[env-trinity] BLM Land SWap

[Patrick Truman]

Land swap worries biologists 
State fights BLM deal to trade Salt Creek site for Trinity area 

By Alex Breitler / Record Searchlight
November 26, 2004 

They begin their journeys hundreds of miles apart, some splashing up the Sacramento River and others up the Trinity. 

But salmon and steelhead in the two large river systems could be affected if the Bureau of Land Management swaps just a few hundred acres of land in Shasta County with a private land- owner in the Trinity area. 

     
      

     
The state Department of Fish and Game recently voiced its opinion, recommending 215 acres in the Salt Creek drainage west of Redding remain in BLM hands. 

Biologists fear potential development on so-called "Area 51" would harm salmon and steelhead in Salt Creek near its joining with the Sacramento. Millions have been spent in that area to help fish spawn. 

But the BLM says it's obli- gated to aid fish in the Trinity by acquiring 566 acres in the Grass Valley Creek watershed of eastern Trinity County. Sediment from those rapidly eroding slopes threatens to wash into the river, where fish populations have already declined because of massive water diversions. 

So some people are asking which fish will suffer most, those in the Sacramento or those in the Trinity 
Fish and Game comes down squarely on the side of the Sacramento. 

"We ask the BLM to consider not only how important the Salt Creek drainage is to anadromous fish, but also what developing that property will mean to listed fish species," states a letter to the BLM signed by Fish andGame Regional Manager Donald B. Koch. 

The BLM has been trying to dispose of the land since 1993. Nestled amongst homes off the end of Victoria Drive, the quiet wooded area is too costly to manage due to fire danger and problems like trespassing, the agency says. However, Area 51 has become popular with mountain bikers, walkers and the neighbors who live on its fringes. 

"We have to make these difficult decisions," said BLM's chief of resources Francis Berg. "I wish we could do it all, but we have limited resources." 

Fish and Game points to the investment that's already been made for fish in the Salt Creek area of the Sacramento. 

Since 1997, the government has injected 96,050 tons of spawning gravel in the river at the mouth of Salt Creek, says Koch's letter. What's more, $20 million has been spent to improve fish passage at the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District diversion dam not far downstream. 

Those efforts, Koch wrote, were meant to encourage spawning between the diversion dam and Keswick Dam -- the same stretch of the Sacramento where Salt Creek emerges. 

Although Area 51 is about two miles up Salt Creek from the confluence, Fish and Game fears development could dump sediment into the creek's lower reaches, where steelhead and salmon have been documented. 

The Trinity land, on the other hand, sits upstream from a dam and some ponds that are already in place to catch erosion. 

Despite the dam, the BLM says it can't ignore federal laws requiring protection of the Trinity River's aquatic resources. The dam in that watershed is merely an "extra safeguard" against sediment washing into the river, the agency says. 

The BLM should still strive to acquire land, thereby protecting, that watershed, said Steve Anderson, the BLM's Redding area director. 

Only small segments of Salt Creek are found within Area 51 itself, the bureau says. The other tributary channels flow only seasonally. 

The bureau's other motive in taking the Trinity land is to consolidate its holdings, a longstanding goal since the agency owns 250,000 acres scattered across Northern California. The Trinity land is already surrounded by BLM parcels. 

About 75 letters were received during a recent public comment period, Anderson said. The public will have another chance to weigh in once an environmental assessment is completed. 

Also, land-swap opponents took their case to the BLM's Northwest Resource Advisory Council meeting earlier this month in Ukiah. The council, a cross section of citizens that makes land management recommendations to the agency, agreed to put the topic on the agenda for its next meeting on Feb. 3 in Redding. 

The council will also tour Area 51 and two other land-swap sites, said the BLM's Anderson. 

Appraisal values in the proposed Area 51 swap have not been disclosed. But Anderson did say the Trinity landowner would have to fork over about $150,000 in additional dollars. 

That landowner, Joe Rice of Salmon Creek Resources in Humboldt County, has not returned calls seeking comment on his intentions with the Shasta land. The BLM has said Rice is involved in the forest products industry. 

Besides neighbors and Fish and Game, the deal's other critics include a land-swap watchdog group based in Washington and a Lakehead Realtor who looked into the proposal on behalf of a friend. 

Don Abercrombie sent a letter to the BLM concluding that the Shasta County land would likely be valued from $1.5 million to $2 million due to its potential for residential development. The remote Trinity County land, on the other hand, would not exceed $125,000, he estimated. 

At least one neighbor's letter included a picture of a fish swimming in what was said to be the upper reaches of Salt Creek. Walkers have been urged to carry cameras to document any fish they might see. 

The BLM has traded about 40,000 acres in the past decade, some of which it says have accomplished important conservation goals. As for Area 51, other alternatives will be considered in its assessment, Berg said. 

"There are no final decisions here," he said. 
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