May 2004 Conservation Notes

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There's been a slew of conservation items recently, some good, some bad. The one constant is that they all have the potential to directly impact the rivers, lakes, and oceans that we all love. I hope that these summaries help keep you informed about issues that both benefit and may harm your favorite fishing haunts like this one ...

Bush Policies To Include Hatchery Fish With Wild

In a recently confirmed draft document, the Bush administration has revealed that it plans to include hatchery-bred salmon in future decisions over whether certain species of salmon will receive protection under the Endangered Species Act. This means that the health of spawning wild salmon will no longer be the sole gauge of whether a salmon species is judged by the federal government to be on the brink of extinction. Full details are in this Washington Post article.

By way of editorial comment, California anglers should be watching this issue closely because it appears that water users have discovered that the tactic of "lumping" together hatchery and wild fish may be successful in reducing their obligations. Last December, several Central Valley irrigation districts used exactly these arguments to file suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (part of NOAA) when it listed Central Valley steelhead in the Merced, Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Calaveras rivers as threatened. The irrigators argued that by failing to count resident-native and hatchery rainbow trout as "steelhead", NOAA had "failed to comply" with the Endangered Species Act. A general article on this issue can be found at the Fish Sniffer.

PG&E Bankruptcy Settlement Yields Benefits for CA Wild Areas

In a landmark agreement, 140,000 acres of pristine mountain land owned by PG&E will be protected permanently from development, and managed as a public interest. Most of the land is associated with hydropower operations and includes corridors on the Pit, Yuba, Feather, and American Rivers, as well as Hat Creek. For more, see this SF Chronicle article about the deal negotiated between PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission. From the article: "The land includes important wildlife habitat and many sources of the state's drinking water, as well as some of the best fly-fishing streams in the western United States."

More Water For The Trinity River

A ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the end of April will release a veritable deluge of water down the Trinity in May and June. These flows are intended to help flush salmon and steelhead smolts downstream and to improve riparian habitat for young salmon. The higher flow regimes were originally scheduled as part of the 2000 Trinity Restoration Plan signed by then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit, but has been bogged down in the courts after Central Valley water and power users sued. The dust surrounding the legal fighting has not settled, but it appears that a negotiated settlement between the litigants may be near. The relatively abundant rainfall made this year's one-off bonanza feasible.

Articles with more details can be found at the Eureka Times-Standard and the Redding Record Searchlight. The Friends of the River website features an excellent historical (and concise!) summary of the conservation issues surrounding the export of Trinity water to the Central Valley. You can view the proposed Trinity flow schedule in this pdf file . Flows will peak at 6000 cfs in mid-May.

Greater Transparency in Oroville Dam Relicensing Negotiations

The licenses governing the operation of most large dams in California are periodically renewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). While the renewal process allows an opportunity for a variety of interests to shape the new operating regulations for the dam, renewal only occurs every 30 to 50 years. It is mind boggling to realize that many dams operating today are governed by decisions made on biological and environmental science from the 1960's. Moreover, decisions made now will impact river conditions for many decades into the future. Dams currently undergoing relicensing include structures on the Klamath, Pit, Feather, and Eel Rivers, among others.

The Oroville Dam license is scheduled for renewal in 2007, and many groups have been meeting with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) in an attempt to influence the next license. Until now, the DWR has insisted that the negotiations over the license be kept secret, and that participants sign a non-disclosure agreement. Obviously, many groups felt this was inappropriate since all public releases of information would be controlled by the DWR. In April, the Butte County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement which reverses these restrictions. While this may seem like a minor item, it is a huge step towards guaranteeing the transparency of the relicensing process. Details may be found in the Chico Enterprise-Record.

California Golden Trout Project

Opportunities abound! Trout Unlimited, CalTrout, the California DFG, US Forest Service, and Orvis have joined forces to help protect California's state fish, the Golden Trout. The Golden Trout Project features a number of opportunities for volunteers to participate in restoration and genetic sampling projects. A full schedule of events and a volunteer questionnaire and sign-up sheet are now available on Ralph Cutter's website. Just think, you can catch Golden Trout and call it research!

NCCFFF Conservation Network News

On a final note, on April 3 I attended the semi-annual conservation network meeting sponsored by the Northern California Council of the FFF as the PFF representative. These informal meetings are held twice a year to help inform the area clubs about the many conservation issues and activities which the FFF and other clubs are involved with. For the curious, here is a quick summary (in a pdf file) of the issues we discussed.

Tight Lines!

Rodney