Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 3, 2009
3. Watersheds –
High mercury levels found in SoCal fish
L.A. Daily News
Chinook salmon get help continuing their migration
Sacramento Bee
Hunt for food sending young sea lions ashore in Marin
Marin Independent Journal
Yosemite fires grow
Sonora Union Democrat
Lightning starts fires near Willow Creek
Eureka Times-Standard
High-country meadow damaged by vandals
Sonora Union Democrat
2 moms turn grief over teens' deaths into plea for safety
Sacramento Bee
Roller-coaster ride on the river
Auburn Journal
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
High mercury levels found in SoCal fish
L.A. Daily News-7/3/09
Jim Matthews, Outdoor Writer
Fish in many freshwater lakes and reservoirs tested in Southern California have highly elevated levels of mercury and some fish also have high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), according to a report issued by the State Water Resources Control Board in May.
The levels are high enough to set off alarm bells for health officials, but anglers aren't being asked to stop eating their catch.
Yet.
The report gives data from the first year of a two-year study being conducted by the SWRCB and represents the largest survey ever done on contaminants in sportfish from the state's lakes and reservoirs.
The first year of data showed methylmercury and PCB levels in commonly consumed sportfish - catfish, largemouth bass, bullhead, and carp - are likely to be very high in many waters, and anglers should be prudent about eating these fish and follow some simple, common-sense guidelines until the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) gets more data that might lead to official health advisories and warnings.
"It's a red flag, for sure, but it's not a storm warning," said Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the SWRCB. "People should be concerned, but not panicked. We certainly don't want to discourage people from eating fish because it is an important part of a healthy diet."
The preliminary results show that it's very likely that many, if not most, of the major fishing reservoirs in the region have levels of mercury that eventually will require some health advisories.
For example, Lake Silverwood's largemouth bass were found to have .48 to .49 parts per million (ppm) of mercury in their muscle flesh. The OEHHA threshold for a recommendation of no more than three servings per week is just .07 ppm, and OEHHA would consider recommending no consumption if levels exceed .44 ppm, which the Silverwood fish did.
Sante Fe Reservoir's bass had levels at 59 ppm, Hansen Dam bass were at .49 ppm, and Lake Piru at .46 ppm. Castaic, Casitas, and Pyramid all had levels between .29 ppm and .39 ppm in their bass during this preliminary testing.
For PCBs, OEHHA recommends that no fish be consumed if the levels are 120 parts per billion (ppb), and the threshold level when no more than three servings per week are recommended is only 3.6 ppb.
Pyramid Lake has PCB levels as high as 416 ppb in brown bullhead, and largemouth bass levels were 66 ppb. Silverwood Lake's largemouth bass had levels from 55 ppb to 131 ppb, with the higher number in bigger, older fish.
Are these numbers alarming to health officials? "We sort of lead with, `fish are good food' because of the potential for health benefits , but you just need to make some smart choices," said Dr. Robert Brodberg with OEHHA.
Dr. Susan Klasing, also with OEHHA, explained that anglers need to know the problems associated with both mercury and PCB consumption and just be smart about how much fish they eat, how often, the size and species of fish, and what parts of the fish are eaten. Anglers need to be cautious until the public health agency has more data.
"With methylmercury, the part of the population we're really trying to protect is the fetus - and women who might become pregnant," said Klasing.
Mercury affects the fetus and children's neurological development as their brain grows, and studies have shown that children exposed to mercury in the fetus and early years can have problems, sometimes serious, at high exposure levels.
Mercury stays in the body a long time. While it is shed slowly, its half-life is 40 to 70 days. High levels can remain in your system more than a year after initial consumption, which is why most warnings talk about limiting the number of servings per week, so levels don't continue to build up in a person's system.
In cases where mercury levels become too high, even adults can begin noticing initial symptoms, such as numbness and tingling extremities. But most anglers who have an occasional meal of fish, at even the highest levels of mercury in this study, will not face problems. Pregnant women or women likely to become pregnant would be wise to avoid fish from most local waters for the duration of pregnancy and while nursing, and young children also face far more risks than adults.
