NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SALMON: Secret lives of fish

Eureka Reporter – 9/23/07
By Nathan Rushton, staff writer

A federal fisheries biologist has recently wrapped up a study hunting juvenile salmon fitted with sophisticated electronic tracking devices that promises to significantly boost scientists’ knowledge of an important, federally protected fish.

Coho salmon, which live the majority of their lives in the ocean and spawn in freshwater rivers and streams on the Pacific West Coast — including Freshwater Creek, which empties into Humboldt Bay — were listed as an endangered species in 2005.

A high-tech study to determine what young fish do after they leave the stream where they were born began in mid-April, and the results are expected to be published at the end of this month. Bill Pinnix, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arcata office, is project supervisor and primary investigator for the study. The coho study was hatched from a previous “fish community” study launched by the USFWS two years ago to look at which fish are using the bay’s different habitats.

While the previous study — which was primarily funded through the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District — was being done, many people wanted to know just what the endangered salmon were doing in the bay and, in particular, whether they were utilizing eel grass habitat near the oyster culture farming operations in the north bay. “If we want to answer those questions, this is the type of study we have to do,” Pinnix said.

The $70,000 coho study was collaboratively funded by the USFWS, California Department of Fish and Game, the Harbor District and the oyster-rearing business Coast Seafoods, which farms several hundred acres of tidal lands in the bay.

Beginning in April, researchers began placing small acoustic transmitters into dozens of 6-inch-long, 1-year-old juvenile salmon migrating out of Freshwater Creek. The acoustic tag transmitters send out a signal of six slightly varying pulses, or chirps, each minute that act like a bar code, which allows the researchers to track individual fish, Pinnix explained.

Rather than trying to just get lucky and catch fish where people think they might be, Pinnix said the tagging study allows scientists to accurately find and follow the fish. A radio receiver unit attached to the front of the USFWS’ aluminum boat allows Pinnix to track — in real time — the movements of the fish to see where they go and better understand what they do.

Approximately 24 stationary radio receivers are also spread out through Freshwater slough and the bay to allow the scientists to listen for fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The data is stored in the receivers and retrieved later.

“Since one of the main objectives was (to track) residence time in the bay, we really wanted to know when they left,” Pinnix said. To accomplish that, a higher-density swatch of receivers was placed inside the bay’s entrance. Assisting Pinnix was Peter Nelson, the marine fisheries adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Sea Grant program for Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

Nelson was tasked with surgically inserting the acoustic tags into the small fish. Nelson said there was next to no information previously about how juvenile coho salmon were utilizing Humboldt Bay’s estuarine environments.

Although there were anecdotal reports from anglers who said they caught young coho in some areas of the bay while jigging for anchovies to use as bait, Nelson said this is the first time researchers have nailed down solid data on the fish.

Because the bay has such a diverse number of uses — including oyster culture, recreational boating, large vessel shipping, commercial fishing hub and maritime industrial uses — Nelson said it is important that managers and scientists know how the fish use the bay. And the study is already dispelling assumptions. “The dogma is that the fish just boogie on through,” Nelson said. “Clearly that is not the case.”

Pinnix’s preliminary data suggest the fish are spending weeks in the bay, not the hours or days some have speculated. Although there is considerable variation, Pinnix said his data show that the time the fish leave the fresh water to the time they exit the bay is about 30 days — half of that is spent in Freshwater Slough and the other half in the bay. While in the bay, Pinnix said, the fish he tracked spent the majority of their time in the deepest part of the channel near the Samoa-area industrial frontage. Nelson said more research is necessary to determine how coho use some of the other coastal streams, which he said has to vary from one system to the next.

Ron Fritzsche, a retired Humboldt State University fisheries professor and former Harbor District commissioner who served on the district when the original “fish community” study was done, indicated he was pleased with the new information. At that time, resource management agencies were interested in knowing if Coast Seafoods’ oyster operations in and around the eel grass beds were impacting coho salmon. Fritzsche said there has been what he called “faith-based” ideas of where the fish were, despite the fact that there was no record of juvenile coho salmon caught in eel grass beds.

Besides the main bay areas, the study is also shedding light on what the fish are doing in the estuaries and sloughs before they enter the bay. Estuaries are a transition zone where fish are adapting from freshwater to saltwater life — a critical time in the life cycle of the salmon, Pinnix said. Pinnix said many people consider Humboldt Bay, which is the second largest bay in California, an estuary.

That’s not exactly true, Pinnix said, although he said it is tidally influenced and has some estuarine characteristics. “The real estuary — the interface between the fresh and saltwater — occurs in the sloughs like Freshwater and Elk River,” Pinnix said. The coho study’s acoustic receivers also helped fill the data gap of when the fish used those slough environments, where Pinnix said scientists speculated the fish mostly stayed before leaving for the open ocean.

“Personally, I was surprised that they spent more time in the bay than I had initially thought,” Pinnix said. Pinnix said Fish and Game’s effort to tag salmon with PIT — or passive integrated transponder tags — in Freshwater Creek has provided solid data on how long the fish stay in the upper streams.

Bob Pagliuco, a former fisheries biologist with Humboldt State University’s Fisheries Department’s Institute for River Ecosystems, was one of several employees who helped oversee the CDFG-funded monitoring of salmon and steelhead populations at the Humboldt Fish Action Council’s fish trap on Freshwater Creek.

Pagliuco said it wasn’t until after four years of tagging and monitoring the salmon that scientists realized the fish were migrating to the lower portions of Freshwater Creek and spending a significant amount of time during their early lives in the tidally influenced estuary areas.

Pagliuco said monitoring revealed there is a small outgoing migration of roughly 7-month-old coho in the fall, as well as a larger migration of 1-year-old fish in the spring. Given how important the estuaries are to the watershed and the salmon’s early development, Pagliuco said, that is where restoration efforts need to be directed. “They grow incredibly faster there than they do in the tributaries,” he said. Although they are not exactly sure why, Pagliuco said scientists speculate it is the abundance of space and food that allow the fish to grow more quickly.

But it is a two-sided coin for the fish. Unlike the relative safety of the deeper water in the bay, it isn’t as easy going in the sloughs where pelicans, terns, cormorants and other diving birds congregate. Near the U.S. Highway 101 bridge over Freshwater Slough, Pinnix said, it is common to see thousands of birds form a sort of avian gauntlet that fish must negotiate to make it into the relative safety of the deeper water.

INTERESTING BYCATCH
While it seems reasonable that small juvenile coho could slip in and out of the bay undetected for years, it is another story for the many larger, finned visitors to the bay. Acoustic signals from green sturgeon, which can reach lengths of 7 feet and, like coho salmon, are federally protected anadromous fish, were also picked up by Pinnix’s equipment last summer. Some were tracked leaving in the fall and others re-entering in April.

Fisheries biologist Steven T. Lindley with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, said it was a welcome surprise that the receivers picked up his sturgeon’s tags. Lindley is wrapping up an ambitious acoustic tag project that tagged 350 green sturgeon in California’s Sacramento and Klamath rivers, as well as several Oregon and Washington rivers where the fish spawn. “We were hoping to detect them moving from their spawning rivers (to) where they aggregate during the summer,” Lindley said.

Although scientists don’t know why, Lindley said, green sturgeon tend to spend their summers in bays along the Pacific Northwest coast and winter off British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. During their stopover in Humboldt Bay, Lindley said green sturgeon are most likely eating ghost shrimp and crustaceans.

WHAT COMES NEXT
The USFWS is already planning a follow-up study for next year, which Pinnix said the agency hopes can be expanded to include monitoring the Elk River watershed for salmon and steelhead. “We spent two years doing pilot studies and really testing the technology before tagging the fish. By laying that groundwork, this project came off really well,” Pinnix said.

