[env-trinity] SITES RESERVOIR PROJECT DRAWS CRITICISM FROM FISHERMEN, TRIBES, AND CONSERVATION GROUPS

[Tom Stokely]

SITES RESERVOIR PROJECT DRAWS CRITICISM FROM

FISHERMEN, TRIBES, AND CONSERVATION GROUPS 

 

-Sites Reservoir Project  Threatens Fisheries in Two Watersheds-Environmental Review Short on Facts

 

Contacts: Noah Oppenheim, PCFFA and IFR (207) 233-0400

                 Chief Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Wintu Tribe (530) 229-4096  

      Tom Stokely, Save California Salmon 530-524-0315

 

A coalition of 27 fishermen, Native Americans and environmental organizations sent a letter expressing concerns about the impacts to salmon and water quality from proposed diversion associated with the Sites Reservoir Project. The groups allege that the Sites Project Authority has left out key facts in their environmental review which serves to downplay impacts. 

 

“We are here to demand a full accounting of the environmental impacts to the Trinity and Sacramento Rivers,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. Both rivers have suffered a steady decline in fisheries for the past several decades and most experts see dams and diversions as the reason. The declines in salmon stocks have crippled California’s salmon fleet, diminished recreational fishing opportunities, and undermined Tribal fisheries and cultural practices.

 

The groups want the Sites Project Authority to revise its draft Environmental Impact Statement and Report (DEIS/EIR) to analyze all the impacts of the project and then recirculate it for public comment. The coalition also wrote to ask that the California Water Commission support their request.

 

The Sites project is a proposed off-stream storage reservoir near Maxwell that would store water pumped from the Sacramento River and the Trinity River which is a natural tributary to the Klamath River but also diverted to the Sacramento River. Thus, it impacts imperiled salmon runs both of California’s greatest salmon streams.















































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