Anglers can also avoid some mercury by sticking with smaller fish for the table or focusing on species that are not at the top of the food chain. Striped bass, largemouth bass, and other predatory fish that make a living eating smaller fish, accumulate more mercury than fish like bluegill, carp, or even catfish.
Young bass have less than old bass. At Santa Fe Reservoir, bass had mercury levels of 59 ppm, while carp in the same water had levels at .12 to .16 ppm. At the Castaic Lake lagoon, the bass had .18 ppm mercury readings, but the redear had between .02 and .03 ppm, below the threshold level.#
http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_12747604?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
Chinook salmon get help continuing their migration
Sacramento Bee-7/3/09
By Bill Lindelof
Biologists netted 26 spring-run chinook salmon this week, saving them from a pool in a tributary of the Sacramento River where they trapped themselves in warm water.
The fish, on the federal threatened-species list, would not move from the Butte Creek pool where the water was significantly warmer than the rest of the stream, creating what the state Department of Fish and Game said was a "thermal block."
The warm water in the stream near Chico caused the migrating fish to seek cooler water at the bottom of the pool, a move that prevented them from moving on.
Experts from California Fish and Game, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and UC Davis netted the fish and implanted radio transmitters in them.
The fish then were loaded into a truck for release upstream in cooler water so they could continue their migration to spawn. The work was completed Wednesday.
The radio trackers are designed to help biologists monitor the rescued fish and determine their effect on the overall salmon population.
Since 1999, Butte Creek's spring-run chinook salmon has been listed as a threatened species. Central Valley salmon populations vary from year to year. Over the last 10 years, the Butte Creek run has averaged 6,000 fish.
Current surveys indicate a much lower salmon run is expected this year.#
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1997663.html
Hunt for food sending young sea lions ashore in Marin
Marin Independent Journal-7/3/09
A lack of food in the ocean is causing a large number of juvenile sea lions to come ashore, unable to return to the water because they are malnourished, say officials at the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands.
In Marin, the young sea lions - usually about a year old - have turned up at Angel Island, Rodeo Beach, Dillon Beach, Stinson Beach and Sausalito.
Since Jan. 1, there have been 313 reported strandings from the Mendocino to San Luis Obispo coasts; there were 485 in 2008.
Scientists are trying to determine where the squid, anchovies and herring - staples of the sea lions' diet - have gone and why.#
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12746539?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
Yosemite fires grow
Sonora Union Democrat-7/2/09
By James Damschroder
Two lightning-sparked fires in Yosemite National Park, mostly dormant for about a month, more than doubled in size between Tuesday to Wednesday.
The Grouse and Harden fires were refreshed by hot, dry weather, said Kari Cobb, Yosemite spokeswoman.
The Grouse Fire, burning about seven miles southwest of Yosemite Valley and just north of Glacier Point Road, reported to have charred about 300 acres as of Tuesday, had scorched 848 acres by Wednesday.
The fire ignited May 30 during a lightning storm. It has been managed for resource benefits instead of being extinguished, Cobb said.
The Harden Fire, located on the north side of the park, west of Harden Lake and northwest of White Wolf, reported to have burned about 100 acres as of Tuesday, had spread across 593 acres by Wednesday.
There could be temporary road delays and closures on Wawona and Glacier Point roads due to smoke and firefighters working. Also, trail closures have been implemented from Smith Meadow to White Wolf and Aspen Valley to White Wolf due to the Harden Fire.
A large smoke column on Tuesday was visible coming from the Harden Fire about 5 p.m., Cobb said.
Fire personnel have cut fire lines to keep the fires contained within a defined management area, Cobb said. In addition, helicopters are dropping water on hot spots to slow the fire from spreading.
Smoky conditions may exist within the park and surrounding areas.#
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2009070297153/News/Local-News/Yosemite-fires-grow
Lightning starts fires near Willow Creek
Eureka Times-Standard-7/3/09
Four new fires were discovered Thursday following afternoon thunderstorms on Wednesday that sent engines and hand crews from the Six Rivers National Forest, CalFire, Salyer & Hawkins Bar Volunteer Fire Department and Hoopa Fire to several blazes caused by lightning north and south of Hawkins Bar.
Ten fires were located in the Lower Trinity Ranger District on Wednesday and staffed through the evening and four were contained. No structures were threatened.
Fire operations required helicopter air support from a staging area next to Highway 299 in Hawkins Bar.
”This morning we found four new fires and crews responded and contained two of them,” said Mike Beasley, new Fire Management Officer at Lower Trinity Ranger District, in a press release on Thursday.
“The other two are located in the Ferguson Meadow area of the Trinity Alps Wilderness next to the Shasta Trinity National Forest. These two fires have been staffed with smokejumpers and helicopter repellers.”
”Firefighter and public safety for residents is our number one priority,” said Beasley.
FIRE FACTS:
Number of Fires: 14
Size: Fires range from one-tenth of an acre to two acres in size.
Started: Wednesday
Containment Status: 12 contained
Resources threatened: No structures are threatened.
Location: Eight miles southwest of Willow Creek
Resources:
- 3 hotshot crews
- 2 hand crews
- 1 Type 3
helicopter - 8 engines - 2 water tenders”#
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_12747674?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
High-country meadow damaged by vandals
Sonora Union Democrat-7/2/09
By James Damschroder
Off-roaders seriously damaged a protected high-elevation meadow in the Stanislaus National Forest where research on Yosemite toad habitat was being undertaken.
Forest scientists discovered the damage at Groundhog Meadow, near Herring Creek, on June 24. When they arrived, they saw a blue pickup truck loaded with motorcycles make a “hasty retreat,” according to a U.S. Forest Service statement.
The study area was seriously scarred with zigzagging wheel ruts. The cuts drain the shallow layer of water from the meadow, stranding eggs and tadpoles, the statement said.
“At this stage, there is very little we can do to save them,” said Kimberly Peterson, forest biological team crew leader. “By the time the restoration work is complete, the meadow will be dry and the fledgling life is lost.”
The meadow is one of several included in a study to determine trends and affects to amphibian populations in the Sierra Nevada. Other meadows in the study are in Yosemite National Park and Sierra National Forest.
“It is just horrible, the damage done to the sensitive ecosystem at Groundhog Meadow, not to mention the research completed over the last three years of a five-year study is severely compromised,” Peterson said.
While not protected under the Endangered Species Act, Yosemite toads are considered imperiled. The U.S. Forest Service considers it a “sensitive species” and a “California State Species of Special Concern.”
The Forest Service is looking for the responsible party so that restitution can be made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the California Department of Fish and Game Environmental Hotline at 1-888-334-2258 or the Stanislaus National Forest at 532-3671.#
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2009070297155/News/Local-News/High-country-meadow-damaged-by-vandals
2 moms turn grief over teens' deaths into plea for safety
Sacramento Bee-7/3/09
By Anita Creamer
Had they lived, Kendall Lui and Brian Haight would have graduated from college this spring. They were smart and ambitious, filled with talent and sweetness, the kind of young people whom parents dream of raising.
When they were killed on July 4, 2006 – two sober victims in a car driven by a high school friend who'd been drinking on a rafting trip down the American River – their families lost their children's futures. And society lost all the possibilities of how Lui and Haight might have made a difference in the world.
"We've been cheated out of a very happy threshold event in their lives," said Peggy Fong, Lui's mother. "It's painful. But we want to honor our children."
This morning, Fong and Susan Haight, Brian's mother, will take center stage at a news conference on the American River Parkway to draw attention to the holiday weekend drinking ban on the river.
In the aftermath of their children's deaths, their grief helped fuel Assemblyman Dave Jones' efforts to extend the parkway's prohibition against alcohol consumption on land at the edge of the river to the summer holiday rafters on the water. The law, passed as an urgency matter, went into effect in late June 2007.
