[env-trinity] Bollibokka/Westlands - Fresno Be January 2 2007

[Byron Leydecker]

Water district buys fish club

Westlands' purchase of NorCal property could ease dam expansion.

By Mark Grossi / The Fresno Bee

02/02/07 05:05:23









Westlands Water District, a 600,000-acre farm water agency mainly in Fresno
County, has purchased a $35 million private fishing club in Northern
California to clear an obstacle for expanding Shasta Reservoir.

With Westlands as owner, Shasta expansion someday can swamp the fish club
land with no opposition, and a bigger reservoir would mean more irrigation
supplies for the Fresno County water district.

The deal, which closed in January along the McCloud River, infuriates a
local Indian tribe and environmentalists. They call it a water grab at the
expense of Northern California.

The Indian tribe, the Winnemem Wintu, fears sacred sites thousands of years
old will be lost. Tribe members also wanted to obtain the property but
believed they never got the chance. They are looking for a legal way to stop
the sale. 

"We are in the fight of our life," said Mark Franco, whose title is tribal
head man for the 125 members living near the McCloud. "If that land is
inundated, our culture could die."

A federal dam-raising study on Shasta is expected to be completed next year.
If the reservoir is expanded, it would cover the 3,000 acres of the
Bollibokka fishing club, previously owned by the family who founded Hills
Brothers Coffee.

In buying the property from the family, Westlands agreed to continue running
it as a fishing club for the next 25 years, unless Shasta is expanded in the
meantime. A dam-raising project on a major reservoir could take decades and
cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We will contract with some entity to manage the club," said district
general manager and counsel Tom Birmingham. "It is a beautiful property."

The possibility of additional water supply appeals to Westlands, he said.
The district's deliveries have been cut back in the last 15 years due to
endangered fish protections, drought and water quality concerns in Northern
California.

The district buys irrigation water from the federal Central Valley Project.
Shasta - eight times larger than Millerton Lake near Fresno - is the
project's cornerstone. If the dam is raised 18 feet, the reservoir would add
more water than Millerton's entire capacity.

Like the Winnemem Wintu, the Hills family opposed raising Shasta. But the
family put its private fishing club up for sale last year, asking $30
million.

When Westlands officials learned one possible buyer was considering building
vacation homes, they bid $5 million above the asking price. Homeowners might
oppose Shasta expansion, so Westlands considered a new subdivision to be an
obstacle.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has supported raising Shasta Dam, said
the deal appeared to be a case of a willing buyer and a willing seller. She
said she liked the idea of preserving the option to raise Shasta Dam.

But environmental advocates have long criticized irrigation diversions from
Northern California for San Joaquin Valley farmers. They said the Westlands
purchase smacks of the infamous deals Los Angeles made to acquire water in
the Owens Valley decades ago.

"They paid $11,600 per acre," asked Byron Leydecker, founder of the Friends
of Trinity River. "That's pretty expensive for a fishing club. There should
be some kind of hearings or investigation. People are outraged." 

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

California Trout,Inc., Advisor

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net> bwl3 at comcast.net

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

http:// <http://www.fotr.org> www.fotr.org

http:// <http://www.caltrout.org> www.caltrout.org 

 

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