[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 5/07/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 7, 2009

 

3. Watersheds –

 

Enviro Beat: Politics, policy, protections converge on Lake Tahoe

The Capitol Weekly

 

Endangered fish recovery resumes

The Desert News

 

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Enviro Beat: Politics, policy, protections converge on Lake Tahoe

The Capitol Weekly – 5/7/09

By John Howard

 

California lawmakers are taking a new look at safeguarding Lake Tahoe, the azure, Alpine jewel that straddles the California-Nevada line and has been a bone of environmental and regulatory contention for decades.

The creation of a bipartisan, two-house committee in the Capitol – the first of its kind on the California side -- is intended to force new attention on the lake’s problems and potentially shake loose funds for environmental projects.

“We are appreciative of the spotlight that this would put on the lake. We haven’t turned the corner here at Tahoe in terms of saving the lake and getting it back to 100 feet of clarity,” said Michael Donahoe of the Tahoe Area Sierra Club.

Currently, the average clarity at the 22-mile-long lake, which is about 1,650 feet deep, is about 69.6 feet. The dwindling clarity stems from runoff and sediment linked to development, fire-devastated acreage and recreational usage, among other factors.

Environmentalists in both states are supportive of the California plan.

“They are thrilled that California is doing this. It’s long overdue,” said Phil Caterino, executive director of the Tahoe Divers Conservancy, a volunteer group that regularly probes the lake for debris. The litter, debris and junk that the divers turn up – tires, furniture, tanks, tubs, cans, etc -- is remarkable.

“When we do a slide show, people think we fake these pictures. We’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years. It (the debris) is kind of like out of sight out of mind,” Caterino said. Other backers include the Lake Tahoe Conservation Trust, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Nature Conservancy.

California’s Joint Committee for the Protection of Lake Tahoe does not yet exist. Pushed by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the legislation to create the eight-member, two-house committee awaits action on the Senate floor after unanimous approval in the Rules Committee. The resolution, SCR 13, also needs Assembly approval, but no signature from the governor.

Thus far, the proposal by Steinberg is receiving bipartisan support, and its backers include two state Republican lawmakers whose districts encompass Lake Tahoe  -- Sen. Dave Cox of Fair Oaks and Assemblyman Ted Gaines of Roseville. The committee echoes one already established in Nevada.

“You’ve got the state of Nevada with their own commission. I like the idea of having balance, from California’s perspective,” Gaines said. The balance includes being able to accommodate the business and property interests of his constituents with the environmental needs of the fragile lake, he added.

 

Development of the California committee caught many by surprise. In part, that’s because development and construction at the lake already is closely regulated by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency – the lake is also a federally declared protected resource -- and in part because until now California saw little need to emulate Nevada’s long-established legislative committee.

Nevada’s committee was formed in the mid-1980s. With its cumbersome title – it’s officially called the  “Legislative Committee for the Review and Oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and the Marlette Lake Water System” -- the Nevada committee meets in the interim periods when the Nevada Legislature is in recess.

The committee holds public hearings on high-profile array of issues affecting the lake and water projects, including finances, environmental protections, proposed legislation and the like. For the first time in Nevada, the committee currently is headed by a Las Vegas-area lawmaker.

But unlike the committee envisioned for California, the Nevada panel’s specific mission includes oversight of the 40-year-old TRPA. TRPA is an unusual, powerful government amalgam, formed in a compact between California and Nevada and sanctioned by Congress. TRPA has a 15-member board chosen from both states and it decides such pocketbook issues as planning, construction and permitting. The board often is at the center of contentious debates.

Instead of an adversary to TRPA, at least theoretically, the California committee hopes to direct the public’s attention to Lake Tahoe’s environmental needs. By one estimate, those include some $1.1 billion in environmental improvement projects developed over the past decade.

Currently, none of those projects is included in the $270 million of federal stimulus funding for water projects announced recently by California’s State Water Resources Control Board.  Details remain to be worked out, but the board has a lengthy eligibility procedure and other projects already hope for funding.

But backers of Steinberg’s proposed committee hope that money may be freed up, and that the committee will revitalize the public’s interest in the lake – interest that periodically waxes and wanes.

“We need state, local and federal support to accomplish this, to have emphasis put on the water-quality projects and get some results as soon as possible. We need that focus sooner rather than later,” Donahoe said.

