[env-trinity] Times-Standard: Feds visit rivers to see effects of drought, water release decision

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_26341700/feds-visit-rivers-see-effects-drought-water-release

Feds visit rivers to see effects of drought, water release decision
By Will Houston
whouston at times-standard.com @Will_S_Houston on Twitter
POSTED:   08/14/2014 11:58:32 PM PDT0 COMMENTS| UPDATED:   ABOUT 8 HOURS AGO

Click photo to enlarge
Hoopa Tribe members and several federal officials toured the Trinity... (Courtesy of Allie Hostler)
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Two days after confronting the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in Redding on last month's decision to end fish-kill preventative releases on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, tribal and government officials met with the federal official responsible on Thursday to persuade him to reconsider.
"We have compelled them to take a harder look at what's happening and the conditions of the river and the dire situation the salmon find themselves in," Hoopa Valley Tribal Councilman Ryan Jackson said. "We were able to show clearly those impacts that they're having on our people."
The meeting came after the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation decided on July 31 to cease pre-emptive water releases from Trinity Lake into the Trinity and Klamath that have been used to prevent fish kills since 2003. The water will instead go toward protecting federally endangered salmon in the Central Valley. The bureau stated that it would make emergency releases to the Trinity and Klamath rivers should monitoring show signs of poor fish health — such as dead fish.
During the meeting with the Hoopa Valley Tribe and 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg, Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Regional Director David Murillo — the federal official who made the controversial decision — and several other federal officials took a tour of the Trinity and Klamath rivers by boat. The tour gave tribal members the chance to show first-hand the effects the drought has on the river, its wildlife and the tribe.
"The Hoopa Tribe did a really good job explaining to him that the emergency flows are going to be too late because the way that the parasites kill the fish," Sundberg said. "By the time they see signs of Ich (the parasite), they have to take a sample of it, test it, and then it triggers the emergency flow. It takes two days to do the testing. Then, it takes two more days for the flows to get down to the fish. In the 2002 fish kill, it happened within a few days when dead fish began to show up. Within a couple of more days, they had thousands of fish dead."
Several local tribes and organizations are concerned that the current conditions will lead to another fish kill like 2002's when tens of thousands of fish died from gill rot disease — an external parasite.
On the tour, Sundberg said they found large groups of fish holding up near cool streams that flow into the Trinity River. With low flow and high temperature water conditions making fish more susceptible to gill rot, Sundberg said it was a good example to show the visiting feds.
"You could see tons of fish holding up there," he said. "When you have lots of fish in close proximity, a parasite gets from one fish to the other much easier."
Further on down the river near Weitchpec, the group visited where the Trinity flows into the Klamath and saw the blue-green algae blooms that create toxic water conditions.
Hoopa Tribal Fisheries Director Mike Orcutt said the tour went well, but that the federal government has not thoroughly examined the consequences that result from its recent decision.
"They are not listening to everybody that needs to be listened to," he said. "The resources and the expertise the tribes have to offer is something that I'm hoping they engage with. I think they need to pay attention to what the tribes are saying, and that I think that requires the people to be at the table. We'll see how it turns out."
Several tribes and government officials — including California's 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman — have stated that the bureau's decision violates state law by adversely affecting salmon spawning.
"By state law, Trinity River salmon — which begin their upstream migration in the Klamath River — must be protected before water is used to bail out the Central Valley Project," Huffman said in a past statement on the decision. "When you find yourself in a hole, you're supposed to stop digging, but Reclamation has dug itself a hole it cannot get out of, and tribes and fishermen may once again pay the price."
Orcutt said in an email to the Times-Standard that the bureau's decision blatantly violates the law passed by Congress in 1955 authorizing the Trinity River Division Project, which he said only allows water other than that needed to protect Trinity River fish to be exported into the Central Valley, and that there was to be 50,000 acre-feet of water released annually for Humboldt County and downstream water users' benefit.
"To put entire risk on survival of Klamath-Trinity fish and play Russian roulette should be an affront to North Coast communities that depend upon the health and survival of Klamath River fish," Orcutt wrote.
After finishing the nearly eight-hour visit, Sundberg said he hopes the feds will recognize what is occurring.
"I appreciate them coming out and seeing it first hand and listening to the biologists that the tribe has and experts on the ground who know a lot more than I do," Sundberg said. "Seeing the river with all the algae and moss and fish holding up, it's hard to ignore that there is a serious problem."
HELP PREVENT FISH KILLS:
In an effort to prevent fish die-offs in the Klamath River, the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team is asking local groups and individuals to report signs of such an event. As fish kills can occur in short periods of time, a quick response by trained professionals is critically important. People are cautioned not to attempt to examine fish or put themselves in harm's way during a fish-kill event.
To report a fish kill, call: 1-800-852-7550
More information about the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team and current river and fish health conditions are available at: http://www.kbmp.net/collaboration/kfhat
Source: Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team
Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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