Editorial: New roadmap to a healthy future for the Delta; Delta Vision task force's report lays out a course of action; will the governor lead?
Sacramento Bee – 12/30/07

The multiple perils that threaten the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta look much like those that endanger the Everglades, the Chesapeake Bay and other estuaries around the world.

Fisheries are declining. Urban encroachment is adding to the historic loss of wetlands. Exotic species are forcing out native ones. Polluted runoff is contributing to the meltdown of fragile ecosystems.

Yet California's Delta faces some stresses that set it apart from other estuaries. Unlike its counterparts in Maryland or Florida, the Delta is a direct source of drinking water for 25 million people. Farms in the San Joaquin Valley also are highly dependent on this water. Those demands add to the challenge – and the urgency – of restoring the Delta, which many scientists say is on the verge of collapse.

Is California ready to grant the Delta the recognition and protection it deserves? It might be, especially if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders heed the final report of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Released this month, this report seeks to elevate the status of the Delta as a "unique and valued" place, one where ecosystem restoration and a reliable water supply should be "primary, co-equal goals."

This hasn't always been the case. For decades, the state has allowed powerful interests to treat the Delta as a plumbing valve and a real estate venture instead of a sensitive estuary. Although millions have been spent on supposed restoration, much of it has been frittered away. All the while, the volume of water pumped from the Delta has gone up steadily.

The Delta Vision task force, appointed by the governor and chaired by former Sacramento mayor and legislator Phil Isenberg, urges a new course. In 12 recommendations – see http://deltavision.ca.gov/ – the task force notes that a revitalized Delta "will require reduced diversions, or changes in patterns and timing of those diversions … at critical times."

It also concludes that new facilities for storage and conveyance will be needed "to better manage California water resources."

Not surprisingly, interests on both sides of the water divide moved quickly to quash those proposals.

Environmentalists questioned the need for more storage. Meanwhile the State Water Contractors and Westlands Water District took aim at the suggestion that reduced diversions are needed. The latter claimed the public won't support spending billions on the Delta "to get less water."

Last week saw the death of former State Water Resources Director David Kennedy, who was widely respected for his knowledge and ability to bridge gaps. More than ever, the state needs a modern-day David Kennedy who can break through the impasses and pursue "co-equal" protections for both the environment and water reliability.

Schwarzenegger could serve this role. Yet to date, he has been far too aligned with the water siphoners of the Delta to forge broad consensus. If the governor embraces the recommendations of his task force – all of them – it will show where he stands. But if the Delta Vision report ends up collecting dust, or getting picked apart, it will mean business as usual in the water world: deadlock, an outcome the state can't afford. #

Capital Press – 12/21/07

The largest agricultural water district in the nation has become a habitat helper. Westlands Water District, which serves the sprawling 600,000-acre area of farms along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, has just closed escrow on a 3,450-acre tract of farmland in the southern portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The district intends to farm part of the land and turn the rest into upland habitat and tidal wetlands for at-risk fish species like the Delta smelt, according to Tom Birmingham, Westlands' general manager.

"We're trying to solve a problem that is of critical importance, not just for agriculture, but also for 25 million Californians who get drinking water and water for irrigation from supplies conveyed through and pumped from the Delta," Birmingham said in a statement.

The tiny smelt has become the "canary in the coal mine" to environmental groups that have pushed for curtailed water exports from state and federal pumps near Tracy. Efforts to protect the smelt led a federal judge to order a shutdown of pumps in August to help the federally protected native fingerling. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger issued his final ruling Dec. 14 that will mean sharply reduced water pumping until new federal biological permits are obtained approximately a year from now. His ruling means that up to one-third of the water that normally flows through the Delta to farms and cities will be cut off. His decision is expected to fallow farmland and cause severe conservation measures in urban areas.

"Saving the Delta smelt is an issue of self-preservation for most of California," Birmingham said. "Regulation of the state's water supply projects alone hasn't worked, and as a public agency with responsibility for providing water for more than 500,000 acres of farmland, the District's Board of Directors decided we need to act directly to help solve a critical problem."

Jerry Johns, a deputy director at the California Department of Water Resources, told Capital Press that he is impressed with Westlands' decision.

"It is gratifying that Westlands is willing to step forward and is trying to make progress," Johns said. The land purchased by Westlands is considered prime real estate for smelt habitat, according to Johns. He noted that about 20 stakeholders have been meeting regularly with government officials on a Bay-Delta conservation plan that will provide better fish protection for at-risk fish species while also helping water supply reliability for water projects which operate under state and federal environmental laws.

Projects such as the one Westlands is undertaking to use land in a floodplain, Johns said, could provide "more productivity to the system and provide better food and habitat for delta smelt during important life stages."

It is generally agreed that the Delta's ecosystem and water management operations are in crisis. Management of water in the Delta is precarious enough, but the state's lingering drought has only made water supply less reliable and the future of smelt and other fish species less certain.

State Water Resources Director Lester Snow, in a statement on Wanger's final ruling, said "The Delta is indeed broken, both environmentally and as a source of water for most of California's people, businesses, industry and millions of our most productive farmland," he said. Snow continues to lobby support for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to invest billions of dollars in new surface and groundwater storage, and long-needed improvements in the Delta's deteriorating ecosystem.

"The need for the Governor's plan has never been greater," Snow said.

While state leaders and lawmakers continue their debate about how to best forge ahead on fixing the state's water works, action by Westlands Water District is commendable, progressive and responsible.

Obviously, more needs to be done to help Delta smelt and other fish species reverse course.

Much needs to be done to add flexibility and capacity to the state's water system.

But at least Birmingham's directors have shown by their actions that doing something positive to find a solution. #

News Release: Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force – 12/17/07
Contact: Keith Coolidge (916) 445-0092, (916) 275-6809 (cell)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. --The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force today submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 12 linked recommendations and several proposed near-term actions to protect the Delta ecosystem and the state’s water supply.

The Delta formed by California’s two largest rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, is the largest estuary on the West Coast and the hub of the state’s water systems. California’s Delta increasingly has become a center of controversy as federal, state, and local governments and private entities have sought to make use of its resources.

“We've got to turn the water debate in California on its head to make any progress. We can't keep hitting brick walls," said Task Force Chair Phil Isenberg. “The Delta is in crisis and each day brings us closer to a major disaster, be it from flooding, from the decline of important fish species, or from court-ordered reductions in the amount of water that can be pumped for the state’s water supply.”

Governor Schwarzenegger appointed the seven-member Task Force in February to develop a long-term sustainable Vision for the Delta by the end of the year, and an implementation plan by October 2008.

“We started from the premise that the Delta ecosystem and a reliable water supply for the state are co-equal values, and that conflicts between them should be resolved by applying the state constitutional principles of ‘public trust’ and ‘beneficial use,’” said Isenberg.

From there the Task Force recommends a significant increase in conservation and water system efficiency, new facilities to move and store water, and likely reductions in the amount of water taken out of the Delta watershed. The Task Force also recommends a new governing structure for the Delta that would have secure funding and the ability to approve spending, planning and water export levels.

In addition, the Task Force recommends several near-term actions. These focus on preparing for disasters in or around the Delta, including emergency flood protection and disaster planning, protecting the Delta ecosystem and water supply system from urban encroachment, and making immediate improvements to protect the environment and the system that moves water through the Delta.

Task Force members cautioned that their recommendations are linked and meant to be implemented together. In their cover letter to Governor Schwarzenegger they noted that “The Delta cannot be ‘fixed’ by any single action. No matter what policy choices are made, we Californians are compelled to change the ways we behave toward the environment and water.”

