[env-trinity] Redding.com: Bureau seeks long-term solution for Klamath salmon

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/fish-plan_04512694


Bureau seeks long-term solution for Klamath salmon
ADDRESS:
Damon Arthur 
9:15 PM, Aug 6, 20159:25 PM, Aug 6, 2015 Copyright 2015 Journal Media Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Meeting gets underway Thursday evening in Weaverville on a long-term plan promoting the health of fish in the Klamath River. DAMON ARTHUR/RECORD SEARCHLIGHTHIDE CAPTIONWEAVERVILLE, California - WEAVERVILLE — As a Trinity River fishing guide, Travis Michel said he has a stake not only on what happens on the Trinity but also the Klamath River.That’s why Michel attended a workshop in Weaverville on Thursday night on a proposal to develop a long-term plan to protect the health of fish in the Klamath River, mainly through managing the amount of water flowing down the Trinity River and into the Klamath.“I’m here to learn more about what the proposal is,” Michel said. “These flows will definitely affect what I do for the fall.”The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has proposed increasing the amount of water flowing from Lewiston Dam down the Trinity River out of concern for salmon and steelhead in the lower Klamath dying of a deadly bacteria called ich.Ich flourishes where fish are crowded in warm, slow-moving water, and in 2002 some 33,000 Chinook salmon died under those conditions.As the drought has left the Klamath with similar low and warm conditions over the past three years, the bureau has ramped up releases from Lewiston Dam to flush out the river with cooler water to prevent a widespread ich outbreak.But each year, the bureau has also had to prepare environmental reports to justify the higher flows in the face of legal challenges from the Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, two agricultural irrigation agencies in the San Joaquin Valley.Water and hydropower agencies have resisted sending more water down the Trinity for the fish because some of the water from the Trinity River is shipped via tunnels, power plants and dams to the Sacramento River and eventually the San Joaquin Valley.After three years of annual litigation and environmental impact reports, the bureau this year has begun working on a long-term plan to manage fish health in the Klamath.Developing a long-term plan means the agency won’t have to write an annual environmental report, and it could streamline the process of when and under what conditions the bureau decides to increase Trinity River flows to help salmon in the lower Klamath, said Paul Zedonis, a project manager with the bureau.About 15 people showed up to listen to a presentation from Zedonis and visit information stations set up at the Trinity County Library in Weaverville.Zedonis said the purpose of the workshop was to answer questions and take information from the public about what needs to be considered in the environmental reports and the long-term plan.But fishing guides Michel and Steve Townzen said after listening to bureau officials Thursday night they still didn’t know much about the long-term plan.“I thought they were going to tell us what the plan was,” Townzen said.“I think we have more questions now than when we came,” Michel said.While long-term plans for the Klamath are still developing, federal and state officials say the river has low, warm water conditions again this summer and the chance of another fish die off is high.Because of the ongoing drought, biologists monitoring fish in the Klamath have seen ich in fish about a month earlier than normal.The bureau’s proposal to deal with ich this year says there will be about 2,000 cubic-feet per second of water flowing down the Klamath in late August when the estimated 119,000 fall-run of Chinook salmon begin swimming upstream to spawn.To prevent an ich outbreak, the bureau has proposed increasing releases from Lewiston Dam so the Klamath flows would be at 2,500 cfs from Aug. 19 through Sept. 20.During the 2002 fish die-off, there was 2,528 cfs in the Klamath River when an estimated 170,000 Chinook salmon came upriver to spawn, according to the bureau.Members of the Hoopa Tribe, which live along the Klamath, have slammed the bureau’s proposal, claiming it is not enough water to help the fish.“It seems that Interior is considering last-minute proposals not intended to protect fish but rather meet political agendas of San Joaquin agribusiness,” the tribe said in a statement.
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