CALIFORNIA HABITAT: Farms may cut habitat renewal over E. coli fears

San Francisco Chronicle – 12/19/06
By Glen Martin, staff writer

The recent scares over deadly bacteria in California produce may hurt farm programs aimed at restoring wildlife habitat and cutting water pollution.

Such environmental programs could be at odds with "clean farming techniques" promoted by food processors. Those techniques encourage growers to remove grassy areas that are planted to reduce erosion and trap pesticides before they reach waterways.

The practices also discourage habitat zones that might attract animals that carry bacteria like E. coli or salmonella.

Some farmers say they must opt out of wildlife habitat and water-quality programs: If they don't follow processor guidelines, they won't be able to sell their crops.

"The processors have been putting some pressure on growers for the past couple of years over vegetated corridors because of worries that they may be sources of animal contamination," said John Anderson, a Yolo County farmer who grows native grass seed for use in restoration projects.

"But then the E. coli thing happened, and they went from concerned to panic," he said.

Right now, the trend mainly has implications for produce growers in Central California -- where E. coli is the worry -- and for the almond industry in the Central Valley, where concerns over salmonella contamination are high.

E. coli-tainted spinach from Central California was blamed for killing three people and sickening about 200 others in late August and September. Most recently, about 70 people became ill with the bacteria after eating at East Coast Taco Bell restaurants.

Animal feces can contain the bacteria, which is difficult to wash off produce.

A Salinas Valley grower who requested anonymity because of contract negotiations with processors called the current situation "extremely touchy, with the people who put their names on produce bags having the most to lose. One association with a pathogen and they can lose their brand."

The grower said that even if processors allow some wildlife habitat near cropland, they now require farmers to put out large quantities of poisoned bait to kill rodents.

"When we plant hedgerows now, we have to use the bait stations or we lose our contracts," he said. "Later, you see birds of prey perched over the bait. They eat mice sluggish from the poison and get poisoned themselves. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of putting in the habitat."

Trevor Suslow, an agricultural extension research specialist with UC Davis, said food-safety field audits also can have a chilling effect on habitat programs.

A processor representative "will come out and look at a field and possibly give a certain (area) a negative score because environmental projects such as wetlands or filter strips were nearby," Suslow said. "So the message is, if you want to sell to Company X, you'll take out the projects."

Natural Selection Foods, which markets Earthbound Farm produce and other brands, sold tainted spinach involved in the September E. coli cases. Spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said the company is re-evaluating all production guidelines.

"One thing we are implementing is a program that will test every truckload of produce that comes in," Cabaluna said. "That way, if we find a problem, we'll be able to isolate it. That might allow us to preserve wildlife habitat because we could identify specific trouble spots rather than applying a blanket solution."

But Anderson said the emphasis on "clean farming" is increasing throughout the state, especially in the almond-growing regions of the Central Valley. The Almond Board of California promotes farming techniques that encourage clean, bare earth in and around almond orchards.

A pamphlet on "good agricultural practices" from the Almond Board is specific about contamination concerns: "All animals, wild and domestic, including mammals, birds, reptiles and insects, are potential sources of contamination. ... It is important to minimize attraction, harborage and potential for contamination."

Anderson said a farmer reading those words comes away with one message: Rip out anything that can attract wild creatures.

Merle Jacobs, an associate director with the Almond Board, said his organization's advisories are suggestions, not directives.

"We are not saying 'Thou shalt not,' " Jacobs said. "But there is a certain level of risk with a hedgerow. We know animals increase the risk of contamination. We're just saying if you decide to have hedgerows, you may have to adjust to the additional risk, such as putting out more bait."

Suslow said it's unclear whether the threat is real.

"But in the absence of data, I'm inclined to think the benefits of restoration outweigh risk from additional contamination sources," he said.

Fields are never sterile -- even clean-farmed cropland can support abundant populations of wild animals, Suslow said.

"Even if you do nothing in terms of habitat, the potential for contamination remains," he said.

Preliminary research indicates concerns about wildlife as vectors for pathogens may be misdirected. An analysis from UC Santa Cruz concludes that the strain of bacterium associated with the recent spinach poisonings -- E. coli 0157:H7 -- is rare in wild birds and mammals, and resides most abundantly in the digestive tracts of grain-fed cattle.

Farmers shouldn't be cast as villains in the dispute, said Kay Mercer, a coordinator with the Agricultural Watershed Coalition.

"If the marketplace demands food with a risk tolerance of zero, it's going to be very hard for farmers to maintain wildlife programs," she said.

But some experts think habitat programs will weather the current controversy. Water-quality regulations require growers to minimize field runoff, and vegetative strips remain the most effective means of control. Also, many farmers are philosophically committed to their habitat programs.

"It's true that growers are scared, and there is increased scrutiny from processors," said Sam Earnshaw, a Salinas Valley program coordinator with the Community Alliance With Family Farmers, a group that helps growers establish hedgerows.

"We don't know how this emphasis on 'good agricultural practices' will pan out," he said. "But I do know I'm still busy. I have 40 hedgerow projects scheduled over the next two years." #

GROUNDWATER QUALITY SURVEYING: County collecting data on groundwater supply

Red Bluff Daily News – 12/15/06
By Abby Fox, staff writer

CORNING - Tehama County is learning about its groundwater and the quality of the local water, but it hasn't reached the point where it can aggressively go after people who are contaminating the water or taking more of it than they're putting back.

That message came from Jim Lowden, Corning Water District manager, Thursday at a water issues and Tehama County agriculture meeting held at the Rolling Hills Casino.

In 1957, the Tehama County Flood Control and Water Conservation District was formed, and a conversation about trying to monitor and protect the groundwater began in earnest.

Decades later, in 1992, people became more aware of water being exported out of the north state, when a large production well was drilled on a five-acre parcel on South Avenue in Corning, and the water that was pumped was being routed to Colusa.

"It was a real threat," Lowden said. About 3,000 gallons were being pumped out a minute, he said after the meeting.

Two years later, the county hired a water resources engineer, and passed an ordinance requiring a permit for extracting groundwater that goes out of county, ensuring that people who wanted to take north state water and use it elsewhere would be regulated.

To complement that ordinance, in 1998, the county instituted a groundwater management plan to help public agencies develop groundwater management programs.

Today the county is collecting data about its groundwater resource, to learn more about the water supply, how healthy it is, and what it's being used for. In 2003, it began studying the inventory and doing water analyses. Now, the county has three 1,000-foot deep groundwater monitoring wells and is planning for two more that will be finished in 2007, according to Ernie Ohlin, water resources manager for the Tehama Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

The county is also establishing "trigger levels" - that is, levels when water gets too low - to define when more management steps are needed.

Eventually, the county plans to tackle saline water intrusion, contaminated groundwater, and overdrafters - those who take out more water than they're putting back in. Future big developments such as Sun City Tehama in the north county will also have to watch over their ground water, with their own monitoring wells, Ohlin said.

Before the meeting adjourned, Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board members stood up to warn the audience about upcoming deadlines.

People who discharge waste into water, whether directly or indirectly, must submit a technical report about their irrigated lands to the Central Valley Water Board, according to the California Water Code. Waste includes soil, sand, clay, rock, metals, salts, boron, potassium, nitrogen, pesticides and fertilizers.

Kelly Briggs, speaking for the board, said the board wants to enforce the regulations because it's not fair if some landowners comply, while others don't, because it puts the ones that do at an economic disadvantage.

Landowners who discharge water who want to learn how to obey the regulations with the help of a coalition have until Dec. 31, 2006 to join a coalition, they said. After that date, people will have to work on regulations with the board on their own.

To learn more about joining the Shasta/Tehama Water Education Coalition, call 347-6637, they said, or the Central Valley Water Board, at 916-464-4611.

Learn more about the county's water and how it's being managed at www.tehamacountywater.ca.gov or www.norcalwater.org. #

Vacaville Reporter – 12/18/06
By Erin Pursell, staff writer

It appears as though it may not be a good year for local salmon. The window for the fish to return to their native Putah Creek to spawn is coming to a close, and with only one confirmed sighting so far.

Biologists and those who maintain the creek say they might have to wait until next year to see the record numbers they'd hoped for.

"I think what may have happened is we haven't had enough runoff," said Rich Marovich, streamkeeper for the Lower Putah Creek Coordinating Committee.

Every watershed has a different mineral content, Marovich explained, and when it rains, the runoff gives the water a certain "flavor" that helps the adult chinook salmon find their way back from the Sacramento Delta through Rio Vista to the streams where they were spawned.

"The fish coming back to Putah Creek are looking for that Putah Creek-flavored water," he said. "We think that's because there has been less rain and runoff and that's probably why we haven't seen as many salmon."

While researchers aren't exactly sure what conditions foster an ideal salmon run, they suspect the runoff has a lot to do with a successful year, given that the record 70 fish counted in 2003 came just after heavy November rains.

"It's kind of a no-brainer that more water is better," Marovich said.

This year is the first year that salmon spawned in 2003 would return to do their own spawning. And if significant numbers return, it could prove that Putah Creek supports a self-sustaining salmon run.

"There's fish biologists we contract every year to canoe and survey egg nests," Marovich said.

This is done the first week after the annual salmon attraction flows, which occur for about five days during the first week of December. Heavy flows of water are released from Lake Berryessa by way of the Putah Diversion Dam for five consecutive days.

"Typically, what they do is survey Putah Diversion Dam to Winters," Marovich said. "It's 4.5 miles of the best salmon spawning ground on the creek."

The surveys are a very reliable method for counting salmon, he added.

"In 2003, every place that they approached that they thought looked like good spawning habitat there was a nest," he said.

As of Friday, however, there had only been one confirmed salmon sighting.

The next few weeks will be critical if the salmon are to find their way into their native streams and then die.

But researchers remain optimistic.

"We're more interested in long-term trends than we are in the results in any one year," Marovich said. "The big question is does Putah Creek have a self-sustaining salmon run?" #

DAM REMOVALS: New promise for trout streams; Dam removal helps Sierra sites recover

Stockton Record – 12/18/06
By Dana Nichols, staff writer

PANTHER CREEK - The clear water splashing through rocky pools and over gravel bars in this remote Amador County stream might signal hope for other trout streams throughout the Sierra Nevada.

Three years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid crews to remove a dam on West Panther Creek that had been part of the company's hydroelectric generation system but also had blocked trout migration for more than seven decades. That removal was one of the first under the guidelines of modern environmental law as part of a deal that allowed the relicensing of PG&E's Mokelumne River Project.

Every 30 years or so, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reviews dams it licenses to see if their operations are still serving the public interest and meeting all applicable laws. This relicensing process gives boaters, environmentalists and other interests a chance to ask for changes.

Now, volunteer conservationists and government biologists are visiting Panther Creek several times a year to measure its progress. They've found that the stream easily tossed downstream hundreds of tons of gravel that had plugged the area behind the dam. They say Panther Creek's ability to resume its life as a trout stream means such restoration likely will work elsewhere as well.

"The dam starved the downstream reach of sediment and river bar material," said Jan Williams, a fishery biologist for the U.S. Forest Service. "River bars are where the habitat is."

Williams said gravel bars and sandbars are valuable because they create pools where insects and plant life can thrive and trout can feed.

On a recent Tuesday, Williams joined a small crew from the Foothill Conservancy to use laser surveying equipment to measure the riverbed in the area once blocked by the dam. Earlier in the year, other crews had taken measurements and surveyed the size and distribution of the sand and gravel in the stream bed.

"The first time we did it, it was almost all sand and a little gravel," Pete Bell, vice president of the Foothill Conservancy, said of the pebble surveys that started after the dam removal. Now, Bell said, the surveys find almost entirely gravel, as is appropriate for a mountain trout stream.

Things are going so well on West Panther Creek that the Foothill Conservancy is raising money to complete the removal of a sister dam on East Panther Creek that was breached but not completely removed in 2003.

The stakes are huge, at least for trout and for conservationists who care about trout. Jeffrey Mount, a professor of geology at University of California, Davis, and director of the university's Center for Watershed Sciences, said no one knows exactly how many small dams there are on California mountain streams, but he thinks one widely discussed estimate of 400 is probably low.

"Every one of those dams creates an ecologic 'discontinuity' in Sierran streams," Mount said via e-mail. "They block the movement of organisms up and down the stream, they disrupt the transport of sediment necessary for sustaining aquatic and riparian habitats, and they alter the hydrology that native species are all adapted to. So, if you are interested in restoring the ecological integrity of Sierran streams, removal of these small dams is a priority."

Conservationists readily admit that many, perhaps most, Sierra dams will stay where they are for the foreseeable future simply because the energy they generate is far too valuable to justify removal.

But they say there are likely many others like the West Panther dam whose value is relatively low. The West Panther dam had silted up completely by the late 1990s. It had no powerhouse of its own but instead sent water down a pipe to turn turbines at a site miles away, and that only when the big reservoirs were short of water. And finally, it would likely have cost millions of dollars more to upgrade the dam to modern environmental standards (through fish screens, fish ladders and so on) than the dam was worth.

Chuck Bonham, California director of Trout Unlimited, says the success of the West Panther dam removal already is making it easier to negotiate for removal where other dams of marginal economic value block trout streams. He said one example is the PG&E-owned Kilarc-Cow Creek project in Shasta County, which appears headed toward decommissioning under a tentative deal reached last year between the utility, conservationists and government agencies.

"They know that it is possible," Bonham said. "They know that it has been done." #

LAKE DAVIS: Pick your poison; Protests over pike-killing plan are muted this time

Sacramento News & Review – 12/15/06
By Alastair Bland

At Plumas County’s Lake Davis, about 150 miles upstream from Sacramento, the verdict is in: The population of northern pike, a large, non-native fish, has gotten way out of hand. The mouthy predators have eaten up far more than their share of the lake’s coveted rainbow trout, and biologists and fishermen statewide fear that if the pike are not eradicated soon, they somehow will escape the lake, spread through the Sacramento River system and ultimately devour California’s multimillion-dollar Chinook salmon and steelhead fisheries.

“In the Sacramento Valley and Delta waters, there is a lot of slow backwater habitat that pike would really enjoy,” said Peter Moyle, professor of fisheries at UC Davis. “The pike fits into the category of an animal that’s going to do some real harm if it gets loose. It’s a top predator. Small salmon smolts in the Sacramento [River] won’t know how to react to this new style of predation. Maybe they could learn in two or three thousand years, but I don’t think we have that kind of time.”

While the Lake Davis trout population continues to decline as the pike take over, the Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service currently are reviewing plans for a full-throttle pike-eradication effort to be carried out late in the summer of 2007. If they move ahead with it, government biologists will lower the lake level to concentrate its waters and will proceed to deploy lethal doses of the chemical “piscicide” rotenone--again.

Remember? A similar plan of action in October of 1997 failed, and the controversial chemical treatment only created a storm of sensational media coverage, anger, hurt feelings and dead fish. The pike were gone for a while--as were the lake’s beloved trout. But in 1999, the big, snaky fish reappeared.

“The failure probably occurred in tributary streams above the lake,” said Mike Morrison, fisheries biologist with DFG’s Portola office. “There are some braided, willowed channels where the rotenone may not have mixed, but we’ve now identified those places where the pike could have survived.”

Rotenone deteriorates naturally in water, and within a month of the 1997 treatment the chemical mostly was gone and Lake Davis was perfectly livable again. The DFG restocked the lake with hatchery trout, making anglers happy. But without yet knowing it, the government also was feeding the surviving population of pike.