Addressing the inevitable questions about water conveyance facilities the Task Force members wrote: “For those who rush to discuss Delta water conveyance as if no other issue is of importance, we caution that decisions about storage and conveyance flow from all twelve recommendations in our Vision, and cannot be decided by themselves. To that end, we have recommended an assessment process focused on dual conveyance as the preferred direction, allowing an ultimate decision which fits into the other elements of this Vision.”

Developed during 14 days of public Task Force meetings since March, the full report is available at www.deltavision.ca.gov. In addition to Isenberg, Task Force members are: Monica Florian, Richard M. Frank, Thomas McKernan, Sunne Wright McPeak, William K. Reilly, and Raymond Seed. #

Central Valley Business Times – 12/18/07

Immediate and coordinated action is needed to preserve California’s major source of water, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, says a report from a the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force.

The report makes 12 recommendations and several proposed near-term actions to protect the Delta ecosystem and the state’s water supply. About 23 million Californians – from the Central Valley and Bay Area to Southern California -- get at least some of their water from the Delta.

“The Delta is in crisis and each day brings us closer to a major disaster, be it from flooding, from the decline of important fish species, or from court-ordered reductions in the amount of water that can be pumped for the state’s water supply,” says Phil Isenberg, chairman of the task force, which was appointed in February by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to develop a long-term sustainable vision for the Delta by the end of the year, and an implementation plan by October 2008.

The Delta, formed by California’s two largest rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, is the largest estuary on the West Coast and the hub of the state’s water systems.

The report says the recommendations are linked and meant to be implemented together. “The Delta cannot be ‘fixed’ by any single action. No matter what policy choices are made, we Californians are compelled to change the ways we behave toward the environment and water,” the task force says in a letter to the governor.

“New facilities for conveyance and storage, and better linkage between the two, are needed to better manage California’s water resources for both the estuary and exports,” the report says.

It says major investments should go to strengthen selected levees, improve floodplain management, and improve water circulation and quality.

It also says that the current boundaries and governance system of the Delta must be changed. “It is essential to have an independent body with authority to achieve the co-equal goals of ecosystem revitalization and adequate water supply for California — while also recognizing the importance of the Delta as a unique and valued area. This body must have secure funding and the ability to approve spending, planning, and water export levels,” the report says.

With some 400,000 people living on land reclaimed over the past century from what was the original Delta, the report also calls for restrictions on further development.

“Discouraging inappropriate urbanization of the Delta is critical both to preserve the Delta’s unique character and to ensure adequate public safety,” it says.

The report urges immediate action.

“This is the time to act. The difficult choices we face today will become even more difficult in the future. Procrastination will result in irretrievable losses: severe reductions in water uses and severe damage to the estuarine ecosystem,” it says. #

Redding Record Searchlight – 12/18/07
By Dylan Darling, staff writer

Jeremy Notch's arms aren't as tired as they usually are this time of year.

A field technician with the state Department of Fish and Game, Notch spends late fall spearing carcasses of spawned out salmon in the Sacramento River near Redding. This year, there have been fewer for him to spear than normal.

"Compared to last year, it's pretty bad," he said.

The low carcass count is just one of many signs that this year's fall run of chinook salmon on the Sacramento has been down, said Doug Killam, associate fisheries biologist in DFG's Red Bluff office.

Another is low returns at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery on Battle Creek near Anderson, he said.

About 20,000 to 25,000 fall-run chinook made it into Battle Creek this year after their several-year trek to the ocean and back, said Scott Hamelberg, Coleman's manager.

The largest return on record was 400,000 in 2002. In 2005, there were 150,000 salmon and last year 75,000 returned to Battle Creek.

Despite the huge drop, there were more than enough for the hatchery to meet its spawning goals, he said. The hatchery brought in 10,000 chinook this fall and will be able to release about 12 million tiny salmon fry in April.

Of those salmon, Hamelberg said, biologists expect one in a hundred to make it back in three years.

"They face a lot of dangers out there," he said.

It's those dangers out in the ocean that could be the cause of this year's drop, said Killam, Hamelberg and Peter Adams, fisheries investigations chief in the National Marine Fisheries Service office in Santa Cruz.

"Obviously something is going on in the ocean, but we don't know what," he said.

Possible problems include higher water temperatures and food supplies at sea.

Adams said this year's commercial and recreational salmon hauls off the state's coast have been low, with the recreational catch one of the lowest ever.

Back on the river, it's also been a slow year for recreational salmon fishing, Killam said.

He said many fishing guides this year weren't able to double book -- which means having a customer set to go out in the morning and another in the afternoon, each allowed to catch two salmon -- because it's been hard to catch the limit this year.

"Last year, it was easy for guides to catch the limit," he said.

A guide for 10 years on the Sacramento, J.D. Richey, owner of J.D. Richey Sportfishing in Sacramento, said he has seen good and bad years on the river. This year has been bad, real bad.

"It's been the worst year I've ever seen," he said. #

On frosty fall mornings and brilliant spring days, millions of Californians splash into the state's waterways seeking fish that they can hook, fight to possess – and then set free.

In their drive to preserve fish for future generations, "catch-and-release" anglers may also be changing species in uncharted ways.

Biologists are certain that releasing fish helps sustain populations that would falter if those fish were eaten. But they know much less about how repeated releases may affect breeding, behavior and more.

"We are making more docile bass," smaller and less able to defend their nests, said Dave Philipp, a scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey who studies the effects of angling on reproductive success.

Milton Love, a research biologist at UC Santa Barbara, calculated that for certain long-lived fish, even a few catch-and-release deaths can multiply into a serious problem if the same animals are caught over and over for years.

Love, who has fished since he was 5, worries when he hears recreational anglers, proud that they've released a fish for posterity, imply that they have no impact on fisheries.

"That's still an open question," Love said. He has urged more studies to help determine "at what point does the mortality rate, even if it's very small, begin to catch up with the population?"

Another open question – which troubles some anglers as well as animal-rights activists – is whether fish feel pain.

"I think they do feel pain. I'd be kidding myself if they didn't," said Kurt Bailey of Sacramento, who cares enough about fish to have trekked down to the Delta on a bitterly cold morning earlier this month to help save striped bass stranded on Prospect Island.

When he's not in rescue mode, Bailey fishes off the coast for rock cod and tuna, inland for black bass, and where he can for salmon and steelhead. He eats some and frees others, but he wonders about the ones he lets swim away.

"One thing I've thought about, when you let them go, do they survive? How messed up mentally are they? If someone did that to me, I'd be stressed out," Bailey said.

So are the fish.

Their hearts pound faster and pump more blood. Stress hormones such as cortisol increase. Lactate, the same waste product that can give humans muscle cramps after exercise, builds up.

For many species, the effect dissipates in two to four hours, said Cory Suski, a professor of fish physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Suski compares the physical effects of angling to a human exercising hard. Just like a person who runs a marathon, a fish will recover, he said.

It is a comparison that does not sit well with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

"Every parent who fishes is telling their kids that it's fun to torment and abuse animals," said Lindsay Rajt, manager of the group's factory farming and vegan campaigns.

"There are a variety of ways to enjoy the outdoors that don't involve hooking a live animal by the mouth and dragging them into an environment where they can't breathe," she said.

Yet there is no scientific certainty on what a fish actually feels.

"Even the world's most renowned expert in pain can't tell you if a fish feels pain," said Steve Jinks, a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at UC Davis Medical School.

"Pain is a very subjective sensation and involves other emotional processing," said Jinks, who has done research on an eel-like fish called a lamprey.

Those who argue against fish pain rely on a medical definition that describes it as an emotional experience.

You can't have emotion without consciousness, and fish don't have a complex enough brain for consciousness, said James D. Rose, a retired University of Wyoming neuroscience professor who is one of staunchest advocates of the idea that a fish can feel no pain.

