[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 4/02/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 2, 2009

 

3. Watersheds –

 

Salmon survey under way

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

 

Farmer faces huge fines for expanding orchard into Fresno River bed

The Fresno Bee

 

Editorial: Governor needs salmon agenda

The Sacramento Bee

 

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Salmon survey under way

The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat – 4/01/09

By Bob Norberg

Two fish traps using large rotating drums to funnel fish into holding tanks have been lowered into the Russian River near Forestville for the annual chinook salmon survey that began Wednesday.

 

The decadelong survey is the only count of chinook smolt in a California coastal stream, and it has uncovered a healthy population in the Russian River that no one believed existed, said Sonoma County Water Agency biologists.

 

“We really wouldn’t have known about the chinook presence in the Russian River. The original intent was to collect information on steelhead and coho,” said Dave Manning, a biologist and senior environmental specialist for the Water Agency.

 

Chinook, as well as coho salmon, are on the federal endangered list.

 

“We found that there is this self-sustaining population of chinook, they are the largest component of the fishery in the Russian River — and that came as a surprise to many people,” Manning said.

 

The fish traps are mounted on pontoons and were lifted into the Russian River just downstream of Wohler Bridge on Tuesday.

 

The drums turn slowly in the river’s current, churning the dark green water and drawing the small fish into holding tanks.

Each day, biologists will empty the tanks to measure and identify the fish. Some will have a fin clipped and then be released upstream to see if they are caught again.

 

The fish that are scooped up are usually two to three inches and migrating to the ocean, providing an indication of the number of adults that had traveled up the river months earlier to spawn.

 

Biologists, who said the migration season is just getting started, found a half dozen chinook, two small coho and a few hatchery-raised steelhead in the traps on Wednesday.

 

The smolt run will last until June, with the peak between mid-April and mid-May.

 

The traps will catch about 5 to 10 percent of the smolt migrating downstream, along with some 2-year-old steelhead that can be larger, up to 8 inches long.

 

From the number caught last year, it is estimated about 50,000 were headed to the ocean, compared with 225,000 in 2002, the highest count, and 125,000 in an average year.

 

“It is the lowest we had, but not that far off of the average for the last 10 years,” said Shawn Chase, a Water Agency biologist and senior environmental specialist.

 

Using underwater cameras and fish ladders, the Water Agency also counts the number of salmon and steelhead going upstream in the fall. Last year’s total of 1,125 was the lowest ever recorded.

 

Chase said the problem is that a decade of data is not enough to determine what is average.

 

“We have a nine-year look at how many chinook, but there is no way to put it into historical context of what it means,” Chase said.#

 

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090401/articles/904019814

 

Farmer faces huge fines for expanding orchard into Fresno River bed

The Fresno Bee – 4/01/09

By Mark Grossi

 

A farmer could face millions of dollars in fines for expanding his almond orchard into the bed of the Fresno River, west of Madera, federal officials announced Wednesday.

 

Officials last month ordered P-R Farms owner Patrick Ricchiuti, a former president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, to remove extra soil, trees and an asphalt road in the riverbed.

 

Ricchiuti could be fined $37,500 for each day of the encroachment, which was discovered in September. If officials pursue a fine in federal court and considered six months of violations, it could range beyond $6 million.

 

Officials have not yet discussed any possible fine. Amy Miller, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement team leader in San Francisco, said the first priority is clearing the river bed.

 

"He has built out his orchard into the Fresno River as well as placing a road and a new levee, which is basically made out of sand," she said. "So he was increasing the size of his field."

 

Calls to Ricchiuti were not returned.

 

EPA officials said the state Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board discovered the expansion after receiving an anonymous tip. An expansion into a river bed requires the permission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Ricchiuti did not have such a permit, EPA officials said.

 

When expansion takes place in a river, the stream is narrowed and flooding can result during high flows. EPA officials said the Fresno River, a 68-mile tributary to the San Joaquin River, gets water releases from Hidden Dam upstream.

 

The EPA, state water officials and the county in January inspected the river where it forms the southern boundary of Ricchiuti's property, near the intersection of Avenue 16 and Road 21.

 

The extra soil that added to the riverbed was a different color from the surrounding upland soils, according to the violation notice issued on March 19. The new levee was steeply sloped and eroding in several places, the notice said.

 

Officials also consulted aerial photographs and engineer drawings of the flood control system in the area. They decided the farmer had moved soil into a seven-acre area of the river bed, extending about 2,300 feet along the river bank.

 

EPA officials Wednesday said they were making the announcement about the violation notice to make sure other land owners understand they need permits for such expansions. #

 

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1303341.html

 

 

Editorial: Governor needs salmon agenda

The Sacramento Bee – 4/02/09

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to leave office having achieved what he calls "comprehensive water reform."

 

This includes improved water conveyance and habitat restoration in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, and increased water storage and conservation for the entire state.

 

This is a worthy and ambitious to-do list. Yet it doesn't go far enough. Along with advancing a water agenda, Schwarzenegger needs to advance a salmon agenda. Otherwise, the governor could leave office with the state's prized salmon fisheries sinking into oblivion.

 

During Schwarzenegger's tenure, he has supported Klamath River restoration and aid to salmon fishermen who have been put out of work. But his administration hasn't done enough to improve conditions for salmon in the Central Valley, where these magnificent fish confront a range of perils.

 

The giant pumps in the Delta, which kill fish directly and also alter the flows of the estuary, are one of these perils. Unscreened water diversions are another.

 

Extremely warm, polluted water from the San Joaquin River hurts salmon in that part of the Delta. Upstream on the Sacramento River, irregular flows in dammed tributaries such as the American River harm salmon trying to spawn.

 

To be sure, conditions in the ocean have much to do with recent salmon declines. Scientists have documented a reduction in the usual "upwelling" of nutrient-rich currents that generate food for salmon while they are in the ocean.

 

Yet as biologists have pointed out, the decline of chinook salmon has been ongoing for 150 years, even during periods when ocean conditions were favorable. As UC Davis biologist Peter Moyle points out, blaming ocean conditions for salmon declines is like blaming an iceberg for sinking the Titanic. Such a view, he says, "ignores the many human errors that put the ship on course for the fatal collision."

 

With the change in the White House, there's an opportunity for California and the Obama administration to pursue the goals of salmon recovery. The 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, viewed with hostility by the second Bush administration, calls for at least a doubling of salmon populations on a "long-term sustainable basis."

 

To meet this goal, California must learn from successes. These include the dismantling of obsolete dams on Butte Creek and Clear Creek that previously blocked salmon from important habitat. Congressional approval of the San Joaquin River restoration settlement also offers potential for restoring salmon.

 

The Yolo Bypass is an even bigger prize. For years, scientists have known that young salmon rearing in the floodplains of the bypass grow faster and fatter than their counterparts in the Sacramento River. If the state were to better manage the bypass for salmon – by putting more water down it in non-flood years and improving fish passage – it could reap a huge return for very little investment.

 

None of this comes easily. Flooding more of the bypass for salmon means less for agriculture or other forms of habitat. All that must worked through, with affected parties adequately compensated.

 

Yet these and other salmon restoration goals can't stay on the back burner any longer. With state's fishing industry on the ropes, Schwarzenegger must make salmon a centerpiece of his water agenda. #

 

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1748044.html

 

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