When the stubborn invaders were rediscovered in 1999, the frustrated DFG began to survey and sample the lake extensively, using nets and “electro-fishing” techniques. Once a month, they toured the shoreline in a government skiff while emitting a 120-volt, eight-amp pulse of electricity into the water and netting the stunned fish that floated to the surface. Between 2000 and 2004, according to Morrison, the DFG’s rainbow-trout catch rate declined from 14.8 fish per “pulse-hour” to less than one.

Meanwhile, in a brilliant textbook example of negative correlation, pike hauls increased from just one per hour of electric pulsing to 16.6.

Northern pike, which may grow to more than 5-feet long and over 60 pounds, first appeared in Lake Davis in 1994. The prevailing suspicion among locals is that someone placed them there intentionally, thinking that the community would like the opportunity to catch a few pike. But the voracious eaters have only spawned grief and headaches. To prevent the pike from escaping downstream via the outflow of the Grizzly Valley Dam, the Department of Water Resources installed a pike-screening system in 1996. Recently modified, the barrier is arranged such that nasty metal grates filter all water exiting the dam and pulp any fish that come flowing out of the lake.

But that does not fully contain the problem, for pike could still hitch a ride in an angler’s bucket or cooler to another lake or stream. To discourage such illegal transport--which can result in jail time and a $50,000 fine--DFG officers regularly patrol the reservoir and inspect the creels of fishermen as they leave the lake’s vicinity. Yet fear that the pike will escape remains strong.

The big fish occur naturally across the northern hemisphere, from the British Isles to New England, but they have colonized many watersheds in the lower 48 states thanks to “bucket biologists.”

“In all cases,” Morrison said, “the pike have negatively affected the previously existing fisheries, and we expect they’d do the same to the Sacramento River.”

While the DFG’s eradication efforts met great resistance in 1997 as officials went about prepping Lake Davis for its rotenone treatment, this time things are quite different in the small town of Portola, seven miles from the lakeshore. Bill Powers, formerly Portola’s mayor and currently the head of the Lake Davis Steering Committee, was vehemently opposed to the pike-eradication plan in 1997. Powers recalls the night before the rotenone treatment. Tensions were high after months of friction between the community and the DFG. While a throng of last-minute demonstrators marched against the government, Powers and three other people quietly slipped away from the crowd, donned wet suits, entered the lake at dawn and swam out to a buoy, to which they chained themselves in protest. The onset of hypothermia eventually forced Powers and his comrades back to shore, where they were arrested, and the lake’s treatment began promptly thereafter.

Ten years later, however, Powers fully supports the DFG’s plan.

“They were belligerent and uncooperative last time,” he said. “We all wanted to know how the chemical would affect our water, and all they said was, 'You’ll just have to trust us.’ This time they’ve really tried to communicate and work with us, rather than bully past us, and most people now agree that the pike have to go.”

Jerry Dollard of Dollard’s Sierra Market reported that many other town residents who adamantly opposed the pike-elimination plan a decade ago have come to accept the effort.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings with the DFG and there’s been a lot of science and education to quell the fears about the chemicals,” he said. “It’s my opinion that most of us have come to realize that we have a problem that merits whatever inconveniences will come along as we try to correct it. It’s like cancer and chemotherapy: It’s not pleasant, but it has to be done.”

Fran Roudebush, head of the Lake Davis Coalition, a loosely-knit group of several dozen concerned local citizens, does not agree with the supposition that the community is eager for the autumn dousing.

“I don’t think people have changed their minds or their opinions about the treatment plans. They’ve just quieted down because they think it’s futile to resist the inevitable.”

Roudebush conceded that pike are a threat to fisheries statewide, yet she insists that the chemical-treatment plan is not necessary. As an alternative, she said she would like to see the DFG boost its electro-fishing efforts to keep the pike at bay.

But Dollard feels that there is no time to lose in managing the pike through non-chemical means.

“We’ve got a lot of those potential pike-Johnny Appleseeds around here, and I shudder to think of what’ll happen if someone moves the pike into the river. The longer you let a problem go, the more expensive it becomes to fix. If we don’t do something soon, then some dummy is going come along and bring the pike elsewhere.”

Such as nearby Lake Almanor, a fishing destination famous for its big trout and landlocked Chinook salmon, which perhaps could suffer deep economic grievances if colonized by pike.

“The people at Almanor are terrified that they’re next,” Morrison said.

While a small contingent of people opposes the pike-eradication movement, no one voices support for the pike and most anticipate the day when Lake Davis is at last a healthy trout lake again.

“It’s a necessary action,” Powers said. “This whole thing is a cloud that hangs over us and won’t go away. Pike lay a tremendous amount of eggs per pound of body weight and they’ve just taken over the fishery. I sure wish whoever put them there in the first place had never dreamed of such a thing.” #

No U.S. aid for fishermen; But Congress does call for a recovery for Klamath coho salmon

Congress adjourned this month without sending any disaster assistance to commercial fishermen idled by the nearly total closure of the salmon season off the California and Oregon coasts.

But in what may be a precedent, it ordered federal fishery managers to write a plan for the recovery of the endangered coho salmon runs in the Klamath River, the wellspring of problems that caused the fishery closures.

The salmon fishery was severely reduced this spring because of forecasts that salmon would be returning to spawn in the Klamath in numbers below what is needed for healthy propagation.

Because it's impossible for fishermen to distinguish between a Klamath River salmon and fish from other rivers, the shortened commercial season meant closures from Morro Bay along the central California coast to the Columbia River.

The closures idled not only the salmon fleets but the fuel dealers, ice providers and other enterprises that serve the commercial boats.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declared a fishery failure in August because catches were expected to tumble to 88 percent of average.

Later, Gutierrez appealed personally to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, to include $60 million in emergency assistance to the fishing industry. That appeal followed letters from Oregon and California governors and lawmakers, the California Chamber of Commerce, the Klamath Water Users Association and others asking for the emergency aid this year.

But Congress adjourned without passing a spending bill or including any money in temporary measures to keep the government funded through mid-February.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said the emergency aid fell victim to post-election politics, in which congressional leaders decided not to open the temporary measure to disaster earmarks. Had they done so for the fishermen, Thompson said, it would have opened the floodgates on billions of dollars in farm aid.

Thompson said it is unclear how early Congress would be able to act next year.

That was worrisome to the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

"We need some sort of supplemental disaster bill early in the next Congress," said Glen Spain, the federation's Northwest regional director. "If this has to go through the full process next year, fishermen will go a full year without assistance. The whole infrastructure already is in danger and teetering on collapse."

More than 1,000 commercial fishing boats in the two states depend upon the salmon season for much of their income. Spain said they have been helped in California by a good crab season, but not all fishermen and businesses benefit from that.

Thompson said the 2007 commercial salmon season could further compound the problems because runs are also expected to remain low next year.

"The sad thing is, this was a man-made disaster," Thompson said.

Federal management of the water in the Klamath River has been blamed for the spread of parasites that killed thousands of salmon in 2002 and 2003.

The one bit of good news for fishermen was the inclusion of a provision in a federal fisheries bill requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service to complete in six months a recovery plan for Klamath River coho salmon.

"We've never done that before," Thompson said. But he said the coho was listed as endangered in 1997, and still nothing has been done to protect the fish as its numbers tumble.

"They have got to figure out a better water policy," Thompson said.

The fisheries bill is on its way to the White House for the president's signature. #

WATER QUALITY MEETING ANNOUNCED: Meeting water quality standards to be discussed

Red Bluff Daily News – 12/9/06

COTTONWOOD - Complying with the Regional Water Quality Control Board Irrigated Agriculture Program Regulations will be the topic of at a meeting held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 14, at the Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in Cottonwood.

The Shasta and Tehama County Cooperative Extension, Shasta Livestock Auction Yard and Northern California Farm Credit have developed an educational program that details current information related to the CVRWQCB Irrigated Lands program group agricultural waiver. The program will layout the options agricultural producers have to comply with the regulations.

Margaret Wong from the Central Valley Control Board will be on hand to discuss: the Dec. 31 deadline to join and how to comply with regulations for those who choose not to join.

Tina Lunt from the Northern California Water Association will discuss the relationship between coalitions, the NCWA and the CVWQCB.

Dee Swearingen, manager for the Shasta-Tehama Watershed Education Coalition will discuss the group efforts on monitoring, membership and management.

There is no cost to attend. Refreshments will be provided. Reservations are requested by Larry Forero at 224-4900 or Josh Davy at 527-3101. #

In Owens Valley, water again flows; With the turn of a knob, Villaraigosa opens the gate of a diversion dam, launching the most ambitious river habitat restoration in the West

INDEPENDENCE, CALIF. — Against a backdrop of lofty snowcapped peaks, about 500 spectators, led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, gathered Wednesday to watch the Lower Owens River ripple anew with its first surge of High Sierra water in nearly a century.

The largest river habitat restoration effort ever attempted in the West was jump-started at 12:15 p.m., when Villaraigosa turned a control knob to open a new clamshell-shaped steel gate at a diversion dam that has been directing the waters that have flowed into the Los Angeles Aqueduct since 1913.

The event marked a brief detente in historic water wars that have boiled in the Owens Valley since the early 1900s, when Los Angeles city agents posed as ranchers and farmers to buy land and water rights in the valley. Their goal was to build an aqueduct that would help transform Los Angeles into a metropolis.

The stealth and deception became grist for books and movies that portrayed the dark underbelly of Los Angeles' formative years.

Cheers and applause — along with the grinding gears of the steel gate — welcomed the icy, emerald green water that roared into the river channel.

Villaraigosa, smiling broadly, gave a thumbs up.

In an interview moments earlier, the mayor said, "This is a new chapter in our relationship with the Owens Valley. We can't take back what happened here 90 years ago, but we can make it better."

On Nov. 5, 1913, 40,000 people assembled at the southern end of the gravity-powered aqueduct and let out a cheer when the first Owens River water splashed into the San Fernando Valley.

Among them was L.A. water czar William Mulholland, who told the crowd: "There it is! Take it!"

But the engineering marvel that transformed Los Angeles came at a high price for residents of this rugged wide-open territory bisected by U.S. Highway 395.

After the water was diverted into the aqueduct, there was no more for the 62-mile-long Lower Owens River. It also denied water to the river's massive catch basin, Owens Lake, which evaporated into vast salt flats prone to causing choking dust storms.

The Second Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1970. Beginning just south of the Owens lakebed and ending 200 miles south in the San Fernando Valley, it added 50% more capacity to the water system.

The two Los Angeles aqueducts deliver about 430 million gallons a day to the city.

After groundwater pumping by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power between 1970 and 1990 destroyed habitat in the Owens Valley, the department agreed in 1991 to restore the Lower Owens River to compensate for the damage.

Acknowledging that it won't be easy to resolve the bitter feelings of local residents who believe that Los Angeles' unquenchable thirst has taken a heavy toll on their environment, Villaraigosa added: "I understand the cynicism. I'd be cynical too. The people here have heard promises from us in the past, and that part of the reason we are here today is because of a lawsuit."

In 2001, a suit was brought by the California Department of Fish and Game, the California State Lands Commission, the Sierra Club and the Owens Valley Committee, accusing the DWP of deliberately missing deadlines for implementing the plan.

The DWP had missed at least 13 deadlines by last September, when a state Court of Appeal upheld an Inyo County Superior Court order that would ban the city from using the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct if it continued delaying the river restoration project.

Inyo County Judge Lee E. Cooper, who stood next to the mayor at Wednesday's event, also imposed fines of $5,000 a day until water flowed again in the Lower Owens River at a rate of 40 cubic feet per second.

By today, the DWP will have paid $2,285,000 in fines.

"I looked for the most painful things I could find to get the job done," Cooper said Wednesday of his ruling.

The Lower Owens River Project, which has cost the city $39 million to launch, is not expected to result in a significant loss of water or in a rate hike for DWP customers.

A faux pas by Villaraigosa drew laughter during his formal presentation at the river's edge when he called the area the "Sahara." A written statement of his remarks showed he meant to blame Los Angeles for "the environmental degradation of the Eastern Sierra," which is the flank of the mountain range that the water flows from.

By the time Villaraigosa was heading home in a chartered jet after the hourlong ceremony, the water had traveled roughly half a mile, meandering around a bend, past clots of dusty sagebrush.

It will sweep past the skeletal gray arms of dead cottonwood trees, and through dry zones and broad spring-fed beaver ponds choked with cattails and harboring largemouth bass and catfish, which are expected to spawn hordes of fish in the rehabilitated river.

The water will take about 16 days to traverse the vast Owens Valley floodplain flanked by the High Sierra on the west and the White and Inyo mountains on the east, and pour into storage ponds on the northern edge of the dry Owens Lake.

There, four 600-horsepower pumps will draw the water up and put it back into the aqueduct's ribbon of concrete and steel for transport to Los Angeles, about 250 miles to the south.

If all goes according to plan, within five years nature will transform the revived river's lazy loops into an oasis of willows and cottonwood trees; wetlands for waterfowl and shorebirds, and warm water fisheries for bass, catfish, frogs and crayfish.

Local residents hope it will also boost the struggling economies of the small towns dotting the Owens Valley — Bishop, Big Pine, Independence and Lone Pine — with new opportunities for fishing, hunting, hiking and bird watching.

Then there is the kayaking experience that some locals are already calling "the long glide," given that the river will range from 2 to 6 feet in depth, and will be free of rapids, waterfalls and beaver dams.

"Sixty-two more miles of river fisheries and habitat can do great things for us," Inyo County Supervisor Susan Cash said.

Cattle rancher Scott Kemp, who leases 35,000 acres of grazing land from the DWP, would not go that far. "We're not sure what this project is going to do. We're concerned of flooding [grazing land] down around the Lone Pine area."

Michael Prather, leader of a pro-river coalition, believes that restoring the Lower Owens is a test of society's ability to coexist harmoniously with nature in the 21st century.

"There'll be lots of work tomorrow," Prather said. "But today is for the river. Today is for fish. Today is for frogs, and kids who like to catch crayfish." #

SACRAMENTO — Setting the stage for a knockdown fight over the fate of four towering Klamath River dams accused of hammering salmon stocks and the West Coast fishing industry, a new government study released Friday has found that decommissioning the dams could cost $100 million less than operating them for another generation.

The economic analysis, ordered by the California Energy Commission in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, should provide ammunition for Indian tribes, environmentalists and commercial fishermen eager to see the hydropower dams demolished to reopen more than 300 miles of river that have been blocked to migrating salmon for more than half a century.

"It's now official: The Klamath hydro project is an economic loser," said Steve Rothert of the group American Rivers.

But officials with the owner of the dams, billionaire Warren E. Buffett's Portland-based PacifiCorp, say they will seek dam license renewal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is scheduled to rule on a new permit early next year.

On Friday, the firm released its own plan, listing several ways the dams could be modified to ease concerns about salmon.

Bill Fehrman, president of PacifiCorp Energy, said in a statement that the company's proposal probably wouldn't mollify its critics, but that it would prove the firm's desire to be "environmental stewards" while allowing the dams to continue generating "clean, reliable power."

That goal stands in contrast to the conclusion of the 92-page study that California officials released Friday.

The report, produced by a private consulting firm and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Technical Services Center, found that the cost of demolishing the dams and buying market-rate electricity to offset the lost hydropower over the next three decades would be far less than installing the vast infrastructure and improvements expected to be needed for the dams to win license renewal.