When a fish flinches, grunts or moves away from something that we imagine might hurt, what we're seeing is simply a reflex that relies on nociception, the nerve system that detects and reacts to noxious stimuli, he said.

Yet fish clearly benefit from pain medication, said aquatic veterinarian Scott Weber, a UC Davis professor who has operated on fish tumors, cataracts and other disorders with and without analgesia.

The fish that got pain medication returned to feeding and normal behavior much sooner than those that didn't, Weber said.

In the wild, it's incredibly difficult to design experiments that can fully assess the impacts of being caught and released, say those who spend their careers studying fisheries.

We have really good data on only five species – largemouth bass, walleye, striped bass, Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, according to a 2005 study by Suski and co-author Steven Cooke.

That's out of an estimated 28,000 species of fish worldwide.

Mortality after release can range wildly, from zero to 89 percent, according to the 2005 study.

In California, about 95 percent of freshwater trout survive on release, with warm water fish such as catfish and bass doing better and anadromous fish such as salmon – which migrate from the sea to breed in fresh water – doing worse, said Dave Lentz, a senior fishery biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game.

"Catch and release has been successfully used for many decades," Lentz said, keeping fisheries far more robust than if all those fish had been taken home for food. In 2006, California issued more than 2 million recreational fishing licenses, and studies have estimated that recreational fishing pumps more than $5 billion into the economy.

Over the years, anglers have learned how to reduce death rates, choosing hooks, lures and other gear that put less stress on fish, and being especially careful when waters warm up and make fish more vulnerable.

"Fishers are keenly aware of these things," said Chris Lowe, a marine biology professor at Long Beach State University. "They go to the library, they go online, they do their homework. They tell me, 'I'm really worried about fish populations.' "

Al Kroeger, a Sacramentan who spent Saturday taking a friend's son on his first fishing trip, said he's constantly on the lookout for the best strategies to boost fish survival.

"I enjoy it so much, I want to pass it on to future generations," Kroeger said.

Many researchers say that passion among anglers is why more information about the effects of catch and release is especially important.

Among the cautionary tales is the one that Illinois scientist Philipp tells about largemouth and smallmouth bass. In both species, males make a nest and tend the fertilized eggs and young, hatched fry for several weeks. If the male is pulled from the water, predators can destroy half the offspring in five minutes and 90 percent in just 10.

A bass caught and released while it is caring for young often cannot return to its nest in time or abandons the few offspring left. That means it is removed from the gene pool for that breeding season. The bass fathers whose fry survive tend to be smaller, more docile fish that are less likely to strike at an angler's hook, Philipp has found in comparative studies of fished and less-fished lakes.

"We are putting selective pressure on every bass fishery around and selecting for the least aggressive fish," he said. "It probably means they're not as good defenders of their babies … which can't be good for the population."

Most other fish are not as well studied, so we don't know which ones might lose their ability to spawn or produce less viable eggs because they've been caught and released, he said.

"Any fishing during the reproductive period of a fish is probably a bad idea," Philipp said. #

Sacramento News and Review – 12/13/07
By Jennifer Davidson, staff writer

Eight miles of the American River stretching between Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael and the Nimbus Dam in Rancho Cordova are all that remain of a once robust 125 miles of Chinook salmon spawning habitat in the Central Valley.

Although California’s salmon populations have declined since early settlers colonized the region 150 years ago, nothing has had a greater impact on the species than the construction of the Folsom and Nimbus dams.

In the 1940s, Congress identified the untamed spirit of the Sacramento River as a flood hazard to the region and ordered the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to dam the river and regulate its flow. The dams were designed to complement a growing population’s infrastructure with flood control, energy generation, drinking water for nearly 1 million people and a culture of aquatic recreation that is a signature of our region, said Jeff McCracken of the Bureau of Reclamation. However, the salmon would lose more than 100 miles of precious habitat in the deal.

To compensate for the habitat loss and the direct impact on the species, the Bureau of Reclamation provided funds to build and operate the Nimbus Hatchery, built in 1955 at the time of Folsom Dam’s completion, to artificially spawn and raise Chinook salmon to propagate declining wild species, McCracken explained. As part of its mitigation, the Bureau of Reclamation is required to meet minimum flow levels in the American River, as well as water quality criteria and regulation of temperature for salmon populations. The bureau works with the California Department of Fish and Game to implement these requirements.

“The dam allows us to keep the American River flow up by releasing excess water into the river when it gets extremely low during the dry season,” McCracken said. Minimum flow levels stimulate salmon to migrate and help maintain clean spawning grounds and overall water quality by washing away pollutants and sediment.

For cold-water species such as salmon, temperature is imperative to its reproductive cycle. Five years ago, the Bureau of Reclamation installed a device to allow cold water to be withdrawn from the bottom of the reservoir and released into the river to meet temperature requirements for salmon migration, McCracken explained. Though this year, salmon ready to spawn returned to Nimbus Hatchery later than usual due to warmer river temperatures.

In November, the river temperature reached the required 61 degrees Fahrenheit for spawning and the first fascinating, but brutal, egg-take and fertilization of the season finally took place at the hatchery. In a little less than one year, these newly fertilized pea-sized, bright orange eggs will be among 32 million, 6-inch salmon smolt raised at the hatchery and ready for release.

As part of the management strategy, some of the smolt are released into the American River at the hatchery, while the majority of the 32 million are trucked and released at key locations in the Delta and Bay Area, close to the Pacific Ocean, explained Harry Morse, Public Information Officer for the California Department of Fish and Game.

“This reduces the in-river mortality rate of the smolt and ensures that most of the fish will make it to the ocean,” he said. A smolt’s journey downstream is the most perilous leg of a salmon’s life. The staggeringly low rate of salmon that return to the hatchery to spawn makes this management strategy imperative to propagate the species as efficiently as possible.

“We see less than 1 percent and sometimes less than one-half of 1 percent return rate,” Morse said. On the low end, that’s fewer than 160,000 fish out of 32 million that are genetically pre-determined to return to Nimbus Hatchery.

Solving the mystery of salmon’s declining numbers challenges even the best Ph.D.s in the field, according to Morse.

Loss of habitat due to dam construction poses the greatest threat, though biologists target sedimentation, altered stream flow, loss of streamside vegetation, rise in water temperature and pollution—all the result of human activity—as the categorical biggies that account for dozens of complex threats to the species.

The Department of Fish and Game will soon undertake a major project to tag a quarter of the salmon raised and released at the hatchery to track where they go and how many survive to help biologists understand what is happening to the hatchery stock, Morse explained.

While the conundrum has captured the attention of the scientific community, there is still plenty the average citizen can do. One of the easiest methods to protect the health of salmon and waterways is to prevent pollution through storm drains, which empty directly into rivers without receiving treatment. Animal and green waste, trash, motor oil, detergent from washing cars and residual pesticides from lawns are typical storm drain pollutants.

“A pollutant itself may not directly kill a salmon,” Morse said, “but it can destroy or affect small invertebrates and plant life,” which in turn impacts the food supply and alters the landscape of sensitive salmon habitat.

Most importantly, Morse pointed out that to save the salmon, we must generate a collective voice that understands the needs of the species and recognizes its value as a natural resource with historical and cultural importance, and a species that deserves its place on the planet.

Salmon are arriving at the hatchery daily, completing their journey from the Pacific Ocean and ready to spawn. Come face to face with these magnificent creatures and watch them make their way up the ladder into the hatchery. The Nimbus Hatchery is located near Hazel Avenue and Highway 50, off Gold Country Boulevard and is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Call (916) 358-2820 for more information. #

Eureka Times Standard – 12/13/07

History holds many lessons for us, and current efforts to force the federal government to honor its financial commitment to a healthy Trinity River conjure up many of them.