Following this year’s success, Pinnix is hopeful for subsequent research, but as of now, the necessary funding has not been secured. Pinnix said other agencies, including HSU, have expressed interested in teaming up to use the receivers to monitor halibut, sharks and rays for their own research. In addition, Pinnix said the Wiyot Tribe is interested in collaborating, as well as some community groups that do restoration and conservation work around the bay.

Half the overall cost for the $70,000 study was for equipment, including the 12 receivers that cost $1,200 each. But those costs won’t be incurred next time. Because the stationary receivers are already in place and paid for, other researchers would only have to provide tags. “Every subsequent year, the relative cost goes down because of the initial capital investment,” Pinnix said.

The acoustic tag technology is fairly new, appearing only in the past decade, with significant advances in the past three years that have produced miniaturized versions that allow the study. Pinnix said local agencies like the Harbor District will benefit most from the new data, along with state and federal fisheries management agencies. David Hull, chief executive officer for the Harbor District, said the district’s $17,000 contribution goes toward a program he calls a critical element needed for bay management.

From the district’s perspective, Hull said knowing better how and when juvenile coho use the bay will help with making decisions about projects in and around the bay. Hull said until now, agencies and businesses were relying on educated guesses, although they erred on the side of caution. “That is going to make our job a lot easier,” Hull said.

Because the study has been so successful, Hull said the Harbor District is looking at funding other studies for chinook and coho in other tributaries. Pinnix said he is planning to present his final report to the funding agencies at the end of the month, and will also be publishing his data in a peer-reviewed science publication.

RED BLUFF DIVERSION DAM: Pumping station would have "severe impact" on salmon runs

Chico Enterprise Record – 9/24/07
By Cliff Larimer, staff writer

RED BLUFF -- Forces are gearing up to bring pressure and possible legal action against the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation if the two agencies pursue plans to raise the gates at Red Bluff Diversion Dam year-round.

Last week, the Red Bluff City Council heard a presentation from Dave Vogel of Natural Resource Scientists Inc., who has been hired by the city as a consultant to evaluate fish passage issues associated with the dam.

Vogel, a senior scientist with the firm, has researched and written extensively on nearly every aspect of fish passage difficulties — both real and perceived — at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam.

Presently, with a strong push from Jeff Sutton of the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority, the authority and the bureau are recirculating the 2002 Draft Environmental Impact State/Environmental Impact Report with Sutton pushing hard to halt use of the dam and to eventually install a huge pumping facility on the Sacramento River above the dam at the Diamond Mill site in Red Bluff.

The authority wants year-round access to river water for its irrigation canals that serve portions of Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo counties. Currently, gates are lowered only during summer months.

Sutton wants them raised forever, and while the 2002 draft EIS/EIR had Bureau of Reclamation officials suggesting a free flowing river 10 months a year, the bureau reportedly now may be ready to pitch for removal of the dam and installation of the pumps at the Diamond Mill site.

It's all about fish, the runs of both salmon and green sturgeon, and their ability to get past the dam.

Vogel told the City Council the plans for the facility were flawed and could conceivably do major harm to salmon runs.

The mill site was never studied by the bureau or the canal authority, he said, so no relevant information is included on such as moving the river flow to the proposed pumping, the "large-scale dredging" that will be necessary at the site, nor the potential damage to the fishery.

"The document says there will be no impacts," he said. "I don't believe that. I think they could be severe."

"The problem is, it's a bad site," he said later.

Vogel and City Manager Martin Nichols both expressed concerns over the way the project was revived, with Vogel saying his extensive documentation of concerns were not included in the comments section until he protested. Then they were added online, but are nearly illegible.

Nichols said the city needs additional time to respond to the document and have contacted Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, to ask for an additional 90 days. Additionally, Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, has been asked to intercede. LaMalfa had a representative at last week's meeting.

Vogel has been hired by the city as a consultant to "provide analysis of the Fish Passage Improvement environmental documents, expert testimony and/or written comments and public presentations that may be required. Total cost is $15,000, but that could end up being a small part of costs if the canal authority and the bureau are challenged in court.

Nichols has said repeatedly the city hopes it doesn't get that far and that all involved can work together to keep the dam and solve any fish passage problems. But he said the city and the Chamber of Commerce have agreed to share costs of pursuing the matter through the courts.

One member of the public spoke at the meeting. Jack Williams, a retired city employee and a frequent attendee at City Council and Board of Supervisors meetings, said the dam needs to stay. He said the taxpayers paid for it more than 40 years ago.

He said the changes, the "dredging, pumping ... is going to cost farmers and taxpayers millions of dollars." #

Redding Record Searchlight – 8/29/07
By Tim Hearden, staff writer

Shasta County supervisors Tuesday asked for federal disaster aid for drought-stricken agriculture, perhaps setting the stage for an emergency declaration that could come in the next 30 days.

The Board of Supervisors sought to help cattle ranchers -- particularly in the county's northeastern areas -- that have seen their forage yields drop by as much as 70 percent.

A disaster declaration by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns would make local ranchers eligible for low-interest loans, reimbursements for supplemental feed and water, and other programs approved by Congress.

"Our cattle industry is the single-largest agriculture industry in Shasta County," agricultural commissioner Mary Pfeiffer told supervisors. "The prices of hay have risen dramatically. I have a few cows and we are now paying twice as much for hay as we did a year ago."

The request will be sent to the state Office of Emergency Services, which will likely forward it to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to make the request. From there, it would go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's state Farm Service Agency for a review of the damage suffered by the local ag industry, said Larry Plumb, a state conservation loan specialist with the agency.

A disaster declaration usually takes 20 to 30 days to implement, and Shasta County's chances for approval are "pretty strong," Plumb said Tuesday.

"The entire state of California is in a drought right now," he said. "I've received requests from 19 counties."

Johanns declared a disaster in Tehama County earlier this summer. Pfeiffer said that declaration will make Shasta County ranchers eligible for some aid as a "contiguous county," but that other services would be confined to Tehama County alone.

The best thing for Shasta County to do was to seek its own declaration, Pfeiffer said.

In Redding, the rainfall season ending June 30 was the driest since 1990-1991. Many ranchers have removed their cattle from the summer pastures and began supplemental feeding months earlier than in normal years. #

Redding Record Searchlight – 8/27/07
By Kimberly Ross, staff writer

An environmental report on a Nestle water-bottling plant proposed for McCloud -- a hefty tome that drew more than 3,000 pages of public comments -- will be set before the public again, although a start date has not been chosen.

Nestle Project Manager Dave Palais said the entire document will be recirculated, giving residents at least another 45 days to read it and reply to the new version.

Palais said he doesn't know yet what would be changed in the project, but some of the public's feedback on the draft environmental impact report (EIR) may warrant modifications to Nestle's plan, he said.

Many of those public responses were form letters, and can be boiled down to a few hundred unique comments, said Mark Teague of Pacific Municipal Consultants, which is preparing the EIR for Siskiyou County.

"It's not unusual for large and visible projects to go through a couple alterations," Teague said. "Many times people (responding to a plan) come up with good ideas, and then the project has to be re-evaluated."

The mass of comments to the project's draft environmental impact report led Siskiyou County and Nestle to agree on incorporating those comments into a new draft and recirculating it, said Sandy Roper, Siskiyou County deputy director of planning.

Nestle's 2003-signed contract with the McCloud Community Service District allows it to buy up to 1,600 acre-feet of water a year for 50 years -- and residents' opinions on the water-bottling idea run both hot and cold.