Though the hydro project historically has been able to cheaply deliver enough power for about 70,000 homes, new environmental rules would limit the project's unfettered operation, reducing electricity generation by 23%, the study found.

The cost of erecting fish ladders and other projects to help salmon get past the dams and cure water-quality problems would boost the 30-year cost of the project to between $230 million and $470 million, according to the report.

Removing the dams and buying replacement electricity over the next three decades would cost between $152 million and $277 million, the report said. Depending on the price of power in the future, dam removal could save PacifiCorp ratepayers up to $285 million during that period, with a "midline scenario" forecasting a savings of $101 million.

Decommissioning the dams "would create net economic benefits for PacifiCorp's ratepayers" while also offering the potential for "restoring salmon runs to one of the most important remaining salmon rivers on the West Coast," the study concluded.

Howard McConnell, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, concluded that the dams represent "weapons of genocide," hurting the fish that the tribe for generations has depended on for food and spiritual health.

Officials with PacifiCorp objected to several of the study's findings, most notably the cost of removing the dams and the potential negative effects of releasing the huge load of sediment trapped behind them.

Dave Kvamme, a company spokesman, said nobody really knows what it would cost to remove the dams, and added that efforts by PacifiCorp to demolish a far smaller dam on Washington state's White Salmon River had run into numerous roadblocks that have delayed removal for more than six years and driven up the price.

"We're generally skeptical of these sorts of assumptions on complicated matters," Kvamme said of the new study. "There are tremendous risks in taking out dams, and those haven't been factored into any of the costs for that alternative."

In addition, removal of the dams could expose the river to even poorer-quality water pouring out of Upper Klamath Lake, Kvamme said. The lake is loaded with nutrients that can pose problems for fish, and the dams act as settling ponds before releasing water downriver, he said.

But the company left open the possibility of a negotiated solution with dam critics. For more than a year, PacifiCorp representatives have been meeting with dam opponents and government officials. Fehrman said they continue to believe "a better, long-term solution" to the river's salmon woes can be achieved through those talks.

This year, troubles with salmon stocks prompted federal officials to dramatically limit commercial fishing on the West Coast.

Efforts to win more than $60 million in disaster funding for troubled fishing fleets have run aground this year — and time is running out. Republicans have balked despite a plea by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. #

Sacramento Bee – 11/28/06
By Michael Doyle, staff writer

The Bush administration pleased farmers and frustrated environmentalists Monday by declaring that pesticides can be sprayed into and over waters without first obtaining special permits.

The heavily lobbied decision is supposed to settle a dispute that's roiled federal courts and divided state regulators. It's popular among those who spray pesticides for a living, but it worries those who fear poisoned waters will result.

"We need to act fast to stop mosquitoes when they are found," argued Jim Tassano, a pest-control operator in the Sierra foothills town of Sonora. "Any delay results in adults emerging. It is far cheaper and much more effective to kill them as larvae ...(and) if a permit is required, the costs would skyrocket."

Tassano was one of hundreds to weigh in over the past three years as the Environmental Protection Agency mulled over its options. His sentiments were shared by California's Merced and Tulare mosquito control districts and various agricultural interests nationwide.

"Requiring (federal) permitting would unnecessarily disrupt the effectiveness of (pest) control operations and adversely impact hundreds of business," the South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society warned.

The EPA decision gave the pest operators what they wanted. It also closely parsed the English language for what the all-important word "pollutant" means.

EPA officials concluded that a pesticide, when it's deliberately applied, isn't a "pollutant" under the terms of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Consequently, after considering nearly 700 public comments, officials ruled that federal "discharge" permits aren't necessary when using pesticides to control waterborne pests.

"It will just make things a little less messy," Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District Manager David Farley said of the decision Monday. "It means we can continue to do what we have done for years, without additional permitting requirements."

The EPA also declared that permits aren't needed when using pesticides to control pests found over or near waterways, as in national forests. Any resulting damage is unfortunate but strictly collateral, officials maintained.

"Forest canopy insecticide applications can result in deposition to streams and other waters of the U.S., which are either not visible to the aerial applicator or not possible to avoid," the EPA stated.

Environmentalists, though, note that mosquito-killing chemicals can poison shrimp, frogs and other aquatic creatures. The good intentions of mosquito-hunters shouldn't exempt the chemicals from permit requirements, these advocates believe.

The quantity of pesticides applied directly to water is only a small percentage of the total used. In California, for instance, the pesticides applied for mosquito abatement last year amounted to less than 4 percent of the state's total pesticide use.

When Central Valley agencies were tamping down the West Nile virus threat last summer, they typically were aerially spraying about an ounce of pesticide per acre. California officials hope that the new EPA decision could clear up some potential confusion over how such chemicals are regulated.

"The fact that we now have some clarification on this is a good thing," said Glenn Brank, a spokesman for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

The prior confusion stemmed in part from court decisions.

In 2001, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal permit was required before herbicides could be applied on national forests in Oregon. Courts elsewhere, though, issued conflicting opinions, leading the EPA to try to clarify the muddle.

With environmentalists warning that the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Water Act is "unlawful," the possibility for future legal challenge remains. #

(11-27) 04:00 PST Phelan Island, Glenn County -- It may have been doing its part for science, but that didn't make the bushtit any happier.

It squawked in protest on a recent overcast day as ecologist Michael Rogner gently blew on its breast plumage, examined its skull and measured its wing feathers, judging its age and health.

"The bushtits can get pretty indignant," Rogner said as he carefully fixed bands to the small bird's legs and released it. "Most of the other species we catch take it in stride."

Rogner and fellow researchers with the group PRBO Conservation Science, which works to protect birds and their ecosystems, expect to examine more than 1,000 songbirds this winter along the Sacramento River corridor -- a remarkably high total.

Songbirds have been in decline throughout the hemisphere, but the Sacramento River region is an exception. Scientists credit the restoration of thousands of acres of habitat and call the songbird comeback one of the nation's greatest conservation successes.

Rogner and field biologist Chris Tonra strung several fine-meshed nets last week through tangles of vegetation on this heavily wooded tract next to the Sacramento River. It was a productive venture, and they busily processed their catch: bushtits, Lincoln's sparrows, golden-crowned sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, house wrens and ruby-crowned kinglets.

Over the past decade, 11 of 20 surveyed species have increased in number along the river, said Tom Gardali, a senior conservation scientist with PRBO. Populations of eight species have remained stable, and only one -- the lazuli bunting -- has shown a decline.

Some of the most beautiful and charismatic species have made the most dramatic rebounds. Black-headed grosbeaks are up almost 16 percent, spotted towhees have jumped more than 26 percent and American goldfinches have climbed almost 12 percent.

There is a clear cause-and-effect going on, Gardali said. Over the past 15 years, an informal confederation of government agencies and private environmental groups has restored about 4,000 acres of former farmland to the riverside thickets and woodlands -- "riparian forests," as biologists call them -- that songbirds dote on.

"What surprised us was the rapid response of bird populations to the increased habitat," Gardali said. "And it was for the whole complex of species -- resident birds and migrants, cavity nesters, ground nesters. We really didn't expect it."

Riparian forests once covered 800,000 acres of land along the Sacramento River. Only about 2 percent remained by 1990.

"There were points between Colusa and Red Bluff where the forest was 5 miles across," said Joe Silveira, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It was like the Amazon, an incredibly rich place teeming with wildlife."

But farmers and ranchers considered the forest a hindrance, and it fell rapidly to their saws and axes, replaced with almond orchards, alfalfa pastures and rice fields. And as the woods disappeared, so did the array of wildlife that depended on them.

Now, the growing numbers of the Sacramento River's songbirds prove that habitat restoration is the key to recovering beleaguered wildlife populations, said Greg Golet, an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy.

"And we're also getting a lot better at doing it," Golet said. "When we started these projects, we were planting about six (plant) species, all trees. Then we realized we needed to plant ... the shrubs and herbaceous plants that grow under the trees and provide additional food and shelter for birds. We needed to create more complexity in the habitat. Now we plant about 20 species."

As Rogner and Tonra examined the birds caught in their nets recently, Golet, Silveira and Gardali toured a nearby restoration site -- a forest of cottonwoods and willows.

The group paused on a small bluff overlooking a slough framed by vegetation. Two wood ducks lifted from the water, and a pair of turkey vultures perched on a dead tree near an old osprey nest. A black phoebe swooped back and forth from a branch sticking out of the water, snagging insects. From the undergrowth, a spotted towhee called softly.

"This was all bare dirt 15 years ago," Golet said. "There were just a lot of sticks in the ground, and we were irrigating them with sprinklers. It's stunning to see it as it is now."

Silveira said more than songbirds have returned to the river corridor.

"It's everything from endangered insects like the elderberry longhorn beetle to mammals," he said. "You never heard of mountain lion sightings along the river 10 years ago. Now they're reported regularly. We've put up notifications at all our refuge access points advising people on things they should and shouldn't do in case they encounter a lion."

The restorations don't run on autopilot. Some of the restored tracts may need to be manipulated through controlled burning and timber thinning to maintain habitat variety, Gardali said.

"The Sacramento Valley as a whole is a highly managed environment, so we may have to actively manage these properties to get the results we want," he said.

But Golet said the river could be relied on to do much of the work.

"It floods these areas periodically, and when it does it digs channels, knocks trees down and dramatically rearranges things," he said.

Habitat expansion is likely to continue in the Central Valley. About 20,000 acres have been purchased along the Sacramento River by government agencies and conservancy groups, including the 10,000 acres of the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1989.

The refuge plans more acquisitions, Silveira said. When it was formed, he said, the refuge had a mandate to buy 18,000 acres along the river, "so we have about 8,000 acres to go."

Efforts aren't limited to the Sacramento River region. Earlier this year, environmentalists and the federal government agreed on a legal settlement to restore the San Joaquin River, the Sacramento's southern sister. As the agreement is implemented in coming years, conservationists say, forests could reclaim miles of the San Joaquin's now-denuded banks.

The birds may be anticipating such a development. Over the past couple of years, Gardali said, a pair of rare Bell's vireos have nested in a small restoration site near the San Joaquin.

"They came from the south, probably from some restored habitat projects near San Diego," he said. "I think we're ultimately going to see Bell's vireos come up to the Sacramento River, reclaiming much of their historic range."

What it all adds up to, Gardali said, is one of the nation's greatest conservation success stories. The only comparable programs, he said, are the vast restoration projects now under way on the Mississippi River and the Florida Everglades.

"I think it shows that if we make an effort, nature will respond," he said. "We can turn things around."

Where are the salmon? Numbers won't be official for several weeks, but those who watch the Tuolumne River say there were far too few salmon swimming upstream to spawn. Despite millions spent on habitat improvement, reducing sediment and timing water releases, the chinook are in substantial decline on what was once California's most prolific salmon river.

Some will counsel that we shouldn't yet be overly alarmed. But those who have been on the river this year say the salmon numbers are similar to last year's or lower. And last year was bad — only about 720 salmon returned to the Tuolumne.

By comparison, there were roughly 1,650 salmon in 2004 — which would have been considered horrible compared with 2000 when about 17,500 were counted. Still, it could be worse. Tim Ford, the biologist who works for the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts, said the historical low is 375.

The goal is to have 18,000 to 20,000 salmon returning each year. We're going in the wrong direction.

Salmon hatch from eggs laid in gravel nests, then dash to sea in spring floods. They mature, then return to the same river to spawn and die. A few return in two years, a few in five; most come back in their third or fourth years. When a lot of water goes down the river in the spring, the salmon fry are pushed out faster and are more likely to escape predators. In low-flow springs, fewer fry make it to the ocean.

Biologists say the key is to have a lot of fry go out so that at least a few make it back . To make it out, the fry need high flows when they move.

This year should be good. In 2003, there were 1,700spawning salmon and there were moderate outgoing flows — enough to help the fry. But instead of better numbers of spawning salmon, we're getting reports of a likely decline.

For comparison, more than 2,600salmon have passed through a counting mechanism called a weir on the Stanislaus. That's four times the Tuolumne's estimate, but still a little below last year's numbers.

Some environmentalists want to see higher flows for longer periods when the salmon fry are leaving the Tuolumne for the ocean. But the irrigation districts already are releasing substantial amounts of water in pulse flows. Higher releases might help, but they might not.

It is difficult to time pulse flows to best suit the fry. And any number of variables can affect salmon survival — water that is too muddy or too toxic or too warm; too many predators, or disease. Understudied, but likely a factor, are vastly increased delta water exports to Southern California.

As we said nearly a year ago, returning salmon are among the best indicators of a healthy river. Using that criteria, the Tuolumne needs life support. #

After more than eight-months of negotiations, a conservation group has closed a deal Friday with Hawthorn Timber Co. LLC, to buy 16,000 acres of forest land in Mendocino County. The acres are home to salmon and spotted owl.

The Conservation Fund, an organization which raises money to buy forest land so that it is not sold to private developers, has purchased the 16,000 acres of in the Big River and Salmon Creek forests for $48.5 million.

"This project is a model for large-scale forest land conservation in California and across the northwest," said Conservation Fund President Larry Selzer.

"Thirty years ago it was rare that environmentalists and foresters were sitting down together to hammer out solutions, rather than lawsuits," said Art Harwood, CEO of Harwood Products. "In the future I think that this sort of collaboration will establish a model for innovative and cost-effective forest conservation and job creation in Northern California."

The bulk of the money for the purchase will come from a $25 million State Revolving Fund loan from the California State Water Resources Control Board.

The SRF loan program was established under the Clean Water Act and is generally used to pay for the construction of publicly-owned waste water treatment facilities, however, it does include provisions to provide funding for pollution issues.

This is the largest loan of its kind, said Conservation Fund Spokeswoman Jena Thompson.

The fund also received two $7.5 million grants from the Coastal Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Board. The fund plans to raise the remaining $7.5 million from private philanthropic sources.

The loans will be repaid by a harvesting timber from the land using methods less harmful to the environment, said Chris Kelly, California director for the Conservation Fund.

"We will demonstrate that forestry, done correctly, can coexist with sound environmental stewardship," said Sam Suchat, executive director of the Coastal Conservancy.

This will involve both limiting the intensity of the harvest and increasing the time between harvests, Thompson said. The fund also plans to widen the buffer between harvest areas and rivers, improving the health of the watershed as a whole.

"Acquiring the land is the critical part of protecting the watershed. but the hardest part is yet to come," Kelly said.

"Conservationists managing forests is new territory; we're learning as we go."

The Big River and Salmon Creek forest's are home to coho salmon, steelhead trout and spotted owl.

The coho salmon in particular, has taken a beating in recent years. A parasite infestation on the Klamath River lead to a massive die-off in 2002 and prompted the Pacific fisheries council to significantly restrict the 2006 ocean salmon season.

This is not the first piece of forest land The Conservation Fund has purchased in Mendocino County. In 2004, the fund bought 23,000 acres of the Garcia River Watershed from Willits based Coastal Forest Lands.

Timber is being harvested from the Garcia River Watershed using the same conservation principals that will be used in Big River and Salmon Creek Forests, Thompson said.

In it's 20-year-history the fund has bought more than 5 million acres of land for conservation. #

OROVILLE -- A regional water management plan remains a dividing point in the county. Most people seem to agree that regional water management is necessary. However, how to go about that is a point for further discussion.

