River News for the Week of January 19, 2001
AMERICAN RIVER: A decades-long water rights battle between the East Bay Municipal Utility District and environmentalists joined by city and county officials in Sacramento is coming to an end as the District has finally agreed to take its water from the Sacramento River instead of the American River. The District has fought for 30 years to exercise its federal contract to take upstream river water it considered cleaner, but environmentalists have argued that salmon runs and wildlife habitat would be endangered by the withdrawal. Boaters and anglers have also complained about decreased water flows if the withdrawal took place. Though the district had paid about $20 million to the federal government for the water contract it signed in 1970, it has never drawn a drop of water from the American River due to the protracted legal challenges, says the San Francisco Chronicle (01/16/01). The compromise finally came this year when a study found that Sacramento River water could be treated to match the quality of American River water while costing less. The draft agreement will allow the district to take as much as 133,000 acre-feet a year from the Sacramento River at an intake point at Freeport, even in drought years. A $360 million system of conduits will be built to funnel Sacramento River water east across Sacramento and then south to the Mokelumne Aqueduct. The water district board will consider final approval of the plan later this month.
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MISSOURI RIVER: President Clinton's designation of the Missouri Breaks National Monument will help preserve the mighty Missouri River's least altered portion, says American Rivers. Mark Albers, director of the Montana Field Office for American Rivers, said that the designation will bring a much-needed economic boost to local communities. As the region approaches the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis & Clark expedition, the Missouri Breaks offers one of the best views of the river as the explorers saw it. The Breaks provide spectacular scenery as well as important wildlife habitat. Lofty white sandstone cliffs tower over habitat for endangered pallid sturgeon, as well as paddlefish, sauger, and sicklefin and sturgeon chub, some now scarce enough to have been proposed for listing as threatened species. Albers said the principal ecological problem in that stretch of the Missouri River is that upstream dams are currently operated in a way that fails to provide enough water flow in the spring to regenerate shoreline cottonwood trees, which provide many benefits to the river and its wildlife. (American Rivers press release 01/17/01)
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COLORADO RIVER: This week the state of California signed an accord that commits the state to improving its water conservation efforts in exchange for receiving surplus water from states in the Colorado River basin (Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada). As reports the San Francisco Chronicle (01/16/01), the deal commits California to reduce its reliance on Colorado River water over the next 15 years, with the goal of reaching its allotment of 4.4 million acre feet per year. In exchange, the state will continue to receive surplus water through 2015 to meet the needs of its growing population. To increase water conservation over the next 15 years, Jim Turner, head of the San Diego County Water Authority's board of directors, says that regional authorities will consider steps such as desalinating seawater and transferring water from elsewhere in California and out of state.
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NW SALMON: 11 Western Washington American Indian tribes filed suit this week against Washington state for failing to fix improperly maintained culverts that block salmon from reaching more than 3,000 miles of streams valuable for salmon reproduction. The suit seeks to "establish that the state has an obligation, based on treaties dating to the 1800s, to practice environmental protection sufficient to allow the tribes to earn a moderate living from the fishery," reports the Seattle Post Intelligencer (01/17/01). The state admits that the culverts do need repairs, and that an estimated 200,000 additional adult salmon would return each year if the work were completed. However, Curt Smith, Governor Gary Locke's adviser on the salmon issue, says the issue is about more than culverts. He says the tribes want something the state can't give: joint control of important decisions about development, water withdrawals from streams and other habitat modifications, according to the Intelligencer.
In Oregon, state biologists are proposing a sharp cut in the stocks of hatchery fish that are released into the Sandy River in order to protect the river's lagging populations of wild salmon and steelhead. But as reports the Oregonian (01/17/01), "anglers and fishing industry officials warn that the recommendations could ruin the river's reputation as a year-round fishing haven." The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's plan will eliminate summer steelhead and reduce the number of fish reared in hatcheries. Though Marmot Dam has prevented hatchery fish from reaching a pristine upriver spawning ground for wild fish, Portland General Electric, which operates the dam as part of a hydroelectric plant, has announced plans to tear it down. Removal of the dam will allow hatchery and wild fish to mingle together, breaking down the genetic fitness of the wild fish. Instead of closing the hatchery when the dam comes down, and ending most fishing on the river, officials are recommending that the state cut back the number of hatchery fish released into the river. If the plan is approved, about 200,00 coho will be released instead of 700,000, and the hatchery-born spring chinook release would fall from 460,000 to as low as 80,000. The state Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote on the plan next month.
