[env-trinity] Trinity Journal November 5 2008

Fri Nov 7 14:52:09 PST 2008

County's expert on Trinity River retires 
By SALLY MORRIS 

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by PHIL NELSON Tom Stokely poses by the river in the Douglas City area. 

Referred to by many as a walking encyclopedia on Trinity River issues past
and present, retiring Trinity County principal planner Tom Stokely's last
day on the job was Friday. 

Though he plans to relocate from Trinity County to Mount Shasta "mostly to
ski," he promises to continue his Trinity River advocacy work on a larger
scale with the nonprofit California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) of which he
has become a director. 

Stokely, 53, has worked for the County Planning Department for 23 years,
establishing the natural resources division in the early 1990s to focus
primarily on Trinity County water rights and fishery restoration efforts. 

He worked with the Trinity River Restoration Program toward the original
signing of the Trinity River Record of Decision in 2000 that allocated
greater flows to restore salmon and steelhead fish populations. He was also
instrumental in completing the supplemental environmental review and legal
defense required to ultimately clear the decision through the appellate
courts four years later. 

Stokely then worked on the environmental documents to build four new bridges
and modify another on the Trinity River to make way for higher flows. The
work included soliciting cooperation from private landowners to modify water
and sewage disposal systems along the river to accommodate higher flows, and
completing the Indian Creek project designed to reduce floodwater elevations
for homes in the area and to provide fish habitat. 

Upon his retirement, Stokely was presented a resolution of appreciation from
the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board for distinguished
service to the people of Trinity County, the north coast region and the
state of California. 

The resolution cited Stokely's accomplishments on behalf of the Trinity
River and also noted that he has administered millions of dollars in grants
through the planning department for park improvements, watershed
restoration, fish passage and other fish habitat improvements in the county.
He was also instrumental in achieving site and time specific temperature
objectives for the Trinity River which have led not only to improvement in
fish runs but also an enormous increase in whitewater boating in the Trinity
River due to higher flows through the summer. 

Beyond Trinity County lines, Stokely has been a frequent thorn in the side
of the Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley, the largest water
provider in the federally owned Central Valley Project. He drew the ire of
the powerful irrigation district on himself and Trinity County when he
testified at the State Water Resources Control Board's Bay-Delta hearings
that the Trinity River was dammed and diverted to benefit the Westlands
District--and it has been at the expense of the Trinity River, the Delta and
the San Joaquin River. 

He has been tireless in advocating for the retirement of drainage-impaired
land in the Westlands Water District, where he claims bad irrigation
practices have made a few farmers rich but resulted in the build-up of
metals and salts to toxic levels. The effect has placed the federal
government under court order to resolve what is anticipated to be a $2.7
billion taxpayer problem to come up with a viable drainage plan that will
avert another environmental disaster affecting wildlife as occurred in the
1980s at Kesterson Reservoir. 

As he goes to work for C-WIN, a nonprofit group of well-known environmental
and water rights advocates, Stokely said the group is pursuing a strategy
session with experts to explore the best ways to tackle the problem of
drainage impaired lands through litigation. CWIN's board of directors
selects the cases it fights, hires and raises the funds to pay the
attorneys, and oversees the litigation it elects to get involved in. 

Stokely said he believes he will be better able to pursue his professional
goals by working for C-WIN, where he will no longer incur any liability for
cash strapped Trinity County. He added that the county's recent
reorganization of the planning and building departments has also been a
factor in his decision, but not the only one. 

Noting that he's not being replaced, Stokely said it's more important than
ever for the county to be involved in the Trinity River Restoration Program,
adding "nobody can look out for our interests but us." 

The program has a $10 million annual budget and pumps at least $1 million
into payroll in Weaverville, "not to mention contracts, road work in
watersheds and other ecosystem improvements. Given the budget situation in
D.C., the county needs to stay very involved to be sure that it keeps
going," he said. 

As a consultant with C-WIN, he expects to come back to the Trinity County
Board of Supervisors seeking support for regional efforts to protect
Northern California water rights. 

In comments to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, he
cautioned that the State Water Resources Control Board estimates that the
amount of water allocated statewide is about seven times the amount that
actually exists, yet contracts have been sold and the water delivered. 

"The chickens are coming home to roost with the dry conditions and the
record pumping from the Delta," he said, noting that Delta pumping in 2007,
classified as a dry year, was more than in 2006 - a wet year. Reservoir
storage is down statewide, and Stokely predicted that temperature issues for
salmon survival will get much worse if the drought conditions continue
another year or two. 

"The drought is real, but it's also artificial," Stokely said, adding that
he plans to continue working to reduce the over allocation of "paper water"
in the state's water plans. He said the record Delta pumping and reservoir
drawdown over the past three years have led to lake levels that are lower
now than they were after four to six years of drought in the 1980s and
1990s. 

He added that proposals to build a peripheral canal to get around pumping
restrictions and endangered species protections in the Delta would enable
unfettered pumping, which would be to the detriment of the Trinity River
without some kind of additional protection. 

Stokely advised that the only way the Trinity River can be protected is by
decreasing demand (through retirement of millions of acres of
drainage-impaired lands in the western San Joaquin Valley) and limiting
annual Trinity exports to the Central Valley Project in keeping with the
increased river flows under the Trinity Record of Decision. An enforceable
minimum cold water pool also needs to be established for Trinity Lake to
protect in-stream fisheries through the summer months. 

He told the regional water board, "I'll be working on that in my next
career, hopefully, and I'm sure I'll see you again."

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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