At the hub of the debate recently has been a plan by the Northern California Water Association. The 350-page document lays out a road map for the counties in the Sacramento Valley -- things such as groundwater use, surface water use, the environment, flood control and conservation.

NCWA has been working on the plan for a long time, and was given encouragement by the county Water Commission in 2005. However, the plan really didn't generate much public scrutiny until recently when NCWA had gained momentum to move ahead.

Environmental groups and a newly-resurrected groundwater users groups started reading through the document and voiced concerns. Some are worried there isn't enough protection for groundwater users and/or Butte County could lose local control over water issues. The plan also includes projects that could increase water exportation to clean up the Delta.

Another issue that raised eyebrows was a $25 million grant application that would have given about $5 million for Butte County projects and about $20 million for other parts of the valley.

Before that grant funding fell through, both the Water Commission and the Board of Supervisors were split as to as to whether Butte County should sign on to the NCWA plan to "have a seat at the table."

With four supervisors on the board, Curt Josiassen of Chico and Bill Connelly of Oroville voted to sign on to the NCWA eight-county regional plan, even though they still saw some details to be ironed out.

Staff pointed out the plan is a "living document" and there will be time for revisions.

Supervisors Jane Dolan of Chico and Kim Yamaguchi of Paradise voted not to sign up with NCWA right now.

NCWA executive director David Guy said Butte County should view the plan as "your plan."

Each county involved brings different parts to the regional strategy, and each county has different concerns, he said.

Glenn County voted for a resolution supporting the plan Tuesday, and Nov. 14 Tehama and Colusa counties did the same.

Connelly, who voted for the plan in the split vote Tuesday, said he would be more comfortable going with a four-county plan that covered just those counties that lie over the lower Tuscan aquifer, believed to hold a great deal of water.

If there is increased groundwater pumping, he wants assurances that cumulative impacts will be watched.

"If we do not enter a regional agreement, we will be run over," he said.

Dolan said that Butte County feels strongly there needs to be scientific studies of groundwater pumping. Butte County is believed to be one of the main recharge areas of the lower Tuscan.

"I don't want to protect the recharge areas so everybody else can use (the water)," she said.

Board members and water commissioners have said they want Butte County to keep their autonomy when regional water management occurs.

However, autonomy also has risks. If other counties have autonomy, "we can't stop them from pumping," Connelly said. "Add to that that the rest of the state looks to the north state for more water," he continued.

Also, some of the other counties in the Sacramento Valley plan have less population than Butte County and might view Butte County as a threat.

"I've come to the conclusion, personally, that without dialogue, we won't ever get this resolved," Connelly said.

"The only reason NCWA is in this plan is because someone needed to fill this (leadership) vacuum," Josiassen said.

Both Josiassen and Yamaguchi said they were relieved when the $25 million grant was not awarded. "I'm glad we don't have that pressure," Josiassen said.

"Suddenly I can take a deep breath," Yamaguchi agreed.

At times, county leaders said they felt they had to hurry up and make a decision about the current regional plan document because the money was up for grabs.

Tracie Billington runs the department that grades the grant applications for the Department of Water Resources, including the $25 million grant the county and NCWA did not receive. She said there will be another round of Prop. 50 funding in the future.

Plus, state voters just passed Proposition 84, which will provide a lot more funding for water-related grants.

After the split vote on approving the regional plan right away, Dolan made a motion to send the discussion back to the Water Commission, who was also split on the issue.

Only Josiassen voted against this idea.

Most of the public who spoke at the meeting appeared to agree with the decision.

Water Commission chairman Mark Kimmelshue had urged the board to vote to sign onto the NCWA plan Tuesday.

After the meeting he said it was good that the discussion on regional planning was heating up so Butte County and the other counties in the Sacramento Valley can improve their ability to work together. #

The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for nearly two years has diverted substantially more water from the Eel River to the Russian River than is allowed in a license agreement negotiated over two decades.

The discrepancy wasn't discovered until this summer, when the California Department of Fish and Game reviewed the schedule of diversions made by the company's Potter Valley Project. PG&E fessed up to the problem, and even recently contacted the media about the conversation taking place among regulators.

Unlike nearly every other river diversion system in the West, the Potter Valley Project does not have real-time gauges that show how it's being operated. That information isn't made public until a year later. Such a monitoring system won't be in place until December 2007 at least, and only the agencies have immediate access to the information.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission amended PG&E's license for the project in 2004, after about 20 years of wrangling over diversions to the East Branch of the Russian River for grape growers and flows to the Eel River for salmon and steelhead.

The commission is now looking into the compliance of the project since 2004.

”We're reviewing the allegations,” said FERC spokeswoman Celeste Miller.

Between 5 billion and 13 billion gallons of water that would have flowed down the Eel River were instead diverted through the project, on average about 33 percent more than was allowed. The past three years have been wet, however, and there were no apparent adverse effects on the river's salmon. But the excessive diversions could have drawn down Lake Pillsbury above Scott and Van Arsdale dams to levels that would have threatened the Eel if a drought set in.

PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer said the snafu was the result of a misinterpretation of FERC's license conditions.

”It was an honest mistake on PG&E personnel's part that has been taken very seriously and has been corrected,” Eisenhauer said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, which set flows meant to at least partially mimic natural flow conditions in the Eel through the license, said it's not likely to pursue penalties against the company. That's because PG&E managed to meet the required flows to the Eel River, said Dick Butler, area office supervisor for the service.

”I think they were confused and made some assumptions on how they were operating,” Butler said.

Butler said PG&E has recently done an analysis to show how Lake Pillsbury has filled in with more sediment than it previously believed, and so holds less water. The company may be paving the way to press for changes in the fisheries service's requirements for the project, he said. That is a “non-starter,” Butler said, since the service has predicted how much the lake will fill in all the way out until 2027.

Humboldt County Supervisor Jimmy Smith said that charts specifying the changes made through the relicensing agreement haven't been forthcoming, despite requests made to the fisheries service long ago. Whether or not PG&E made a mistake, he said, its project hasn't been operated under the agreement that took two decades for fish advocates on the North Coast, tribes, irrigators in Potter Valley, the company, agencies and environmental groups to hammer out.

”They shouldn't get off the hook because the fact is they didn't comply,” Smith said. #

People are advised to follow recommended guidelines for eating fish in the lower Feather River, where some fish have elevated levels of mercury.

The California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment recently released a draft advisory on mercury in the lower Feather River that includes guidelines for eating fish caught in the river.

The draft advisory document is available on the OEHHA Web site (www.oehha.ca.gov).

"One of the unfortunate legacies of California's colorful gold mining era is elevated mercury levels in many of the region's fish," said Joan Denton, OEHHA director. "People can still enjoy eating fish they catch from the Feather River if they choose species that are low in mercury and eat them in moderation."

The advisory covers the 75-mile span of the Feather River from Fish Barrier Dam below the Lake Oroville Dam to the confluence of the Sacramento River.

"Until final advisories are issued, OEHHA recommends that the public follow the guidance in the draft advisories," the document states.

Because of the health benefits of fish, the agency doesn't advise cutting it from your diet.

However, the guidelines recommend women of childbearing age and children 17 years and younger avoid eating striped bass or Sacramento pikeminnow. This group should eat no more than one meal a month of largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass or catfish. They can eat carp or Sacramento sucker in moderation, but should eat no more than one meal a week. Up to two meals a week of sunfish are acceptable.

Women beyond childbearing age and men can eat stripped bass or Sacramento pikeminnow once a month. Guidelines recommend eating largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass, or white catfish no more than once a week. This group can eat up to two meals a week of sunfish, carp, Sacramento sucker or channel catfish.

Meal size depends on body weight. A 160-pound adult can eat a serving of 6 ounces of cooked fish.

Since mercury accumulates, eating younger, smaller and shorter-lived fish is recommended.

Almost all fish contain detectable levels of mercury. More than 95 percent is methylmercury, a highly toxic form of the element, which attacks the nervous system, particularly of fetuses and young children.

Guidelines also limit women of childbearing age and children to eating commercially bought fish two times a week. However, commercially bought fish carry lower levels of mercury, except for large, long-lived, predatory fish.

Mercury enters the environment from minerals in rocks and leaching of old mine sites. It is also emitted into the air from mining deposits, burning fossil fuels, and other industrial sources.

Eric See, fish biologist for the California Department of Water Resources, said high mercury levels in fish is a national problem.

The OEHHA is the lead agency on gathering testing data and issuing advisory warnings, See said. The agency has issued advisories for almost every area that's been tested.

The agency did not test salmon in the Feather River, See said, as wild Salmon are more resistant to "bio accumulating" mercury.

Salmon live most of their lives in the ocean. Additionally, they eat more organisms lower on the food chain and fewer small fish.

Predatory, long-living fish such as shark are more prone to accumulating mercury. Salmon have a shorter lifespan, which also makes them less likely to accumulate high mercury levels.

During relicensing, DWR studies also indicated some high mercury levels for fish in Lake Oroville.

"It's certainly not uncommon to find mercury in fish in reservoirs or streams in the Sierras," See said. #

Hundreds of people turned out Thursday night in a passionate display before federal regulators to tell them that the dams on the Klamath River should be torn down.

Staff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission -- charged with issuing another license for four hydropower dams owned by Pacificorp -- heard speaker after speaker demand the agency consider removing the dams instead of letting them continue to operate. The health of the regional economy, of people and of fish runs is more important than the pittance of power the dams generate, they were told.

”I plead with you,” said conservationist Claire Courtney, “use no other option -- take the four dams down.”

So many showed up that about 200 people packed the hallway outside the hearing room at the Red Lion Inn. Frustrated people were turned away as the 350 people in the room was the maximum allowable according to fire codes. FERC's John Mudre, assessing the situation in the hall, blamed local biologist Pat Higgins and the media for getting too many people to turn out to a public meeting.

”You guys caused the problem,” Mudre said.

FERC booked the same room -- with similar results -- in June 2004.

The commission has the authority to issue another license to Pacificorp. During the hearing, Mudre said that the term of the license could be 30 or 50 years. The agency recently released its draft Environmental Impact Statement, which outlined its intent to leave the Iron Gate, Copco I, Copco II and J.C. Boyle dams in place.

But an administrative law judge's ruling last month made it clear that Pacificorp would likely have to build fish ladders to allow salmon to reach hundreds of miles of spawning grounds cut off by the dams. Pacificorp has proposed to trap fish and truck them above and below the dams.

”The salmon need to go home,” Yurok Tribal Chairman Howard McConnell said. “Their home is the Upper Klamath Basin. The time is now.”

Repeatedly FERC staff was admonished for not analyzing removal of the four dams, and were called on to heed a recent California Coastal Conservancy study that holds that decommissioning the structures is not nearly as expensive as building fish ladders. They were also told that the federal document fails to address the cultural costs off the dams to American Indian tribes like the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk, or economic costs to fishermen.

State Sen. Wes Chesbro said FERC's current tack would be about “as effective as putting lipstick on a pig.”

He told the representatives that removing the four dams should be the centerpiece of FERC's proposal, and said that up to $525 million through Proposition 84, passed this month by voters, could be used toward taking out the dams.

Agencies like the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must finalize conditions for fish passage and other issues by January 30, and FERC's final environmental document is due in April. Then, both California and Oregon must consider issuing water quality certifications before a federal license can be granted.

Comments on FERC's draft Environmental Impact Statement are due by December 1. The document can be viewed at www.ferc.gov. Search for Klamath. #

At the viewing deck overlooking Battle Creek, the river surface swirled with tails, dorsal fins and churning water.

"In a 50-yard radius right in front of us, you're looking at 15 to 20,000 salmon arriving to spawn," said Scott Hamelberg, complex manager for the Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson (Shasta County), in the northern Sacramento Valley.

The return of the salmon is one of the most dramatic sights in California, and anybody can see it at the Coleman hatchery. The action peaks from late October through November, though viewing is excellent through March, and operations are year-round, so visitors always have something to see.

Hatcheries, especially Coleman, are critical to the future of California's salmon. That is because roughly 200 miles of spawning habitat, about 70 percent, has been wiped out or blocked by dams.

One of the raps against fishing is that it can be slow, and you need persistence to get any action. Not so at Coleman Fish Hatchery. This is a daily wild affair, a can't-miss trip. It's like fish in a barrel, almost literally.

Visitors get a spectacular adventure that features watching salmon jump up a 40-yard fish ladder to a large holding area, workers artificially spawning the fish, tours through incubation and tagging buildings and then feeding the young. Some 15 million fish are hatched and reared at the facility, then later released into the Sacramento River. Most of the salmon caught out the Golden Gate or served in San Francisco restaurants start their life here.

This is how you make the trip work, and what you see:

Getting there: Take Interstate 5 north past Red Bluff and exit at Jellys Ferry Road. Turn right and drive 14.1 miles to Coleman Fish Hatchery Road (signed). Turn right and drive 2 miles (past Battle Creek Wildlife Area) to the hatchery on the right.

Battle Creek: Start the trip by walking through the facility to the Battle Creek overlook. Here you can see salmon swirling in the river below, occasionally jumping the falls on the river, and more often leaping through the water chute that leads to the adjacent fish ladder. The salmon average 15 to 25 pounds, with some even bigger. On my visit, a 53-pounder came through. (I wondered how it got by me on my summer fishing trips.)

Fish ladder: >From Battle Creek, the salmon leap through a series of fish ladders en route to the hatchery. You can stand alongside the ladder and watch the giant salmon surge, leaping through the air to the next pool, where they rest a bit before repeating the process.

Holding pond: The salmon eventually swim upstream through the fish ladder to a holding pond. Thousands of giant fish can be within 40 yards, and one after another, the salmon will swim alongside you. At times, they will jump and send giant splashes of water onto visitors.

Spawning area: When the gate is raised, the big salmon will surge into the spawning building. From a viewing deck above the workers, you can watch salmon ranging to 60 pounds anesthetized and sorted by sex. The females are injected with air to expel their eggs, about 5,000 to 6,000. Milk/sperm is extracted from the males and mixed with the eggs. This fertilizes the eggs. This operation goes on from October through March.

Hatchery building: A huge building holds rows and rows of incubators, tanks and stacked trays. It takes the eggs six weeks to hatch into the tiny fry.

Rearing raceways: The fry are then placed into what are called raceways, which are long, rectangular concrete ponds, 15 feet wide and 150 feet long, where the tiny fish grow to a larger size, called smolt. They are fed fish chow, which is like tiny black pebbles. When a handful of fish chow is cast into the raceway, the surface erupts. The fish are fed a dozen times each day, and each time, it is a frenzy. I fed the salmon myself and found it as addicting as fishing.

Release: Salmon are grown to 3 inches, sometimes bigger before release in Battle Creek, usually in April. Steelhead are grown to larger sizes, usually 8 to 10 inches, and are released in the Sacramento River. #

Humboldt County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of removing four of the Klamath River's dams, riding what many say is a wave of public opinion and political will toward restoring salmon runs and economies on the river.

The resolution comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hears communities' concerns about the continued operation of the hydropower dams. The agency, which will decide whether to issue Pacificorp a new 50-year license, has not considered removing the dams as a viable option.

But several key developments recently have provided momentum toward such an end.

Pacificorp lost an administrative hearing challenging federal fisheries agencies' orders to build expensive fish ladders over the dams. A bond measure just passed by voters holds millions that could be used for restoring the Klamath. California Coastal Conservancy studies have found the cost of dam decommissioning relatively low, and also found few toxins in sediment trapped behind the dams.

