[env-trinity] Opinion: Tom Walz: Damn torpedoes, full speed ahead

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/article_e4917750-ca1a-11e5-a618-7fc7230383a1.html
Damn torpedoes, full speed ahead
>From Tom Walz Weaverville | Posted: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 6:15 amAfter reading last week’s article that the Trinity River Restoration Program plans to implement the Record of Decision for springtime flows based on rain year categories and totally ignore the lake level recoveries had me shaking my head in disbelief. In real life when you have made a decision based on the best information available at the time, you implement that decision, until additional information is received that will allow a better outcome, then you modify your implementation.  We now have new information that shows retaining higher lake levels throughout the summer is highly beneficial to fish, as a cold pool of storage at Trinity Lake will be necessary to offset the high in-stream temperatures of the lower Klamath River. The past two years have demonstrated that September and October cold water releases from Trinity Lake have saved countless fish from disease, reducing mortality.  With that new information it should be a relatively simple public notice to amend the Record of Decision to include a minimum Trinity Lake storage level and to adjust projected spring releases to attain those levels. Retaining higher constant lake levels will also benefit Trinity County’s economy by increasing recreational use of the lake and allowing additional hydroelectric production, thus reducing TPUD customer surcharges. I would encourage our Trinity County Board of Supervisors to put this on their agenda and seek an immediate amendment to the Record of Decision.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20160205/16d994b5/attachment.html>