[env-trinity] Westlands, NCPA Will Not Appeal Trinity ROD Litigation

[Byron]

CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT / TRINITY RIVER

Oh, Trinity! 

Eureka Times-Standard - 1/21/05

By John Driscoll, staff writer 

A long legal brawl with Central Valley water interests over the Trinity
River has taken a favorable turn for the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the North
Coast.

Westlands Water District and the Northern California Power Association won't
take its attempt to block restoration of the river to serve Central
California farms to the U.S. Supreme Court, the groups said Thursday. 

That clears the once murky path toward reviving fisheries that for 40 years
have languished from water diversions and a dam that blocks nearly 109 miles
of salmon spawning grounds. 

The bitter five-year legal battle was waged by Westlands following former
U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's approval of a restoration plan based
on nearly three decades of scientific study. 

"You don't run into a case and win it overnight," said Hoopa Valley Chairman
Clifford Lyle Marshall. "We were up against some very powerful opposition."

The tribe led the fight for the return of just under half the river's water.
In 2000, Babbitt cleared the plan, and Westlands -- the primary beneficiary
of the water -- sued. A U.S. District Court ruling in 2002 went Westland's
way, but a following U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision trumped the
lower court in the tribe's favor. 

Westlands spokesman Tupper Hull said the district still believes there are
flaws in the 9th Circuit decision, but has decided the odds of a Supreme
Court review are small. He said that since the suit was filed, Westlands has
worked with other water users and regulatory agencies toward more efficient
water use in the Central Valley Project, an effort he hopes will make up for
the loss of Trinity water. 

The water is key to reshaping the river to make conditions better for
salmon, and other elements of the plan are ongoing. Four bridges will have
been replaced and one modified by this summer, key to opening the
possibility of channel-changing flows in wet years. 

But some of that effort could be stymied by a reduction in federal funding.
The U.S. Interior Department has cut $1.4 million from the $10.8 million
program, which Marshall described as severely underfunded. 

Still, Trinity River proponents reveled in the victory, glad to refocus
attention from the courts to the river.

"Now we don't have to spend another 20 years preparing paperwork to tell us
that fish need water," said Trinity County Senior Planner Tom Stokely. 

Struggles may remain. The Trinity's water is diverted to the Sacramento
River, and irrigators get their water via canals leading from Sacramento
Delta pumps.

North Coast, fishing and environmental interests are concerned that ongoing
renewal of long-term water contracts isn't being conducted through the
National Environmental Policy Act, and won't meet obligations to the Trinity
River's fishery. 

"We have to maintain constant vigilance as it pertains to water issues
facing the North Coast," said Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Geist. "This
is a win for the moment."

Hupa people are also taking a longsighted view toward recovery of the river
and its salmon, sturgeon, steelhead and eels. Fishing and rafting guide
Chuckie Carpenter said the court victory will help the overall healing of
the Hoopa Valley.

"It's like this river is the bloodline of our people," Carpenter said. "Our
ancestors lived on it since time began. It's a way of transportation and a
way of life."

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Consultant, California Trout, Inc.

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 519 4810 ce

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

http://www.caltrout.org

 

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