”This is really the Berlin Wall of fisheries issues on the North Coast,” Tom Weseloh of California Trout told the board.

Several speakers said the amount of electricity the dams produce isn't worth the damage done by the dams. The dams block several hundred miles of potential spawning habitat for salmon. Fisheries biologist Pat Higgins said the reservoirs also pollute the river by prompting toxic algae blooms, which can also be dangerous to people.

FERC is holding a public hearing on its draft environmental impact statement on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Inn in Eureka.

Pacificorp has lodged its own solution to getting fish around the dams by trapping them and trucking them up above Upper Klamath Lake, then doing the same for young fish getting ready to migrate downstream. Ross Taylor, a McKinleyville fisheries biologist, said that trapping and trucking programs have been a failure on the Columbia River, and won't work on the Klamath either.

It also doesn't address water quality problems on the river, said Erica Terence with the Northcoast Environmental Center.

”These dams present a massive obstacle to improving water quality,” Terence said.

Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist said that removal of the dams will help salmon and upstream economies, and that the loss of power generation will be made up with a planned large natural gas power plant in the region. It's also become clear that the dams do not play much of a role in flood control, she said. Available bond money and political support from both California and Oregon's governors are critical.

”Now is the time,” Geist said.

The board voted 4-0 in support of the resolution. Supervisor Bonnie Neely was absent. #

Klamath Basin farmers are going ahead with their appeal of a federal court ruling that gave more water to salmon, raising doubts among salmon advocates that farmers are really interested in solving the region's environmental problems.

Attorneys for the Klamath Water Users Association, which represents about 1,000 farms irrigated by the Klamath Reclamation Project, filed a brief Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in their appeal of an injunction speeding up the timetable for the government to increase Klamath River flows for threatened coho salmon.

The appeal came after the Bush administration withdrew its own appeal and four weeks before a summit organized by the governors of Oregon and California to find solutions to the Klamath Basin's long-standing environmental problems, particularly four hydroelectric dams widely blamed for hurting struggling salmon runs.

"While we're getting close to turning the corner and getting along a lot better, we're not quite there yet. Until we get there, we have to keep our options open," said Greg Addington, executive director of the association.

In 2001, irrigation water was shut off to most of the Klamath Reclamation Project to provide water for threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River during a drought.

After irrigation was restored the next year, tens of thousands of adult chinook died of gill rot while stuck in low warm pools in the river.

Last summer, commercial salmon fishing was practically shut off along 700 miles of Oregon and California coastline to protect struggling Klamath River chinook.

The Klamath summit is tentatively set for the middle of December in Klamath Falls with representatives of state and federal agencies, farmers, tribes, conservation groups and fishermen.

The appeal seeks to lift an injunction imposed last May by U.S. District Judge Saundra B. Armstrong, which says that irrigators will have to do without water in years when there is not enough for both farms and fish. #

OROVILLE -- Does Butte County want a stronger leadership role as the northern Sacramento Valley moves toward a regional water management program?

Water Commissioner John Carlon said that's what he'd like to see. The discussion was brought up by Carlon at this week's Water Commission meeting.

The topic comes up in the middle of ongoing discussion about whether the county wants to approve a regional water management plan drafted by the Northern California Water Association. That plan is geared toward areas on the valley floor and looks at water needs, water use, groundwater, conservation, flood control, the environment and more.

Last month, the Water Commission was split on whether to give the nod to the plan, and then the Board of Supervisors decided to put off the decision until the Nov. 21 meeting of the board.

Mixed in with the discussion is a joint grant application by Butte County and NCWA for a $25 million implementation grant. Community members and some on the Water Commission have questioned whether there should be more money in that grant spent on groundwater research and less on drilling water production wells.

The $25 million grant may soon be a moot point, as the agencies that decide who is awarded the money have 16 proposals to consider, and only four to six will be awarded.

When supervisors were asked to consider a resolution backing the integrated water management plan, several board members said they didn't have enough information and were uncertain if all of the needs of the county had been incorporated into that plan.

At the Water Commission meeting, Carlon said he hoped in the future that the county would position itself to be in less of a reactionary mode when important water decisions were brought up.

Commissioner David Skinner appeared to agree.

"What's happened with the most recent proposal is it came at us rather quickly," he said.

Vickie Newlin, of the county Department of Water and Resource Conservation, pointed out that the county has done a lot of work to build partnerships with watershed groups. It's also sought out federal funds, but the process is slow.

Over the past several years the county has done an enormous amount of work, including a water inventory analysis, put in monitoring wells, a county groundwater management group and a four-county drinking water plan, she said.

While the NCWA regional management plan covers all or part of nine counties, Skinner said Butte should first focus on a four-county focus, to pull together the counties that lie over the lower Tuscan aquifer, an aquifer being considered for increased water supply.

"By all accounts we're sitting over 30 million acre-feet of water, and the use of that is not clearly defined," Carlon said.

"I'm asking the commission if there's an interest in coming up with our vision," Carlon said.

Commissioner Tennis said that sounded like a great topic for an upcoming strategic planning meeting. He said people become aware of groundwater when there is a drought, but put it on the back burner when it starts raining.

"We need to be really strategic," Carlon said.

Commissioner Mark Kimmelshue has been on the Water Commission since its inception. Early on the group worked on a strategic plan, and he agreed it was time to develop a new one.

Commissioner George Barber, pointed out that would help the county when it updates its general plan. That way the county could point out where prime groundwater recharge areas are when new development occurs.

Carlon also asked the Water Department director, Toccoy Dudley, to "put together his vision for the next year. This is your opportunity to set the tone and direction," Carlon said. The lively discussion and public input on the regional planning helped to bring the topic to the surface, which Carlon said he was glad about. #

EUREKA -- On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors may make their strongest statement yet on the possible removal of four dams on the Klamath River.

The board will consider a resolution calling for the removal of the Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2 and J.C. Boyle dams on the Klamath River. The resolution was brought to the board by the Northcoast Environmental Center.

Many coastal interests want to see the dams considered for removal to help Klamth salmon stocks recover.

”The relicensing process on four Klamath River dams is currently in process with written comments on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Klamath Hydroelectric Project due no later than Dec. 1,” said a county staff report. “The current impact report fails to consider removal of the four dams and proposes an insupportable solution of trapping fish and driving them around the dams.”

In other business, the board will also consider adding new personnel to patrol and manage Clam and Moonstone beaches.

”Staff is recommending that the board approve the concept of adding one sworn (peace officer) position within the Sheriff's Office and one non-sworn position within the parks division,” said a staff report. “The new deputy sheriff position would be assigned to focus on beach patrol and law enforcement duties at Clam and Moonstone beach county parks. The primary duties of the new park caretaker position would be to provide operation and maintenance services.”

The existing beach deputy would be able to focus more attention on other beach and dune areas in the county, said the report.

The existing park caretaker position would be re-assigned to focus on the county's other six coastal parks and the Hammond Trail.

The board will consider transferring $33,000 from contingencies to help fund the positions.

In addition, the county will also consider raising the pay rate for in-home care workers from $7.52 to $8.26 per hour, because of the recent hike in the state's minimum wage. The county share of those wages is 17.5 percent.

The cost to the county for the 75 cent hourly wage increase will be approximately $267,902 annually.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the Humboldt County Courthouse. #

TRACY - With more combined horsepower than a fleet of 3,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the state's Delta water pumps can really roar.

And, some say, they are indeed hogs.

At least some of the 11 pumps generally churn around the clock in the bowels of a secured building nestled at the base of the Altamont hills, behind a secured perimeter. The state water project is the largest PG&E customer in terms of energy consumed.

This is where it all begins: Billions of gallons of water are drawn in from the Delta, pumped 245 feet uphill to the head of the California Aqueduct, and then sent south toward Tracy, Patterson, Modesto - and Los Angeles.

The pumps are an amazing engineering feat. And they remain arguably the most controversial component of California's water distribution system.

A lawsuit to be heard next week in Alameda County alleges that the operators of the pumps have sucked in and chopped up endangered fish without proper authorization from state wildlife officials.

It is a paperwork argument, the state says in its defense - a procedural splitting of hairs.

But the case has again cast attention on the pumps and their crucial role: for farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, for families who need drinking water and for ratepayers whose wallets might be hit if pumping causes Delta water quality to decline.

"The pumps are a billion-dollar utility that runs a trillion-dollar economy," said Jerry Johns, deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources, the agency charged with running the pumps.

During high tides, the state opens gates on the Delta allowing water to pour into a holding bay. Sometimes this giant sucking can create a reverse flow in parts of the Delta - water goes in the opposite direction nature intended.

With the water comes the fish. Many of the sensitive Delta smelt and juvenile salmon that enter the bay are promptly gobbled up by striped bass.

Those that survive eventually flow with the water into a fish screening facility, their last chance to escape the pumps. They are funneled into pipes and holding tanks, and dumped into trucks for transport.

"They are crowded and crunched and squashed and plastered - you cannot handle fish that way. Not if you want them to live," said Tina Swanson, a biologist for the conservation group The Bay Institute.

Even if they survive the trip and are released back into the Delta, the fish may quickly be eaten by fat pike minnow or bass that have learned to congregate near the drop-off points in hopes of getting a free lunch, she said.

Bottom line: Not all fish are protected from the pumps.

The state doesn't dispute that.

"It is what it is," Johns said. "It's a system that was designed a fairly long time ago, and it does the best it can. ... If you had these pumps in a different location you could do a better job. This is where they are located, good or bad."

The lawsuit, filed by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, says water officials should either get formal permission from state wildlife experts for the "take" of some fish - an agreement Johns said already exists in another form - or should stop operating the pumps "in a manner that kills fish."

That would mean less water heading south.

Those on the receiving end say they are trying to conserve to reduce their reliance on Delta water. Still, a little over half a million farming acres in Kern County alone draw at least some water from the state for crops such as cotton, grapes and almonds.

And then there are the 18 million thirsty Southern Californians who get 30 percent to 70 percent of their water through the state pumps.

"We've really done quite a bit to get ourselves where we're making the most of every drop of water," said Bob Muir, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles.

The state pumps - along with a federal pumping station nearby - affect many people, but are seldom seen. Public access to the state facility is limited, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"We're pretty remote out here," said Water Resources' Doug Thompson, strolling the cavernous room where 11 engines power the pumps far below. "It's an end-of-the-road kind of thing."

Much of the pumping takes place at night when electricity costs less. Pumping levels are decided on a daily basis, taking into account myriad factors.

A typical day could see pumping about 5,000 cubic feet per second - enough water in a single second to supply the daily needs of about 375 people.

"We could stop pumping, which the environmental community would like us to do," Johns said. "That's not the option the department would like to choose." #

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Thursday overturned a decision reducing the area designated as critical habitat for 15 rare vernal pool species.

Judge William Shubb ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its decision to delete 900,000 acres in 11 counties from its final designation of critical habitat.

That reduction included about 46,000 acres each in Butte and Tehama counties and 10,000 acres in Glenn County.

Judge Shubb gave the service 120 days to complete the review.

The action was taken as a result of a suit by six environmental groups including the Chico-based Butte Environmental Council.

Vernal pools are depressions that fill with water in the rainy season but are dry in summer.

They are home to a variety of unusual plants and animals, some of which are endangered.

The Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to delineate areas that are important to rare species' survival.

In August 2005, the service designated 858,846 acres as critical habitat for the vernal pool species, but that area was about 900,000 acres smaller than the area initially being studied.

Of that reduction, 136,000 acres were excluded from the final rule because they were part of national or state wildlife refuges or ecological preserves, department of defense or tribal lands, or lands covered by Habitat Conservation Plans or other management plans.

That accounted for most of Glenn County's reduction, as the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge had been included in the initial proposal. Glenn was left with 155 acres of critical habitat in the final document.

The other reductions were for economic reasons. #

With flecks of arundo that had flown of his chain saw stuck on his forehead and in his moustache Friday morning, Terrance Johnson wore a big smile.

"It's a fun job," he said.

Johnson, a member of the California Conservation Corps in Redding, was among about 50 people taking part in an all-out assault on large arundo growths clinging to banks around a pond and lagoon off Park Marina Drive.

Leading the offensive, which continues today, was self-sworn arundo enemy Randy "Creeky" Smith. This, he said, is the seventh and final battle to rid Redding waterways of arundo.

"This is the end of it in Redding," said Smith, co-chairman of the Rotary Club of Redding Environment Committee.

Well, almost. It's the end of the major offenses.

"There will be small, scattered follow-up," he said.

And there are about 50 sites where arundo has been cleared around Redding that will need to be sprayed over the next several years to keep the plant from coming back. There also are battles to fight around Shasta County, including a major infestation along Stillwater Creek east of Redding.

The first war on arundo in Redding, which is native to the Mediterranean and is also known as giant reed, began in October 2004.

Arundo, which resembles bamboo, makes for a tough adversary, Smith said. In the right conditions, with plenty of water and fertile soil, the plant can grow 4 inches a day.

Although arundo was introduced to the state in the 1800s because farmers and ranchers thought it could help stabilize stream banks, the plant's roots break loose during storms and spur erosion. Statewide, groups are trying to get a handle on the plant.

Getting rid of it requires cutting the shoots -- which can grow to 30 feet tall -- and then spraying its root clusters with an herbicide to kill them.

While the downed arundo in other offenses was chipped and hauled to the Wheelabrator Shasta Energy Company power plant in Anderson to be burned, the arundo chopped Friday and today will be left to decay where it had grown.

Getting the arundo to the ground is the hard part.

"It's brutal work," said Ray John, academic director at the Good News Rescue Mission in Redding.

More than 20 volunteers from the mission helped with the arundo fight Friday.

As the shoots grow, they often weave around each other, making for thick clusters that can't be cut down with one swipe of a chain saw. Instead, Johnson said he has to cut across and down, finessing the saw to the plant's base.

Alongside the 25 members of the CCC and the volunteers from the mission were six Rotarians, as well as workers with the state Department of Water Resources and the state Department of Fish and Game.

The work can be dangerous. Jerry Drennan, a Rotary volunteer, suffered a deep gouge on his neck from a cut shoot of arundo that required six stitches Friday, Smith said.

Smith said it was the first time a worker in the arundo war had needed emergency help, although there have been a number of cuts, bumps and bruises.

"He'll have a battle scar," Smith said. #

The water wars rage unabated here in the northeast corner of California, where conservationists are fighting the Nestlé Co. over their plans to tap into a source near what is arguably the state's most pristine large river.

Nestlé, the country's largest bottled water company, could ultimately extract up to 520 million gallons of water from the McCloud River watershed each year. The McCloud is unique among California's larger rivers in that most of its water derives from springs located near the base of Mount Shasta rather than from rainfall or snowmelt.

Under the plan, the company could also bottle an unlimited amount of groundwater and would maintain rights to a dam on the McCloud River.

Opponents to the project say it could dry up local aquifers and deplete Squaw Valley Creek, a trout stream and the McCloud's major tributary. It has also been contended that Nestlé's deal may not be a sound one financially for the town.

Nestlé and its supporters counter that the bottling plant, planned for a 250-acre site that once supported the town's main lumber mill, would establish a sustainable industry in the economically depressed area, providing much-needed jobs and tax revenue. The impact to local water supplies would be negligible or nonexistent, according to Nestlé. The future of the project could be dramatically influenced on Tuesday, when three members are elected to the five-member McCloud service district board. There are six candidates running for seats -- three for the Nestlé project and three against. The two sitting board members not up for re-election support the project.