Some say the industry-starved town is desperate for the plant that's estimated to employ 60, then 240, people and deliver $400,000 in annual revenue to the services district. Others say losing spring water could harm temperature-sensitive fish and that 600 daily truck trips will pollute the air and clog Highway 89.

Almost 1,100 people signed a petition in support of Nestle's project, said Ron Berryman of McCloud, a forestry consultant and member of the McCloud Grassroots Committee. Economic viability is the top concern in the former sawmill town, now with a high school of just several students, ambulance and fire services slashed by half, and few employers, he said.

"I think the people in the county have a real good idea of the plight of McCloud," he said.

Debra Anderson, president of the McCloud Watershed Council, didn't give much weight to petition signatures.

Her group faults the project's EIR for lacking scientific study on several issues. Those include global warming and economic costs to tourism, traffic, and whether Nestle's presence would prevent other companies from moving to McCloud.

The watershed council and others also think Nestle's 50-year contract, renewable for another 50 years, is too long and sells water too cheaply.

Also, the EIR did not address the potential for temperatures in Squaw Valley Creek to rise when cold spring water at its head goes to Nestle instead, said Donna Boyd, a consultant for California Trout.

"If we change the temperature significantly, it changes the actual chemistry of the water," she said. "Here, we've never had this kind of development even attempted, so there's nothing to show what the effect would be," she said.

Nestle spokeswoman Lisa Yarbrough said the county is reviewing whether more studies need to be done. Meanwhile, she hopes to dispel some misinformation about how much water will leave McCloud: Whether drawn from springs, wells or future wells, the EIR limits Nestle's take to 1,600 acre-feet.

"It can purchase less, but not more," she said.

That acre-foot limit includes any water from wells on Nestle's own property, which would have to be approved and owned by the district, but drilled at Nestle's cost, Yarbrough said.

Nestle's property purchase included rights to water from nearby Lakin Dam, but the company does not plan to use it for bottling "because it is surface water and does not meet our strict criteria for spring-water bottling," she said. #

News Release, Department of Water Resources – 8/16/07
Contact: Kristyne Miller, 916-651-9621

SACRAMENTO -- The California Department of Water Resources, Division of Planning and Local Assistance, has awarded more than $10 million in CALFED grants to 27 watershed projects throughout the state. Originally, 95 watershed organizations asking for a total of $37.4 million applied for Proposition 50 watershed grants.

The money comes from the sale of $3.4 billion in bonds approved by voters as Proposition 50 in November 2002.The projects range from assessing the condition of watersheds to restoring local creeks and rivers to placing an economic value on the watershed approach.

A watershed is a region draining into a creek, river, river system or other body of water. In California, there are about 1,500 watersheds. Some are as big as the Sacramento River watershed that drains much of Northern California; others are as small as Laguna Creek watershed, which drains several miles in Sacramento County.

The list of 27 grant recipients is on-line at:
http://www.watershedrestoration.water.ca.gov/watersheds

The Department of Water Resources 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. #

Eureka Times Standard – 8/16/07
By John Driscoll, staff writer

A federal judge has ruled that hatchery salmon should be treated apart from wild salmon when regional populations are considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan ruled Tuesday in favor of the National Marine Fisheries Service and fishing and environmental groups defending the government's listing of 16 West Coast salmon populations.

Farm and development interests had challenged the policy of distinguishing between naturally raised fish and hatchery reared salmon, claiming they are not separable. They also argued that different runs of salmon that do not interbreed with protected salmon should not be included for protection under the act.

”Plaintiffs' position that actual interbreeding is required would prohibit the agencies from listing the United States population of an animal that is abundant elsewhere in the world,” Hogan wrote. “Congress intended otherwise.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation won a more limited case in 2001, when Hogan ruled a population of wild Oregon salmon shouldn't be protected without also protecting hatchery fish. The protection of that population segment was removed, then both wild and hatchery fish were both listed later.

The National Marine Fisheries Service drafted a new policy on hatchery fish two years ago and went on to conduct a review of all 16 listed salmon populations, keeping all of those populations under protection.

Fisheries service spokesman Brian Gorman said Tuesday's decision will allow the agency to move forward on salmon restoration plans.

”Obviously we're very pleased,” Gorman said. “Certainly a cloud of uncertainty has been lifted from our recovery efforts.”

But Gorman said it's unlikely that the court would have the last word on the matter.

In fact, Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Sonya Jones said the organization would appeal Hogan's decision, which she claimed allows the agency to make an end run around Hogan's 2001 ruling.

”If you're going to count the salmon, you've got to count all the salmon,” Jones said.

Otherwise, she said, “the flood gates” for regulating private property will be thrown open.

Among the salmon populations that are listed are Klamath River coho salmon. Glen Spain with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens' Association, an intervenor in the case, said the decision underscores the need for reforms in the Klamath River basin.

”Coho are just the indicator species for a sick river and the cure is clearly the removal of the Klamath dams and changing the water balance in the river for fish to survive,” Spain said.

Arguments about the inclusion of hatchery fish in assessments of salmon populations' health are still being heard by the courts.

Opening briefs to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are due Sept. 11, in which arguments focus on the protection of 10 populations of steelhead trout. An appeal of a Washington U.S. District Court ruling is also being waged by the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Northcoast Environmental Center Executive Director Greg King said there are important biological reasons not to include hatchery fish when considering protection of a species. The genetic diversity of wild fish is what allows them to ride out diseases and climatic conditions, while hatchery fish have provided an argument for not protecting habitat.

”It's important that habitat is protected and maintaining wild stocks will give us an idea of the health of the habitat,” King said. #

Redding Record Searchlight – 8/15/07
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

A Tuesday morning meeting with state and governor's office officials in Redding left local leaders and water district managers asking for more details of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $6 billion plan to avert a water crisis.

It's "still light on facts," said Pat Minturn, director of Shasta County Public Works. "Today, they didn't really roll out a proposal."

The meeting at Redding City Hall was the first of five or six to be held throughout the state expanding on Schwarzenegger's January call for state funds to be used for water management investments addressing climate change, population growth, supply reliability and environmental needs, said Amanda Fulkerson, a spokeswoman for the governor.

She said the state hasn't invested in "water infrastructure," dams and canals, since 1975.

"It's time for a big investment," she said.

Money for the proposed projects, which would include Sites Reservoir about 100 miles south of Redding and Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno, will probably be an issue on the November 2008 ballot, said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources.

He said such investments are needed to prevent a water problem caused by slow changes, such as increasing population and shrinking snowpack, as well as a sudden change, such as a major earthquake.

"It's kind of taking care of tomorrow," Snow said.

But the new proposals are bringing up old worries about southern farms and cities taking water from their northern counterparts if a canal is built to rush Sacramento River water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Such a "peripheral canal" was shot down in 1982 vote.

When those in Schwarzenegger's camp talk about increased water flows around the Delta, they refer to "a canal or some form of channel conveyance," as referenced in a fact sheet about the proposal provided by the governor's office.

"I think they are trying to avoid the peripheral canal tag," said Dick Dickerson, Redding's mayor.

He said people in the north state would support such a canal only if there were guarantees that more water wouldn't be shipped south unless there are increases in storage and supply.

Among the close to 40 people at the meeting were several officials from water districts in the north state. Like Dickerson and Redding City Councilman Ken Murray, many of them left wanting to learn more about Schwarzenegger's plans.

"We need more details on it," said Thad Bettner, general manager of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District in Willows. #

Eureka Times Standard – 8/14/07
By John Driscoll, Staff Writer

Thousands of young salmon are struggling to survive in the mouth of the Mattole River, but biologists can't agree whether to attempt a rescue or leave them alone.

