[env-trinity] Redding.com Editorial: A nice problem for north's rivers: Too many salmon

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/aug/13/editorial-a-nice-problem-for-norths-rivers-too/

Editorial: A nice problem for north's rivers: Too many salmon


Too many salmon? It seems like only yesterday our Northern California chinook were collapsing to the verge of extinction.

And indeed, just a few summers ago they seemed to be. Entire fishing seasons — in the ocean and in the rivers — were scrapped in the name of preserving scarce salmon and giving them a chance to spawn the next generation.

Apparently it worked. The Sacramento River runs are booming, and the Klamath River this year is expecting the best salmon return in decades — to the point were fisheries managers fear an overcrowded river that will spread disease and lead to a repeat of the notorious 2002 fish die-off.

In an attempt to avert such an ugly scene, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation today will begin ramping up releases from Trinity Lake into the Trinity River, a tributary of the Klamath.

Keeping a healthy flow in the lower river, they hope, will flush out parasites that thrive in the low, warm river of late summer.

Downriver Indian tribes and Humboldt County earlier this year had called on Reclamation to release extra cold water from Trinity Lake, and as recently as last month they were not at all sure they would get their way. The county and some tribes are engaged in a running argument with Reclamation over old water rights that they claim rightly belong to them — and not to Central Valley Project water contractors on the inland side of the Trinity divide — and they'd pressed for that water to be used on the salmon's behalf. Reclamation turned down that request, still declining to concede the coastal "area of origin" rights, but it is coming through with the water in any case.

Of course, water released today to boost fish might well contribute to a later shortfall if the winter comes up dry. California has water wars precisely because it's scarce and in demand.

But for now, Reclamation has decided it has the water and the flexibility to keep this banner salmon year from turning into a disaster. Bravo to the bureau — and wouldn't it be nice to have this kind of fish problem more often?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20120814/6c0509f5/attachment.html>