[env-trinity] Winter Flow Approved/Yurok Tribe lawsuit dismissed Trinity Journal

[Tom Stokely]

Note: The Winter Flow EA/FONSI and HVT's signing considerations can be found here: https://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_project_details.php?Project_ID=55082 


 

Winter flows decided
 
 Some displeased, some hopeful 
     
   - By Josh CozineThe Trinity Journal
   -  Dec 25, 2024
    
The much-contested Winter Variable Flow period has begun on the Trinity River with a storm pulse event scheduled to peak today.

The history of the winter variable flows in Trinity County goes back several years with proponents and dissidents on both sides.

Scientists and biologists within the Trinity River Restoration Program and Bureau of Reclamation have touted the idea as having the potential to grow juvenile anadromous fish larger before reaching the sea. Anadromous fish — like endangered salmon and threatened steelhead that populate the Trinity — hatch and rear in fresh water before heading to the ocean, but then return later in life to spawn and see their life cycle complete.
 
Everyone agrees that larger fish reaching the ocean are more likely to survive and return. Not everyone agrees that the new winter flows will produce such results, however, and many in the local fishing industry have been against the flows from the start and remain so despite concessions that were said to be made for the local economy.

Further details of the new flow plans were laid out Dec. 3 in a presentation in front of the county supervisors as discussions were still taking place to ensure a sign-off by both the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Tribes, who were at odds over specifics in federal court (“Hoopa seeks dismissal of Yurok lawsuit over river flows,” Dec. 18, and “Changes to river flow approved,” Dec. 18).

Caveats and agreement

The tribal litigation was dismissed Dec. 12 and on Monday, Dec. 23, a storm pulse synchronization event began. Storm pulse synchronization refers to increasing flows out of the dam in tandem with large rain events to increase flows two-fold in the hopes of scouring the riverbed for it to replenish later.

Winter flows and storm pulse synchronizations were shot down last winter season with Trinity County voting against them, and the year before that winter flows were delayed by a federal court injunction causing them to start past the period for a storm pulse. The storm pulse peaking Dec. 25 will be the only pulse event that will involve raising outflows from Lewiston Dam higher than 1,500 cubic feet of water per second — a caveat requested by the county in order to vote in favor of the flows.

Another caveat requested by the county was to see the elevated flows recede back to base flows more quickly and ensure that no more than 10 boat-fishing days would be lost to anglers on the river. While that request was eventually rescinded as a part of the agreement to dismiss the tribal litigation, the number of lost days should still not reach more than 10, according to Sup. Liam Gogan, who votes for Trinity County on river management advisory issues.

Still in disagreement

One of the reasons for Gogan casting his votes against last year's flows were reports of lost commerce — said to be possibly in the millions — from local fishing guides and fishing equipment sellers, as well as adjacent industries that profit from fishing tourism, like hotels and restaurants (“Guides: Winter flows washing out early fishing season,” April 12, 2023).

Darren Victorine, owner and operator of Trinity-Fly Guide Service, continues to assert his position that flows are unproven and disruptive to the local economy, but more than that, come from a restoration program with a track record of not meeting goals of restoring the river for fish in its more than 20 year history and hundreds of millions of dollars spent.

“The Winter Variable Flows are based on shoddy science at best,” Victorine said. “I just don’t believe this justifies the negative effects on the community.”

Victorine stressed the fact that he, much like most guides who fish the Trinity, have other options, but he simply does not trust TRRP large-scale projects anymore.

“I don’t believe that any of their management philosophies are the right choice,” he said.

“They’ve spent nearly a half billion dollars with zero results,” Victorine said. “They continue to spend large amounts of money, and this is another one of their experiments.”

“It’s like taking your car to a mechanic for 25 years and they never fix it,” he said. “When are we going to get a new mechanic?”

Victorine said despite his sometimes harsh criticisms, he believes staff at TRRP do have the best intentions, and if there was any evidence of more fish returning due to the constant projects no one would be against it, but that’s not how it has played out.
 
“Not one guide would pitch a fit about them, if their science had worked,” Victorine said.

Brian Clemens operates Nor Cal Fly Guides on the Trinity River for nearly a quarter of the year — although he said, similar to Victorine, that he could book services in several other rivers. He cites similar complaints to the experimental nature of the winter flows and their extent.

One of the primary disagreements Clemens says he holds with the objectives of the winter flows is in trying to mimic natural flows with the storm pulse. The dams in Trinity County are not going away, and trying to manage the river like they are not there does not make sense.

“We have a dam; it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re never going to be able to mimic pre-dam historical flows,” Clemens said. The flows needed to truly scour the river are unobtainable on the Trinity, he says.