Finally, the Northwest Power Planning Council released a report this week that shows that the Bonneville Power Administration has spent $3.48 billion since 1978 for fish and wildlife. 39 percent of that has been spent adjusting hydropower operations to aid migrating fish, reports Greenwire (01/19/01).
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COPPER RIVER: The Alaska Board of Fisheries has unanimously rejected a proposal to limit the Copper River commercial salmon fishery to allow more fish to swim upriver for Interior dipnetters, reports the Anchorage Daily News (01/16/01). Commercial fishermen from Cordova support the decision, saying that the proposal could have destroyed the value of their fishery and the local economy. Stan Bloom, vice president of the Fairbanks-based Chitina Dipnetters Association says that the commercial fishery is taking advantage of dipnetters, who have not gotten enough fish high up the 287-mile river in June. He would like to see the board "prevent any commercial fishing at the mouth of the river during May until at least 100,000 salmon passed the sonar counter at Miles Lake, about 48 miles upriver." If dipnetters do not feel that sufficient fish are up the river next spring before the fleets go to work, Bloom's group will seek a court order to block commercial fishing this spring, he says.
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DES PLAINES RIVER: A feasibility study has been initiated to determine whether to remove, notch or leave untouched the Fairbanks, Hofmann and Armitage Avenue dams on the Des Plaines River in Illinois. Removal of these dams would allow a section of the river once home only to carp and bullhead to become a free-flowing river again as early as the end of the year. As reports the Chicago Sun Times (01/16/01), the study should last six months, followed by the plans- and-specs phase that would take three to four months. Dam removal would be the likely result, Steve Pescitelli, a stream biologist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
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WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS: In a recent landmark decision, USDA Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck announced the creation of an innovative Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Program, that includes the addition of a Director-level post on the par with other major decision-makers within the agency as well as 100 new field staff dedicated specifically to wilderness and wild and scenic rivers. Previously, an assistant director reporting to the Director for Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Resources had responsibility for coordinating wilderness and wild and scenic rivers on the national level. "The Forest Service has an immense responsibility managing over 40 percent of the nation's spectacular wild and scenic rivers, and we are hopeful Dombeck's decision will help safeguard those places from coming threats," stated Rebecca Wodder, President of American Rivers. The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was established by Congress in 1968 to protect rivers and to enhance their natural, historic, cultural, and recreational values. Due largely to staffing and funding constraints, the agency has fallen behind in its task of assessing all rivers on National Forests for possible inclusion in this system. The decision to increase the priority of the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers programs within the agency comes as a new administration prepares to take office. (American Rivers press release 01/12/01).
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MONTANA FISHING: Proposals have been released in Montana to limit nonresident fishing by reserving certain stretches of trout streams for residents only. As reports the Spokesman Review (01/17/10), "this is the latest and potentially the most controversial of several recent proposals to curb the growth of nonresident hunting and fishing in the nation's fourth largest state." The first rivers proposed to be set aside for residents only are the Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers. An official with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department said the Missouri River could likely be next. Opponents to the proposal say that it is an attempt to outlaw the outfitting industry, crippling an aspect of Montana's economy, says the AP (01/16/01).
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CLARK FORK AND SPOKANE RIVER BASINS: Metals contamination has been found in fish tissues in the Clark Fork and Spokane river basins, but not at high enough concentrations to damage people's health, reports the AP (01/17/01). A federal report released this week by the U.S. Geological Survey showed the highest metals concentrations in sediments in the upper Clark Fork River and the lower South Fork Coeur d'Alene River. The report was prepared as part of a USGS program to study the water quality of 59 of the nation's most important river basins and aquifers. One environmental group worries that since the report says the levels are not high enough to harm humans, that efforts might be slowed to clean up the Spokane River, which flows out of Lake Coeur d'Alene to the Columbia River.
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HUDSON RIVER: The EPA has granted a 60-day extension to April 17th for comments on its dredging proposal after requests by six dredging foes, including General Electric. This is the first time the agency's June 2001 decision on the Hudson's cleanup has been successfully delayed, reports the Albany Times Union (01/19/01). General Electric says the extra time will "allow a thorough review of the 4,000-page plan released in mid-December and perhaps buy enough time for the full National Academy of Sciences report on dredging to be completed." A draft of the report was released on January 5th. At stake for GE is $460 million that it will be forced to pay to cleanup the Hudson after its three decades of toxic discharges into the river. The other groups that requested an extension include the Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce, the Citizen Environmentalists Against Sludge Encapsulation, Farmers Against Irresponsible Remediation, the New York Farm Bureau and the town of Moreau.
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