David Palais, a natural resources manager for Nestlé, which produces several brands of bottled water, including Poland Springs, the nation's No. 1 brand, said the company will monitor the water supply and has plans to prevent shortages in McCloud, an unincorporated town of fewer than 1,400 residents.

"We're planning to build a $128 million plant here. It's not in our interest to threaten that investment by depleting our water source," he said.

Opponents sued the company and the local water district for agreeing on a water delivery plan without first completing required environmental reports. A Siskiyou County judge ruled against Nestlé and the water district. An appeals court is expected to hear the case early next year.

Nestlé has since paid the Siskiyou County planning department to prepare an initial environmental report, which opponents argue is deficient. Curtis Knight, the northeast manager for California Trout, a wild fishery conservation group, said more data are needed to ensure that the aquifer and creek won't be hurt by the water-bottling operation.

And although most of the bottled water will come from excess flows into the town's water system, some opponents worry about the plan to bore into the aquifer to collect even more.

"The problem is that this is a fractured aquifer, with cracks running every which way," said Debra Anderson, chairwoman of the McCloud Watershed Council, a group opposed to the project. "You really don't know what large-scale drilling will do. People around here have sunk their wells too deep and they lost all their water -- it disappeared like it was going down a bathtub drain."

But Mike Stachner, the general manager for the McCloud Community Service District, said Nestlé's operation is unlikely to diminish water levels because of the tremendous amount available.

Stachner also downplayed the threat to the aquifer, an issue of some sensitivity for Nestlé. In Freyburg, Maine, where the company produces Poland Springs, residents have claimed the company is depleting the aquifer.

Tom Brennan, Nestlé's northeast water manager, said a city study found the Freyburg aquifer could be overdrawn if Nestlé and some smaller bottlers took the full amount of water allowed. The town is now working to adjust demands on the aquifer, Brennan said.

Freyburg and McCloud have more in common than superb water: Both are in rural areas with high unemployment. For some McCloud residents, the Nestlé plant looks like the town's last, best hope.

Resident Zane Mayer said the town hasn't been the same since the lumber mill closed in 2003.

"When it shut down, everything kind of dissolved. This is a blue-collar town, and we need blue-collar jobs to thrive," he said. "Right now, my daughter works at a deli -- minimum wage, no benefits. If she could get a job at Nestlé paying $10 an hour with benefits, she'd take it in a minute."

Many residents unhappy with the Nestlé plan say they aren't opposed to a bottling plant.

"I'm not anti-Nestlé," said Richard McFarland, a local businessman. "I'm pro-McCloud. If Nestlé came to the table with a good plan, I'd support it completely. But this isn't it.

Environmental risks aside, it doesn't make sense economically. It's a 100-year contract that contains no considerations for inflation or growth in the value of the (water)."

McFarland is one of the six candidates running in Tuesday's election for the McCloud service district board.

The race became even more heated last month after 1,000 political flyers for the anti-Nestlé candidates disappeared, apparently while in the U.S. Postal Service's possession.

The flyers returned to McCloud on Thursday with an Oct. 31 postmark from Oakland, two weeks after they were mailed, McFarland said Saturday. Earlier in the week, postal inspectors were in the towns of Redding, McCloud and Mount Shasta investigating the incident, he said. The probe continues, but postal inspectors could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Palais said Nestlé is open to further negotiation on the plant, no matter who wins Tuesday.

"We'll work with whoever is elected," he said. "We have no intention of trying to force our will on local residents." #

Federal agencies will hold a two-day workshop in February on the health of fish in the Klamath River, an issue that has become increasingly complicated and dire in the past few years.

The workshop will go over research into the distribution and habitats of disease hosts, rates of infections in salmon and how river flows play into the incidence of diseases. The conference at Humboldt State University follows a similar one last year, in which researchers outlined surprisingly high infection rates of diseases in salmon, and how a polychaete worm may pass diseases to fish in certain parts of the river.

The Klamath River has received attention in recent years for water shortages, fish kills and severe cuts to salmon fishing for hundreds of miles north and south of its mouth.

The workshop is being put on by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. University, tribal, state and federal scientists will share information during the session.

The meeting will be open to the public. A date has yet to be announced. #

A state water quality agency put the Klamath River on a list of troubled waters this week, this time for having too much sediment for its own good.

The lower reach of the river is now considered impaired for sediment, but it will be some time before a plan is formed to cut the amount of dirt that reaches the river and chokes salmon spawning grounds.

”We're just saying there is a problem there and it needs to be looked at,” said State Water Resources Control Board spokesman Chris Davis.

Davis said the listing was a cautionary approach, because they had been notified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that states don't have regulatory jurisdiction on tribal lands. The Yurok Reservation is a mile on each side of the river from its mouth to Weitchpec.

Davis said the EPA will determine if the river should be moved onto a federal list.

Kevin McKernan, environmental program director for the Yurok Tribe, said that it's good the state recognizes the tribe's jurisdiction.

”We agree with what the board said,” McKernan said. “We support the science and the science says it's impaired.”

The listing paves the way for a cumbersome process called Total Maximum Daily Load, which sets a limit for a pollutant, then develops a plan to meet the standard. That process can take many years.

In the meantime, the Yurok Tribe and Green Diamond Resource Co. have for years been working on retiring roads that bleed silt into the river and its tributaries and by replacing culverts with bridges.

Green Diamond Forest Policy Manager Gary Rynearson said he hopes its program will address the problem, which he imagined may cost more money to collect more information on sediment coming from roads and logging. He said he'd be concerned if additional regulations eventually came out of the decision.

”We think that we should already be addressing some of these sediment issues,” Rynearson said.

Retired surgeon and river advocate Denver Nelson sees sediment as a critical problem facing the struggling river, and was among those who pressed for the impaired designation. He believes it may be more important than removing dams or raising water levels, which tend to get more attention.

”Sediment is the cake,” Nelson said, “the dams are the frosting.” #

San Francisco Chronicle – 10/24/06
By Glen Martin

A federal judge has approved a historic agreement to restore water, fish and wildlife to the San Joaquin River.

Monday's announcement by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ends an 18-year legal battle between environmentalists and federal water regulators over the fate of California's second-longest river.

As a result, the San Joaquin will run year-round for the first time in more than five decades. Restoration plans for salmon runs, riverside forests and wildlife will be implemented as part of the accord.

"This will restore one of California's great rivers while preserving a strong agricultural economy in the south San Joaquin Valley," said Hal Candee, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group was the lead plaintiff in a coalition of conservation and fishery advocacy groups that sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over disposition of the river's water.

Candee said implementation of the accord will provide benefits throughout much of the state, including restored fish and wildlife populations, improved drinking water quality and enhanced recreational opportunities.

The river will start receiving permanent flows in three years, Candee said. #

The 10th annual American River Salmon Festival, held Saturday and Sunday at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, revolved around this spectacle. Though the festival was packed with more vendors and activities than ever, the fish ladder pulled visitors back again and again to see a ritual that predates them all.

"It's amazing how they come back to the same place," said Tammie Duke of Rancho Cordova, who watched the fish ladder action with her parents and granddaughter. "It's kind of like a family story, maybe, coming back to where their roots are, year after year."

Awesome though it is, the journey is not quite what nature intended. Salmon climb the fish ladder to spawn artificially in the state hatchery because dams blocked off their original habitat upstream. The dams provide people with water and power, and the salmon continue the journey, which might make the whole thing even more spectacular.

"You're looking at something that's been going on for eons, and it's in your backyard," said Wayne Webster, a California Department of Fish and Game scientific aide.

At least 23,000 people attended the two-day festival, held at the hatchery next to Nimbus Dam near Highway 50 and Hazel Avenue. That equals last year's total, though the same cannot yet be said for the salmon.

Biologists theorize that warmer ocean temperatures have delayed the bulk of the fall chinook salmon run. There were plenty of fish to energize the festival, but most of the run still waits for that mysterious signal from nature to begin moving upriver.

"That could change overnight," Webster said. "We could come in tomorrow and the river could be crawling with them."

The free festival is organized by the American River Natural History Association and the state Department of Fish and Game, along with dozens of private and government organizations and more than 500 volunteers.

The event included fishing and fly-tying instruction, boating demonstrations, hands-on science and art events for children.

There was wildlife education, too, including quirky teaching tools such as a "salmon croquet" course that follows the fish life cycle and a "Haute Trash" fashion show, in which models wore garments made from the sort of harmful refuse often found in the American River, such as garbage bags and punctured rafts.

A highlight, of course, is salmon eating. For the ninth year, the Department of Fish and Game offered a salmon barbecue staffed by volunteers. A half-pound salmon fillet, cole slaw, corn on the cob, bread and a drink could be had for $10.

Don Dickinson, culinary director at the Institute of Technology campus in Roseville, supervised 10 volunteers doing the cooking. They tended a pink mother lode of savory salmon fillets sizzling over three long barbecues.

The crew purchased 2,000 pounds of wild line-caught Alaskan salmon for the event, and Dickinson expected all of it to be gone by the end of the day Sunday. The fish were seasoned with only salt, pepper and olive oil.

"Highlighting the natural flavor of salmon is what it's all about," he said. "People appreciate that and they can really taste the fish."

Nearby, Frank Gist Jr. offered a traditional cooking demonstration. A member of the Klamath River Yurok Tribe, he tended fillets speared on redwood sticks poked into the sand around a low fire. Redwood, he said, leaves no aftertaste in the meat and doesn't burn easily.

His ancestors preserved a year's worth of salmon by turning it into jerky. The meat was seasoned with salt and pepper, he said, and hung from the rafters of a smokehouse for three days.

That's harder now, he said, because salmon aren't as plentiful. On the Klamath River, pollution, water diversion and dams have slashed salmon runs, bringing severe catch limits this year for commercial and recreational anglers.

"If it wasn't for events like this, people would have no knowledge of the fish," said Gist, who lives in Rocklin. "They'd just enjoy eating them, and then one day the fish would be gone."#

Redding Record-Searchlight – 10/27/06
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

Upset with the way the state Water Resources Control Board is writing wastewater permits, the head of a sportfishing group has unleashed a wave of protest.

Now, permits in the north state, including those for Shasta Lake's water treatment plant and Indian Springs Elementary School, have gotten caught in the riptide.

Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, has filed petitions with the water board, asking for the review of the two permits. He said the permits have flaws, including the permit for the 20-student school's geothermal heating system.

"I'm not really trying to pick on a little schoolhouse," Jennings said. "I'm trying to say that the water board needs to write better permits."

But Jim Pedri, assistant executive officer in the board's Redding office, said Jennings, who lives in Stockton, is protesting permits statewide in an effort to bog down the bureaucratic system.

"He's doing it just to make life hard on us," Pedri said.

The filing of the petitions forces the water board to take extra steps before approving permits, which it may order to be revised, he said. The extra steps mean extra time and extra work for the staff.

"We are talking thousands of thousands of dollars -- it takes a lot of work," Pedri said.

Jennings argues that it is work that needs to be done because the permits don't require the proper tests and allow for water harmful to fish to trickle down to the Sacramento River.

"These permits are just not very good," he said.

The permits were among nine that he challenged this month with the water board. Jennings said part of the problem is that the permits are created by a company based in Virginia.

While the permits are started by a company called Tetra Tech, which is based in Virginia and has offices in California, the board's staff finishes them, Pedri said. The company started both of the north state permits called into question because they were considered to be simple ones.

Both of the five-year permits, for the city of Shasta Lake and the elementary school, were renewals and involved minimal amounts of waste water, Pedri said.

The Shasta Lake water treatment plant has been in use for 12 years and filters water from Lake Shasta to provide drinking water for the city. The plant's permit hadn't been called into question until the latest renewal process, said Randy Stevens, senior water treatment plant operator.

Like Pedri, Stevens said he heard the petitions are a way to slow down the process.

"(Environmental groups) do it to everybody," he said. "It is pretty standard."

Depending on the water board's decision, Jennings said he could take the issue to court. #

Modesto Bee – 10/20/06
By Mark Grossi, staff writer

After 60 seasonally dry and desolate miles of the San Joaquin River get a year-round water flow in 2009, historians might call it the biggest river fix this side of the Mississippi.

But refilling the riverbed may not be the most challenging part of reviving the San Joaquin, the state's second-longest river. Scientists say the real test will be returning salmon by 2013.

Can the revival bring back two long-dead chinook salmon runs? Biologists think so. They say salmon restoration is not new science, citing projects on such well-known rivers as the Sacramento and the Columbia, and even San Joaquin tributaries, such as the Merced River.

Those rivers did not run dry, however. As far as state and federal agencies know, salmon restoration never has happened on a 350-mile river where 60 miles of the stream vanished for more than a half century.

"It won't be easy," said biologist Peter Moyle, a University of California at Davis researcher and authority on Pacific Coast native fish species.

Biologists, politicians watching

Biologists throughout the West will watch this project as closely as policy-makers in Washington and Sacramento.

Lawmakers are working on legislation to provide some money and guidelines for restoring the river and North America's southernmost salmon runs, which died in the late 1940s.

The revival, which will begin with studies over three years, follows the settlement last month of a monumental court fight between environmentalists and farmers.

The battle began in 1988, more than four decades after the federal government built Friant Dam northeast of Fresno. The government wanted the dam to prevent flooding and to store irrigation water.

The river downstream of Fresno became little more than a drainage canal for storm runoff, ground-water seepage and farm irrigation water.

Salmon will need a flowing, functioning river to swim 250-plus miles each year from the Pacific Ocean to spawn near Fresno.

The 1940s riverside forest is gone, replaced by farm fields in western Merced County.

Young salmon need shelter under streamside vegetation. Scientists said development of such habitat is part of the river's rebuilding process.

The restoration will have to get around vast gravel mining pits in the river near Fresno where predatory bass would feast on young salmon.

The cost of restoration probably will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Some believe the price tag will climb to $1 billion or more.

Scientists say they have a good start on the restoration. Tina Swanson, senior scientist for the advocacy group the Bay Institute, said biologists and engineers know a lot about the river.

She was part of a study team that looked at the San Joaquin from 1999 to 2003.

A key biological part of the studies focused on the two salmon runs — one that arrives in spring and one in fall, though spawning season for both often overlaps in autumn.

"We came to the conclusion that spring-run, rather than fall-run, would stand a better chance," she said.

The reason: Fall-run offspring, or smolts, depart for the Pacific Ocean in late spring when water temperatures climb and river flow slows. Smolts need cold water and a strong flow to get from the river to the ocean.

The spring-run smolts swim out earlier in spring when cold snowmelt flows stronger.

To start the salmon in the river, scientists might get stocks from Butte Creek in the northern part of the Central Valley, where a successful spring-run species exists.

Scientists prefer to focus the first restoration efforts on spring-run salmon. They believe the fall run may return on its own.

Other fish will return as well, Moyle said, mentioning such Central Valley species as the Sacramento sucker, the three-spine stickleback and a minnow called the hardhead.

"This is exciting," he said. "We're talking about fish that are found no place else in the world."

Hybrid offspring an issue

But the emphasis on starting the spring run worries one biologist who consults with the Merced Irrigation District on fish issues.

Dave Vogel said that before Friant Dam, the two runs remained genetically distinct because they spawned in different areas of the river.