“Where we get into conflict is where somebody wants to take a raw piece of land and build on it,” he added.#

 

http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=xyl3ym0p4p5igb

 

 

Endangered fish recovery resumes

The Desert News – 5/6/09

 

The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has resumed its work in sections of the Colorado, Duchesne, Green and Yampa rivers in Utah and Colorado.

 

The program is intended to help recover four species of endangered fish — the humpback chub, bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker.

 

Biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State University will combine their efforts on the program.

 

Management of non-native fish species is a primary goal of this year's research work. Northern pike and smallmouth bass have been identified as two non-native fish species that pose a significant threat to endangered species of fish and other native fishes.

 

Northern pike and smallmouth bass are active predators that eat other fish and compete for food and space in the river.

For nearly a decade, the program's researchers have worked to reduce the populations of these non-native fish species to a level where endangered and other native fishes can continue to co-exist and thrive.

 

"Although we still have a long way to go to manage non-native fishes in critical habitat in the Upper Colorado River Basin, we are encouraged by data that indicate we are making progress, especially with northern pike," said Bob Muth, recovery program director.

 

"We've seen a shift from large-sized, adult northern pike in a 70-mile reach of the Yampa River to smaller, juvenile fish. Last year, we noted that the overall abundance of northern pike in the Yampa neared its lowest level since our management efforts began in 1999."

 

Reductions of adult northern pike populations have also occurred in critical habitat areas of the Green River. Since the program's removal efforts began in 2001, northern pike numbers have decreased by more than 90 percent.

 

Management of smallmouth bass populations remains a problem, as researchers noted strong reproduction in 2006 and 2007 in sections of the Green and Yampa rivers. In 2008, the entire Upper Colorado River Basin experienced a return to higher and cooler water flows, and smallmouth bass reproduction diminished greatly in all rivers.

 

Efforts to remove smallmouth bass in 2007 and 2008 in the Yampa and Green rivers showed limited success. However, smallmouth bass populations on the Colorado River declined for the third consecutive year. This year, removal efforts will continue and crews will coordinate their sampling trips to address the movement of smallmouth bass.

 

"Our crews are experienced in working with both native and non-native fish species in these river systems," Muth said. "Their shared expertise helps focus our efforts on the most efficient and effective research techniques to help us achieve our goals."

 

Non-native fish management is one of many recovery efforts that enable use and development of water from the Upper Colorado River Basin to proceed in compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

 

Since 1988, recovery actions implemented through the program have provided ESA compliance for 1,675 water projects, depleting approximately 2.3 million acre-feet of water in the Upper Basin.

 

Implementation of non-native fish management is important because it is one of the measures the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses to determine if progress toward recovery of the endangered fish is sufficient to allow the program to continue.

 

This year, researchers will also conduct other studies related to endangered fish. These include gathering data to complete estimates on the abundance of Colorado pikeminnow, monitoring floodplain habitat and sediment, and researching the life history of razorback suckers by studying the movement of larvae.

 

In addition, hatchery-raised bonytails and razorback suckers will be stocked in sections of the Green, Gunnison and Colorado rivers to help re-establish populations.

 

All fish management actions are developed and implemented according to recovery goals that provide objective, measurable criteria for down-listing species and the removal from Endangered Species Act protection. Results of all actions are used to track progress toward achieving these goals, to assess the effectiveness of management actions and to adjust recovery efforts through adaptive management.

 

What could be the first population of greenback cutthroat trout found in Utah will receive some added protection through a change to the state's fishing rules.

 

Division of Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz recently signed the emergency change. The change took effect May 1.

 

Effective May 1, Beaver Creek — a tributary to LaSal Creek in southeastern Utah — will be closed to the possession of cutthroat trout.

 

Anglers also will be restricted to fishing with flies and lures only.

 

"Trout were taken from Beaver Creek recently and genetically tested," says Roger Wilson, cold-water sport fisheries coordinator for the DWR. "The testing indicates this stream may contain a population of pure greenback cutthroat trout.

 

"Because greenbacks are currently listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, anglers may fish for them on a catch-and-release basis only."

 

Wilson says protecting this unique cutthroat trout population will give biologists more time to study it and develop a conservation plan.#

 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705301827,00.html

 

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