Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 1, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Lime Saddle operators get nod for Bidwell Marina
Chico Enterprise-Record
Suction dredgers left high and dry
Redding Record Searchlight
Phoenix Lake span cracks force closure
Sonora Union Democrat
Officials stunned at size of Tahoe clam invasion
Reno Gazette Journal
Fish trackers study movement of Tahoe bass
Tahoe Daily Tribune
Dam burn postponed but inspection still on
Ukiah Daily Journal
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lime Saddle operators get nod for Bidwell Marina
Chico Enterprise-Record-9/1/09
By Mary Weston
State Parks Monday announced a tentative agreement for operations at the Bidwell Canyon Marina that park officials think will allow a smooth transition for all parties involved.
Some boater owners say they will make waves if the contract still prohibits transferring buoy contracts if they sell their boats.
State Parks spokesman Roy Stearns said they have reached a tentative agreement with Forever Resorts, the same company that operates Lime Saddle Marina.
Details will be announced in coming weeks, Stearns said.
"We think this is a very positive development, and in the weeks and months to come, we think boaters will appreciate the improvements that begin to appear," Stearns said. "Lime Saddle is an example of their track record."
Forever Resorts and current operator Fun Time Full Time, Inc. are negotiating for a transition of the existing docks and facilities.
"I think it's hopeful what's in place will stay in place to be the least disruptive to boat owners," Stearns said.
The marina that houses more than 800 boats has been embroiled in a controversy between the boat owners, the existing operator Frank Moothart and State Parks over the transition to a new operator after Moothart's contract was not renewed.
In June, Moothart sent notices to boat owners to move their boats by Aug. 1, saying he had to remove his docks and facilities by December, and the water would be too low then.
According to the contract, anything left on the lake in January would be removed by the state, Moothart had formerly said.
To compound the issue, the bids for a new operator were all disqualified for various reasons.
State Parks sent out a press release late Monday announcing a tentative agreement for operation of the marina, after a board reviewed five proposals following rejection of the bids.
"We are looking for a smooth transition from Full Time Full Time to Forever Resorts and the improvements Forever Resorts will bring for boaters as this marina," said Jim Luscutoff, chief of concessions for State Parks.
Forever Resorts had made significant improvements since taking over Lime Saddle in 2007, according to State Parks.
Assemblyman Dan Logue will still mediate a town hall meeting Wednesday at the State Theatre to address the issue.
Bob Foster, Northern Buttes District superintendent of State Parks, said the state will attend the meeting. Foster said last Friday he thinks all the issues a can be worked out with a new contractor.
Boaters were also concerned that mooring contracts couldn't be transferred if boats were sold, and it's unclear at this time how that issue will be resolved.
Dan Kohrdt of Save Bidwell Marina said the buoy agreement had been pulled from the discussion at the Wednesday meeting, but boat owners wouldn't let that die because they had too large of an investment.
The agreement now states that if you sell your boat, you have to take it off the lake, Kohrdt said.
Some boats on the lake are so large that other lakes in the state won't accommodate them.
"A lot of people think things are going to go great for Frank, Forever Resorts and State Parks, but make no mistake, the boat owners will take legal action if the nontransferable buoy restriction stays," Kohrdt said.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday at 1489 Myers St.#
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_13244359
Suction dredgers left high and dry
Redding Record Searchlight-9/1/09
By Dylan Darling
The $20,000 worth of suction dredging equipment Randy Davis accumulated in 25 years of going for gold is now just decorating his backyard because of a state ban on the practice.
The old Volkswagen motor attached to pontoons that powered a vacuum he used to pull river gravel up and into his sluice box is now worthless because of the ban, said Davis, 56, of Weaverville. So are the seven mining claims he has for the Trinity River and Weaver Creek.
"Now with the ban, I'm not able to work them," Davis said.
Early last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the ban into law, saying it would last until the state Department of Fish and Game finishes an environmental review of suction dredging and develops new rules and regulations for it. Critics of suction dredging say it is harmful to fish - particularly salmon - because it clouds the water, churns up mercury and scatters spawning beds.
"It really alters the river channel," said Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Karuk Tribe on the Klamath River.
The tribe petitioned the DFG to ban suction dredging last winter, but the agency denied the petition. State Sen. Pat Wiggins then wrote legislation calling for the ban, which lawmakers approved in July. Schwarzenegger signed it into law on Aug. 6.
Along with the equipment and claims, the ban has also made DFG permits purchased by prospectors for the year worthless, Davis said.
"All permits that were previously issued by DFG are now invalid," said Kirsten Macintyre, a DFG spokeswoman in Sacramento.
The permits cost $47 for a resident and $185.25 for a non-resident, she said. The DFG had sold 3,624 permits, which were originally good until Dec. 31 this year.
Not being able to use his permit anymore, Jim Holder of Cottonwood said he tried to get a refund for it.
But the DFG isn't offering refunds.
Macintyre said the agency can only do so if authorized by law, and the law banning suction dredging made no such authorization.
Frustrated, Holder said he and other prospectors are talking about filing a class-action lawsuit.
He said his family has had generations of gold mines and his wife and kids regularly go out with him.
"We would gold mine all during the summer," he said.
He'd then use the money made from selling gold to buy Christmas gifts, Holder said.
A veteran on disability with a bad back, Davis said he used the gold brought by suction dredging to supplement his income. In good years, he'd bring in as many as seven ounces, he said. Gold has been selling for about $950 an ounce in recent months.
While Davis said he could pan to get gold from his claims, using a suction dredge is much more efficient.
"I would probably have better luck playing the lottery than panning for gold," Davis said.#
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/sep/01/suction-dredgers-left-high-and-dry/
Phoenix Lake span cracks force closure
Sonora Union Democrat-8/31/09
By Walt Cook
Structural cracking on the Phoenix Lake Road bridge over Sullivan Creek due to blasting operations prompted Tuolumne County officials to close the bridge indefinitely starting today.
It’s too dangerous to keep the bridge open, according to Gary Taylor, deputy director of engineering for the county Public Works Department. The ongoing blasting near the bridge appears to have damaged it, he said.
Project crews were blasting rock and earth last week, with blasting continuing into this week.
Detours include Ridgewood Drive to Highway 108 for those living west of the project area, and Creekside Drive and Crystal Falls Drive to Highway 108 for those east of the project area.
The Public Works Department issued the closure notice Friday morning. Taylor explained blasting is scheduled to get closer to the bridge, putting it at even more at risk.
The blasting had prompted the Public Works Department to close the bridge for a few hours a day through Sept. 4 to accommodate blasting crews. That order was voided when the structural damage became apparent.
An indefinite bridge closure may pose a problem for drivers, as the project is scheduled to continue into next summer. But, Taylor noted, a total closure may enable the project contractor, Ford Construction of Lodi, to get the new bridge and related road work completed ahead of schedule.
Dennis Randall, a volunteer fire captain for the Tuolumne County Fire Department, expressed concern about the closure in relation to emergency responses.
"It has a significant impact particularly for that immediate area because Phoenix Lake Estates is isolated from the nearest station (the Crystal Falls station),” he said.
Randall said the suggested detours will add several minutes to emergency response times in certain instances, but he said the routes will provide adequate access.
“We need to discuss this with our dispatch center so they shift the response plan,” he said.
School buses that run in the area, including Curtis Creek Elementary School buses, will also be forced to adjust their routes.
The Phoenix Lake Road bridge project has been in the works since the mid-1990s, when the county Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to seek federal funding.
Taylor said the county faced a deadline that could have resulted in losing funding if construction had not begun this year.
The roughly year-long project will involve not only replacing the bridge, which dates back to 1948, but also reconstruction of the narrow roadway approaches.
The new bridge will be a pre-cast reinforced concrete structure and less susceptible to damage from high water flows.#
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2009083197689/News/Local-News/Phoenix-Lake-span-cracks-force-closure
Officials stunned at size of Tahoe clam invasion
Reno Gazette Journal-9/1/09
By Jeff DeLong
Peering into cobalt waters, U.S. Sen. John Ensign caught sight of Tahoe's latest threat.
Beneath the hull of a Desert Research Institute boat off Lake Tahoe's southeast shore were visible dense beds of clams.
"It's really shocking to see the numbers," the Nevada Republican said.
Asian clams, first discovered in small quantities in the lake in 2002, have exploded in number. They coat the bottom along much of Tahoe's southeast shore in depths of 3 to 30 feet, in some cases up to 3,000 clams per square yard.
The dime-sized clams are believed to have caused a dense algae bloom at the lake last summer and experts fear they could change water chemistry to allow other invaders, highly damaging quagga or zebra mussels, to thrive at the lake.
DRI President Stephen Wells, who until recently only had seen pictures of the clams, was taken aback.
"I had no idea they would be in that concentration. It's really bad," Wells said.
Participants in the annual Tahoe summit Aug. 13 agreed that clams, mussels, weeds and other invading species -- either already at the lake or threatening to arrive -- could pose a huge danger to Tahoe, the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake.
During the event, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons joined California Natural Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman and top officials with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in signing a management strategy for aquatic invasive species.
"It's a constant assault on the lake," Ensign said. "This is another battle. It seems like every time we have a victory we have another battle come along."
