[env-trinity] Urgent Action Alert: Save the California Delta!

[Daniel Bacher]

Hello

I urge everybody to call or fax the governor to declare a "cease-fire" on 
additional water exports from the California Delta until the ecology of the 
estuary and its fishery resources are restored.

Thanks
Dan Bacher


Estuary Fisheries Imperiled by the South Delta “Improvement” Project

The Bay-Delta Estuary that once sustained multiple runs of salmon and 
abundant runs striped bass, American shad, sturgeon and steelhead, is on the 
verge of collapse. According to agency scientists, the estuary’s 
productivity is so low that it may be signaling the collapse of the 
ecosystem. Delta populations of key plankton and tiny shrimp that fuel the 
food web and drive the system’s ecology have virtually disappeared, as have 
some of estuary’s important species of fish including Delta smelt, longfin 
smelt, shad and young-of-the-year striped bass.

While fishery agencies have reacted with an increased effort to further 
study the reasons for this declining productivity, the state Department of 
Water Resources (DWR) has decided to move forward with their South Delta 
Improvement Project (SDIP) that would increase water exports out of the 
Delta by up to 25%!  The SDIP draft Environmental Impact Report will be 
circulated for public review this month.

The decision to move the SDIP forward in the face of a collapsing estuary 
can only make the estuary’s problems worse and do irreparable harm to its 
fishery resources. Our organization has been working to restore the estuary 
for twenty years, so its declining productivity is not new. Declines in 
salmon, steelhead and striper bass have become commonplace as has that of 
the food web. The decline in productivity has been clearly linked to the 
impacts that result from exporting huge amounts of water out of the Delta. 
What is new is the near total collapse in ecosystem productivity.

The SDIP may well be the straw that breaks the estuary’s back. If the food 
web is lost, it will result in the estuary’s fisheries not being able to 
find food where and when they need it for survival.

The food web is irreplaceable! Scientists have long maintained that water 
export affects the productivity of the estuary by changing the once natural 
flow regime and the amount of water that used to flow through it into the 
San Francisco Bay. Instead of the high spring runoff through the entire 
estuary, the water projects have greatly reduced these flows and the timing 
of when that water would normally be available to the estuary. The dramatic 
changes in this natural flow pattern and its timing is at the very hart of 
the problem.

State and federal water project facilities in the Delta export, on average, 
some 60% of the fresh water that flows into the system. Their storage of 
what was once natural runoff behind dams on nearly every tributary to the 
Delta has significantly reduced the spring flows which the phytoplankton and 
zooplankton had adapted to over millennia. The projects have increased Delta 
exports primarily in the late spring and summer to meet the needs of Central 
Valley agricultural interests.

While we understand that other factors such as toxic pesticides and 
unintentionally introduced non-native species may be involved in this 
collapse, this is not the time to be increasing exports! In order for the 
waters of the estuary to produce food, the water must stay in the system 
long enough to do so. When 60% of the estuary’s fresh water is exported 
annually, that leaves only 40% of the water to do what 100% used to do. 
Increasing exports beyond the current level can only make the situation 
worse.

If we are to completely understand and address the reasons for the collapse, 
increasing exports must be stopped until the solutions are found and our 
fisheries are recovered. CSPA is urging a cease-fire on additional exports 
until the ecology of the estuary and the recovery of its fishery resources 
is achieved.

Given the push to export more water by water contractors, the best way to 
stop the SDIP is to contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. We urge you to 
ask the Governor to stop the SDIP and any additional Delta export projects 
until the ecology and fisheries of the estuary are restored.

You can email the Governor by going to http://www.govmail.ca.gov where you 
can fill out the email form and send it to the Governor’s office. Or you can 
send a letter or card to him at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

You can also call or fax his office: Phone: 916-445-2841, Fax: 916-445-4633

The message is simple; stop the SDIP and any additional water export out of 
Delta until our estuary and fisheries are restored.

It is time to raise our collective voice. The estuary is truly at stake!

John Beuttler
On Behalf of the CSPA Board of Directors
To contact CSPA for further information, send your email to:
CSPAORG at aol.com or call us at 510-526-4049

CSPA is a non-profit - public benefit organization dedicated to restoring 
fisheries and their habitat. We engage in variety of aquatic efforts and 
issues to ensure our fisheries have habitat they need to be self-sustaining 
and to stay that way. You can support our conservation efforts by becoming a 
member.
Donations are tax-deductible, greatly needed and most appreciated. Send 
checks to CSPA at1360 Neilson Street, Berkeley, CA 94702-1116. Membership 
starts a $25. If you are a member, then you know of the good work we do, so 
sign up a friend and help us restore our fisheries! Questions? Call me at 
510-526-4049.