[env-trinity] Bureau of Reclamation Water Management Imperils American River Fish

[Daniel Bacher]

Bureau of Reclamation Water Management Imperils American River Fish

by Dan Bacher

(published in the current edition of the Fish Sniffer magazine that came out 
today)

The American River and its fisheries are threatened as they have never been 
before. The fish kills over the past three years, when over 181,709 salmon 
died before spawning, will become even worse if the Bureau of Reclamation, 
under the Bush administration, is able to break federal and state law 
protecting fisheries and move forward with its plans to take more water from 
the Delta and the American River.

“I am convinced that what is going on right now is as big of a threat to the 
future of our American River, yet more sinister, than if the Folsom South 
Canal at Nimbus Dam had been completed,” said Jim Jones, longtime river 
activist and past president of Save the American River Association.

I was on the river fishing for salmon on Monday, September 27, with Randy 
Buffington, fishing guide. Randy had caught four kings to 20 pounds in the 
morning, while I hooked a bright chinook in the afternoon. The water was 
already low, at 1500 cfs, and good numbers of fish had already arrived in 
the river, as evidenced by the many bright chinooks that we saw jumping.

A few days later, all hell broke loose when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 
dropped the flows to 1250 cfs and then down to 1,000 cfs. Felix Smith, 
retired federal biologist and the whistleblower in the Kesterson Wildlife 
Refuge Scandal, and Rob Titus, DFG biologist, both criticized this decision 
for threatening the adult salmon that are arriving in the river now, as well 
as the over summering steelhead.

“The idea that the American River could be at 1,000 cfs throughout the adult 
king salmon holding and spawning season is revolting,” said Smith. “The 
water the Bureau is trying to conserve was lost during the months of June, 
July and the first two weeks of August. That water also cost us a lot of 
temperature control. Until the Bureau accepts the fact that it can reduce 
Delta pumping, there will be no protection against the Bureau's operation of 
the Folsom/Nimbus project for the contractors south of the Delta.”

Smith emphasized that the Bureau’s responsibility to meet the "Good 
Condition" of Fish & Game Code 5937 is independent of its water right. 
“These flow and temperature fluctuations are not good for the American River 
ecosystem,” said Smith.

Rob Titus, DFG biologist, was very concerned about these flow reductions not 
only from an ecological standpoint, but also with regard to process. “Why 
hasn't the American River Operations Group been convened to discuss the 
costs and benefits of the extreme reductions,” said Titus, referring to the 
group formed to balance the water needs of fish and water users.

Titus also said that with the so-called relaxation of the temperature 
requirement at Watt Avenue there may be a “growing perception that a green 
light exists to push conditions for over summering steelhead to the absolute 
edge.”

“Recall that the agreement to temporarily relax the 65 F requirement is 
based almost entirely on water management realities and not the 
environmental preferences of steelhead,” said Titus. “We are seeing signs of 
stress in some of the juvenile steelhead we are monitoring in the form of 
what the pathologist refer to generically as ‘rosy anus.’”

Titus and other DFG biologists were collecting steelhead on October 5 so the 
DFG fish pathology lab could get a better idea of what may be causing this 
alarming condition. Based on the information provided to them so far, this 
condition is almost certainly associated with some form of stress, possibly 
temperature related. “We have carried the steelhead this far through the 
season, so let's not kill them all now by trying to push the envelope just a 
little bit too much,” concluded Titus.

Thuy Washburn of the Bureau of Reclamation responded to the biologists’ 
concerns. “With the lack of storage, we concluded that it would be best to 
conserve the water now and still have adequate temperatures and hope to slow 
the salmon from coming up early,” she explained.

She said that they plan to increase the flows when the majority of salmon 
show up in mid October. Then the release will increase to 1,500 cfs and 
possibly up to 1750 cfs.

Unfortunately, the way the river is being operated now appears to be just a 
window into the future of the American River and other Central Valley 
fisheries. According to an article by Stuart Leavenworth in the Sacramento 
Bee on Saturday, October 2, officials of NOAA Fisheries, a federal agency 
designed to protect salmon, ordered their biologists to revise a report on 
salmon and other endangered fish so that more water can be exported to 
Southern California through the Delta.

The Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources are planning 
“major changes” to the reservoirs, aqueducts and pumping facilities that 
move water around California, freeing up more water for export.

According to Leavenworth, “In August, NOAA biologists issued a draft stating 
that the plan ‘is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of Sacramento 
winter-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead,’ as well as 
spring-run salmon – and recommended measures to reduce these impacts.”

However, the Bureau. under pressure from Central Valley contractors, changed 
the report to be less favorable to fish and more favorable to water 
contractors. The revised document dramatically impacts the American River, 
already besieged by low flows, as well as other Central Valley rivers.

First, the latest draft no longer calls for a minimum flow standard for the 
American River as the original did. Fishery and environmental groups have 
been pushing for flow and temperature standards for years, but the Bureau 
has been stalling on adopting them.

Second, the document “softens the words for how the Bureau can avoid future 
impacts on fish,” said Leavenworth.

“In the original report, NOAA biologists called on the Bureau of Reclamation 
to reserve 450,00 to 600, 000 acre of water in Folsom Lake by September to 
provide adequate supplies for returning salmon and steelhead. The latest 
version changes the wording from ‘shall maintain’ to ‘shall target’ the 
extra water,” said Leavenworth.

Jim Jones is outraged by the current state of affairs on the American. Jones 
contends that it is clear that the Bureau of Reclamation is dragging their 
feet and not acting in a collaborative way – and is acting in concert with 
agribusiness to stop the implementation of the Central Valley Project 
Improvement Act of 1992.

“The Bureau of Reclamation, Westlands, and other water users, are hell-bent 
on getting long term contracts signed that will mean delivery of more 
water--and less for fish and wildlife,” Jones said. “Their mission is to get 
these contracts signed BEFORE a new standard is written, and what we must do 
is prevent that from happening. Otherwise, the opportunity to provide needed 
protection will be foreclosed. What we are seeing this year is a window to 
the future--only worse.”

Jones recommended that anglers send letters of outrage to their Congressmen, 
especially Representatives Richard Pombo and John Doolittle, demanding that 
the Bureau uphold state and federal law and protect the fish of the American 
and other Central Valley rivers before any water contracts are signed.  
“These guys have been getting a free ride long enough,” concluded Jones.


Note: The flows from Nimbus Dam will go back up to 1500 cfs over the next 
several days, the result of pressure by biologists, fishermen and 
environmental groups.