The U. S. push westward left behind it many broken treaties with Indian tribes, such as the 1877 seizure of the Black Hills of South Dakota (yes, home of the noble monument at Mount Rushmore), despite a treaty that recognized the Sioux Nation as owner in perpetuity.

In southeastern California's Owens Valley, the 1920s “water wars” pitted valley farmers against the city of Los Angeles, which coveted the rural area's water for itself. Once verdant, the Owens Valley now features a dried-up lake and alkali dust storms. (This tragedy was immortalized in the movie “Chinatown”.)

Also in the 1920s, in northern California, the Hetch Hetchy Valley -- said to be even more beautiful than Yosemite Valley -- was dammed and filled with water to provide a reservoir for San Francisco, despite protests by John Muir and other early environmentalists.

Even closer to home in 1964, the Lewiston Dam began diverting Trinity River water to the Central Valley. The Bureau of Reclamation promised Congress that 45 percent of the water would stay in the Trinity to sustain its abundant salmon and steelhead populations.

That turned out to be a lie. Up to 90 percent of the flow was sent south. Not only did this have a tragic effect on the Trinity itself, depleting the fishery by 80 percent, but the Trinity is the only Klamath River tributary producing harvestable quantities of endangered species of salmon. The Klamath, in turn, is an economic lifeline for native people as well as for commercial and sport fishermen for 900 miles along the California and Oregon coast.

Then in 1992, Congress approved a law to fix rivers damaged by excess water diversion. In 2000, Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed a so-called “Record of Decision,” promising to fund the restoration of the Trinity's water levels and the riverbed. But soon George Bush came into office, and his administration began dragging its feet, despite a 2002 decision by the federal courts upholding the commitment.

Today, the Trinity agreement is five years behind schedule and receiving only half its annual funding, $8 million. Yet fulfilling a promise to the Trinity seems much cheaper that the recent payout of $60 million in federal aid to fishermen and businesses devastated by the 2006 salmon season failure.

That's why North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson is seeking the passage of a bill, HR 2733, mandating that the Bureau of Reclamation do what it promised to do. BOR Director Robert Johnson has made it clear that he won't do it willingly, opposing the bill because it “reduces the discretion of the executive branch.” That's why we support HR 2733, because that's what it will take.

Remember the desolate Owens Valley? In 1997, Inyo County, Los Angeles, farmers and environmentalists signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” laying out how the lower Owens River would be rewatered by June 2003. They're still waiting. #

Sacramento Bee – 12/13/07
By Matt Weiser, staff writer

RANCHO CORDOVA – Federal officials on Monday will begin delivering hundreds of tons of gravel to the banks of the American River for a project to improve fish spawning habitat.

The $1.5 million project by the Bureau of Reclamation will be on the north bank of the river between Nimbus Dam and Sailor Bar. For two to three weeks dump trucks will stockpile gravel along river. The 30 to 40 truckloads a day will be delivered only on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Starting next summer, the gravel will be spread on the river bottom to increase spawning areas for salmon and steelhead. The project also includes creating side channels to provide refuge and spawning areas for fish.

Salmon and steelhead spawn by depositing eggs in gravel beds on the river bottom. But there isn't enough gravel habitat in the two miles below Nimbus Dam, in part because the dam blocks movement of gravel downstream. The project, authorized under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, is designed to remedy that.

In total, about 290 truckloads of gravel – about 50,000 cubic yards – will be added to the river over five years. #

California Farm Bureau – 12/12/07
By Dave Kranz, CFBF Communications/News Division

With many California farmers facing water shortages ranging from 30 percent to 70 percent in the coming year, there wasn't a lot of optimism to be heard at a water issues panel discussion held at the California Farm Bureau Federation's 89th Annual Meeting.

Water leaders who participated in the discussion predicted years of difficulty, particularly for agricultural water users, as California grapples with long-term solutions to its water problems.

"There's a rough patch ahead for California agriculture," Association of California Water Agencies Executive Director Tim Quinn told Farm Bureau delegates. "I think it can be made relatively temporary, but water quantities are going to go down in the next few years and water prices are going to go up."

A federal judge's decision committing more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to benefit protected fish leaves water agencies south of the delta scouting for alternative supplies, Quinn said.

"With what's happening in the delta, the Metropolitan Water District and big ag districts in the Central Valley are going to be getting their checkbooks out and putting the price of water up," he said. "I think we're going to go through a fairly tough time for everybody, but especially for agricultural water users."

A representative of one of those agricultural water users, Jason Peltier of the Fresno-based Westlands Water District, said the court ruling could lead to a 70-percent reduction in water supplies in Westlands and in "a bunch of other districts."

"Hopefully, it won't be that bad but certainly, that's what some of the modeling is showing," he said.

And that's just for one year in what could be a lengthy wait for a long-term solution for moving water through or around the delta.

"How do we deal with the eight, 10 or 15 years it takes to get a canal built so we can effectively separate our water from the fish?" Peltier asked. "It's a frightening prospect looking at that gap."

The prospect of a canal to carry water around the delta worries landowners and water users there. Tom Zuckerman, former co-counsel of the Central Delta Water Agency, said construction of a water conveyance in the delta "doesn't solve problems, it just moves them."

"Until we begin to address the severe imbalance between supplies of water and demands for water, building a conveyance that enables us to transfer the deficit from one area of the state to another doesn't really address our problems," Zuckerman said.

But Quinn said water conveyance lies at the heart of the state's water problems and that ACWA will seek solutions to solve "that controversial, difficult conveyance problem and still make sure all the boats are rising with the tide around the state of California."

Northern California Water Association Executive Director Ryan Broddrick said he worries that discussions about water supply reliability have not focused on what's needed to sustain long-term food and fiber production in the Central Valley.

"There's been a lot of discussion about what is needed for urban supplies and a lot of discussion about opportunities for conservation," he said. "But there has not been a discussion about the future of agriculture in the Central Valley. Is it able to stay economically viable? Is its value as a domestic source going to be valued considerably more than it is today? Those are questions that really haven't been addressed."

Westlands' Peltier said agricultural representatives in water negotiations must constantly deal with the myths that farmers use water inefficiently and that agriculture represents a low-value use of water. At one recent meeting, he said, he tried to change people's perceptions.

"I asked people to think about an acre," Peltier said. "You can play a football game on an acre of grass and it's pretty to look at, but what can a farmer do with an acre? A farmer can grow 12,000 heads of lettuce. That's 48,000 servings. A farmer can grow 100,000 pounds of tomatoes. A farmer can grow 2,000 pounds of almonds and if you're good and eat a can a week, that one acre can feed you for 150 years."

Richard Roos-Collins, director of legal services for the Natural Heritage Institute, said that sort of understanding among all the different interests involved in negotiating about California's water problems will ultimately be key to arriving at solutions.

"The water-supply system we have today was built at a time when Californians could do business together," he said. "We need to go back to that, or go forward to it, and find a way to do business together that protects our respective interests but nonetheless allows us to put aside differences that can be put aside, so we can get on with the business of the state." #

Associated Press – 12/12/07
By Samantha Young, staff writer

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday gave federal wildlife officials until September to come up with a new plan to protect the threatened delta smelt while still providing water to about 25 million Californians and thousands of acres of farmland around the state.

U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that until they come up with a permanent plan, water managers must limit pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta this year as early as Dec. 25, when the fish typically spawn, until June 20 when the young fish have moved pass the pumps.

Wanger ruled in August in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups that the pumping by state and federal authorities kills smelt, a fish that many experts say could be on the brink of extinction.

State officials and water users have previously estimated that pumping cutbacks could cut water supplies by at least a third, but it was unclear Tuesday exactly how much water might be lost under Wanger's proposal.

