circulated by John Beuttler of the CSPA.
KLAMATH – State fish and game officials decried what they see as a feeble effort on the part of the federal government to head off a fish kill that has claimed more than 12,000 salmon in the Klamath River.
While the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has agreed to increase flows to the lower river, where the fish are dying, the state Department of Fish and Game railed against the bureau's plan as inadequate.
The bureau was scheduled to begin releasing water today at rates recommended by the state, but only for two weeks, not for the remainder of the fall as Fish and Game requested. Reclamation will also not release water from Trinity Lake as thought.
"We think the overall proposal is inappropriate and will result in additional fish kills," said Fish and Game Fisheries Program Manager Gary Stacey.
Fish and Game has also objected to the bureau's 10-year plan to run its 200,000-acre irrigation project on the central California-Oregon border.
"I think it's an outrage," said state Sen. Wesley Chesbro of the bureau's recent action.
The Arcata Democrat said the move was nothing more than an emergency stopgap, and he has written to Interior Secretary Gale Norton to try to get longer increased flows on the Klamath and some water released from the Trinity.
The bureau's operation of the irrigation project is believed by many to be among the causes of river conditions that allowed the diseases to set in. The fish kill—which has been declared by some experts to be perhaps the largest in the U.S. in at least 15 years—comes during the first year of the bureau's 10-year plan to operate the project. Last year, despite drier conditions, flows were higher.
Six dams on the Klamath, and other agricultural water use, as well as diversions to the Central Valley from the Trinity are also believed to have played a role.
The Fisheries Service is the agency that recommended the emergency flow plan to the bureau. Jim Lecky, regional administrator for protected resources, said he's hoping the flows will cue salmon jammed into the lower river to move upstream and spread out.
The crowding in the lower river is thought to be spreading the diseases that are killing the fish. Warm water and low flows are believed to have brought on the diseases, which have yet to be identified.
"Hopefully within the next two weeks we'll get a break in the weather and things will cool off," Lecky said.
He said the science isn't clear that Fish and Game's request to the bureau will make a difference to coho salmon. Those federally protected fish are what the Fisheries Service is making its recommendation for. Coho are just beginning their run up the Klamath, and more than 100 have been found dead so far.
He said the bureau's obligations to keep Upper Klamath Lake at a certain level, deliver water to wildlife refuges and to farmers may leave little option if river conditions seem to be degrading after the two-week release is done.
"They haven't said absolutely not," Lecky said, about being able to release more water.
But Stacey was adamant that the bureau flows may coax the salmon upstream only to drop the river level and leave them in even poorer conditions farther up the river. He said prolonged high temperatures may render female salmons' eggs infertile, unable to spawn even if they reach spawning grounds.
He said the bureau and the Fisheries Service can consider getting water from Clear Lake and Gerber Reservoir if needed, something Lecky all but dismissed.
"We have heard no reaction from them in terms of our flow. They typically ignore what the department recommends," Stacey said. "We've got a big concern and we don't think the state's interest in this soon-to-be-listed fish is being adequately considered."
California is in the process of listing coho salmon in this area on the state's endangered species list.
Bureau spokesman Jeff McCracken said releases from the Trinity were dismissed because litigation by irrigators in the Central Valley complicates availability of the water.
"So we focused on what we have control over," McCracken said.
He said water users in the Upper Klamath Basin have taken conservation measures and will not face cuts to irrigation. McCracken also said the bureau was hoping for cooler weather to make the Klamath more hospitable after the additional releases are over.
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