting assured minimum water flows for fish and instead offered only a long-range formula that amounts to "trust me."
Our tribe trusted the Bureau of Reclamation a half-century ago when it began taking up to 90 percent of the Trinity River's water for irrigators and hydropower in the
Get PacifiCorp to remove the dams and leave enough water for the fish. Then the agreement will work. #
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/699376.html
####
No comments:
Post a Comment