Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 30, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Increasing dust speeds melting of mountain snow
USFWS: Petition to delist suckers not warranted
Siskiyou Daily News
Our Ocean Backyard: Do sick sea lions signal a new El Nino?
Taking risks on the river
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
News of the weird: Ducks like water
Santa Clarita Valley Signal
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Increasing dust speeds melting of mountain snow
Fairfield Daily Republic-6/29/09
By
Dust in the wind is rewriting the cycle of life in the mountains.
Throughout memory the warmth of spring has begun the mountain snowmelt, bringing life-giving water to greening plants so they can blossom and renew their species.
But now, scientists say, the timing is being thrown off by desert dust stirred as global warming dries larger areas and human activity increases in those regions.
This dust darkens the surface of winter snows, warming it by absorbing sunlight that the white surface would have reflected. That causes the snow to melt earlier than in the past, running off before the air has warmed enough to spur plant growth, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It is striking how different the landscape looks as result of this desert-mountain interaction,” Chris Landry, director of the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies in Silverton, Colo. and a co-author of the report, said in a statement.
The researchers established test plots in the San Juan Mountains in
On average, according to the study, cleaning away the naturally arriving dust delayed snowmelt by 11 days compared to the plots that were left alone. Adding dust speeded up the melt by 7 to 13 days.
Overall, dust levels in the mountains are about five times greater than they were prior to the mid-19th century, due in large part to increased human activity in the deserts, the researchers said.
And, the researchers added, climate change is likely to result in greater dust accumulation in the mountains as the Southwest warms and dries further.
With the change in timing of snowmelt and plant growth the composition of alpine meadows could change as some species increase in abundance, while others are lost, possibly forever, according to lead author Heidi Steltzer, a research scientist at
The research was supported by the British Ecological Society and the U.S. National Science Foundation.#
http://search.dailyrepublic.com/display.php?id=111017
USFWS: Petition to delist suckers not warranted
Siskiyou Daily News-6/29/09
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday in its 90-day finding that a petition to delist the endangered
“Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), when the Service receives a petition to list, delist or reclassify a species, the Service is required to review the petition and related information presented by the petitioner, and in the Service’s files about the species,” a USFWS press release stated, “to determine if the action requested in the petition is warranted. This is known as the 90-day finding.
“The petition to delist the suckers was filed in January 2009. The Service reviewed the petition to delist the suckers and found that it did not present substantial scientific or commercial information to warrant removing these fish from the list of endangered species,” the release continued.
The petition to delist the suckers relied on information used to complete the 2007 five-year reviews for the
Five-year reviews are periodic evaluations of listed species and they are required under the ESA, the release explained. Their purpose is to assess the species’ population status and the threats to the species to see if there have been significant changes since the initial listing.
As part of the review of the petition, the USFWS also looked at new information from its files that were used in the preparation of the 2008 Biological Opinion for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s 10-year Operations Plan for the Klamath Project.
In this biological opinion, the Service concluded that habitat conditions in Upper Klamath Lake had improved as a result of restoration efforts in the Upper Klamath Lake watershed, especially at the mouth of the
However, the Service’s analysis also concluded that the
“Therefore, the new information incorporated in the 2008 biological opinion does not present substantial information or analyses that are contrary to the conclusions reached in the five-year reviews for each species and does not constitute substantial scientific information to indicate that delisting may be warranted,” the release stated.
“At this time, no further action on the petition is needed. The full text of the finding will be published in the Federal Register on June 29. This finding is available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov and http://www.fws.gov/klamathfallsfwo.
“The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people,” the release concluded. “We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.”#
Our Ocean Backyard: Do sick sea lions signal a new El Nino?
By Dan Haifley
An alarming increase in the number of sick, undernourished sea lions along
Is it a signal that a new El Nino is coming?
The surge of sick sea lions is keeping the newly expanded
Experts believe their malnutrition is tied to a decline in the availability of the small fish they eat, which indicates either a problem down the food chain or a change in physical ocean conditions.
If an El Nino is on its way, its early stages could help explain the decline in supplies of anchovies and sardines upon which sea lions feed. El Nino's warm tropical waters are lower in nutrients, replacing the colder, nutrient-rich surface waters which in normal conditions support rich populations of fish, seabirds, mammals and other marine life.
An El Nino can occur every two to seven years. Its name is Spanish for "little boy," given by South American fishermen who noted the arrival of "the child" around Christmas time. Its counterpart is La Nina -- Spanish for "little girl" -- characterized by cold ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific. The most recent El Nino started in September 2006 and lasted through early 2007.
El Nino is conceived when westward winds send warm water away from the eastern Pacific to the west, closer to Japan, while cold, deep water rises to the surface along the coast of South America. When the trade winds change, warmer waters halt the rise of colder waters, which triggers widespread weather and ocean temperature changes.