"We're still looking at very substantial reductions in our ability to export water out of the delta," Department of Water Resources deputy director Jerry Johns said after reviewing the order.

Officials with the State Water Contractors Association and the California Association of Water Agencies said Tuesday they needed more time to review the decision before they could assess its affect on the state's water supply.

Tuesday's 10-page preliminary order proposes a timetable and instructions on when and how the DWR and Bureau of Reclamation could pump water from the delta.

It will not become final until water users and environmental groups have a chance to comment on the proposed remedies, which is expected to happen at a hearing Friday.

In a year with an average amount of rain and snowfall, about 6 million acre feet of water are pumped from the delta, which supplies drinking water to Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Pumps operated by the by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Central Valley Project send water to farmers in the agricultural valley south of the delta and the Department of Water Resources' State Water Project delivers water to urban and rural water users as far south as Los Angeles.

In a concession to the state, Wanger's latest ruling would restrict pumping only until June 20 an acknowledgment that California's agriculture industry relies upon delta water deliveries during the hot summer months to irrigate its crops.

Environmental groups had asked the judge to restrict water exports until delta smelt had been clear of the pumps for at least five days, which state officials said could limit pumping until July.

"The draft order in and of itself doesn't mean anything until it's finalized," said Craig Noble, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the federal government over the delta pumping in 2005.

Wanger also instructed the state and federal governments to set up new programs to monitor the fish to accurately gauge their numbers in the estuary. Both agencies will have to buy new equipment such as mesh nets to capture the fish when they are small, something they do not do now.

Although measuring fish smaller than 20 millimeters poses technical difficulties, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken said the agency could do the job.

State officials and water contractors had argued that pumping reductions would do little to help the 2- to 3-inch-long, silver-colored fish, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and is considered a measure of the environmental health of the delta. They said invasive species, toxic runoff, wastewater dumping and an antiquated plumbing system in the delta were harming the fish. #

Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 12/7/07
By Mike Geniella, staff writer

A lawsuit filed in federal court alleges toxic algae is being discharged into streams and reservoirs below four controversial dams on the upper Klamath River. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco this week by a coalition of fishing, environmental and tribal interests who are seeking removal of the hydroelectric power generating dams. The Klamath is the North Coast's largest river, stretching 200 miles across northeast California from its mouth north of Eureka to the Oregon border.

Fears of possible effects from the algae on salmon habitat and water users prompted state water quality officials to post warnings the length of the Klamath during the recent peak salmon fishing season, according to the lawsuit.

"This discharge has serious consequences for both the environment and human health," said Regina Chichizola, Klamath Riverkeeper.

But PacifiCorp, the Portland, Ore.-based utility that owns and operates the Klamath dams, this week dismissed the concerns, calling them "exaggerated and groundless."

Spokeswoman Jan Mitchell said Thursday that the "blue-green" algae found in the Klamath is harmless and often found in rivers, reservoirs and lakes across Northern California including Clear Lake.

"We are not discharging any toxic substance into the lower Klamath," said Mitchell.

The new legal challenge was filed two weeks after a federal agency's final environmental report recommended the dams remain in place. Instead of dam removal, staff for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is recommending renewal of PacifiCorp's power generating licenses but with new restrictions, including a disputed "truck-and-haul" system to get spawning salmon around the dams and upstream to traditional spawning grounds.

Fishing groups, environmentalists and tribal leaders are pressing for dam removal in order to enhance restoration of what was once the nation's third-biggest producer of salmon. The suit is the latest salvo in a hard-fought conflict pitting fish against 90 years of benefits from hydroelectric production that currently meets the needs of nearly 200,000 people.

In the lawsuit, the Riverkeeper organization contends that levels of toxic algae downstream on the Klamath have been found to be nearly 4,000 times what is considered safe for recreational contact by the World Health Organization.

"The lawsuit will demonstrate that the toxic algae is a solid waste created by Pacificorp's damming of the Klamath River, and that it is illegally discharging the waste in violation of (federal law)," according to Chichizola, the Klamath Riverkeeper.

Daniel Cooper of Lawyers for Clean Water, Inc. said its "high time for PacifiCorp to take responsibility for the destruction of one of America's greatest rivers."

But company spokeswoman Mitchell said the lawsuit was part of a calculated "public relations campaign."

"They have cited violation of federal laws that govern solid waste discharges, not common algae growth in rivers, and lakes," Mitchell said. #

Redding Record Searchlight – 12/9/07
By Tim Hearden, staff writer

Last week's rainfall provided a needed boost for farmers and ranchers in Tehama County, many of whom have been grappling with a loss of feed and drinking water for cattle.

Red Bluff received 0.85 inches of rain in the first four days of December, and Corning recorded 0.61 inches of rain in the same period.

Red Bluff's season total of 2.68 inches is well below the 5.03 inches that's normal by this time of year, and last week's return of wet weather was cheered by Tehama County Supervisor Charlie Willard, who expressed his appreciation during Tuesday's board meeting.

Willard's sentiment was echoed within the agriculture industry.

"For some people it may be too late, but for others it may have really helped them," said Josh Davy, the livestock and natural resources representative for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Red Bluff.

Ranchers could use a lot more rain to fill stock water ponds that are close to empty, Davy said. Trucking water in is expensive, so many ranchers have had to cut their stocking rates.

As ponds have dried up and grass has withered, north state ranchers have been left scrambling to find feed and water for their herds. Many had to pull cattle off summer and fall rangeland weeks or months earlier than normal.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns declared a drought emergency in Tehama County early this summer, making local ranchers eligible for low-interest loans, reimbursements for supplemental feed and water, and other programs approved by Congress.

Tehama was one of about 20 California counties that sought federal emergency disaster aid as forage yields dropped by as much as 70 percent.

Tehama County saw a 57 percent reduction in forage production through the spring, Davy said. Economic effects have been mounting since, as ranchers have incurred added costs for feed and water while needing to shrink their herds.

Early rain in October started germination of grasslands, but dry weeks followed, depleting the seed bank, Davy said. Crop growers have felt an effect, too, by needing to plant later.

While the county is eligible for aid, the federal government is concentrating funds on areas that declared disasters before Feb. 28, Davy said.

"Really all that we have for an option as of right now ... are a few tax breaks that help defer taxes on cattle that are forced to be sold due to the drought," Davy said. "The problem is, you don't know until the spring whether a drought is going to persist."

The best that growers can hope for at this point is more rain. Longer-range forecasts show the best shot for more valley rain and mountain snow is on Wednesday, then maybe a wetter pattern could develop by Dec. 17 or 18.

Contra Costa Times – 12/8/07
By Mike Taugher, staff writer

Customers of one of the state's largest water delivery systems secretly commissioned a study last year to estimate how much it would cost to build a highly controversial peripheral canal to deliver water around the Delta.

The $50,000 study, completed in August 2006, shows that contractors of the State Water Project were actively considering a new canal similar to the aqueduct voters killed in 1982.

The report, obtained under the California Public Records Act, estimates it would cost from $3.3 billion to $3.7 billion in 2006 dollars to build an unlined, 46-mile canal.

A separate study being done for the Department of Water Resources puts the cost at from $4 billion to $5 billion, but critics say the cost is likely to be much higher and that even if those numbers are accurate, they will be highly inflated before construction begins.

In many ways, the contractors' decision to get a cost estimate is unsurprising.

When the Delta's fish populations began crashing in 2005, and then Hurricane Katrina later that year demonstrated the vulnerability of levees in New Orleans, many water officials began looking anew at alternate ways to deliver water from north to south.

"We did it to get an idea whether the previous concepts of a peripheral canal were still affordable, given we would have to pay for it," said Laura King Moon, assistant general manager of the State Water Contractors, the nonprofit association that commissioned the study.