Temperatures in the estuary, which is sealed off from the ocean by a sand bar, have been perilous to the little chinook salmon for weeks. The fish may have been prompted to move from rearing areas in the upper river to the river mouth by a mid-July rain. Now they are languishing, easy prey for birds and competing with steelhead trout for food.

The Mattole Salmon Group has lobbied federal agencies and the California Department of Fish and Game to be allowed to net about 5,000 chinook and keep them in a rearing facility upstream until fall rains set in. Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have offered to help if the plan is approved. But Fish and Game biologists believe the operation will kill more fish than it will save.

Mattole Salmon Group Executive Director Tom Campbell agrees netting the fish could be risky, but said he'd enlist the aid of federal fisheries experts.

”I'm afraid all the fish are going to perish -- none are going to make it,” Campbell said.

Campbell said it has been frustrating getting answers from Fish and Game, and over the past couple of weeks the number of salmon being seen by divers has been on the decline.

Their condition also may be getting worse. With limited food in the estuary, the small salmon have reportedly taken on a gaunt appearance, with heads disproportionate to their bodies.

All the more reason, say Fish and Game biologists, to leave them alone.

”We really feel the risk is too great to be out there handling these fish at this point,” said Fish and Game Senior Environmental Scientist Steve Turik.

Generally, temperatures in the Mattole start to drop around this time of year, although that's obviously dependent on the weather. While Fish and Game has said it won't issue a permit for trapping and moving fish, Turik said biologists are being sent to the estuary this week for a closer look.

The Mattole Salmon Group has asked for help from state lawmakers, who have inquired of Fish and Game about the issue. In a response to Sen. Pat Wiggins' office Friday, department Regional Director Gary Stacey said trapping even 3,000 young chinook would likely only result in a few fish returning to the river after their time at sea, but would put the rest of the fish in jeopardy.

”We have been dealing with the Mattole Group on this issue for several weeks now, and they are not happy since they are not hearing the answer they want to hear,” Stacey wrote.

It seems to come down to a question of nature or nurture. Chinook in the Mattole have for hundreds or thousands of years survived when the mouth of the river sealed up. But roads, development, logging and huge floods in the 1950s and 1960s have made the estuary more shallow and less shady, and salmon runs have lagged.

Conditions have improved due to improved land management practices and restoration over the past 20 years, said Tom Shaw, longtime biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The long-term solution is to control sediment, as called for in state and federal guidelines, he said.

”In the meantime, I recommend doing anything we can,” Shaw said.

Fish and Wildlife is willing to provide equipment and experienced operators if netting the fish is deemed the best course, Shaw said. If nothing is done, the fish will probably have to wait until it rains enough to open up the river mouth again, which could easily be October or later.

National Marine Fisheries Service biologist Dan Free believes that is too long. Most of the fish will probably die, he said, and if they do, the genetic diversity of the limited Mattole salmon population would suffer.

”From out perspective, although we do recognize that some fish are going to die in the capture,” Free said, “we think the risk is acceptable given the likelihood of most of those fish dying.” #

Redding Record Searchlight – 8/11/07
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

Time is short for invasive arundo on the banks of Stillwater Creek.

A crew of about 20 will start a two-week assault on the fast-growing, non-native plant that is similar to bamboo Monday along a 16-mile stretch of the creek.

Arundo is a scourge to streams and other waterways around the north state, said Randy "Creeky" Smith, who has led efforts to eradicate it since fall 2004. The plant was introduced in the 1960s as erosion control.

"It turned out to be quite the opposite," he said.

Smith, who is co-chairman of the Rotary Club of Redding Environment Committee, had been focused on ridding Redding of arundo for three years and said last fall the city was nearly arundo-free. Now, he's branching out to Shasta County in hopes of having it clear of arundo by 2010.

As the plant -- also known as giant reed -- grows as tall as 30 feet, its roots form a ball in the riverbank, Smith said. High water in winter can uproot the plants, which take a big piece of the riverbank with them.

In clearing arundo from Stillwater Creek, from north of Shasta College to where the creek flows into the Sacramento River, 18 members of the California Conservation Corps will use backpack sprayers to douse the plants with herbicide, he said.

Cost of the work is being covered by a $42,000 grant from the state Department of Food and Agriculture, Smith said.

The department has funded anti-arundo projects around the state because of the effect it can have on streams, creeks and ponds.

Arundo is native to China and other parts of the Far East, said Paul Kjos, deputy agriculture commissioner for Shasta County.

There animals and other plants keep its growth in check.

Here it has no such competition.

"Nothing touches arundo," Kjos said.

Along with arundo's effect on waterways, it also is flammable even when it's green because of a wax it secretes, said Lee Delaney, watershed coordinator for the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District.

"There's hardly any good you can say about the plant," Delaney said. #

WASHINGTON -- When the House Natural Resources Committee met in July to discuss whether Vice President Dick Cheney had improperly interfered in the battle over Klamath River water, Republicans complained that the hearing could derail negotiations to settle the heated farming vs. fish fight.

"Let's do what's best for the fish, farmers, the tribes and the fishermen," Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., pleaded, with fellow GOP Reps. John Doolittle of Roseville and Wally Herger of Marysville sitting in solidarity with him at the witness table. "Let's encourage them to find common ground, not rub salt in old wounds when they are so close to an historic agreement of enormous significance."

But as the projected November deadline for a deal moves steadily nearer, environmental and Indian tribal leaders are raising concerns that the pact that everyone so desperately wants is in danger of slipping away because of what they see as political manipulation.

"Whatever comes out of these negotiations has to have a scientific basis, rather than a political basis," said Clifford Lyle Marshall, Hoopa Valley Tribe chairman. "There were political strings being pulled before the negotiations started -- and they are still in play."

Critics warn that the evolving 60-year agreement is being shaped by Bush administration officials and is looking more and more like a $250 million-plus gift to irrigators, assuring them of ample water and subsidized power to pump it in exchange for a huge but possibly elusive environmental victory -- knocking down four dams on the river.

The hydroelectric dams are owned by Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp, which is no longer involved in the talks.

"PacifiCorp hasn't committed to anything," said Steve Pedery, spokesman and conservation director for Oregon Wild, an environmental group now excluded from the talks because it wouldn't sign on to a binding 23-page "settlement framework" in January.

"The framework is what we had to agree to in order to get a seat at the table with PacifiCorp," Pedery said.

Greg Addington, director of the Klamath Water Users Association and a strong advocate of a negotiated settlement, said he was disappointed that critics are beginning to go public before a deal is done. "I'd hope that we could work these things out amongst ourselves and not in the media," he said. But he added that even among irrigators there are "big concerns," despite assurances of water and subsidized power.

"The certainty to irrigators is a value to us," he said. "But it comes at a cost to us. It is not all roses for us. The settlement, if implemented as it is today, will be painful for us."

Alex Pitts, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, declined comment, other than to say the talks are not being directed by the administration.

Some 26 groups are involved in the secret talks, including representatives of state and federal agencies, local governments, Indian tribes, environmental groups, irrigators and fishing organizations. Participants have signed confidentiality pledges.

The fight over Klamath water is a textbook example of a conflict so complex and long-standing that the best promise for success is a negotiated settlement.

Farmers rely on the same water for irrigation that fishermen and Indian tribes need for the health of fish, and in many years there is too little of it.

Complicating the tensions are federal laws protecting endangered fish and nearly a century of federal policies that drained once-rich wetlands for migratory birds and converted them into irrigation-dependent farmland for homesteaders.

The problems came to a head in 2001 when outraged farmers had their water supply turned off during a prolonged drought to save water for salmon runs.

The tables turned in 2002 when water was restored to farmers while reduced downriver flows of sun-heated water created ideal conditions for the spread of a pathogen that killed an estimated 70,000 salmon.