So how would El Nino deplete the fish that young sea lions eat? The answer lies with the California Current, which moves south along the western coast of North America from southern
During El Nino, the
Warmer waters of El Nino can last just weeks, after which the weather patterns and ocean temperatures return to normal. When the conditions last for many months, the more extensive ocean warming has a deeper impact on the fishing industry, marine life and global weather.
If the reduction of food for sea lions is linked to a return of El Nino, then we can look forward to similar stories as a result of less productive Pacific waters. In the meantime, you can learn more about the
Dan Haifley is the executive director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey. He can be reached at dhaifley@oneillseaodyssey.org.#
Taking risks on the river
Santa Rosa Press Democrat-6/29/09
By Martin Espinoza
Madison Hildebrand, a 28-year-old real estate agent from
He was at the same place, an out-of-the-way riverside beach on
Told of the incident that left Honza Ripa, 18, paralyzed below the neck on June 13, Hildebrand was unfazed. “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space,” he said.
Others matched his bravado on a scorching Saturday afternoon at Eagle Rock, one of many spots where river recreation has turned devastating or deadly.
Heather Minner, a 35-year-old
Her friend, Melissa Alor, 25, also an attorney from
Ripa, a Healdsburg High golf star who graduated two weeks before his accident, had jumped from the rock successfully, a friend said. No one saw exactly how he was hurt, but for longtime Healdsburg residents it stirred memories of two similar calamities in the last 50 years or so.
In 1971, a Healdsburg teen dove off the rock and was initially paralyzed, but recovered, said Pat Curtis, who works at a
About 1955, another teen was paralyzed at the rock, a popular hangout for generations of Healdsburg youth.
“We’re river rats,” Curtis said. “We’re drawn to the river.”
But the slow-moving river, a cool green haven from summer heat, has a menacing quality. “It’s so dark you can’t see the shallow (water) from the deep,” Curtis said.
Those taking the leap off Eagle Rock count on plunging into a deep pool, but Curtis said they sometimes hit the bottom pretty hard.
Curtis, 59, went off the rock decades ago, feet first. “I didn’t dive,” she said. “I jumped. I’m not that brave.”
Healdsburg Fire Chief Randy Collins said the June 13 call to assist Ripa was the only emergency at Eagle Rock he remembers in 22 years with the department.
The rock is located off
No signs point to the beach, frequented primarily by locals and folks coming downriver by canoe and other craft.
Someone was hurt jumping off a rock upstream from Camp Rose Beach last fall, but not paralyzed, Collins said.
Two people have drowned in a deep hole in the river upstream from
Diving into murky water, and for that matter jumping, as well, is risky under any conditions, Collins said. “I would wade right in,” he said.
For a time on Saturday, everyone who climbed Eagle Rock paused for a moment at the top of the protrusion on the south side of the river, likely assessing the risk. They all went in.
“Oh my God,” one female jumper said. “I’m going to kill myself.”
“I’m scared,” said another.
“Do it,” called an observer paddling by.
“Babe, jump out,” said a young man floating in an inner tube.
“Don’t dive, you’re going to crack your neck,” someone said.
Karley Deal, 18, of
Misfortune may be rare at Eagle Rock, but it is commonplace along the river, a playground for anglers, boaters and swimmers, including some who mix alcohol with their sport.
“Any place where anyone drinks you can do stupid stuff,” said Nick Wheeler, manager at King’s Sport & Tackle in Guerneville.
Daredevils jump from
When the summer dam is erected below
A rope swing at
Rope swings tend to come and go along the lower river, put up and taken down anonymously.
Some accidents happen in seemingly safe places. In 1992, a 22-year-old Bay Area man sustained a spinal cord injury diving head first into two feet of water at Neely Beach.
Brianna Angell, who was with Ripa the day he was hurt, visited Eagle Rock on Saturday for the first time since the accident.
Angell, 17, and her friends were sitting on a sandy beach across from the rock. She watched Ripa, who also wrestled at Healdsburg High, do a back flip from the rock into the water, which drops from knee-high depths to 14 feet, she said.
He swam to the beach on the other side of the river and came out of the water.
“I was talking with other friends and my back was to him,” Angell said, when Ripa dove into the river again in shallow water.
“My understanding is that he dove off the beach and he hit his head in the sand,” she said. “The next thing we know is he was floating face-down in the river.”
Friends pulled Ripa from the water and called for help. He was taken by helicopter to
Angell, who is helping raise funds for Ripa and his family, said she has heard of the 1971 incident at Eagle Rock. She hasn’t taken the jump.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Angell said.#
News of the weird: Ducks like water
Santa Clarita Valley Signal-6/29/09
By Chuck Shepherd
Two scientists from
Lead researcher Marian Stamp Dawkins concluded that ducks basically just like water.#
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/14957/
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