The association includes many of the state's largest water districts, such as the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Kern County Water Agency and some smaller Bay Area districts. MediaNews obtained the study by filing a public records act request with the state Department of Water Resources, which had a copy.

A canal could improve water quality delivered south and eliminate fish kills at south Delta pumps. It might protect much of the state's water supply from the threat of earthquakes and rising sea levels, supporters say.

But such a canal, depending on how it is operated, could deprive the Delta of fresh water, leaving it to fill up with polluted drainage from farms and cities and intruding seawater.

The study is a preliminary estimate and does not consider how the canal would be operated or how much water it would deliver.

"Our position has been all options should be on the table, not necessarily that we were advocating for it but we were talking about it -- as were other people," King Moon said.

Once the numbers from the study became available, King Moon said, contractors were able to commit to paying for a canal if one is built.

But some critics of the canal, including some environmentalists, said that the information should have been shared during planning meetings over the past year.

"It is no surprise and it is not necessarily wrong for them to look at that," said Jonas Minton, a water policy adviser to the Planning and Conservation League. "What is disappointing is that they have had this information under wraps and unavailable for over a year."

"Considering those are public agencies, to withhold that information for so long seems ill-advised," Minton said. "We've repeatedly asked for that information."

King Moon said she did not recall being asked for the information and that the report was kept quiet because contractors did not want to feed the perception that they were backing a new canal.

"We didn't want to send out the message that this was a fast-moving train," she said.

The peripheral canal was part of the plan for the State Water Project when it was approved in 1959, but after Gov. Jerry Brown approved it, the canal was defeated in a referendum in 1982.

The plan at the time was for a 22,000 cubic-foot per second unlined ditch -- large enough to carry the entire Sacramento River at times -- that would have trickled water into Delta channels while having the capacity to fully feed state and federal pumps in the south Delta, about 15,000 cubic feet per second.

The 2006 cost study considers a 15,000 cfs aqueduct that would be from 500 feet to more than 700 feet wide.

Because some of the land along the original alignment for the canal has been developed since the early 1980s -- and because other land is developable and therefore more valuable -- the study suggests an alternate route that would bring the canal into the interior of the Delta.

The cost to acquire land along a path that mostly follows the original route was estimated at $200,000 per acre for about half of the land and about $50,000 per acre for the other half. Property acquisition along the alternate route through agricultural areas would cost about $5,000 per acre.

For the past year, water agencies, government officials, environmentalists, farmers, anglers, Delta residents and others have been searching for a solution to the Delta's water supply and ecosystem problems.

One study done during the discussions concluded that a peripheral canal, by itself, would actually reduce the amount of water available to water contractors unless water quality standards in the Delta were softened.

As a result, water agencies and others have been coalescing around a strategy that would build an aqueduct around the Delta but use it in combination with the existing plumbing. The idea is that by doing so, water managers would be able to minimize harm to the Delta environment and maximize water supplies.

There is widespread support for studying that concept but disagreements are sure to emerge before decisions are made on important details, like how large an aqueduct should be and how it would be operated.

"There's a whole lot of strategizing going on, and I think a lot of the stakeholders are keeping their cards close to the vest," said Ann Hayden, a water policy analyst for Environmental Defense and a participant in those talks. #

'The Delta needs a steward,' Wolk said Thursday. 'That is someone or some body whose sole interest is the health of the Delta. And proposals have to go through this body and be voted up or down.'

This wouldn't be a remote bureaucracy imposing its will on the Delta, however. Wolk said it would have local roots.

The issue was raised at an Assembly committee hearing Wolk oversaw at Rio Vista City Hall on the recent Prospect Island fish kill. Former Rio Vista mayor Marci Coglianese and Wolk both called the saga 'a cautionary tale.'

'We had a massive fish kill,' Wolk said. 'There are no guarantees that won't happen in the future, and there will be other crises as well.'

She mentioned a Delta stewardship body as part of the solution and talked of working to make this happen.

Prospect Island is located in eastern Solano County, a few miles north of Rio Vista. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation bought the island in 1994 for a planned federal wildlife refuge, but that fell through in part because of local opposition.

The bureau has held onto the 1,200 acres for 13 years and wants to get rid of it. It recently repaired a damaged levee that had caused the island to flood. Once the breach had been closed, workers pumped out the water.

Thousands of fish trapped on the island died, creating a furor that prompted Thursday's hearing by the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife chaired by Wolk.

John Davis, acting director for the Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, said the agency never knew that many fish remained on Prospect Island when it started pumping.

'If we could go back in time, I can assure you we would have handed the situation differently,' Davis said.

Wolk and others questioned why the bureau didn't know thousands of fish were there.

Other agencies told the bureau that a fish salvage operation would be impractical because of trees and brush on the island, Davis said. Previous levee repair operations in 1998 went forward with little interest or issues, he said.

The bureau's 'guard was let down,' Davis said. Instead, he said, the bureau should have gone the extra mile.

Wolk asked Davis whether the bureau would compensate somehow for the thousands of fish killed.

'We haven't talked about any mitigation,' said Davis, who added the bureau, for now, wants to stay focused on the existing situation at Prospect Island.

Jim Cox is among the dozens of anglers who volunteered last weekend to remove thousands of surviving fish from the island and put them back in the sloughs. That meant walking knee-deep in mud, he said.

Cox criticized the state Department of Fish and Game for not providing more equipment to volunteers, such as vehicles that could traverse the muddy terrain. With another such vehicle, he said, volunteers could have doubled or tripled the number of fish saved.

'It seems the powers that be are looking for reasons to keep you from doing a good job, rather than helping you do a good job,' Cox said.

Coglianese praised the anglers for sounding the alarm about the fish kill.

'If the normal bureaucratic response had gone on, fish would have died and perhaps no one would have known about it,' she said. #

Stockton Record – 12/7/07
By Hank Shaw, staff writer

RIO VISTA - Federal and state bureaucrats have managed to destroy one of the Delta's richer nurseries for baby fish at a time when populations of both sport fish and threatened species are at an all-time low.

Officials with both the federal Bureau of Reclamation and the state Department of Fish and Game publicly apologized Thursday for not doing enough to stop a massive fish kill two weeks ago on Prospect Island, just north of Rio Vista.

"We didn't go far enough," said John Davis of the Bureau of Reclamation. "We should have gone the extra mile, and we should have reached out to the community."

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, convened a hearing of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee in Rio Vista to try to find out what went so wrong.

"What we saw was a failure of government agencies to protect the public trust," Wolk said.

After several hours of testimony, the story that emerged from the hearing is a tale of bureaucratic inertia and corner-cutting that resulted in the government inadvertently destroying the one thing struggling fish in the Delta need: a place to raise their young.

Prospect Island's tale began in January 2006, when a levee broke in a storm, flooding the narrow island. A decade before, the Bureau of Reclamation bought the 1,235-acre island for $2.8 million with the intention of making it part of a larger national wildlife refuge. Prospect Island's purpose in this plan was to be flooded so it could serve as habitat for fish and birds.

But in September 2002, the project needed $1.9 million in state money to remain viable, and CALFED chose not to provide the cash. So the bureau abandoned the plan and began looking to unload the island. After the 2006 storm, money for levee repairs was scarce, so the bureau did not begin its work until October of this year.

Before beginning, the bureau checked with state and federal wildlife agencies to make sure pumping the island dry would be OK. The state Fish and Game Department said it would be, so long as they did the work at low tide during a period when the threatened Delta smelt would likely be elsewhere in the estuary. The agencies relied heavily on information gained from an earlier levee break on the island in 1998.

This proved fatal. The repairs in 1998 occurred with little incident. But this time, fish of all stripes and shapes and sizes had flocked to the flooded Prospect Island during the 22 months it was under water.

One reason was because all the debris - trees, shrubs, etc - submerged by the floodwaters provided perfect structures for fish to raise their fry. This same structure made rescuing the fish tougher because volunteers couldn't easily drag nets through the water to save the animals.

Volunteers almost didn't get a chance to help at all.

Levee repair crews noticed fish dying on Nov. 15, Davis said. Four days later, bureau staff visited the site but did nothing. They returned the next day, but by this time the local fishing community had noticed the die-off and began clamoring for a rescue effort.

A full week passed before bureau employees began the rescue, rebuffing volunteers who gathered to help. Davis said they were worried about legal liability.

It took two weeks from the time the levee crew first noticed the crisis for the government to allow volunteers on site to help.

By then, the island, mostly drained, was a stinking graveyard littered with the bloated bodies of dead striped bass, bluegill, carp, shad and other fish. Most of the stripers - the most important sport fish in the Delta - were adults. A few topped 20 pounds.

With the aid of the volunteers, the bureau and state officials stabilized the situation, and thousands of fish are still swimming in a shallow spot on the island that remains flooded.

Fish and Game investigators are looking into possible criminal charges against the bureau; fines could potentially run into the millions of dollars if the agency charged the federal government with wanton waste of a game fish.

Anglers say they're not holding their breath about the bureau paying for its mistake. After all, this is the same Bureau of Reclamation that routinely chops up thousands of fish inside the giant pumps outside Tracy.

"The laws we have on the books have been ignored for years and years," said Gary Adams of the California Striped Bass Association. #

Mt. Shasta News – 12/5/07
By Paul Boerger, staff writer

Ecologist and researcher Renee Henery of UC Davis presented an overview of the Mt. Shasta region watershed last week, emphasizing the need for research on the headwaters area.

Henery's “mantra,” which he frequently repeated during the Nov. 28 talk at the Flying Lotus in Mount Shasta, was that to fully comprehend the headwaters complex relationship to the area and the use of the water elsewhere - such as the flows that go to more southern parts of California - researchers need to look at the broad interrelationships of the rivers, 14,162 foot Mt. Shasta and its glaciers, and habitats.

“This is a very special place with a wealth of natural resources,” Henery said. “These are natural resources essential to the State of California. Natural resources nobody knows much about. This is a system that is poorly understood.”

The presentation, entitled The Geo-Hydro-Ecology of the Mt. Shasta Headwaters Region, provided an overview of the McCloud, Shasta and Upper Sacramento river systems, including past and current impacts to the systems that have, for example, cut down dramatically on fish that migrate from the ocean up the rivers to spawn.

“All three rivers used to have migrating fish, now they are only on the Shasta River,” Henery said as an example.

He said impacts from fish hatcheries in the 1800s that took salmon eggs from spawning grounds and shipped them all over the world resulted in a “zero” run one year on the McCloud River.

As an example of how interrelated environments can be with each other, Henery said there is evidence that when fish come from the ocean, spawn and then die in inland rivers, their bodies leave behind important nutrients that are used by inland plants and animals.

He said dams, sedimentation from land use including grazing in riparian areas, water diversion and temperature are “key drivers of change” for the system. He also noted the potential of climate change impacts for all three systems including loss of snowpack and glacial ice.

“But we need a better understanding,” Henery said. “The effect of the Box Canyon dam on the ecology is little understood.”

Henery said the watershed is a “key water faucet for the state,” but would not speculate on how much water goes downstream to southern California.

In a separate interview, however, River Exchange executive director Sandra Spelliscy provided some perspective on the issue.

She said, “The Sacramento River contributes over 17 million acre-feet of water each year to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, approximately 62 percent of total inflows. The Bay Delta provides water to over two thirds of the state's population. The water coming out of Shasta Dam represents about a quarter of the overall flows that feed into the Sacramento River.”

Henery said there has been “huge progress” in habitat protection on the Shasta River, but again stated the need for a better understanding of the system as a whole.

“The research has been on specific issues, not the long term perspective. Its really only in its infancy,” Henery said in conclusion. “We need to feel our connection to the bigger system. Treat it like it's a part of you. A part of your wellbeing and livelihood.” #

California Farm Bureau – 12/5/07
By Kate Campbell, Assistant Editor

With the year-long effort to create a road map for the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta coming to a close, a blue-ribbon task force is putting the final touches on a plan that will guide public policy and operations for this vital resource now and in coming decades.

The plan for sustainable management of the delta was mandated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and requires the Delta Vision Committee to submit its report to him by Jan. 1, 2008. The report and its recommendations will also go to the Legislature. A strategic plan is required by executive order by Oct. 31, 2008 and work on that phase will begin shortly.

The report has been developed with input from a broad cross section of citizens, scientists, subject matter experts and a variety of organizations, including the California Farm Bureau Federation, through a series of stakeholder meetings and extensive public comment opportunities.

"We congratulate the task force on completing this phase of the process for restoring and protecting the delta and we look forward to analyzing the final report," said CFBF President Doug Mosebar. "Farm Bureau has devoted considerable resources to the effort to ensure the voices of all California farmers and ranchers are heard as we move toward workable solutions for this vital resource.

"Of primary concern to us is the protection of California agriculture as study and implementation by the state proceeds," Mosebar said. "We think there are still important governance, technical and scientific questions to be addressed and look forward to being a part of that process."

Members of the Delta Vision Committee, which has overseen the plan development process, include the California agency secretaries for Resources; Business, Transportation and Housing; and Food and Agriculture; as well as the president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

The Delta Vision Plan was created by an appointed task force and currently includes 12 interrelated recommendations based on the premise that the delta is critically important to California, but it cannot be sustained as it is today. The two primary goals of the plan are assuring a reliable water supply for California and a healthy delta ecosystem.

Two critical areas in the plan are the recommendation for water conveyance from the delta and governance--a single entity with a statewide perspective, a stable long-term funding source and sufficient authority to protect and improve the resource.

The recommendations on conveyance include beginning immediate improvements to existing through-delta infrastructure and operations while, at the same time, studying "dual conveyance" options to reach optimal solutions for the troubled estuary.

Chris Scheuring, CFBF managing counsel for the Natural Resources and Environmental Division, represents Farm Bureau on the Delta Vision stakeholder committee.

"Farm Bureau wants a forward-looking solution to the problems facing the delta," Scheuring said. "It is a critical resource, not just for agriculture, but for the entire state and we must find meaningful ways to sustain not only a healthy ecosystem, but also improved water supply reliability and in-delta water quality."

More than half of all Californians rely on water conveyed through the delta for at least part of their water. Much of California's agriculture depends on water from the delta watershed, with more than one-sixth of all irrigated farmland in the nation depending on watersheds that flow through the delta.

But the Delta Vision report notes that increasingly tight water supplies flowing through the delta are far from the only problem. Invasive species have changed basic aquatic food production chains. Recent studies show 95 percent of the living organisms taken in delta bottom samples are non-native species.

Nearly 400,000 people live and farm in the delta. Lives and livelihoods are protected by 1,300 miles of crumbling levees, some built nearly a century ago with minimal engineering. Almost every year a levee fails from floods or other events.

Experts say earthquakes could liquefy soils, destroy miles of levees and threaten water supplies, roads, aqueducts, power lines and gas transmission pipelines that cross the delta. The risk of catastrophic earthquakes builds over time along with the seismic pressure until a cataclysmic release.

"The delta is a resource of statewide significance and our Farm Bureau members are a microcosm of California," Scheuring said.

"Just like everyone, we're grappling with the same issues affecting the delta and we're looking for political and technical solutions.

