[env-trinity] SF Chronicle October 23

[Byron Leydecker]

Change certain for the delta, report says

San Francisco Chronicle - 10/23/08

By Kelly Zito

 

 

(10-22) 19:43 PDT -- With or without human intervention, the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta will change radically in the future, the result of
climate change, invasive species and earthquakes, according to a new
scientific report.

 
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/23/BA6N13MM32.DTL&
type=newsbayarea> Oakland gets loan to house AIDS-disabled people 10.23.08 

With implications for everything from drinking water supplies in California
to urban planning, the study's authors hope their work will help
policymakers to revive an ecosystem widely recognized as on life support.

 

"The delta is in crisis," said Joseph Grindstaff, director of the CalFed
Bay-Delta program, sponsor of the report and the state agency that oversees
the delta. "Now and in the next year or two, we'll make really important
decisions - this report is a foundation."

 

Grindstaff and others spoke during a gathering in Sacramento on Tuesday for
the release of "State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008," a 174-page report
detailing the history of the delta and its myriad problems today.

 

The CalFed report, unveiled during a three-day conference on the delta,
pulls together information from several other recent, influential studies.

 

A report earlier this year by the Public Policy Institute of California, for
instance, recommended the building of a so-called peripheral canal, a
massive pipeline that would route water from the Sacramento River to pumps
in the southern delta. Last week, the governor-appointed Delta Blue Ribbon
Task Force concluded some kind of conveyance system is necessary, along with
new dams, reservoirs, desalination technology and a new governing body for
the delta that would replace CalFed, an agency often criticized as
ineffectual.

 

The CalFed report did highlight a handful of key points, including recent
data showing dwindling groundwater supplies and land levels in the Central
Delta declining to 30 to 40 feet below sea level by 2200.

 

Of immediate concern is the fate of crashing fish populations within the
1,300-square mile estuary. The delta smelt, a tiny fish that smells like
cucumber, remains the most imperiled due to increasing toxicity, warmer
water and to large-scale killings by giant pumps that send water around the
state.

 

In response, a federal judge last year slashed water exports from the delta,
adding urgency to plans to fix the hub of a system that supplies water to 23
million urban and rural Californians. 

 

In their report, CalFed scientists said some "last ditch" efforts may be the
answer to preserving species like the delta smelt. Those include freezing
the fish's genetic material, genetically engineering the fish's ability to
withstand higher water temperatures, or creating hatcheries, or "zoos" for
the fish.

 

"When you look at how the delta will change, it will probably become
uninhabitable for some species ... the delta smelt being one of the prime
examples," said Michael Healey, former lead scientist for CalFed and editor
of the report.

 

To safeguard the dozens of endangered delta plants, Healey suggested
depositing their genetic material into seed banks.

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Al Donner acknowledged that smelt
populations "are going low, and lower and lower." But he said his agency is
focused first and foremost on protecting the species and minimizing any
harmful impacts. Donner had not seen the study's discussion of saving
genetic material.

 

One of the most significant conclusions of the report had less to do with
solutions to a specific problem and more to do with a more comprehensive
approach to the delta. Decisions on the delta come not just from global
warming and fish spawning data, authors said, but also from diverse groups -
urban and rural communities, environmentalists, industry and government.

 

Work on the delta has been characterized by "constant tension," according to
report author Richard Norgaard. "The delta depends on all of us working
together."

 

 

Byron Leydecker, JCT

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 519 4810 cell

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://fotr.org 

 <mailto:bwl3 at comcast.net>  

 

 

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