"The point now is to remember these two young people who lost their lives," said Jones, "and to remind everyone that the river's there to be enjoyed safely. Rafting and swimming and alcohol don't mix."
Said California Highway Patrol Lt. Greg Ferrero, who commands the Rancho Cordova station: "Anything we can do to support any program aimed at reducing drinking and driving, the CHP is all for it."
The two mothers are convinced that had the ban been in effect three years ago, their children would still be alive.
"For three years, we've held a lot of this pain inside and haven't expressed it," said Susan Haight. "I ran into somebody who told me, 'You look so great.' And I said, 'Well, I'm not.'
"People don't understand. Grieving doesn't end. We're completely different people now."
Kendall Lui was 18, a dancer and an economics major who'd just finished her freshman year at the University of California, San Diego, with a 3.7 grade-point average. At 19, Brian Haight had earned a 4.0 at UC Berkeley as a freshman intent on becoming a history professor.
On their last day of life, they joined other friends from Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks to raft down the American River.
Rowdy crowds turned stretches of the river into a drunken brawl that July 4. But the crash that killed Lui and Haight was a separate headline, a different horror. They were passengers in a Toyota 4Runner whose driver, 19-year-old Michael Dimitras, was legally drunk when he slammed into a utility pole on Folsom Boulevard.
He is serving a six-year sentence in connection with their deaths. Two other passengers were also injured.
"We lost our innocence when our children died," said Fong. "We thought life would be fine. We were good people. We obeyed the law. We thought nothing bad would happen. Sue and I have talked about how often we volunteered at school. We were living good, clean lives.
"Now our world is shattered. Nothing is the same. We have a sense of hopelessness all the time. The anger, that's a given. It's constant. But it's a good anger. It helps you survive. It helps us speak out. It's kept me from completely falling apart."
They're angry, even now, that Dimitras' sentence wasn't longer – and that initial media portrayals suggested that all the occupants of what Fong calls "the death car" had been drinking, that the public doesn't take drunken driving seriously enough and that people refer to the crash as an accident.
The list is long and involved, but the truth is devastatingly simple: Nothing will bring Liu and Haight back. No law. No prison sentence. Nothing.
"We fought so hard," said Susan Haight. "A lot of our children's friends' parents took it as vengeance. But all we wanted is justice."
She and her husband, Doug, a teacher, have lost their only child. She left her job with the state after Brian was killed and spends hours working to exhaustion in her mother's Fair Oaks garden.
"Basically, my husband and I have a very sad life," she said. "Joyless. It's as if it happened yesterday.
"I'm still on medication. I can't sleep any more. Every night, I see him hitting that pole."
After the sentencing, Fong and her husband, Stanley Lui, who runs a real estate investment business, moved to El Dorado Hills because she couldn't bear to remain in a house filled with happy family memories.
Their older daughter, Jordan, recently graduated from law school.
The summer holiday alcohol ban on the river is the moms' mission, a lasting legacy that could help spare other families what they've endured.
"This has made a tremendous difference to what park rangers encounter now doing their jobs," said Sacramento County Parks Director Janet Baker. "It's manageable now, whereas it wasn't at all before."
So Fong and Haight will stand at the podium with elected officials and law enforcement personnel, and they'll talk about the young people who died too soon.
"You know how moms do everything for their children?" said Fong. "I feel like I'm doing this for Kendall, just like in the old days. But I know that afterwards we're going to crash. I just know it. I'm a little fearful. We know it's coming.
"We've steeled ourselves for this month."#
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1997484.html
Roller-coaster ride on the river
Auburn Journal-7/2/09
By J.D. Richey
As you clear Last Chance Rapid, you’ve got about 20 seconds before the entrance to Tunnel Chute to frantically get the boat lined up straight. Just about the time it’s too late, it hits you…
Last Chance.
As in, maybe you could have asked to be put ashore before all of this. But it’s no matter now. You’re in the throat of the beast and the raging current violently grabs the raft. Ship your paddles, get low and plunge into the chaos. The monster’s got ya now.