"It's abundantly clear to everyone that the delta is troubled and significant changes need to be made," he said.

At a news conference Friday to discuss the plan and its final recommendations, Delta Vision Task Force Chairman Phil Isenberg said the task force concluded that to achieve the plan's goals the state must acknowledge the "co-equal nature of protecting and improving the delta ecosystem and the water supply for Californians."

"People may say that these objectives are battling with each other, but in our view they both must be satisfied in order for each to be satisfied," Isenberg said. "This is not a case where one side can win."

Isenberg said the task force concluded that the problems in the delta cannot be solved unless related problems also are addressed, for example the notions of conservation and sustainable management, as well as ground and surface water storage.

These would be in addition to improved conveyance.

"The problems are attributable to many things, not just the exports that go to Southern California," he said. "The diversions in Northern and Central California also play a role in creating problems, as do in-delta uses. We're all floating in the same boat and we'd better fix it or we're all going to sink."

He said near-term actions, things that must be done immediately and without regard to anything related to the "raging political questions of storage and export facilities," range from buying land in the delta to increase flood plain areas; prohibiting growth in flood-prone areas; and levee improvements, including setting performance standards for different kinds of structures.

"Our recommendation on conveyance is that it can't be viewed in isolation," Isenberg said. "Whatever the decision about conveyance--in the delta, around the delta, it doesn't matter--first we must invest in protecting and improving the existing conveyance facility.

"If you do not, then you're exposing the existing facility, which no one defends as adequate, to constant threat while you work toward a new facility, which everyone predicts will be 15 years before ground is broken," Isenberg stressed. "We need to protect what we have now, both for water supply and flood protection.

"There are more than 200 governmental agencies that 'futz' around in the delta today," he said. "These agencies all have some kind of authority. It's classic American government: Everybody's involved and nobody's in charge.

"We're realistic, but we have recommended on governance that an authority that has as its goals protection of the ecosystem and the water supply is in a better position to evaluate things than an agency with a single purpose," Isenberg said. "We think this would lead to a more holistic view of decisions."

CFBF Second Vice President Kenny Watkins, who represents Farm Bureau on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Steering Committee, said that, as the state and stakeholders move from the vision for the delta to tactical changes and improvements, there is much to be decided.

"But whatever happens, our members have to be assured that Farm Bureau will continue to be part of the process and at the table advocating for the best possible solutions for all of California agriculture," Watkins said. "These are complex issues facing the delta and we're going to have to collaborate with diverse interests to come up with solutions."

He said Farm Bureau has been highly engaged on this issue, for example participating in the Delta Vision process and water bond initiative discussions, as well as arranging for the CFBF board of directors to tour the delta and educating members on these complex delta issues.

"Hard decisions are going to have to be made in the future," Watkins said. "The Delta Vision task force report won't result in concrete being poured tomorrow, but it helps to build consensus. Remember, however, there are federal jurisdictions that come into play with this. All these processes are going to have to come together and go down the road at the same time to make the pieces work.

"I would not have believed a year ago that we could have accomplished this level of dialog and consensus," Watkins said. "The delta is a difficult area of policy, but there are encouraging signs that we're moving forward." #

Sacramento Bee – 12/5/07
By Matt Weiser, staff writer

State water quality officials on Tuesday approved spending $600,000 to start a refuge population of Delta smelt, in case the fish goes extinct in the wild.

The program will be created at the University of California, Davis, Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory, near the State Water Project Delta export pumps in Byron.

The lab has bred smelt for scientific purposes for 15 years, but this is its first effort to create a captive breeding program as a safeguard against extinction.

The funding comes from a water pollution cleanup account managed by the state Water Resources Control Board, which approved the expenditure Tuesday at its meeting in Sacramento. The state Department of Water Resources will contribute another $640,000 toward the effort.

Biologists at the lab will use a population of wild smelt captured from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in fall 2006.

These fish may represent the last opportunity to create a refuge population, because a steep decline in smelt numbers forced wildlife officials to ban further collections.

The finger-length smelt is a threatened species under state and federal law. It may be near extinction after four years of still-unexplained population declines. #

Editorial: A very fishy situation; Faulty federal plans contribute to really big mess in the San Joaquin Delta
Stockton Record – 11/30/07

A small San Joaquin Delta island north of Rio Vista has become a massive killing zone for thousands of forgotten fish trapped in shallow, receding water during recent levee repairs.

A private company contracted by the federal Bureau of Reclamation drained 1,253-acre Prospect Island in Solano County as part of a project to close two levee breaks caused by January 2006 storms.

Someone forgot to tell striped bass, sturgeon, carp, catfish, bluegill, king salmon, steelhead and other fish species on the flooded island.

For a week, fish have been dying - some from lack of oxygen (only 8 inches of water over a 260-acre site remains) and others in pumps discharging water from the island.

Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Fish and Game workers reacted belatedly - not to rescue what aquatic life remained, but to remove the rotting fish stranded.

Meanwhile, the federal repair project has been suspended.

Not only did bureau officials fail to allow for so many fish dying. There also is no provision for relocating fish, dead or alive.

By this weekend, officials hope to pump fresh oxygen into the shrinking pool to rescue some species.

"I guarantee, when they get done, they won't save one fish," said Bob McDaris, owner of Cliff's Marina.

State and federal officials have argued for years about the cost of - and responsibility for - repairing long-neglected Delta levees.

The Prospect Island disaster demonstrates that, even with a small project, those responsible for implementing public policy aren't properly prepared to do so.

Bureau of Reclamation officials should learn from this mess that there are no substitutes for fully planning such projects while providing appropriate monitoring and oversight. #

Fresno Bee – 11/28/07
By Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Fish and Wildlife Service could have a hard time fulfilling its renewed vow to protect the California red-legged frog and other species.

Lacking money and hobbled by lawsuits, agency officials don't know when they can complete new reviews of seven controversial endangered species decisions. The agency revealed this week it must review the red-legged frog and six other species because undue political interference tainted past decisions.

"These are a top priority, but we are already working with a limited staff and limited resources, and facing a number of court-ordered deadlines," Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Valerie Fellows said Wednesday.

The resulting delays further stimulate frustration that's already choking the Endangered Species Act like a weed.

"We all would like some resolution to this," Calaveras County Supervisor Merita Galloway said Wednesday. "Everybody is in abeyance until something definitive is decided."

In an extraordinary if not unprecedented move, the Fish and Wildlife Service will review the endangered species decisions it now says "may have been inappropriately influenced" by former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie A. MacDonald. A civil engineer skeptical about the Endangered Species Act, MacDonald aggressively rewrote key documents and sought to curtail the size of protected areas.

The red-legged frog's critical habitat will be reviewed "as funding is made available," the Fish and Wildlife Service's acting director advised the House Natural Resources Committee. Guided by MacDonald, the agency last year reduced the frog's critical habitat to 450,288 acres from the 4.1 million acres originally proposed.

Critical habitat is the land considered essential for survival and recovery of a species. It does not directly impose new regulations on private property, but federal agencies must take the species into account when issuing permits or making other decisions.

Considerable dispute remains over the real-world impact of critical habitat designation. Critics of the current environmental law, including Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, suggest critical habitat effectively lowers property values. Others consider it a valuable tool.

Most agree perpetual ambiguity is a problem. Federal officials, for instance, began considering protection for the California red-legged frog in February 1994.

They have been buffeted by competing interests from the outset.

"We'd like more direction, on all sides; whether you're a rancher, or you love the frogs, or just love jumping the frogs," Galloway said.

Although the original home to Mark Twain's celebrated jumping frog, Calaveras County was not among the 20 California counties with land included in the red-legged frog's final critical habitat designated last year.

The designated land includes 12,176 acres in southwestern Merce