[env-trinity] Siskiyou Daily News- Supervisors object to Trinity flow release

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20120730/NEWS/120739991?refresh=true 

Supervisors object to flow release

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday filed their official comments on the Bureau of Reclamation's (BOR) intention to release additional water from the Trinity River's Lewiston Dam this year in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2002 Klamath River record fish kill that occurred downstream of the Trinity and Klamath confluence.

PHOTO/ SUBMITTED
In 2002 an outbreak of fish disease, exacerbated by low flows and high water temperatures, resulted in the premature death of an estimated 34,000 Chinook salmon in the lower Klamath River. With the prediction of a record-breaking salmon run this year, BOR proposes to release additional Trinity River water in an attempt to avoid a repeat of 2002.


The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday filed their official comments on the Bureau of Reclamation's (BOR) intention to release additional water from the Trinity River's Lewiston Dam this year in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2002 Klamath River record fish kill that occurred downstream of the Trinity and Klamath confluence.

In the document, the board acknowledges that the agency's proposed action is "rooted in good intentions to benefit Trinity River Chinook salmon." However, the board states, "it does not appear that there has been sufficient consideration as to whether this action may be detrimental to other populations of Chinook and Coho."

BOR says the specific intention of the additional flows is to flush disease-carrying aquatic worms from the river and maintain a lower density of the worms and fish during the Chinook migration, thereby reducing the infection rate.

According to the comments filed by the supervisors, their primary objection to the release is based in concern that increased flows entering the Klamath River may "create migration cues resulting in fish moving into the Klamath River and its tributaries at times when temperature and flow conditions are marginal or even lethal."

Essentially, the board is concerned that Chinook salmon will migrate into reaches of the Klamath River and its tributaries, such as the Scott and Shasta Rivers, before seasonal rainfall increases stream flows enough to support their survival, potentially resulting in pre-spawn mortality.

Wade Sinnen, Senior Environmental Scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game's (DFG) Klamath/Trinity program said, "Supplemental flows were sent down the Trinity in 2003 and 2004 after the 2002 fish kill. These flows did not, to my knowledge, lead to premature migration and subsequent fish kills in the upper Klamath in those years."

"Typically the fall run of Chinook start entering the lower klamath River around the first of August, with the peak being mid to late August, thus the timing of the supplemental flows," said Sinnen.

In their document, the supervisors say, "The request for increased Trinity River flows in mid-August and September is a departure from the natural Trinity hydrograph, which typically did not produce higher flows until late in October."

According to BOR's Draft EA, "Reclamation would operate Lewiston Reservoir to target a minimum flow in the lower Klamath River at KNK [gauging station] of 3,200 cfs (cubic feet per second) from August 15, 2012, to September 21, 2012..."

The Draft EA also states, "The 3,200 cfs flow magnitude was identified as the approximate August and September average flows during those years (since 1978) when the fall Chinook salmon run in the Klamath River was greater than the 2002 run size."

"A variety of monitoring efforts are planned that will be integral to determining the need for an emergency fall flow release in 2012 and provide valuable data with which to assess the effectiveness of the recommended preventative release strategy," says the agency.

In the closing paragraphs of the board of supervisors' comments, they invoke their well know objection to the Klamath Dam removal agreements, saying, "In testimony before the State Water Resources Control Board on July 17, John Bezdek, representing the Department of the Interior, spoke of the need for a holistic approach in managing the Klamath Basin and decried 'piecemeal' management efforts. Unfortunately, 'piecemeal' is exactly what has been produced with the KHSA and KBRA, where the focus is on the mainstem of the Klamath River rather than a true holistic approach to the issues of the greater Klamath Basin."

The board adds, "Disjointed management actions on the Trinity River threaten to be just the latest example of the Bureau and NMFS embarking on yet another tangent of piecemeal action."




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