But the spring run's historic spawning area was above the site for the dam and Millerton Lake, making it unavailable now.

That means both fish runs might lay eggs in the same area of the river downstream of the dam.

When both fish runs have spawned in the same area on other rivers, the result was a hybrid offspring and a declining spring-run.

"You could lose the spring-run," Vogel said. #

Stockton Record – 10/18/06
By Alex Breitler, staff writer

Cruising at a top speed of 3.5 feet per hour, this shelled speedster from New Zealand is a "very fast snail" indeed, the experts say.

But that has little to do with its rapid invasion of California streams and rivers.

Humans are to blame for allowing the New Zealand mud snail to hide in their boots or waders, escaping days or weeks later into new waterways.

For three years, biologists have been trying to stop the spread of this exotic species, which carpets sections of the Mokelumne and Calaveras rivers, among other waterways. The snail gobbles up the food needed by trout and salmon, potentially damaging fisheries into which millions of dollars have been invested.

Volunteers on the Calaveras River tacked up warnings to anglers over the weekend to take precautions ensuring they're not the next transport vehicle.

"The juvenile snails could be down in the (treads) of your boots, and you wouldn't be able to see them. And the adults can fit on the head of a matchstick," said Jim Inman, a fisheries expert who heads the Calaveras River Watershed Stewardship Group.

Mud snails that typically live in obscurity beneath rocks at the bottom of rivers gained unlikely notoriety in 2003 when officials announced their presence. Today it remains uncertain how far the snail has wandered and unclear whether it has harmed fish.

"To be able to determine the impact on fish, we would have to stop planting, stop fishing and measure the abundance of the fish," said James Navicky, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game. "It's very hard to tell."

In some waterways, up to 500,000 mud snails have been found in a single square yard. They reproduce asexually and prolifically: One snail dropped into the water could within a year's time multiply into a robust population of 40 million, the Fish and Game Department says.

In New Zealand, tiny parasites burrow into the mud snails and render them sterile, keeping the snails in check. Those parasites don't exist here, and when wolfed down by North American fish, the snails simply hide in their shells until they pass through the digestive system.

There is no way to overturn every stone and remove every snail, so officials are focusing on education. A little caution by anglers, biologists and anyone else who steps into an infested river can avert another invasion.

Among other measures, rivergoers should freeze their waders and other gear overnight to kill off any stowaways, Fish and Game says.

"We are asking them to do above and beyond the norm," Navicky said. "We don't have too many actions other than, 'Please help us.'"

No problem, said Steve Cooper, past president of the Delta Fly Fishers and a native Stocktonian. The snail hasn't been forgotten, and efforts to educate the fishing public continue, he said.

It's in every angler's interest to make sure the snail doesn't spread.

"If the bugs go, so goes the fly fishing," said Cooper, who soaks his waders in household cleaner to kill the snails. That method is supported by Fish and Game, though officials say it's important to make sure the cleaner doesn't enter a creek or stream.

Ken Davis, a Sacramento-based biology consultant who discovered the state's first mud snail in 2003, said postings such as this weekend's on the Calaveras must continue.

"Until we figure out what's going on with the mud snail and what impact they have," he said, "let's try and stop spreading them." #

San Diego Union-Tribune – 10/17/06
By Robin Hindery, Associated Press

CHICO – In a state where water disputes often have played out like old Sunday morning Westerns, Kevin Taylor is one of those who tries to keep the peace.

Taylor, a government “water cop,” enforces court-decreed water rights under the state watermaster program.

But his job and the program itself may be in for big changes as farmers and ranchers faced with the prospect of soaring water-use fees fight to wrest control from the state and put it in the hands of individual counties.

“I'm not against people looking to save money, but I'm not sure if they realize how complicated this can be,” said Taylor, a watermaster in far Northern California. “When you regulate water, you are taking food off a man's table and clothes off his kids' backs.”

The effort is a response to one of several recent attempts by the state Department of Water Resources to create revenue through consumer-financed programs.

Agency officials say public investment is necessary to secure the future of California's water supply. But those who object to the fees say they are the government's way of trying to fund their own projects without dipping into the state budget.

Amid escalating disputes over water rights, California in 1924 established the watermaster program, overseen by the Department of Water Resources. The program currently affects about 1,600 owners of water rights in Northern California – most of them farmers – from Napa to Siskiyou counties.

Watermasters measure stream flow and diversions to make sure water is allocated to users according to priorities and assigned rights. The service normally runs from April through September, during the peak irrigation season.

Until recently, the program's cost was split evenly between the department and the water users, who paid their annual fees through property taxes.

But a 2004 state Senate bill placed the financial burden solely on the water users. That year, the Department of Water Resources reevaluated its estimate of the eight-person program's cost, doubling it from about $800,000 to $1.6 million.

In 2005, the estimate increased again, to $2.2 million.

Jack Hanson, who runs a cattle and hay ranch near Susanville in Lassen County, said the proposed increases would have raised his annual water fees from about $876 to about $4,000.

“I don't know if it would have put me out of business, but it's another straw that goes on my back,” he said. “Each and every incremental cost squeezes us pretty hard.”

Bill Eiler, president of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau, said the soaring costs for the watermaster program would be unbearable for some farmers and ranchers.

“Many of them can barely afford what they've got laid on them already,” he said.

Various provisions in the state budget over the past two years have prevented the department from collecting on its proposed fees, temporarily aiding the farmers. The total program cost has remained steady at $780,000 for the past two fiscal years.

But officials in many counties don't want to wait until they have to bear the full cost. They have been working to transfer control of the program from the state to a local entity such as a resource conservation district.

County officials and farmers said the locally controlled programs would be less expensive.

Current fees pay the watermasters' salaries, as well as transportation costs, supplies and some of the operating costs of Department of Water Resources offices in Sacramento and Red Bluff.

Many area farmers and farm organizations question the need for higher watermaster fees and wonder if they are the department's way of trying to make up for recent budget cuts.

“We want to know how the DWR is coming up with these numbers,” said Tony Francois, director of water resources for the California Farm Bureau Federation. “After all, this is a six-month-a-year job and a relatively simple program.”

The DWR says the fees are legitimate and that the transfer of financial responsibilities was a necessary way of dealing with the larger challenge of meeting California's long-term water needs.

“We're trying to diversify how we invest in water resources in California,” said Jerry Johns, the department's deputy director of water planning and management. “Shouldn't beneficiaries of the water supply help pay for it?”

He said the department supports the idea of local control of the watermaster program, as long as it is funded by the users.

“We don't have a problem with that concept of a shift in control as long as (the counties) take control of everything,” Johns said. “We're either in it or we're not – no responsibilities, no liabilities.”

Johns acknowledged that local agencies likely could operate on a smaller budget than the state can, due to the department's high overhead costs.

But Taylor – whose service area encompasses Napa, Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties – said he worries about the ability to maintain the program's quality under local or private control.

“This isn't a job just anybody could do,” he said.

Looking for someone to blame when water is in short supply, irate landowners have even tried to assault him, Taylor said. He said he also worries that putting locals in charge of the program could lead to biased allocation of water.

“No one can get to me out here, and I'm not beholden to anybody,” he said while making his rounds at Butte Creek in Chico in late September. “But I can see how with someone else, there could be temptation.”

Under state law, water users in areas that are designated to be served by a state watermaster must participate in the program. County courts must approve any transfer in authority.

That process will be helped by a bill signed in September by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which makes it easier to transfer the watermaster program from the state to a local agency.

Such a change would be welcome to farmers such as Eiler, the county farm bureau president who also grows grain and hay on his land just south of the Oregon border.

“Right now, it feels like we're playing Russian roulette with the government, trying to figure out if they're going to protect us from these fees for another year,” he said. #

Stockton Record – 10/13/06
By Alex Breitler, staff writer

STOCKTON - As fish kills go, this one wasn't so bad. So said Kristen Rinaker, who stood on her backyard dock Thursday morning watching egrets take flight over the green, murky waters of Smith Canal.

"I've seen it when it's just coated with dead fish," said Rinaker, an attorney who belongs to the Friends of Smith Canal grass-roots advocacy group.

Rinaker and other neighbors whose homes line the canal say it happens almost every year: Scores of fish turn belly up after fall rains flush lawn fertilizer and toxic chemicals down Stockton storm drains.

At least, that's what Rinaker believes happened earlier this week when pockets of dead fish surfaced along the private docks that line the channel.

City officials said they cannot be certain what caused the latest die-off. But it came just days after the first precipitation of the fall season. Gutter runoff from a good portion of Stockton empties into Yosemite Lake, at the head of Smith Canal, where inches-long shad swim with larger bass and catfish.

Neighbors said the dead fish, first spotted on Monday, appeared to be shad. It was uncertain how many fish were killed; by Thursday, no carcasses could be seen in the water.

Stockton's Municipal Utilities Department Director Mark Madison said it was not clear if the deaths were related to last week's rainfall. But there were no reports of any hazardous spills in the area, and a sewage spill at the canal several months ago already had been cleaned up, he said.

"We are looking into it," Madison said. "Frankly, I don't have enough information to ascertain what caused it."

The state Department of Fish and Game was also called out to the canal earlier this week, but a warden was unable to find any dead fish, a spokesman for the department said Thursday.

Clues may be found downstream in the San Joaquin River, where officials are checking dissolved-oxygen levels.

Fertilizer and other contaminants in the river sometimes cause algae blooms. The algae decompose and, in the process, eat up oxygen supplies that are badly needed by fish.

Dissolved oxygen also has been a problem in Smith Canal.

"The fact is, all of the waterways in and around Stockton that receive runoff from the city are not healthy," said Bill Jennings, a longtime Delta advocate and head of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "Only through accelerated efforts to address the pollution flowing off city streets are we going to make headway."

Friends of the Smith Canal members met with city officials last month to talk about the recent sewage spill and other problems facing the channel.

The meeting was helpful, said Rinaker, who believes the general public bears the brunt of the blame for Smith Canal's condition following fall rains.

Educating people not to drop contaminants into storm drains could go a long way toward preventing future fish kills, she said.

"We live here together, so we all have to help," Rinaker said.

San Francisco Chronicle – 10/10/06
By Greg Lucas, staff writer

(10-10) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Proposition 84 would split $5.4 billion in bond money between a laundry list of water-related projects and spending on natural resources preservation and restoration, including $400 million for state parks.

Among the spending proposed on water projects, $1 billion would be used to increase the supply of local water throughout the state to reduce dependence on imported water. Another $525 million would be devoted to reducing water pollution and improving water quality.

More than $900 million of the bond would be spent on projects that protect or restore rivers, lakes and streams, and nearly $1 billion would be spent on coastal areas and wildlife conservation. State parks would receive $500 million for improvements and land acquisition, and local parks would split $400 million.

"California is blessed with great habitat, great rivers, great oceans, great marine life. Our rivers, our lands, our waters are as important to the vitality of California as the rest of the infrastructure of this state," said Mark Burget, California director of the Nature Conservancy, which donated $500,000 to the Prop. 84 campaign on July 6.

The bond was placed on the ballot independently of the five other publics works bonds -- Propositions 1A through 1E -- approved earlier this year by lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Burget and other backers say Prop. 84 complements the other public works measures with its investment in natural resources as well as its efforts to improve water quality and make regions of the state more self-reliant for their water.

Opponents, who have launched no campaign other than writing ballot arguments against the bond, say there isn't enough spending on water projects and that the environmental groups backing the measure benefit financially from its passage.

"This should be called the 'unwater' bond or the 'environmental protection bond' or the 'pay-to-play bond,' " said Bill Leonard, a member of the state Board of Equalization who signed the ballot argument opposing Prop. 84. "It's being falsely sold as a solution to California's water issues. It's anything but that."

Leonard said the foundations, conservancies and public interest groups that helped pay to gather signatures to place Prop. 84 on the ballot would be beneficiaries of loans and grants paid for by the bond.

"This is the most targeted pay-to-benefit ratio of any proposition I've seen," Leonard said.

Burget and the "yes" campaign say no money is specifically earmarked for any group supporting the bond. The bond does provide funding for a variety of existing state water and conservation programs, in which some of the bond's supporters are participants.

More than $1.3 million in contributions to the "yes" campaign come from the California Conservation Action Fund.

The largest single contribution to the fund came from the Peninsula Open Space Trust in Menlo Park, which gave $500,000. The Nature Conservancy donated $150,000 to the fund. The Save the Redwoods League, the National Audubon Society, the Big Sur Land Trust and the American Land Conservancy each donated $100,000

Nearly 20 percent of Prop. 84 -- $1 billion -- would be set aside for what the state calls "integrated regional water management."

Begun with proceeds from a $3.4 billion water bond approved by voters in November 2002, this grant program administered by the state Department of Water Resources is aimed at making various parts of the state less reliant on importing water from other areas of the state.

For example, projects that reduced water demand or increased recycling in Southern California would be candidates for funding because they would make the region less dependent on water flowing through the environmentally sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

"Our goal is to push decision-making and priority-setting down to these regions on how to spend these allocations," said John Woodling, project manager for the program at the state water department.

The state estimates that the bond measure could increase California's water supply by 1.2 billion acre-feet. One acre-foot is 325,853 gallons -- roughly the amount of water used by a family of four in one year.

Prop. 84 identifies 11 regions. The Bay Area would be eligible for $138 million, Los Angeles $215 million and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers a combined $130 million.

Various state land conservancies -- including California's newest and largest, the 25 million-acre Sierra Nevada Conservancy -- also receive funding in the bond. Sierra Nevada would get $54 million, its first major cash infusion.

State parks would receive $400 million for land acquisition or restoration and rehabilitation of existing parks, while programs that protect wildlife habitat and offer incentives to preserve ranch and farmland would receive $450 million.

The bond also earmarks $800 million for state flood-control projects, payments to local flood-control districts and a long-postponed mapping of the state's floodplains.

Proposition 84
Proposition 84 is a $5.4 billion bond measure, with $2.7 billion dedicated to a variety of water projects and the remainder to restoration and preservation of habitat, rivers and coastal areas. It is supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Association of California Water Agencies and various environmental groups.

What it does
Bond funds would be spent on programs and projects to improve water quality and supply, protect natural resources, improve state parks and finance regional land conservancies. Some funds would be given out by the state as loans or grants to local agencies or nonprofit organizations.

What it costs
Over 30 years, the bond would cost $10.5 billion to pay off principal and interest -- $350 million in annual debt payments.

Redding Record-Searchlight – 10/9/06
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

Getting a stream ready to serve as a salmon nursery isn't as gentle as it might sound. Forget softly spread gravel and tenderly planted greenery -- bring in the heavy machinery.

"To do cost-effective restoration, you try to use the same size of equipment to fix (a creek) as what did the damage," said John McCullah, head of the Sacramento Watersheds Action Group, a Redding-based nonprofit group.

When it comes to a one-third-mile stretch of Sulphur Creek between Market Street and a culvert under the Union Pacific rail line, the damage was done by dredges between 1880 and 1900 that literally turned the streambed over in search of gold. "It would be pretty hard for humans to go in and fix what a dredge damaged," McCullah said.

The repair, which started Saturday, will be done by a pair of excavators, two dump tucks and a water truck, he said. The cost of the project will be covered by a $400,000 grant from the state, much of which paid for permits.