“To get the flows really needed would be 30,000 plus (cubic feet per second) and the dam cannot release that much,” Clemens said. “It’s never gonna happen.” He also added that the metrics used to judge what flow rates are or are not fishable doesn’t mesh with what he feels is safe to take clients out on, and it doesn’t fully take into account how much flow different tributaries can add to the total flow further downstream.

Instead, Clemens suggests following the 2000 “Record of Decision,” or ROD, the foundational document for the restoration program.

With the constant and ongoing projects in the Trinity, Clemens said he does not feel like the ROD has ever been fully followed. He said that after following the ROD last year after the winter flows failed to be implemented the juvenile fish this year have been larger than he has seen in recent memory.

“Last year they followed ROD flows and I have never seen so many more big fat juveniles,” Clemens said.

Not all disagree

While less vocal than others, some fishing guides say they are hopeful for the winter variable flows.

Dave Neal, owner of Reel Adventures Guide Service, said that over the weekend, Dec. 21-22, he had to cancel a trip on the Trinity with a longtime annual client, but says that it is worth losing a few days on the river if the winter flows and storm pulse synchronization work as intended.

“It can be frustrating to schedule and have to cancel, but it’s something we have to work around,” Neal said, adding that heavy storms can cause cancellations the same as increased flows from the dam.

Neal agreed the current juvenile runs are looking better than they have in many years, but says he thinks it might have to do with restoration programs creating habitat for fish rearing finally paying off.

“Those fish came from somewhere,” Neal said. “They were spawned in tributaries and are now in the mainstem river.

“My opinion is TRRP projects are finally gaining traction and we’re seeing more juvenile recruitment,” Neal said, adding “I’m pretty bullish that the future is going to be even better for these fish.”

Travis Michel, owner of Sweet Trinity Guide Service out of Lewiston, said he also sees the merit of the winter flows, and said he is hopeful for anything that might raise salmon numbers which have created a fishing moratorium for the past two seasons.

“It’s worth losing a few days guiding in winter if it helps fish come back,” Michel said.

“I think this is going to end up helping the salmon in the long run,” he said. “We haven’t been able to fish for salmon in two years.”
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 Flows increasing in Trinity River
      
   -  Dec 25, 2024
    
The Bureau of Reclamation Central Valley Operations has approved the Trinity River Restoration Program’s request to raise river flows on the Trinity River from Lewiston Dam.

Please expect the following: The releases began the morning of Monday, Dec. 23, and peak at 6,500 cubic feet per second starting at midnight on Wednesday, Dec. 25. Flows will slowly ramp down to 300 cubic feet per second on Jan. 11.

The purpose of a synchronized flow is to use the power of a winter storm to maintain and form river complexity. By combining dam releases with a storm event, mainstem flows help to reduce the impact of sediment deposited from tributaries like Deadwood Creek and recondition the riverbed for prime salmonid habitat and food production.
 
If you live along the river (or any tributaries), please make sure to move items from the river’s edge.

If you would like to receive future Lewiston Dam change order notifications, sign up at http://groups.google.com/group/trinity-releases/boxsubscribe.

To contact the Trinity River Restoration Program: info at trrp.net or 530-623-1800.

Timing of Flow Thresholds for Water Year 2025 Synchronized Storm Event

Direction    Date/Time    Threshold

rising    Dec. 23 8 a.m.    350

rising    Dec. 24 2 a.m.    1,500         
 
rising    Dec. 24 10 a.m.    3,000         

rising    Dec. 24 6 p.m.    5,000         

rising    Dec. 24 10 p.m.    6,000         

peak    Dec. 25 12 a.m.    6,500

descending    Dec. 25 2 p.m.    6,000         

descending    Dec. 26 10 a.m.    5,000         

descending    Dec. 28 2 p.m.    3,000         

descending    Jan. 1 12 a.m.    1,500         

descending    Jan. 11 4 a.m.    300
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 Yurok Tribe lawsuit dismissed
      
   - By Francisco MartínezcuelloCalifornia Local News FellowThe Trinity Journal
   -  Dec 25, 2024
    
The Yurok Tribe lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been dismissed.

The Yurok Tribe filed the lawsuit on Nov. 20, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act due to the federal agency’s operation of the Trinity River District. The complaint focused on the harm to Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon, a federally threatened species, caused by the Bureau of Reclamation’s water flow practices in the Trinity River.
 
But that all changed when Yurok, Hoopa, and Reclamation all signed a finding of no significant impact when it came to implementing winter flows this year through an adaptative management agreement for the next two water years. (www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_project_details.php?Project_ID=55082)  

The Yurok Tribe voluntarily dismissed the case on Thursday, Dec. 12.

    
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