"We need to get moving," U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said. "If we don't get a stranglehold on them, they will get a stranglehold on this lake."#
http://www.rgj.com/article/20090901/TT/909010306/1047
Fish trackers study movement of Tahoe bass
Tahoe Daily Tribune-8/29/09
By Adam Jensen
Legend has it that a prehistoric beast similar to the fabled Loch Ness Monster roams the depths of Lake Tahoe.
While the “Tahoe Tessie” myth holds more whimsy than weight, researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, were at Lake Tahoe this week tagging beasts that could have real consequences for the lake's historic underwater inhabitants.
Joined by employees of the California Department of Fish and Game, the researchers used two boats equipped with electrofishing equipment to catch 24 largemouth bass in the Tahoe Keys on Wednesday afternoon as part of a new study of warm-water fish in Lake Tahoe.
The largemouth bass is one of several warm-water fish species that were likely introduced — either intentionally or accidentally — into the lake by anglers in the mid-1980s and appears to be spreading around the lake's near shore areas, according to recent research.
The fish may be contributing to a decrease in the number of native fish species in the lake since 1960, said Sudeep Chandra, a University of Nevada, Reno professor who studies invasive species at the lake.
Bass are voracious predators that eat native fish — like minnows and trout — or out-compete those species for food and habitat, added Stafford Lehr, senior fisheries biologist supervisor with the California Department of Fish and Game.
“They are having an impact on the native fishes of Lake Tahoe,” Lehr said.
Some of the bass caught Wednesday weighed more than 6 pounds.
In addition to the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Department of Fish and Game, the study that began Wednesday is sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and the Tahoe Resource Conservation District.
The study is a follow- up to a pilot project last year that showed warm-water fish species were able to leave the relatively warm refuge of the Tahoe Keys for other parts of the lake as early as July, sooner than researchers anticipated, Chandra said.
In the latest study, bass were stunned using electroshocking equipment and brought on shore, where researchers sedated them using club soda. Researchers then made a small incision on the bass's bellies to implant two tags, before stitching the fish back up and returning them alive near the area they were caught.
One tag — a computer chip similar to what are often implanted into cats and dogs — will stay useful to researchers throughout the life of the fish and may allow them to one day estimate the total number of largemouth bass in the lake, something that remains unknown to scientists, Chandra said.
The second tag is an acoustic tag that will operate for more than a year and will allow researchers to track movements of the bass through the Keys.
By studying bass movements past 13 receivers that have been placed in the Keys during the next two years to pick up signals from the acoustic tags, researchers should be able to determine how often bass leave the Keys and gain greater knowledge about what triggers them to do so, Chandra said.
Researchers also hope to gain a greater understanding of how warm-water fish interact with the invasive plants — like Eurasian watermilfoil and curly-leaf pondweed — that are spreading around the lake and are already ubiquitous in the Keys, Chandra said.
The information gathered during the latest study will likely be critical to understanding how to protect the dwindling number of native fish species in the lake, Chandra said.
Both Lehr and Chandra expressed doubts about whether warm-water fish species could ever be eliminated from Lake Tahoe, but said this study will be critical step to figuring out what to do next.
“You first have to have a good understanding of the problem,” Lehr said.
Because the species were introduced to the lake relatively recently, the spread of the species can likely be controlled, Chandra said.
Using electrofishing to remove fish from the lake and eliminating the dense underwater forests of milfoil and pondweed where the warm-water fish thrive are two ways the populations of the fish species in the lake could potentially be limited, Chandra said.#
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20090829/NEWS/908289979&parentprofile=search
Dam burn postponed but inspection still on
Ukiah Daily Journal-8/31/09
A control burn of the dam at Lake Mendocino has been postponed but is still expected before a mid-September routine inspection of the earthen dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Lake Mendocino and the park around it is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Army Corps inspectors are expected in Ukiah in the weeks following a rescheduled burn.
"Basically it's for an inspection," David Serafini, maintenance manager at the park said. "The engineers come and do a 100 percent inspection."
The inspection is called a pre-flood inspection and all Army Corps projects do it, Serafini said.
When the burn happens the dam will be divided into sections on which various fire departments can come and practice. Due to concerns that firefighters would overdraw their crews, the first date was canceled and a new date has not been set.
The inspection comes in anticipation of the rainy season. Lake Mendocino is scheduled to be inspected Sept. 15 to Sept. 17, according to Army Corps spokesman J.D. Hardesty.
Inspectors will come and visually inspect the upstream and downstream sides of the dam, Hardesty stated. According to Hardesty, removing vegetation helps to spot burrowing animals that may live in the dam's dirt, Coyote Dam's spillway and a structure that regulates the flow of water in outlet tunnels.#
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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