[env-trinity] Eureka Times Standard-Trinity river advocates campaign to stop restoration projects

[Tom Stokely]

Trinity river advocates campaign to stop restoration projects; river guides and conservationists want complete review before next project begins

Donna Tam/The Times-Standard
Posted: 12/18/2011 02:07:57 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_19573579 


Trinity River guide Travis Michel needs the Trinity to be healthy for him to stay financially afloat.
A former building contractor who found himself at the mercy of a poor housing market, Michel's dependence on the river is shared by all people who work and live along the Trinity.
”Fishing is what keeps Trinity County alive these days,” Michel wrote in an email to the Times-Standard. “It used to be timber and mining, but those days are gone. When there are fish in the river, all the guides are busy as well as all the hotels and restaurants.”
Although he supports restoration in concept, Michel, along with other river guides and conservationists, has recently come out against the work of the Trinity River Restoration Program, or TRRP. The program is set up to carry out a series of restoration projects aiming to mange water flows, construct channel rehabilitation sites, add gravel to encourage fish spawning and control fine sediments. Half of the 47 projects are completed.
The Trinity River Guides Association and the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) have said the program is doing more harm than good and is moving forward on the second phase of projects before the first phase has been properly evaluated. A study on the effects of the first phase is expected this spring.
The Trinity Management Council, or TMC, voted at its meeting last week to continue the design work on two restoration projects scheduled
for 2012 but with the direction that staff meet with stakeholders, such as the guides association and C-WIN, to discuss their concerns, according to TMC Chair Brian Person. The TMC will make a decision on the projects at its meeting on Jan. 4.
Person said concerns brought up by the guides and C-WIN were taken into consideration by program staff in the past, and adjustments to designs were made based on their feedback.
”What we learned is they made some steps in the right direction, just not enough,” Person said of the discussion at the TMC meeting.
In November, the guides and C-WIN sent a letter to the program strongly objecting to both the design and construction of projects prior to the completion of the first phase's review. The letter followed up a letter sent in March that the program has yet to address.
Robin Schrock, executive director for the Trinity River Restoration Program, said she was not executive director in March and could not speak to the letter sent then, but she is working on a response to the November letter.
Michel, who also signed the letter, said guides are concerned, considering the results so far.
The gravel injections have filled in adult holding pools, making fishing the river unattractive for sports fishermen, according to Michel, who has been a guide for six years and spends about 250 days on the river.
”The whole process bothers us,” he wrote in an email to the Times-Standard sent before the Trinity Management Council meeting. “It seems we have been told by members of TRRP that they get a certain amount of money every year, and if they don't use it they will lose it. It is clear to us that they are trying to keep the ball rolling so they don't lose their money without properly thinking these projects out or checking with all the stakeholders to see how they will be affected.”
Tom Stokely, of the California Water Impact Network, estimated that 20 major holding pools between Lewiston and Douglas City have been filled with gravel, which aims to provide an environment for fish to spawn.
”We think that's pretty important habitat for adult fish,” he said.
Not all the gravel filling fishing holes is from the program's actions, Schrock said, citing the piles of gravel left over from historic mining operations that line the banks. She said the unusually high amount of water this year may also be a factor.
”Gravel augmentation is part of restoration, so some of the holes did receive the gravel, but this is an exceptionally wet year ... the designers are taking it into consideration,” she said.
Implementation of the projects costs about $4 million a year, according to Schrock. It includes the replacement of wells and bridges along the river and funds a well grant program.
Stokely said moving forward before completing a review is poor planning and a possible waste of resources.
”They are not doing what they said they would do,” he said. “They are also not gaining wisdom from the very expensive review they are doing.”
The bottom line for both groups is the program's lack of communication and oversight, Stokely said.
Schrock said she is confused by the guides' comments, since the entire program has been under “pretty rigorous” peer review, and changes to designs have been made as a result of prior concerns voiced by the guides. The program also has an assigned liaison who has met with guides throughout the year.
She said the review will help fine-tune future projects.
The concerns of the river guides and C-WIN may spur Congressman Wally Herger, R-Chico, to send a request for a formal review from the U.S. Department of the Interior, according to Herger's communications director, Bryan Cleveland.
”He believes it's important to the interior department and groups like this to listen to the concerns of the guides,” Cleveland said.
Person said the management council is listening.
”In retrospect, we should have provided an interim response,” he said, referencing the unanswered letters. “But there has been a continued dialogue in the eight-month period.”
He's hoping that by the council's Jan. 4 meeting the gap between what the guides and C-WIN want and what the program can do will shrink enough to satisfy everyone's concerns. But if the discussions begin to hinder the program's objectives, the council will have to move forward.
”I'm hoping that's not the outcome; I'm hopeful for a positive

Donna Tam can be reached at 441-0532 or dtam at times-standard.com.

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