That massive die-off, the worst in U.S. history, led to a fishery disaster in 2005 and 2006 as commercial fleets along 700 miles of the Pacific Coast were idled to protect the diminished Klamath River run.

Settlement talks began in 2005, about the time PacifiCorp applied to relicense its dams for up to 50 years. Environmentalists want the dams removed to reopen the upper Klamath to salmon.

Several participants said hopes for a balanced agreement began to fade last fall and accelerated with the settlement group's release of the January framework. Among its many principles, the details of which are now being negotiated, is a pledge to increase minimum water supplies for irrigators, and protect farming operations on the 39,000-acre Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where costly pumping drains rich lake-bottom lands for farming.

Environmentalists long have opposed refuge farming, saying places like Tule Lake should be allowed to return to their natural wetlands state. "This was a deal-killer for us," said Pedery of Oregon Wild. "This is an effort by the Bush administration to lock in agriculture in the refuge."

Felice Pace of the Klamath Forest Alliance said the deal is looking more and more like a bargain with the devil -- the promise of dam removals in exchange for binding water rights for farmers. Also troubling is the decision to virtually exclude California's Scott and Shasta rivers from the talks even though irrigation demands on them affect 35 percent of the water flowing down the Klamath River, Pace said.

"When and if this settlement happens, the governors of Oregon and California will be there to declare the water wars are over and the Klamath is fixed," Pace said. "But what commitments are the states making? I'll be there to protest if the Scott and Shasta rivers are on their current trajectory with no commitments to stop their dewatering." #

Stockton Record – 8/3/07
By Michael Fitzgerld, columnist

Perhaps it is time to question the Agricultural Waiver, the exception to California's Water Code that allows farmers to police themselves while polluting waterways.

New data shows farms are poisoning Central Valley waterways with pesticides, sediment, nutrients, salts, pathogens and heavy metals, contributing to the collapse of the Delta.

These pollutants are not doing our groundwater any good, either.

A state report on the ag waiver reckons that a staggering 9,493 miles of rivers and streams and 513,130 acres of lakes and reservoirs are "impaired" by irrigated agriculture.

Tragically, "It wasn't on our radar," said Liz Kanter, a spokeswoman for the California Water Resources Control Board.

In fact, irrigation water draining off fields into waterways was not monitored at all until recently, when the state required farmers to keep track of it themselves.

Now, "They have to prepare water quality plans," Kanter said. "They have to submit them to us. They have to perform group monitoring. Do courses in water quality management. They have to submit a notice of intent."

That sounds like a substantial improvement - and it is - but the question remains whether it is sufficient to protect the Delta's ailing fisheries and the public health.

The answer to that lies in the details of the current system, in which farmers form "coalitions" that monitor polluted water as it drains from fields to waterways and report data to the state.

Besides spotty monitoring, these coalitions shield the individual identity of polluters, exact discharge locations, volumes, concentrations and other data essential to accountability and enforcement, critics say.

Even Kanter conceded the system has holes in it.

"We don't have full compliance, but it's getting better," she said, adding, "It's like any program you start when people aren't necessarily on board. There was resistance."

In other words, many farmers hate pollution discharge regulations and refuse to abide by them.

But there's no other way, said Kenneth Landau, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board, the regional board that regulates the Valley.

Asking every single farmer to identify his pollutants, monitor them, devise management plans and other technical tasks too is much for the lone farmer, Landau said.

It would overburden regulators, too. "If we were dealing with each and every farmer individually, we would need many, many, many more staff than I have now," Landau said.

Hence coalitions. Unfortunately, regulators cannot fine or imprison coalitions. But they can decertify them, requiring lone farmers to comply, then fine violators, Landau said.

Number of violators fined to date: zero.

"But we're getting darned close," Landau affirmed.

Bill Jennings, head of the California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance, believes farming should be regulated under a general order by regional boards just like every other industry.

"I would point out that we're certainly - under a general order - able to regulate every mom and pop business. I don't believe a farmer is any less intelligent than a junkyard operator or a welder."

A general order is sufficient and requires no more staff than a waiver would, Jennings said.

He believes the ag waiver actually serves to shield farmers from the law rather than to protect our waterways from gross polluters.

He has taken state regulators to court.

"Certainly ag has been treated very differently than virtually every other segment of society," observed Jennings. "We subsidize water, subsidize commodities, allow pollution discharges. Ag has never been required to meet the burden that falls on everyone else."

Water officials apparently hope the new rules will accustom farmers to responsible discharge management after years of unregulated operations. Perhaps state politics permit no other solution.

Still, the whole idea of self-regulation calls to mind the Founding Father who said, "If men were angels, no government were necessary." #

Sacramento Bee – 8/1/07
By David Whitney, staff writer

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department's deputy inspector general said Tuesday that her office was unaware of Vice President Dick Cheney's involvement in decisions affecting the Klamath River when it concluded in a report three years ago that there was no evidence of political interference in the heated 2001-2002 endangered species battle.

Mary L. Kendall told the House Natural Resources Committee that if her office had been told about calls Cheney made to top Interior Department officials, they would have been checked out. But she also said she is not sure they would have mattered.

"It may not have changed the conclusion," she said. But she added, "We would have followed any tracks made available to us."

The committee hearing was scheduled at the request of 36 House Democrats from California and Oregon after the Washington Post reported in June that Cheney had intervened in the highly charged battle over water flows in the state's northernmost river.

According to the newspaper, Cheney called Sue Ellen Wooldridge, then Interior Secretary Gale Norton's point person on the Klamath, raising concerns about the Bureau of Reclamation's decision in 2001 to turn off irrigation supplies to basin farmers in order to send more water down river for endangered fish.

Cheney then recommended that the Interior Department ask the National Academy of Sciences to analyze the biology behind the decision. The academy concluded that shutting off the water to farmers was not justified, and a new biological opinion was put together by summer to keep the farms watered.

That fall, as many as 70,000 salmon died in the river's lower reaches when low flows and warm waters created an ideal environment for the spread of a deadly pathogen.

"This was the biggest commercial fishing disaster in history," Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, told the committee, adding that it cost taxpayers $60 million in disaster assistance this spring.

The 2004 inspector general's investigation, sought by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., had been focused on reports in the Wall Street Journal that Karl Rove, President Bush's political director, had pressured officials in connection with Klamath River decisions.

After its independent investigation, the inspector general's office found no one at the Interior Department who said they felt any political pressure.

But it was not until the Washington Post report that there had been any inkling that Cheney might have been involved behind the scenes, too. The Democratic-led committee invited Cheney and Dirk Kempthorne, who succeeded Norton as department secretary last year, but neither accepted.

"I am obliged to express disappointment at the difficulty we have in trying to learn the truth," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., the committee chair, who nonetheless declared the Klamath "a case study in the political heavy-handedness so prevalent throughout this administration."

There had been concern among Republicans that the hearing could reignite old hostilities by plowing old ground while two dozen players in the Klamath controversy are engaged in historic negotiations to craft a solution.

During the peak of a drought in 2001, the shutoff of water affected thousands of farm families. A year later, so many salmon died that successive years of commercial fishing from California's Central Coast to the Columbia River were ruined.

"I've never seen it as tough on the fishing fleet as its been the last couple of years," said San Francisco fisherman Larry Collins in a telephone press conference arranged by environmentalists Monday in advance of the hearing.

Opening witnesses at the hearing were Reps. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, Wally Herger, R-Chico, Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Thompson, who each have constituents hurt by the controversy.

But without Cheney or Kempthorne, tempers remained in check.

"I don't feel anything here compromised those negotiations," Rahall said.

