[env-trinity] Eureka Times Standard May 11 2005

[Byron]

High Trinity: Big water aimed at salmon restoration 
By John Driscoll The Times-Standard 

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 

Every three seconds the weight of a modern locomotive in water is being
released from 
Lewiston Dam into the Trinity River. 

This week's flows are the biggest from the dam since it was built in the
1960s, except for water 
spilled in flood years. The water is cold and dangerous and the releases
come as recent storms 
pumped water into tributaries. 

Tribes, fishermen and agencies are hoping the river and its salmon and
steelhead will begin to 
experience a partial rebirth with the big water. Fine sediment should be
flushed from 
spawning gravels, while vegetation creeping toward the channel is stripped
away. 

Mike Orcutt, senior biologist with the Hoopa Tribe, called Tuesday historic.


"The missing element has always been the flows," Orcutt said. "That's
something to be proud 
of." 

Orcutt said major hurdles -- including decades of scientific study and years
in court -- have 
been cleared. More restoration work remains to be done, he said. 

The Trinity River Restoration Program has about 20 people in several
locations taking water 
and sediment samples to help figure out just how the river channels during
the big pulse. 
Other crews are measuring the high water mark with stakes in about 150
spots, and watching 
to see if any properties are at risk. 

Seven thousand cubic feet of water per second marks the highest flow planned
for this year, 
and that will begin to slowly decrease Friday toward typical summer releases
of only 450 cfs 
by July 22. 

Now that water-constricting bridges on the river have been replaced, 7,000
cfs could be small 
potatoes compared to wetter years. In the wettest of years, nearly 11,000
cfs could be released. 

Nita Rowley has lived in Willow Creek since 1954, and remembers the river
before the dams. 
She said people took big spring water in stride then, and didn't let their
kids swim until July. 
But after the dams, Rowley saw paltry winter flows she described as sad. 

Tuesday, it looked like something out of the past. 

"I like to see the river bank-full," Rowley said. "I know it's cleaning it
out." 

Public safety officials are warning anyone near the river to be particularly
careful and 
mindful of their children, who should be wearing life jackets in the
vicinity of the torrent at 
all times. 

 

 

Byron Leydecker, 

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Consultant, California Trout, Inc.

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

http://caltrout.org

 

 

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