[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 5/11/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 11, 2009

 

3. Watersheds –

 

New plan aims to help Mt. Tam coho salmon

The Marin Independent Journal

 

Environment groups donate more scenic river property

The Sacramento Bee

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

New plan aims to help Mt. Tam coho salmon

The Marin Independent Journal – 5/10/09

By Mark Prado

 

Protecting endangered coho salmon - which experienced their worst spawning season on record this year in county creeks - will be the primary focus of a new management plan being put together by the Marin Municipal Water District.

 

The effort will build on work the district has done in the past 12 years to help the population, which lost half of its habitat as dams were constructed on Mount Tamalpais to provide drinking water to residents.

 

"I refuse to believe they are going to go extinct before our very eyes," said Greg Andrew, fisheries biologist for the water district. "We will continue our efforts and continue to work to improve the habitat for the species."

 

The Lagunitas watershed has one of the largest remaining populations of wild coho salmon in Northern California. Coho have gone extinct in 90 percent of California streams, usually because of dams and development along creeks that fill them with sediment. Lagunitas Creek is also habitat for steelhead trout and California freshwater shrimp, also both listed as endangered.

 

Marin's salmon run was damaged in 1953 when Peters Dam was built across Lagunitas Creek, creating Kent Lake. The dam was later raised in 1982 in the wake of the 1976-77 drought.

 

While the reservoir provided more water for people, it choked off water flow for coho, reduced gravel coming downstream in which the fish lay eggs and allowed sediment to stay stagnant in creeks, reducing oxygen.

 

In response, in 1995 the state Water Resources Control Board ordered the district to release flows from reservoirs and establish a 10-year management plan for Lagunitas Creek to improve habitat. The plan went into place in 1997 and has actually lasted a dozen years. Now the district, on its own accord, is in the process of developing a new plan.

 

The district is still required to release water from its reservoirs to help fish, but it has a freer hand in shaping projects that aim to help the population, such as putting wood in creeks to create areas of less flow, where coho can safely lay eggs and grow.

 

"We also may enhance the flood plain and excavate side channels to provide more habitat," said Eric Ettlinger, aquatic ecologist with the water district.

 

There could be a focus on protecting winter salmon runs, when heavy rains can wash out fish eggs and young fry, Ettlinger said.

 

A public meeting on the issue was held late last month and more meetings are planned for the summer. The water district board could adopt a new plan as soon as October.

 

Work over the past dozen years to improve habitat and reduce sediment has yielded mixed results. Sometimes the fish population has remained stable; other times, such as this year, it has dipped precipitously - the lowest count in 15 years of record-keeping.

 

"Sometimes its other factors that have an impact, like ocean conditions or rainfall patterns," Ettlinger said.

 

Coho salmon have a three-year life cycle in which they hatch, live in creeks for a year and go to the ocean for two years before returning to their birth sites.

 

Andrew noted environmental groups and other partners are now helping with the effort.

 

"We have more partners to count on and that will help," he said.#

 

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12336642

 

Environment groups donate more scenic river property

The Sacramento Bee – 5/10/09

By Barbara Barté Osborn

 

Two environmental protection groups have donated more scenic river properties to the Tahoe National Forest.

 

Along with a 637-acre donation last fall, the latest parcels – all purchased from timber companies – add more than 1,200 acres to the forest.

 

"With so much private land within the boundary of the forest, these acquisitions are important to maintaining the health of the watershed and wildlife habitat," Forest Supervisor Tom Quinn said in a news release.

 

The recent donations include a 548-acre parcel, known as "the Macklin property," along the Middle Yuba River about three miles south of Sierra City, and 94 acres on the north fork of the American River, near Green Valley and the forest's western boundary.

 

The Macklin parcel is in the same vicinity as 637 acres donated last fall along Milton Creek north of Jackson Meadow.

Both of the larger parcels, valued at more than $1 million and $825,000 respectively, were purchased from Sierra Pacific Industries with assistance from the Trust for Public Land.

 

The 94 acres, valued at $100,000, were purchased from Siller Brothers by the American River Conservancy and donated to the forest as part of a program to acquire private land within the wild-river corridor.#

 

http://www.sacbee.com/378/story/1848802.html?mi_rss=Environment

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff,  for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.