Where the committee's investigation of Cheney goes now is unclear.

"We'll gather the committee to discern a future course of action," Rahall said.

Kendall said that since the report of Cheney's involvement, no one has asked the inspector general's office to reopen its investigation. #

SACRAMENTO RIVER LEGISALTION: Sac. River made priority; The House, with help from Rep. Wally Herger, has given funds to the area to help improve it

Woodland Daily Democrat – 7/28/07
By Robin Hindrey, staff writer

Residents of the Sacramento River watershed stand to benefit significantly from a multibillion-dollar farm bill passed Friday by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Thanks to a revision of the legislation late Wednesday night, the farm bill now includes the 382-mile river as one of five national priority projects for a $1.5 billion Regional Water Enhancement Program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The funds would be handed out over a five-year period, with up to half available for the priority areas, which also include the Klamath River, Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades and the upper Mississippi River.

The money for the Sacramento River - up to $30 million a year - would go toward enhancing natural resources, thereby helping to sustain agricultural productivity and environmental quality, according to Rep. Doris Matsui, a California Democrat from the 5th District, who helped lead the effort to add the river to the list of priority sites.

Matsui had originally requested $105 million in federal funds to address conservation and water-management challenges facing the region, but she expressed satisfaction with Friday's vote and said she looked forward to building on "this first, crucial step."

"At this moment, we have the unique opportunity to shape the land and water preservation programs from the ground up,"

Matsui said in a statement after voting in favor of the bill. "This designation, included in such a landmark piece of legislation, is a shining example of the developments that can happen when the federal government partners with local representatives."

The Sacramento River watershed encompasses about 27,000 square miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Matsui and a number of state and local government officials and conservation groups have been working to find ways to prevent overdevelopment and boost flood protection in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is home not only to hundreds of thousands of people and more than $47 billion in infrastructure, but also to an overburdened levee system.

California Rep. Wally Herger called the Sacramento River's spot on the national priority list "a major win," and said the Regional Water Enhancement Program was "designed by agriculture for agriculture."

Herger represents District 2, which includes the majority of Yolo County and extends north to the Oregon border. The district also encompasses most of the Sacramento River watershed and part of the Klamath River.

Despite his overall praise for the farm bill, Herger, a Republican, voted against it, saying Democrats' inclusion of several billion dollars in new taxes was "irresponsible tax policy." The taxes would target certain multinational companies with U.S. subsidiaries and also would help fund food stamp and nutrition programs.

But Herger said he was optimistic that a farm bill that was more palatable to both parties could still emerge before the current bill expires Sept. 30.

"We haven't seen the Senate version of the bill yet, and there's a lot of water that still has to pass under the bridge," he said in a phone interview Friday. "But the (House) bill itself - with the exception of the tax increases - I'm very pleased with."

The final vote on the measure Friday afternoon was 231-191. Legislators from California voted largely along party lines, with only two "no" votes among Democrats - Rep. Pete Stark of District 13 and Rep. Henry Waxman of District 30 - and not a single "yes" vote among Republicans. Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not vote on the bill. #

Redding Record Searchlight – 7/4/07
By Scott Mobley, staff writer

Redding water customers during the next year can expect to hear more about irrigating their lawns a little less.

Even if the coming winter brings buckets of rainfall, customers will be asked to consider shorter showers, sweep the driveway instead of hosing it down and fix leaking faucets.

Faced with the rising costs of developing more water supplies, Redding wants to tighten the tap on consumption over the long haul.

The conservation campaign starts this summer. The 400 customers consuming water at the highest rate will be asked to submit to usage audits. City Hall will be first on the list.

The biggest water users may face higher rates than those who conserve down the line.

"We want to make conservation an element of water supply because every gallon saved is a gallon you don't have to produce," said Gerry Cupp, municipal utilities director.

For years, the city has cultivated a "use it or lose it" philosophy on water, declining to plan for significant cutbacks even in the face of severe drought. If Redding did not take full advantage of its senior Sacramento River rights, some other agency would claim the water, officials reasoned.

But now the city is approaching the limit of how much water it can take from the river, Cupp told the City Council during recent budget hearings. The city has turned to wells to meet its growing demand.

Every new well costs ratepayers roughly $2.5 million to develop. But if the city can shave 10 percent off peak consumption, that's two fewer wells it must drill, Cupp said.

Redding consumed slightly more than 51 million gallons of water during a single day at the peak of the July heat wave last year. That was a record, and some 4 million gallons beyond the city's treatment capacity, Cupp noted.

The state Department of Health Services requires cities to keep a five percent water capacity reserve. The agency prefers a 10 percent reserve, Cupp said.

Redding is on a pipe building blitz to boost its reserves to 10 percent beyond peak demand by next July. Yet that reserve will only erode as the city grows, Cupp said.

Water consumption in Redding nearly doubles from April to its summer peak. Much of that increase is thirsty landscaping, Cupp believes.

Many conservation measures can simply be built into homes, he noted. For its extensive landscaping, the city may explore sprinkler systems that activate only when sensors pick up low plant moisture. Homeowners and landlords can install low flow shower heads, aerated faucets and dual flush toilets.

The city has had a water conservation program since 1995 that distributes brochures on how and when to irrigate and other tips.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation has commended the program for setting a good example in northern California.

So far, however, water conservation in Redding hasn't generated nearly as much buzz as energy efficiency, where customer costs are higher. The city hopes publicity campaigns this summer and especially next spring will start to raise awareness.

"My view is that you ought to get water conservation going to get people used to it before there's a problem," Cupp said. "The sooner you do that the sooner it becomes a way of life instead of something forced on you by the government." #

Mt. Shasta News – 7/5/07
By Paul Boerger, staff writer

Despite more than 4,000 written comments from citizens and organizations, reams of scientific evidence and hundreds of hours of public comment, the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment for the proposed Nestle water bottling plant in McCloud may be recirculated for further review and comment.

Nestle project manager Dave Palais said the company is “encouraging” the Siskiyou County planning department to “consider” recirculating the document.

“Our goal from the start has been to build a project that meets the highest environmental standards,” said Palais. “It is important to us that the concerns that were raised in the Draft EIR/EA are thoroughly addressed and that the community has an opportunity to review changes to the document. We believe recirculating all or a portion of the environmental review document is the best way to do that.”

Siskiyou County planning director Terry Barber said the county is “open to considering additional public review for Nestle's proposed project in McCloud.”

“We expect to meet with Nestle in early July to discuss their request and all of the details related to recirculation of the Draft EIR/EA,” Barber said. “At that time, we should have a better understanding of what recirculation would entail and when it may occur.”

California Trout, an organization that has made extensive comments on the proposal, welcomed Nestle's announcement.

“We are very happy to see Nestle take this progressive step forward in response to public comment,” said California Trout CEO Brian Stranko. “We are encouraged that Nestle wants better analysis before the project moves forward.”

The plant proposal has generated controversy with opponents claiming the district will not receive a fair share of the revenue, that the environmental reviews to date are inadequate, the amount of water Nestle will draw from the springs could damage the McCloud River and that the truck traffic to transport the water, estimated at 300 to 500 truck trips per day, will be disruptive and dangerous, especially on Highway 89.

Proponents say the plant will take a small amount of water from the spring, 1,600 acre feet of out an estimated total capacity of 16,000 acre feet, the jobs generated by the plant will be a boost to an economically depressed area and that the District will benefit from the contract revenue and other Nestle financial commitments to the city.

The proposal has seen several court challenges with the California Supreme court upholding the contract between Nestle and the McCloud Services District by declining to review a lower court decision.

CalTrout says a major issue is the affect the plant will have on the McCloud River and that comprehensive studies need to be done.

