[env-trinity] Union Democrat- Water districts accuse feds of killing salmon

[Tom Stokely]

Gee, it's a good thing this isn't happening on the Trinity River to spring Chinook (petitioned for listing), or is it?

Tom Stokely
Water districts accuse feds of killing salmon on Stan

Written by Ryan Campbell, The Union Democrat November 18, 2011 01:09 pm
 
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/20111118105379/News/Local-News/Water-districts-accuse-feds-of-killing-salmon-on-Stan?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UnionDemocrat+%28The+Union+Democrat%2C+Sonora%2C+CA+News%2C+Sports%2C+%26+Weather%252
 
Fnger-pointing has begun in earnest following the destruction of dozens of Chinook salmon spawning grounds in the Stanislaus River this month.

Area irrigation districts are claiming that federal water regulators failed to properly manage the flow of water down the Stanislaus River over the past several months, causing about 23 spawning zones to be left high and dry after salmon deposited their eggs.

Federal employees, meanwhile, said they released more water than usual from New Melones Reservoir because they needed to make room for future rainfall following record precipitation levels last year.    

The fish kerfuffle began after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates New Melones Reservoir, began releasing more than 2,000 cubic feet of water per second into the Stanislaus River. The flow was well above the seasonal average of 500 cubic feet per second due to unusually high rainfall last year.    

The greater volume of water drove breeding salmon populations further into spawning channels than usual, according to biologist Doug Demko with the Oakdale-based firm FISHBIO, which conducts studies of several San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts. When the Bureau of Reclamation reduced the flow to more normal levels on Nov. 2, several breeding channels were drained, leaving spawning zones or “redds” to dry out or become stagnant, he said.    

“Salmon are very particular. They need a lot of flow for their nests,” he said.    

Demko said the move was essentially a mistake that could have been avoided if the bureau had contacted FISHBIO or one of the three major irrigation districts that draw water from the lower Stanislaus River — the Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts and the Stockton East Water District.    

The areas primarily affected are between Knights Ferry and Orange Blossom Bridge. Some of the areas that went dry were restoration sites the government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make suitable for salmon redds, Demko said.    

He said about 23 redds were destroyed outright while another 13 were damaged, amounting to the loss of roughly 10 percent of the entire breeding population of Chinook salmon, which is classified by the federal government as a “species of concern.”    

He said as many as 200,000 eggs could have been lost due to the flow variations, potentially impacting future salmon runs up the Stanislaus River.    

“It doesn’t matter if flows are increased now, those eggs are dead,” he said.    

But higher-than-average water levels left the federal agency no choice but to release “pulse” flows from New Melones Reservoir, according to Louis Moore, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.    

“We were making adjustments to make sure safe space was maintained in the reservoir,” he said. “We need to make sure we have enough space in the reservoir to make room for storm systems that might come in.”    

He said it is not unusual for salmon spawning grounds to be damaged during high-flow years, but that the bureau was able to achieve the “best case scenario for all the demands involved.” New Melones Reservoir now stands at roughly 81 percent capacity with 1.95 million acre-feet of water in storage.    

“It’s always a balancing act to maintain water storage at the reservoir,” Moore said.   

Valley water authorities, meanwhile, were calling for more communication with state and federal water policymakers — as well as a position on the Stanislaus Operating Group, which helps decide how much water should flow down the river.   

“Because we hold the first water rights to the Stanislaus River, we think we deserve the right to sit on that committee,” said Jeff Shields, general manager of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District.    

He said state and federal water agencies have ignored much of the research and expertise local water agencies have offered.    

“We should have been releasing a lot more water throughout the year,” said Kevin Kauffman, general manager of the Stockton East Water District.    

Steve Knell, general manager of the Oakdale Irrigation District, said the bureau should have either maintained higher water levels throughout the salmon nesting season, or kept the water level low.    

“They ran the river high and encouraged (the salmon) to go into the back channels, and then they cut the water level,” he said. “We ended up with this unfortunate loss of salmon.”    

He said the Bureau of Reclamation should listen to the concerns of local agencies because they have more expertise in specific river systems.    

“The irrigation districts know more about the river than the state and federal government, but when it comes to decision time we don’t have a seat at the table,” he said.

 
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