Blasted and carved out by gold miners in the 1890s, Tunnel Chute is one freakishly unnatural piece of whitewater. The original idea was to divert the entire flow of the river through a hole (the tunnel) in the bedrock so that a long stretch of riverbed would be left dry and thus easier to mine. To channel the water into their tunnel, the miners dug the 50-yard long chute.
Of course, those were the days before controlled reservoir releases. At this time of year back then, the Middle Fork of the American River was very likely a trickle. The amount of water that flows through the chute now is perhaps 10 times of what the miners designed it for. What you end up with is a lot of water squeezing through a very narrow and steep channel.
Once you’ve cleared the lip, it’s a “Land of the Lost”-style free fall. Foaming whitewater explodes all around you. Water pours off the rock walls above you. The world is a blur of dark rocks, blue rubber and white spray.
Even at this disorienting speed, it’s immediately clear that the distance between the sharp vertical walls of Tunnel Chute are barely wider than your boat and it’s hard to imagine anything good coming from having any contact with them. Paddling is useless now. Just hang on and hope for the best.
And oh, by the way, this is not a good spot for a swim! The guides will tell you to ball up like a sow bug if you go into the drink here. At the high velocity you’ll be traveling, you don’t need any limbs sticking out.
Also, pray you get a good gulp of air in your lungs before you hit the water – you may just be under for a while. Eventually you’ll flush out and be okay, but it’s a ride you won’t soon forget
If you stay in the boat, you’ll make the turn in the middle of the rapid and maybe even start to sense that you could get out of this whole deal alive after all. At that precise instant, the bow of the boat drops like a jet that’s lost an engine and you nosedive into a massive hole.
For a second there’s nothing but your stomach in your throat and white pandemonium all around. You lose all sense of direction, but then the monster spits you out and you’re suddenly in the mellow waters of the shaded tunnel. It’s over before you know what hits you.
And then you grin from ear to ear and think: Can we do that again??
Luckily, there’s a lot more of that feeling to come. You’re just two miles into a 15-mile ride down one of the best pieces of river you’ll ever experience. Sweet!
Right in the back yard
Isn’t it funny how we often completely ignore the stuff that’s right under our noses? You know – it’s the guy who lives in Seattle who’s never been to the Space Needle; the folks in San Francisco who never go to Golden Gate Park. Or more locally, the Auburnites who don’t even notice the 60-foot nude Amazon warrior chicks cast in concrete behind the grocery store.
In my case, I’ve spent most of my adult life floating down rivers from California to Alaska and back, yet somehow have never managed to take a raft trip down the Middle Fork of the American, which features both world-class whitewater and epic scenery right here in our back yard.
Well, I took care of all that on Tuesday and made a much-overdue float down our hometown gem. The short version of the story is that the Middle Fork trip was one of the best things I’ve done in a long time. The trip through the inaccessible canyon is incredible and the whitewater was as fun as it gets.
In addition to the Chute, we ran a bunch of big, bouldery drops with colorful names like Good Morning, Bus Crash, Jake the Ripper, Kanaka Falls, Chunder, Parallel Parking, Cleavage and Texas Chainsaw. Good times!
Go with the pros
Though I’ve got a zillion hours logged on the oars, I was happy to leave the heavy lifting to the pros on this one. We put on with the gang from Adventure Connection out of Lotus (www.raftcalifornia.com) and I was very impressed with the guides – Nate, Reilly and Evan were extremely professional and fun to spend the day with and also put on a pretty nice shore lunch spread.
If you can bear to see the look on your face at the moment you plunge into Tunnel Chute, log onto www.hotshotimaging.com after your trip – they have a photographer perched on the cliff above it every day, snapping shots of people running the rapid. You can order copies from their web site.
Anybody in for tomorrow?
I’ve got to say, the run down the Middle Fork was one of the coolest trips I’ve done in a long time. So fun, in fact, that I’m ready to do it again tomorrow! Anybody with me?
Have a great Fourth everybody!#
http://auburnjournal.com/detail/118471.html
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment