[env-trinity] Eureka Times Standard and Santa Rose Press Democrat on Klamath Fisheries

[jay_glase at nps.gov]

I'm curious to know if there's any monitoring program set up to see what
kind of movement into tributaries does occur.  This is something I observed
in south fork tributaries when studying steelhead habitat use (yes, quite a
while back) and assume if tribs are accessible it happens elsewhere.  As I
would guess everyone knows by now, when this type of effort works, it can
be helpful, but data from this type of work is critical and can go a long
way in making necessary changes in river management.

A couple questions come to mind though.  Feel free to answer them if you
know.  If river flow regimes aren't altered on the main Klamath, would
tributaries in the Klamath maintain connection to the mainstem during low
flow periods?  If they do, then they'd be natural refugia that have
probably been used for millenia.  The flip side of course is if they're
naturally disconnected during normal low flow periods, what kind of impact
is there when they're opened to the mainstem? (another reason why this
should be considered just a temporary measure).

cheers
jay

Jay Glase
Great Lakes Area Fishery Biologist
National Park Service
800 E Lakeshore Dr
Houghton, MI 49931
906-487-7167




|---------+---------------------------------------------->
|         |           "Byron Leydecker"                  |
|         |           <bwl3 at comcast.net>                 |
|         |           Sent by:                           |
|         |           env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.|
|         |           davis.ca.us                        |
|         |                                              |
|         |                                              |
|         |           07/12/2007 09:59 AM MST            |
|---------+---------------------------------------------->
  >------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
  |                                                                                                                              |
  |       To:       "Trinity List" <env-trinity at mailman.dcn.org>                                                                 |
  |       cc:       (bcc: Jay Glase/Omaha/NPS)                                                                                   |
  |       Subject:  [env-trinity] Eureka Times Standard and Santa Rose Press Democrat       on Klamath Fisheries                 |
  >------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|




KLAMATH RIVER:
Klamath volunteers carve paths to cold streams for salmon
Eureka Times Standard – 7/12/07
By John Driscoll, staff writer

The Klamath River is getting hot -- killer hot, especially for young salmon
that have struggled for years to survive diseases that set in during the
summer.

A group of Orleans area volunteers, nonprofit organizations, public
agencies and the Karuk Tribe have moved rock and gravel from the mouths of
creeks on the middle Klamath River in a stop-gap effort to open up
cold-water refuges for the little fish.

Last week, for example, volunteers working with the Mid Klamath Watershed
Council wielded shovels to create passages between Ti and Stanshaw creeks
and the Klamath.

The work is not the solution to the many problems fish face on the Klamath,
said Sandi Tripp, director of natural resources for the Karuk Tribe. But
it's critical, she said, especially for threatened coho salmon that spend
lots of time in the river before migrating to sea.

”It's truly a killing zone for the fish out there in the river,” Tripp
said. “The only saving grace is to open small tributaries.”

As flows have dropped from Iron Gate Dam, and air temperatures have risen,
parts of the river are now peaking at above 76 degrees. Small, cold
tributaries that run though forests and are fed by springs and seeps can be
10 degrees cooler than that, providing significant relief for little fish.

”Any fish that decides to go up there has a whole lot better chance of
survival than staying in the river,” said Gary Flosi, senior biologist for
the California Department of Fish and Game.

Coho and chinook salmon and steelhead use the refuges until the tributaries
and the rivers begin to swell with fall rains. The initial work to create
the makeshift passages for fish was experimental, Flosi said, but over time
it was clear that the cool-water sanctuaries at the mouths of creeks were
more important than first realized.

Flosi, too, said the work is not a long-term solution, but may be one of
the few viable options to protect young salmon while solutions to the
complex problems of the Klamath are hashed out among the varied
stakeholders in the basin.

Other projects bring in Caltrans, Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest
Service. Fish-blocking culverts are targeted for replacement, and road work
is done to prevent landslides from clogging creeks.

The volunteer efforts to do the work at the creek mouths have gained
momentum in recent years. People in the mid-Klamath region are more and
more bound together by river restoration projects -- something everyone can
agree on, said Nancy Bailey, a project coordinator for the Mid Klamath
Watershed Council.

”More and more people are understanding the critical nature of the creeks,”
Bailey said.

Editorial: Cheney link?; Thompson offers new motive for Klamath River fish
kills
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 7/12/07

In the death of 68,000 Chinook salmon in 2002, it's not news that the Bush
administration sided with Oregon ranchers to the detriment of the Klamath
River fishery and North Coast fisherman. Until last month, however, no one
connected the fish kill to Vice President Dick Cheney. The Washington Post
reported that the largest loss of salmon in the history of the Western U.S.
may be linked to the vice president's efforts to gain favor with Republican
farmers in Oregon.

The impact of that Post story wasn't lost on Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St.
Helena, who has been fighting for federal support for the fishery and for
relief for salmon fishermen who suffered when the 2006 salmon season was
curtailed.

Politics begets politics. Thompson is a Democrat eager to embarrass a
Republican administration.

As his approval ratings tumble, the secretive vice president represents the
almost perfect villain.

Still, a House investigation into Cheney's role will be welcome. Americans
have a right to know if environmental rules and the economic interests of
Californians were discounted because the vice president thought gaining
political advantage in Oregon was more important.


Byron Leydecker
Friends of Trinity River, Chair
California Trout, Inc., Advisor
PO Box 2327
Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327
415 383 4810
415 519 4810 cell
bwl3 at comcast.net
bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
http://www.fotr.org
http://www.caltrout.org


 _______________________________________________
env-trinity mailing list
env-trinity at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us
http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity