Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 17, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Brush fires reported in
The Orange
Trinity projects wrapping up
Red Bluff Daily News
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Living Green: Save our forests with the power of your purchase
Tracy Press
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Brush fires reported in
The
By
Fire crews are responding to a brush fire that was reported just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
Meanwhile, firefighters now also are fighting a blaze near the southwest end of
Two helicopters from the Orange County Fire Authority have been dispatched to the forest northeast of Bell View Trail, said Capt. Greg McKeown of the OCFA.
The fire was reported in an inaccessible area, and fire crews will likely have to be air lifted to fight the fire, McKeown said.
Brian Harris, public information officer for the
"It's really quite safe to say that these are human-caused fires," Harris said. "Naturally caused forest fires would be from lightning, and we haven't had any lightning in the area."
Harris said an investigator will be searching for how the national forest fire started and more information would be available on Wednesday.
As of 7 p.m., the Pendleton fire has burned 102 acres and is 50 percent contained.
The fire broke out along a hillside across from the Ranch House on
The Camp Pendleton Fire Department is on scene along with fixed-wing and rotary-wing mutual-aid, air-support assets and a variety of fire trucks from off-base agencies.
The fire was expected to be 100 percent contained and controlled by midday Wednesday. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.#
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fire-forest-crews-2465485-mckeown-brush
Trinity projects wrapping up
By John Driscoll
The restoration effort on the
The Trinity River Restoration Program expects to start on the first of six final sites targeted for work this summer, and once all six are done, to take a step back to evaluate the changes.
The sawmill site just downstream from
Large gravel would be added to make the area self-sustaining and attractive for fish and wildlife, according to a draft environmental document just released. Some large logs and other structures would also be introduced to help form fish habitat.
The project is funded to the tune of $1.5 million.
The river has changed substantially since it was dammed and largely diverted in the 1960s. A 2000 U.S. Interior Secretary's decision cut back on the diversion to the
Part of the goal is to apply adaptive management to the process, in which methods to improve fisheries can change based on information gathered. Restoration program Executive Director Mike Hamman said that once the first phase of the mechanical
restoration effort is done next year, information collected on the sites will be closely examined to determine how to move forward with the second phase.
”There's still going to be a lot of work to take a look at things we've done in the past,” Hamman said.
The larger effort, which includes similar projects at dozens of other sites, is meant to work in conjunction with high flows to recontour the river. But other than reasonably high flows in 2006, the river hasn't peaked for years. How really big water will affect the sites that have been worked on is yet unknown.
”The jury's still out on that,” Hamman said.
One advocate who watches the Trinity River closely, Byron Leydecker with Friends of the
He's hoping to see the next phase of projects in the river below Lewiston Dam be smaller, and would like to see more effort put into restoring tributaries of the river, where protected coho salmon spawn.
Draft environmental documents on the channel rehabilitation effort are available on the restoration program Web site at www.trrp.net/implementation/remainingP1.htm.
Hard copies are also available in Weaverville at 1313 South Main St. and at the Trinity County Library, 211 N. Main St.#
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_12599115?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
Red Bluff Daily News -6/16/09
Lake Red Bluff made its entrance early Monday morning for what is likely the third to last time.
Gates at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam were lowered shortly after midnight Monday and the lake filled enough for boaters to launch from
Concern over the dam's impact on migrating salmon have prompted federal judge Oliver Wanger, in Fresno, to determine the dam does impact the fish, some of which are endangered, and order the dam no longer be used by the Bureau of Reclamation to fill diversion canals managed by the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority.
Based on a biological opinion issued June 4 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which recommended an abbreviated schedule for use of the dam in the summer month, Wanger ruled that the Bureau could operate the dam June 15 to Aug. 31 through the year 2011.
The extension was granted to give the Canal Authority time to construct a pumping plant that would allow it to fill the canals, which feed agriculture interests from
If plant construction is not completed by May 15, 2012, there is a provision to allow a one-year extension for the Bureau to fill the lake.
Uncertainty over the lake's opening caused the cancellation of the Nitro Nationals Boat Drags in late May.#
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/ci_12599785
Santa Rosa Press Democrat-6/16/09
By Bob Norberg
Biologists are closely monitoring the water quality in the lagoon that forms at the mouth of the
More Photos:
Jenner Lagoon Water Studies
It’s there that the steelhead, which are listed as federal endangered species, may stay for a year to feed and become acclimated to salt water before venturing out into the ocean.
“They eat small shrimp-like animals, plankton, a wide variety of small prey,” said David Manning, a principal environmental specialist for the Sonoma County Water Agency. “It is a place of transition where fish are moving downstream to the ocean.They need time to adapt to the saltwater.”
The National Marine Fisheries Service has ordered the Water Agency to change the way it manages the lagoon and discontinue the practice of bulldozing a breach in the sand bar separating the river from the ocean when the water begins backing up.
Instead, federal regulators want the Water Agency to create a fresh-water lagoon by building and managing a gradually sloping spillway that lets
It’s believed it will create a more consistent water level, mixture of fresh water and salt water and food supply in the lagoon.
“The idea is that if you can get to that, it will increase the food supply and habitat for steelhead, increase the fresh-water habitat,” said Jeff Church, a Water Agency biologist.
Church has been studying the lagoon for six years, but this year the monitoring program is being stepped up.
On Tuesday, Church and Marc Bautista, also a Water Agency biologist, downloaded data from six datasondes that are anchored in the lagoon and in the river.
The $6,000 instruments take hourly readings of salinity, water temperature, acidity and dissolved oxygen.
Using an aluminum boat, the biologists pulled the datasondes up from where they were anchored to buoys, downloaded the data into a portable computer, cleaned and reset the machines.
On one, Bautista used a knife to knock off a crusty layer of barnacles, which had formed in the three weeks since the information was last collected.
The Water Agency has also set up nets near Duncans Landing to catch fish moving both upstream and downstream and will be recording the number and movements of the seals that use the sand bar as a haul out.
The monitoring is also among the requirements set by National Marine Fisheries Service, which include creating new habit and lowering the flows in Dry Creek for steelhead and coho salmon and study building a pipeline from
The federal mandates are in a Biological Opinion issued under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Compliance is expected to cost the Water Agency $100 million over the next 15 years.
The Water Agency is also using the data to assess the impact of lowering
The Water Agency has scheduled an informational meeting about the program for 6 p.m. Monday at the
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090616/articles/906169905
Living Green: Save our forests with the power of your purchase
Tracy Press-6/16/09
by Christina D.B. Frankel
If you have ever been camping, like my family does, one of the reasons that you go is to get away from it all — breathe the fresh air, hear the sounds of nature and feel the majesty of the trees.
Trees for me are like wise old men, holding wisdom and countenance, with ultimate patience, surviving while the world around moves too fast for its own good. With wilderness all around, it’s quite shocking to come across an area that has been clear-cut. You stand in disbelief at the barren wasteland, a distinctive line where wilderness was allowed, and taken away.
And that is the result of our nation’s consumption of forests — for disposable paper.
In the
In a discussion with a friend about how much paper we consume, he was arguing that trees are a renewable resource. I agree! But a tree planted today will take 30 to 80 years to reach the maturity needed to be cut down again for paper.
Our forests, those that we are so familiar with as recreation areas, support different types of plants and animals. These wild areas are being lost and replanted with neat rows of one species of softwoods that produce the most paper for the space.
Think of the movie “I, Robot” with Will Smith, with all the robots lined up at attention, and you get the picture of the rows and rows of sameness: A farm (not forest) of paper-producing pine trees.
Not that I am against replanting trees, but what and how we replace them isn’t with the same subtleties of nature. To avoid losing our forests, and still use paper, there is a choice, and it comes from using 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper.
Post-consumer is simply what it sounds like — paper that’s recycled after its first use. Post-consumer is applicable to all kinds of materials, not just paper. That includes plastic, rubber, aluminum and glass.
If everyone in the
Not all recycled paper is created equal, and that is where you, as a savvy consumer, will need to read the fine print.
To ensure fewer trees are cut down, buy more products with the most amount of post-consumer content possible.
In
Now my consumer spending is going to Longs Drugs/CVS, which sells 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper towels, toilet paper and napkins, and Staples, which sells 100 percent post-consumer recycled copy paper.
The novelty of post-consumer use has not been lost on our kids. Their friends have come over looking for organic toilet paper!
Once I stop laughing, I tell them that organic toilet paper would be leaves, and post-consumer is their recycling put to work.
No one can get away from using tissue to blow their nose, or toilet paper to wipe our behinds, or paper towels and napkins to wipe up our messes, or copy and printer paper for our homes, businesses and schools.
But I would rather save the forests to enjoy for all generations than cut down a tree for a tissue, paper towel or piece of paper.
For a change: Recycle all your newspaper, empty envelopes and paper packaging. It helps keep the chain going.
To make a difference: Buy copy paper and paper towels with recycled content.
To make a stand: Buy paper products with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. You’ll save a forest!#
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