<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div class="ydpf335a32eyahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"> <div><span id="ydp162e8b30m_5615809644346093242m_-5980174619987422183gmail-docs-internal-guid-40364e4f-7fff-9218-437a-c2ef625c4774"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">Fishermen, Tribal Members, and Residents Ask California Water Board to Support </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">Science-Based Water Plan, Deny Voluntary Agreements</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"> Coalition Rally at California State Water Resources Control Board Voluntary Agreement Hearing</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">1001 I street, Sacramento, April 26th, 12:30 pm </span></p><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">For immediate release: April 25, 2024</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">For more information contact: </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Regina Chichizola, Save California Salmon: </span><a href="mailto:Regina@californiasalmon.org" style="text-decoration-line:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Regina@californiasalmon.org</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">, 541-951-0126 </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Scott Artis, Golden State Salmon Association: </span><a href="mailto:scott@goldenstatesalmon.org" style="text-decoration-line:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">scott@goldenstatesalmon.org</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">, 925-550-9208</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Ruthie Maloney, North Coast Native Protectors: </span><a href="mailto:northcoastnativeprotectors@gmail.com" style="text-decoration-line:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">northcoastnativeprotectors@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">, 707-502-9155</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">Sacramento, California </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline;">-
A coalition of Tribal members, fishermen, and others from all over
Northern California will rally and testify before the State Water
Resources Control Board to urge them to deny a proposal to replace flow
requirements in the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta
Plan) with agriculture-led voluntary flow agreements. Communities from
the Klamath River to the South Delta have participated in the
science-based Bay-Delta Plan process for almost 15 years and repeatedly
seen voluntary agreements and local cooperative solutions in Delta
tributary watersheds fail, leading to water quality and salmon crises.
On the last day of the State Board Hearing on the Bay-Delta Voluntary
Agreements, they will once again urge the Board to heed their warnings.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline;">“For
a decade, California water agencies have promised a voluntary agreement
to address the deteriorating health in Central Valley rivers and the
San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. Unfortunately, the process seems less
focused on creating a credible agreement than on preventing the State
Water Board from actually implementing a plan that recognizes the need
for increased cold-water flows,” said Scott Artis, executive director of
Golden State Salmon Association. “Yet, during all this inaction,
there’s been massive water diversions from our rivers, plummeting salmon
populations, closed fishing seasons, and lost jobs. People and our
rivers are suffering. It’s unacceptable.”</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline;">“Phase
1 of the Bay-Delta Plan, which was based on science and input from
impacted communities, was passed 5 years ago. Now due to politics the
biggest water users in California are pushing their own weaker plan
without including the input of impacted communities, interests, and
Tribal governments,” explained Regina Chichizola from Save California
Salmon, a Tribally-led environmental group located on the Klamath and
Sacramento Rivers. “During this time, salmon numbers have plummeted to
the point that most of the salmon runs in the Delta are facing
extinction due to the diversions by these same water users. The Trinity
RIver, the Klamath’s largest tributary, is also suffering due to
over-diversion for Central Valley agricultural interests. The VA put the
fox in charge of the hen house at a time when the Delta watersheds are
in crisis.” </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">"Instead
of focusing on the outdated and harmful policies of hoarding water, we
should focus on water conservation, recycling, and efficiency,” stated
Gia Moreno of Save Hood, a Central Valley non-profit dedicated to
protecting the town of Hood. “We can't continue to rely on archaic
methods of water conveyance. We can't continue to sacrifice the Delta,
the northern river communities, and wildlife because state officials
refuse to move us forward. We can't claim to be at the forefront of
addressing climate change and protecting the environment while actively
working to build infrastructure that will destroy California for future
generations."</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Atta Stevenson of the California Indian Water Commission said, “</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 71, 70); vertical-align: baseline;">The
Voluntary Agreements are exclusive of people of color and especially
Natives, who rely on water not only for their subsistence but their way
of life. I would instead like for a group that includes people of color
and Tribal people to decide the Delta Plan together rather than a select
special interest group like the VA folks doing it without us. The State
of California needs to respect our food subsistence, tribal beneficial
uses, and honor us as the original stewards of the state of
California." </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 71, 70); vertical-align: baseline;">Today, during testimony, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Stevenson</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 71, 70); vertical-align: baseline;">