“We are especially interested in a more complete project description that clarifies the amount of water that can be used, a more robust analysis of mitigation measures and project alternatives, and additional information to adequately assess baseline conditions,” CalTrout said in a press release. “At the heart of the request for a recirculation of the DEIR is the need for several years of peer reviewed studies to determine baseline conditions.”

The McCloud Watershed Council has concerns regarding the plant's economic impact.

“The original document was deeply flawed and recirculating the DEIR will provide an opportunity to better assess the true costs, benefits and impacts of the proposed project,” said Debra Anderson of the McCloud Watershed Council board of directors.

The MCWC announced they have received a grant to study the issues and have hired ECONorthwest to do the analysis.

“To make a balanced decision about the Nestle proposal we need to know the full costs,” Anderson said. “Understanding the full economic implications of the Nestle project will ensure that we revitalize our economy while keeping our natural and cultural resources in tact.”

Tonya Dowse is executive director of the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council and she is convinced the plant will have a positive economic impact.

“Approval of this project will be a significant milestone for the County and we support efforts to make sure that there is a thorough environmental analysis,” Dowse said. “The tremendous economic benefits of the project are very clear to us, but we commend Nestle for working collaboratively to provide community members an opportunity to review major changes to the exhaustive environmental review. This is another example of Nestle's commitment to doing the right thing.”

Recently hired McCloud Services District general manager John Spoonhower was not available for comment as he does not begin his duties until July 9, but district board member Alan Scheonstein supports the recirculation.

“I think it is fine,” Scheonstein said. “The more opportunity for public input, the better.” #

Eureka Times Standard – 7/6/07

Swimmers, boaters and recreational river enthusiasts are urged to avoid the blue-green algae blooming in the Klamath River's Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other California agencies urge residents and recreational Klamath River users to use caution or avoid getting in the water near the blooms, especially in the summer months.

”As blue-green algae can pose health risks, especially to children and pets, we urge people to be careful where they swim when visiting the reservoirs,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPA's water division director for the Pacific Southwest region, in a press release.

“Try to avoid swallowing or inhaling drops of water in an algal bloom area, as well as skin contact with water by people or their pets.”

The blooms look like green, blue-green, white or brown foam, scum or mats floating on the water. Exposure to the toxic algae can cause eye irritation, allergic skin rash, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea and cold and flu-like symptoms. Liver failure and death have occurred in rare situations where large amounts of contaminated water were directly ingested.

Algal bloom experts recommend the following:

* Avoid wading and swimming in water containing visible blooms or water containing algal scums or mats

* If no algal scums or mats are visible, you should still carefully watch young children and warn them not to swallow the water

* Do not drink, cook or wash dishes with untreated surface water under any circumstances

* Consume fish only after removing guts and liver, and rinsing fillets in clean drinking water

* Take care that pets and livestock do not drink the water or swim through heavy scums or mats, nor lick their fur after going in the water

* Get medical treatment right away if you think that you, your pet, or your livestock might have been poisoned by blue-green algae toxins. Be sure to alert the medical professional to the possible contact with blue-green algae.

For more information, please visit: World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, 3rd Edition: www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en/index.html. #

Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 7/9/07
By Guy Kovner, staff writer

Five years after a devastating fish kill on Northern California's Klamath River, and 2,500 miles away in Washington, the political repercussions are intensifying.

North Coast fishermen and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, are applauding a House committee chairman's decision to investigate Vice President Dick Cheney's involvement in the deaths of 68,000 migrating chinook salmon in fall 2002. "We know where the smoking gun lays," said Chris Lawson, a fisherman and president of the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Marketing Association.

While the salmon kill, the largest ever in the West, long has been attributed to Bush administration decisions, a Washington Post story last month detailed Cheney's successful effort to rewrite federal water policy for alleged political gain.

The resulting diversion of water to Klamath basin farmers and ranchers who were battling a drought lowered the river's flow and set the stage for the fish kill. "Characteristically, Cheney left no tracks," the Post reported.

The same day the story was published, Thompson and 35 other Democrats from California and Oregon called for a hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee to zero in on Cheney's actions. A day later, Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., agreed.

"They say a fish rots from the head down," Thompson said, applying an old aphorism to the episode that left thousands of rotting salmon carcasses in the lower Klamath. In this case, he said, the head is Cheney's.

Thompson's political role in the controversy goes back to a hot day in October 2002. That's when he piled 500 pounds of odorous, dead Klamath salmon in front of the Interior Department, accusing the agency of "gross mismanagement" in the wildlife disaster.

No date has been set for the hearing, nor have any witnesses been determined, said Allyson Groff, a Natural Resources Committee staffer.

A Cheney aide dismissed the matter, saying in an e-mail that it was "disappointing the Democrats would rather investigate than legislate."

The Post stories were "a repackaging of old accusations," said Megan McGinn, a deputy press secretary.

Asked if Cheney, who has a penchant for secrecy, would appear before the committee, she said: "I'll decline to comment on hypotheticals."

Lawson, a salmon fisherman, said he hopes the hearing will underscore the White House's involvement in the fish kill, which prompted a federal declaration that the 2006 salmon season was a failure.

He said he believes the Bush administration ignored the water policy to protect Klamath fish and instead just said, "Let's open the gates and give it to the farmers."

Thompson said the reduced river flow "wasn't about salmon or water, it was about electoral votes in Oregon."

The Post reported that Cheney, a few months after taking office in 2001, recognized the importance of mollifying Republican farmers in Oregon, a state he and George Bush had lost by less than half of 1 percent in the 2000 presidential election.

Federal biologists had determined that Klamath fish needed more water, and Cheney secured a National Academy of Sciences report overruling that finding. Then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton flew out to Oregon to open the gate, sending water to the farmers.

Last year, a federal judge prohibited the government from diverting Klamath water for agricultural use whenever water levels dropped beneath a certain point.

At the same time, fishermen were hit with the most restrictive salmon season on record for Oregon and California in 2006, and the commercial catch was 12 percent of a typical year.

Last fall, the return of 2-year-old salmon jacks to the Klamath was the second-largest run on record, a promising indicator for the 2007 migration. Biologists expect more than 500,000 adult chinooks will swim up the Klamath this fall, about five times the number from last year.

But until the season's salmon harvest is totaled, it's too soon to assess the health of the fish's ocean population, said Marc Heisdorf, a California Department of Fish and Game biologist. #

Eureka Times Standard – 7/11/07
By John Driscoll, staff writer

The federal government has finished a plan to restore flagging populations of coho salmon in the Klamath River, calling bypassing barriers and completing restoration of its main tributary top priorities.

The National Marine Fisheries Service plan is based largely on a massive plan developed in 2002 by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The plan calls for incentives for private landowners and water users to help restore the threatened fish's access to tributaries and help boost flows to the Klamath. It also calls for improving forestry practices and road building and maintenance activities that degrade spawning habitat. And it deems completing the ongoing restoration of the Trinity River as key to boosting coho stocks.

”Using up-to-date scientific information, this recovery plan provides prioritized actions for restoring coho salmon in the Klamath Basin,” said fisheries service South West Region Administrator Rod McInnis in a news release. “But one thing is clear; coho recovery can best be accomplished through the formation of effective conservation partnerships among the diverse communities and interests to solve the many natural resource issues facing the Klamath River Basin.”

The coho salmon is particularly susceptible to poor conditions found in the Klamath River basin, since it spends longer periods in freshwater than its cousin, the chinook salmon. Early information from canneries suggests that hundreds of thousands of coho once ran up the river each year, according to the plan. But by the early 1980s, fewer than 20,000 made the run.