In their wake, the dredges left behind tailings, mounds of gravel that were once at the bottom or below Sulphur Creek. Although the tailings are somewhat hidden by vegetation, they still block Sulphur Creek from its original channel and floodplain, McCullah said. The heavy-equipment work will be followed by plantings of willows, cottonwoods and other flora normally found lining streams in the north state. By next fall, McCullah said, the piles should be gone and the seasonal creek should be on its way to recovery.

Also set to be finished by next fall is a state Department of Fish and Game project to aid fish, mainly salmon and trout, trying to swim to the upper reaches of Sulphur Creek. The swim is made extremely difficult by the swift water in a culvert under the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

"Right now that is pretty tough for fish to get across," said Craig Martz, a DFG environmental scientist in Redding.

To get past the culvert, fish first have to jump three feet from the creek into the culvert and then swim 180 feet up a swift current that tries to push them back down the drop.

"Fish try and try to move upstream and they continually get blasted back," said Steve Baumgartner, a fisheries biologist with the DFG in Redding.

Next summer, DFG workers will install baffles, or small metal plates, that will break up the swift water in the culvert, he said. The baffles will create slack water where the fish can rest before they push upstream. The project is expected to cost $5,000 to $10,000.

The tailings and the culvert are the last two steps in restoring Sulphur Creek to a prime salmon spawning habitat, McCullah said.

Restoration of the creek's historic streambed near the McConnell Arboretum at Turtle Bay Exploration Park was completed last year. For more than 70 years, water flowed through an artificial channel that dried up faster than the original creek each spring, leaving fish trapped and eventually dead.

The effort to restore Sulphur Creek has taken 12 years and $1.6 million in grants. Once all the segments of the waterway are restored, there'll be 5½ miles of spawning grounds, stretching from the Sacramento River just east of the Sundial Bridge, under Market Street and to Walker Mine, northwest of Redding.

Martz said salmon are expected to take advantage of the restored stream. "They will actually be able to get up farther and use more of the stream for spawning," he said. #

Redding Record-Searchlight – 10/6/06
By Kimberly Ross, staff writer

Spilled tailings from a French Gulch mine drew a $37,500 fine Thursday from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board in Redding, Assistant Executive Officer Jim Pedri said.

A pipeline from the Washington mine broke June 24, dumping an estimated 5 tons of mining waste into Scorpion Gulch.

"This one was clearly accidental, but it's one that we felt that we had to issue a penalty for," Pedri said Thursday.

French Gulch (Nevada) Mining Corp., a subsidiary of Reno-based Bullion River Gold Corp., has 60 days to appeal the fine, Pedri said.

The gulch feeds French Gulch Creek and eventually flows into Clear Creek and Whiskeytown Lake, the board's senior engineering geologist Phil Woodward said.

Inadequate engineering and construction of the pipeline caused the break, dumping about 4,000 gallons of tailings, he said.

"It's just ground-up rock. But it's really fine-grain, ground-up rock," Woodward said. "It turns the water very cloudy and dirty. ... It also tends to smother out the aquatic life that lives on the bottom of the lake."

Local mine representative Paul Spor could not be reached for comment this week, but Bullion president Peter Kuhn said in August that the breach was his company's fault.

"We screwed up. We have to fix it," Kuhn said then.

Thursday, the water board levied the maximum fine allowed under state law, Pedri said.

The figure is based on the number of gallons discharged after the first 1,000 gallons spilled, and multiplied by $10 a gallon. In addition, the board can fine $10,000 for each day the problem exists -- in this case, one day, he said.

The spill contained some arsenic, but not enough to pose a public health hazard, Woodward said.

The faulty pipeline has since been removed and mining operations have continued and expanded, Woodward said.

Operators are draining water from the tailings and trucking them to a disposal area on the property instead of piping them away, he said. #

Riverside Press-Enterprise – 10/5/06
By Jennifer Bowles, staff writer

Environmental groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Game, saying the agency never studied whether stocking streams with hatchery-raised trout is harmful to native species already low in numbers.

"There are a number of native fish that are potentially at risk because of this stocking," said Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the lawsuit with the Pacific Rivers Council.

He said the trout compete for food and space with native fish, and they can also prey on them.

Greenwald said a review he conducted showed that trout were stocked last year in 47 bodies of water where 36 imperiled fish and amphibians live. They include the Santa Ana River, which runs through parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and is home to the Santa Ana sucker, a federally protected species; and Strawberry Creek, a tributary of the San Jacinto River, which is habitat for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog and arroyo toad.

Patrick Foy, a Fish and Game spokesman, said he couldn't comment on a lawsuit. He said he didn't think the agency had ever done an environmental analysis of its stocking program, although the agency has conducted extensive surveys of amphibians in the Sierras for that very reason.

Ralph Cutter, a fishing expert with the California School of Flyfishing in Nevada City, Calif., said hatcheries are sometimes valuable.

"But they also can be abused, and sometimes it's the easy thing to do -- to make fishing easy, when there's wild native fish that don't need the impact that hatcheries can have," said Cutter, who is not part of the lawsuit. #

A coalition of fishing groups on Wednesday sued the state Department of Water Resources, alleging the agency never obtained the proper legal authority to kill fish while exporting north-state water to Southern California.

Each year, thousands of fish die in pumps near Tracy in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Screens keep thousands more out of the pumps, but the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance claims DWR never obtained a permit that would set pumping rules and impose measures to restore the fish.

The so-called "take permit" is required under the California Endangered Species Act, or CESA, and would be issued by the state Department of Fish and Game. Fish species cited in the lawsuit are the endangered winter-run chinook salmon, and the Delta smelt and spring-run chinook, both threatened.

For the past 18 months, the finger-sized smelt has endured an unprecedented population crash. A team of scientists has not found the cause, but pumping operations are one suspect.

"Here we are with a downward spiral of Delta fisheries, in the midst of virtually an ecosystem collapse in parts of the estuary, and DWR has not complied with the full requirements of CESA," said Bill Jennings, executive director of the alliance. "It's amazing."

If upheld in court, the lawsuit could result in reductions in the amount of water exported or radical changes in the pumping routine to protect fish.

Jerry Johns, DWR deputy director, said he hasn't read the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it. But he explained that DWR believes it has authority to kill fish during water exports under other agreements. A key component, he said, is a change in the state Endangered Species Act, authorized by the Legislature in 1997, which allows such prior agreements to serve as compliance under the act.

The issue came to light in an August 2005 hearing convened by state Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, to investigate the smelt decline.

At the hearing, DWR Director Lester Snow testified that DWR does not have a state take permit for smelt, but said that authority does exist under a "patchwork" of other agreements.

Since then, DWR and the state Resources Agency have been developing an umbrella conservation plan for the Delta that would provide clear-cut compliance. That plan is expected to be finished in 2008.

Called a Natural Communities Conservation Plan, or NCCP, it would establish pumping rules and restoration goals for imperiled fish. It would also impose a mechanism for water users to pay for restoration, which does not exist now.

Contacted Wednesday, Machado said he remains "very concerned" about DWR's compliance with the act. "The patchwork that DWR has talked about -- I think they believe it's somewhat suspect because they're now working very diligently on an NCCP," he said. "If this (lawsuit) provides pressure to move in that direction, I applaud them for taking that action."

An initial hearing on the lawsuit is set for 8:45 a.m. Friday in Alameda Superior Court. #

Federal wildlife officials said Monday they plan to remove the valley elderberry longhorn beetle from the endangered species list.

A five-year review showed its fortunes have improved.

The dime-sized beetle, unique to the Central Valley, has been the bane of developers and flood-control officials since it was first listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1980.

Since it relies on a single host plant, the relatively hardy valley elderberry, hundreds of construction projects have been required to take extraordinary steps when encountering the shrub.

"Thank God. This is the happiest day of my career," said Joe Countryman, president of MBK Engineers, a Sacramento consulting firm that has repeatedly confronted the beetle issue. "It makes me want to cry to think of the amount of money that's been wasted on this thing."

The beetle's status was reported Monday as part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service review of 12 protected species in California. The beetle is the only one proposed for a complete delisting in its habitat.

Spokesman Al Donner said delisting is justified because the beetle now exists in 190 locations in the region, compared to 10 sites in 1980. Also since that time, about 50,000 acres of floodplain habitat have been protected to benefit the beetle.

"There was good reason at the time of listing to view the species as in peril," said Donner.

The proposal will not become final until after a federal rule-making process and public comment period. Donner could not say how long that will take.

In the meantime, rules protecting the beetle stay in place.

Jeff Miller, wildlands coordinator at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the claim of better fortunes for the beetle is not clear-cut. He said many of the newfound beetle populations are clustered, rather than dispersed throughout the beetle's range. Also, the population at each site is unknown, he added.

"They've found more sites, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to more population," said Miller. "For this species, I'm sure we would oppose delisting."

Marcel Holyoak, a University of California, Davis, professor of environmental science, said the university conducted the fact-gathering on the beetle under contract with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The decision to delist lies with the government, but Holyoak said "the best possible science" went into the status review.

That included reporting new threats, such as the invasive Argentine ant, which is becoming widespread and disruptive to beetle populations.

Also, it appears the beetle's host plant stopped reproducing along much of the Sacramento River since Shasta Dam was built.

"I'm surprised by the decision (to delist)," said Holyoak. "But given that there is a lot of habitat, and the beetle is widespread but not abundant within this habitat ... it doesn't seem like an unreasonable decision to me."

The beetle is important because it is an indicator for the health of riparian -- or river-adjacent -- habitat. More than 90 percent of that habitat has been lost since the mid-1800s. As the beetle's fortunes go, in short, so goes much of the valley's habitat.

"This has been kind of a flagship species that has resulted in protection and restoration efforts for riparian forests in California," said Ronald Stork, a senior policy advocate at Friends of the River. "Without that focus I'm concerned we may erase the gains we've made in recent years."

Because elderberry bush is vital to the beetle, its presence has been costly for construction projects near river corridors, especially flood-control projects. Countryman recalled a project near the Feather River that disturbed a single elderberry bush, requiring five acres of replacement habitat at a cost of $50,000.

To improve the Mayhew levee on the American River next year, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency must relocate 140 elderberry shrubs and plant 15 acres of new elderberries, said Executive Director Stein Buer.

Delisting might make some projects easier, he said, but his agency will always strive to improve riparian habitat regardless.

"What we hope the outcome will be if there is a delisting is that it will allow us to collaborate on species recovery without having to jump through so many hoops," Buer said. "We'll get to the same goal more quickly." #

Chico Enterprise – Record – 10/3/06
By Heather Hacking, staff writer

Members of the Butte-Sutter Basin Area Groundwater Users group hope that people who use and/or care about groundwater will show up for meetings being held today in Oroville and Durham about a proposed regional water management plan.

Northern California Water Association (NCWA) and Butte County are currently working on a grant application to help develop what is called the Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.

The plan covers all or part of eight counties and would help lead the way that the Northern Sacramento Valley deals with surface water, groundwater, operation of Shasta and Oroville lakes, water conservation, flooding, etc.

The groundwater group, recently resurrected with the same name of a group formed in the early '90s, is urging people to attend the meeting with NCWA tonight to try to have the grant application changed to reflect several concerns and/or get the county not to sign on to the document as it is currently written.

The grant could lead to a second phase of water bond funding, where Butte County and NCWA are working toward $25 million in water management projects.

Butte-Sutter Basin board members Samantha Lewis and Mark Montgomery spoke with the Enterprise-Record at length last weekend. Both farmers and groundwater users, the two said they are worried about the plan, which calls for 61 wells throughout the northern Sacramento Valley.

Montgomery and Lewis said these sound like production wells, which makes both nervous that large-scale groundwater pumping is coming. They want more monitoring wells and more scientific studies as to how pumping could affect groundwater users.

The two think a deadline of Oct. 16 for public input on the grant proposal is too short of a time to have concerns addressed.

At the heart of the group's concerns is the lower Tuscan aquifer. At some places, the aquifer is accessible by rather shallow wells, but in other places in the valley, water users must dig wells as deep at 1,000 feet to access it.

Although California Water Service, well owners in the Cherokee Strip and Orland Artois Water District, among others, all have wells in the Lower Tuscan, the aquifer is not tapped as much as it could be in the future.

In the past, Lewis and Montgomery said, people who used groundwater thought they just needed to pay attention to whether a neighbor pumped water that affected their wells. Now, the region is learning that the aquifer covers much more territory.

"The bathtub is now understood to be much larger," Lewis said.

"Now we have a very strong need to coordinate the usage," Montgomery said.

Upon studying much of the plan, Montgomery said he does not think the current planning document is specific enough about saying exactly how much water will be pumped.

"That's one of our reasons for feeling that their plan is insufficient. These lists (of wells) are not specific enough," he said.

Montgomery said that NCWA represents primarily surface water user, and he is uncomfortable with what he sees as using surface water to meet the state's needs and replacing it with groundwater.

"Butte County, in the plan, is charged with protecting the recharge zone. But Butte County really isn't benefiting from all the water that lowers the lower Tuscan," Montgomery said. The majority of the big wells proposed are in other counties, he continued.

"Butte County and our Water Commission have virtually no control over this," he said. "It all will be managed by 'big brother.' NCWA is saying 'don't worry. We're looking out for all our interests,'" Montgomery said.

Butte-Sutter Basin organizer Barbara Hennigan has been very vocal in her wariness of the plan. This week she sent out an e-mail urging people to show up to the meeting with signs that say things such as: "The Lower Tuscan Aquifer is not for sale."

Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance director Susan Strachan has also circulated e-mails urging people to attend the meeting to show that a broad range of people are concerned about the issue, and not just a handful of activists.

During several conversations about the water plan, NCWA leader David Guy has said the plan has built-in safeguards to ensure that water is not overtapped, and that the point is to pull all of the counties together to move forward with water management in a way that protect local water users. #

Redding Record-Searchlight – 9/30/06
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

A north state American Indian tribe says its hopes of seeing salmon swim up a dam-free Klamath River were buoyed this week by a federal judge's findings.

"We are kind of celebrating," said Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Karuk Tribe of California, whose headquarters is in Happy Camp along the river.

But PacifiCorp, the company that owns the hydroelectric dams, says the structures should stay.

Company officials think salmon should be trapped and then hauled in trucks to their former spawning beds to test how the salmon react.

The hydroelectric project produces enough electricity to supply 70,000 homes, company spokesman Dave Kvamme said.

"That's a pretty big neighborhood," he said.

The Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp had challenged the science behind a federal mandate to build fish ladders, or concrete structures that allow fish to pass around or over a dam, on four of its dams on the Klamath as part of a new operating license. In her review, Administrative Law Judge Parlen L. McKenna wrote that installing fish ladders would benefit the salmon, opening up 58 miles of river.

Although McKenna didn't touch on the topic of dam removal, Tucker said the economical choice for the company to make between dam removal and putting in fish ladders would be dam removal.

"It looks pretty clear to me that dam removal is the better out for them," he said. "It's like they have a 1974 Ford Pinto and it can't pass smog (checks). So they can spend a lot of money and get it to pass smog, or buy a new Prius and be ready for the future."

PacifiCorp is in the lengthy process of renewing its 50-year federal license on the dams with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and received support from FERC's staff earlier this week for its plan to truck salmon upriver to test the Klamath waters.

Kvamme said the tests could lead to fish ladders eventually, but only if water quality along the river and in Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon is found to support salmon. The cost of putting in fish ladders is estimated to be $250 million.

"You are betting if you build fish ladders and screens they are going to be successful," Kvamme said.#