told the Water Board that Native people will continue to comment,
protest, and show up until they are included in water quality and
fisheries decisions, and their water is protected.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The
Bay-Delta watershed covers more than 75,000 square miles, many rivers,
and is the largest estuary on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Native
species in the Bay-Delta are experiencing an ecological crisis due to
habitat conversion, degraded water quality, harmful algal blooms,
reductions in flows, and the inability to access natural habitats that
are blocked by dams and levees. This has led to a severe decline and
extinction of native fish and other aquatic species. The salmon levels
have become so low that salmon fishing has been canceled in California
for the second year in a row and only the fourth time in state history. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">###</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://californiasalmon.org" style="text-decoration-line:none" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://californiasalmon.org&source=gmail&ust=1714173773751000&usg=AOvVaw0BNzEXi5twBnyJXN9nCcMG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Save California Salmon</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">
is dedicated to policy change and community advocacy for Northern
California’s salmon and fish dependent people. We support the fisheries
and water protection work of the local communities, and advocate
effective policy change for clean water, restored fisheries and vibrant
communities. We aim to help to support Tribes and the general public in
engaging with public comments related to water pollution, fisheries, and
beneficial use issues. </span></p><br><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:0pt 0pt 7.5pt"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">The </span><a href="https://ciwcwater.org/" style="text-decoration-line:none" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ciwcwater.org/&source=gmail&ust=1714173773751000&usg=AOvVaw3Nw0mszrNgxDMuhpaTM4h_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">California Indian Water Commission</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">
provides Tribes, (federally and non-federally recognized), Tribal
People, and communities residing in California to have a voice in water
planning, protection of our sacred water, and educating the public about
Tribal water rights, and traditional cultural ecological stewardship.</span></h2><a href="https://goldenstatesalmon.org" style="text-decoration-line:none" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://goldenstatesalmon.org&source=gmail&ust=1714173773751000&usg=AOvVaw3y9dDVRq1zMDjczKlaqoNL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="enhancr_card_4181689694"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Golden State Salmon Association</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;">
is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and
recreational salmon fishermen and women, businesses, restaurants, native
tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities
that rely on salmon. GSSA’s mission is to restore California salmon for
their economic, recreational, commercial, environmental, cultural and
health values. </span></span><div><br></div><div id="ydpaea46e56enhancr_card_4181689694" class="ydpaea46e56yahoo-link-enhancr-card ydpaea46e56ymail-preserve-class ydpaea46e56ymail-preserve-style" style="max-width:400px;font-family:YahooSans VF, YahooSans, OpenSans VF, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" data-url="https://goldenstatesalmon.org" data-type="YENHANCER" data-size="MEDIUM" contenteditable="false"><a href="https://goldenstatesalmon.org" style="text-decoration-line: none !important; text-decoration-style: solid !important; text-decoration-color: currentcolor !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;" class="ydpaea46e56yahoo-enhancr-cardlink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><table border="0" class="ydpaea46e56card-wrapper ydpaea46e56yahoo-ignore-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="max-width:400px"><tbody><tr><td width="400"><table border="0" class="ydpaea46e56card ydpaea46e56yahoo-ignore-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="max-width:400px;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(224, 228, 233);border-radius:2px"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpaea46e56card-primary-image-cell" background="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/UE8CMlXAtNlA2ComtT.QNw--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://goldenstatesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/tracktor.jpg.cf.jpg" bgcolor="#000000" valign="top" height="175" style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-family: YahooSans VF, YahooSans, OpenSans VF, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(29, 34, 40); max-width: 314px;">Home - Golden State Salmon Association</h2><p class="ydpaea46e56card-description" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(151, 158, 168);">Golden State Salmon Association's mission is to restore California salmon for their economic, recreational, comm...</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br clear="all"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><span class="ydp162e8b30gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="ydp162e8b30gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font face="garamond, times new roman, serif">Regina Chichizola </font><div><font face="garamond, times new roman, serif">Executive Director<br></font><div><font face="garamond, times new roman, serif">Save California Salmon </font></div><div><font face="garamond, times new roman, serif">541 951-0126 </font></div><div><br></div><div><img width="95" height="96" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4y1EgFE27_Lyk81JV7u8Rn8rlkpkfR63W19wYRXsJBpYu_9cizIdMvagdDirsvqjhKRX1mnEWWD3WFm" class="ydp162e8b30CToWUd" data-bit="iit" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true"></div></div></div></div></font></div><br></div></div></body></html>