Fish cannot reach spawning grounds above the lowermost of several dams, Iron Gate, and the river is particularly low and warm during dry years. Diseases are rampant, especially in juvenile salmon.

Commercial and sport fishing for coho in California is off limits and in 1997, the fisheries service listed the population of coho in southern Oregon and Northern California as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act called for the fisheries service to complete a recovery plan for coho in the Klamath in six months.

The draft plan calls for a variety of restoration projects along with disease and water quality monitoring. Removing skid trails and unneeded roads and improving efficiency of irrigation systems are also among priority projects listed.

Eureka Times Standard – 7/12/07
By John Driscoll, staff writer

The Klamath River is getting hot -- killer hot, especially for young salmon that have struggled for years to survive diseases that set in during the summer.

A group of Orleans area volunteers, nonprofit organizations, public agencies and the Karuk Tribe have moved rock and gravel from the mouths of creeks on the middle Klamath River in a stop-gap effort to open up cold-water refuges for the little fish.

Last week, for example, volunteers working with the Mid Klamath Watershed Council wielded shovels to create passages between Ti and Stanshaw creeks and the Klamath.

The work is not the solution to the many problems fish face on the Klamath, said Sandi Tripp, director of natural resources for the Karuk Tribe. But it's critical, she said, especially for threatened coho salmon that spend lots of time in the river before migrating to sea.

”It's truly a killing zone for the fish out there in the river,” Tripp said. “The only saving grace is to open small tributaries.”

As flows have dropped from Iron Gate Dam, and air temperatures have risen, parts of the river are now peaking at above 76 degrees. Small, cold tributaries that run though forests and are fed by springs and seeps can be 10 degrees cooler than that, providing significant relief for little fish.

”Any fish that decides to go up there has a whole lot better chance of survival than staying in the river,” said Gary Flosi, senior biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game.

Coho and chinook salmon and steelhead use the refuges until the tributaries and the rivers begin to swell with fall rains. The initial work to create the makeshift passages for fish was experimental, Flosi said, but over time it was clear that the cool-water sanctuaries at the mouths of creeks were more important than first realized.

Flosi, too, said the work is not a long-term solution, but may be one of the few viable options to protect young salmon while solutions to the complex problems of the Klamath are hashed out among the varied stakeholders in the basin.

Other projects bring in Caltrans, Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service. Fish-blocking culverts are targeted for replacement, and road work is done to prevent landslides from clogging creeks.

The volunteer efforts to do the work at the creek mouths have gained momentum in recent years. People in the mid-Klamath region are more and more bound together by river restoration projects -- something everyone can agree on, said Nancy Bailey, a project coordinator for the Mid Klamath Watershed Council.

”More and more people are understanding the critical nature of the creeks,” Bailey said. #

State and federal wildlife officials on Wednesday suggested they are preparing for a fight with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if the agency applies to California a strict national rule barring vegetation on levees.

Wildlife officials fear "serious consequences" to the environment if levees must be stripped of vegetation that is among the final bits of animal habitat along waterways in the region.

The Army Corps earlier this year told California flood control agencies they must follow its blanket national policy or risk losing federal funding to rebuild levees after floods. The national policy would require all trees to be removed from the land side of levees, while nothing larger than 2 inches in diameter would be allowed on the water side.

This conflicts with a long-held, local corps policy that has encouraged tree planting on California levees. This year alone, thousands of trees were planted at more than 100 levee repair projects with the blessing of the corps.

Surveys this spring by the state Department of Water Resources found that the national policy could require trees to be stripped from 457 miles of levees in the Central Valley, while shrubs would disappear from 830 miles.

Because the state's levees were built close together more than 100 years ago, this vegetation is the last source of food and shelter for salmon, steelhead, Swainson's hawks, giant garter snakes and dozens of other species.

"There are serious consequences to anadromous fish (salmon, steelhead and sturgeon) from the blanket application of the levee vegetation policy, and it may result in some consequences under the Endangered Species Act," said Rod McInnis, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "The banks are necessary as riparian habitat because they are not set back. They're all the habitat these fish have."

His comments came Wednesday at a Society of American Military Engineers conference in Sacramento on flood issues. McInnis sat on a panel that addressed the levee vegetation conflict.

Eric Halpin, Corps of Engineers special assistant on dam and levee safety, offered scant hope that the corps will soften its position. An interim policy statement it released last month requires levee districts to meet existing national policy until a new national policy is finalized in a few months.

He said there is "very little debate" that tree roots can cause water to seep through levees. Others, however, point to numerous studies over the past 20 years that found no such seepage risk.

"I think there's decades of experience out there that have shown there are risks," Halpin said. "The magnitude of woody vegetation in California does make the situation out here unique."

He said a waiver might be possible on setback levees and "overbuilt" levees that exceed standard dimensions. But those are almost nonexistent in California.

McInnis said his agency has been "pushing, advising and cajoling" the corps to exempt the state from complying with the national policy.

"Strictly applied in California, such compliance would undo decades of conservation programs," said John McCamman, chief deputy director at the California Department of Fish and Game, which is also pressing for an exemption. "Mitigating for the loss of these critical resources will be extremely costly and perhaps ecologically impossible."

The panelists were asked how the Valley's levee habitat would be replaced if the corps imposes its policy. The question left them dumbfounded.

Mike Hoover, assistant field supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said California has already lost 95 percent to 99 percent of its riverside habitat. Government agencies, he said, have spent "several billion dollars" just trying just trying to restore what's left.

"If there's any major impact to the existing system ... I don't know how you fix it," he said. #

Eureka Times Standard – 7/26/07
By John Driscoll, staff writer

A cutting edge program to manage 4,700 miles of Northern California public roads with salmon in mind has been endorsed by the federal government.

The National Marine Fisheries Service has approved the road manual being used by Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Siskiyou and Mendocino counties, which contains measures to protect salmon and enhance habitat for the fish that define the region. The program is now being used as a model around the country.

”This is another tool that we have to show the state and federal agencies that we are well on the road to maintaining and improving habitat,” said Mark Lancaster, director of the Five Counties Salmonid Restoration Program.

Among the most well-known efforts of the program have been removing culverts that block salmon and steelhead from reaching tributaries. Experts believe that perhaps 15 to 20 percent of all steelhead habitat in the region is behind impassible barriers like these. Where culverts have been replaced with fish-friendly culverts or bridges, salmon and steelhead have responded quickly and moved up the newly available streams to spawn.

The program also contains measures to ensure that routine maintenance doesn't send sediment into streams, by modifying ditches and placing spoils where they can't leach into streams. It also calls for habitat improvement, including putting large logs in streams and planting trees along streams.

Fisheries service recovery coordinator for southern Oregon and Northern California Greg Bryant said the program was born out of concerns about the Endangered Species Act and water quality regulations. While it got off to a rough start, he said, it eventually became perceived as an accomplishment. Caltrans also joined on, meaning all but private roads in the region are covered under the program.

”It became a source of pride,” Bryant said. “They were doing something that's helpful and they understood why.”

Several years into the program, hundreds of miles of once-closed off streams are opened up and tons of sediment has been kept out of creeks and rivers. The counties involved also expect to have more regulatory certainty, and possibly a more streamlined process for road project approvals.

Projects are prioritized to keep the counties from competing for the same limited restoration funds, and while an impressive number of project have been completed, there are plenty more to go.

”We look at this as a really long-term process,” Lancaster said. #

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Doris Matsui's efforts to improve water management on the Sacramento River scored a victory Thursday in the farm bill under consideration in the House, and Rep. Wally Herger, whose district includes most of the watershed, is going along with the deal.

Matsui called the development "an important first step in addressing immediate and long-term conservation and water management challenges that face our region."

The Sacramento Democrat has been