[env-trinity] Times Standard articles on Trinity

[Tom Stokely]

State review of Humboldt water request yields nothing - Eureka Times-Standard   


A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs of another disaster  - Eureka Times-Standard 
   


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State review of Humboldt water request yields nothing 
Eureka Times-Standard - 8/18/04
By John Driscoll, staff writer
The State Water Resources Control Board has decided it won't take action on a complaint from Humboldt County that aimed to get contracted Trinity River water released for fish in the Klamath River. 

Water board Division Chief Victoria Whitney said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation appears to be releasing enough water to meet minimum needs for salmon, and that a recent court ruling allows even more. 

Whitney said if the county wants to get the water to use for fish, state law requires it to be "taken under physical control rather than just (be) allowed to flow down the channel." Before the county could make use of the contract, Reclamation would have to get an order changing where the water can be used under permits for the Trinity River Diversion.

The bureau has maintained that the water is presently sent downstream. But Humboldt County wants to use it at a specific time, as fish begin moving up the Klamath River. 

In the lower Klamath, up to 68,000 fish died in 2002, in low, warm water. The bureau is expected to release a burst of water later this month to prevent another fish kill.

"Ultimately what they're saying is the contract has no benefit at all for Humboldt County," said county Supervisor Jill Geist.

Geist wrote the complaint earlier this year. She also asked the U.S. Interior Department, but it dodged the question of whether Humboldt County should receive the water it was promised in the 1955 Act authorizing the Trinity project. The project diverts water to the Sacramento River, where it's pumped to farms and cities, mainly in the San Joaquin Valley. 

Whitney wrote that if the bureau does not want to pursue an order changing the Trinity diversion permits, it would be up to the federal courts to enforce the contract. 

Geist said the county intends to exhaust every administrative avenue, and would not rule out taking legal action.

Are the responses from the federal and state governments setbacks?

"No, it's nice to have some response," Geist said. "It gives us direction on how we should proceed."  #


A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs of another disaster 
Eureka Times-Standard - 8/19/04
By John Driscoll, staff writer
A handful of dead fish are floating in the Klamath River, and others are nuzzling up to cold creeks for relief from the hot water.

As fishermen, American Indians and biologists watch for signs of diseases like those that killed tens of thousands of salmon in 2002, there is only one thing definite: Everyone is jumpy. 

"We netted the most beautiful 12-pound steelhead -- floating dead down the river," said fishing guide Tim King on Tuesday.

The nervousness was nearly palpable the following day. Fishermen with furrowed brows asked state biologists what they'd found on a survey of the lower river. 

Even at 9 a.m. in the shade at the boat ramp in Klamath Glen on Wednesday, the water is 70 degrees. A big fall run of salmon, estimated to be 90,000 this year, have still not shown up. 

But a few steelhead and big chinook salmon were belly up. A check of their gills found them to have a touch of columnaris, which shows up as spots on the gills.

"Basically the only thing missing for a fish kill are the fish," said California Department of Fish and Game biologist Sara Borok.

She and others on the river as part of the Klamath Basin Fish Health Assessment Team thought the dozen or so fish they'd found probably succumbed to predators or a lethal hooking. The team of state, federal and tribal biologists, as well as stakeholders, was assembled last summer.

The team will present to the public its observations and analysis at a meeting at the Yurok Tribal headquarters in Klamath at 7 p.m. today. 

With some disease showing, people are worried that the big slug of fish waiting to come up the river could get crowded into cooler spots and become infected like a kid in a flu-ridden kindergarten class. 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is still deciding when to send a pulse of water down the Klamath's main tributary, the Trinity River. That should help raise and cool a very shallow and hot lower Klamath River, which has been averaging 72 to 74 degrees, temperatures that can stop fish from migrating. 

The question is when to do it. It takes several days for water released from Lewiston Dam to reach Blue Creek, where on Wednesday steelhead jostled in 10- to 20-degree cooler water. 

"When it's really low they seem to come right to here and just stack," said Yurok Tribe fisheries technician Mark Sanderson.

So if the salmon run begins, gets sick, and crowds into areas like Blue Creek, the Trinity water could come too late. 

If the salmon run late, however, the pulse of water might be sent down before the need arises. The Trinity Management Council has recommended the water be released beginning on Sunday.

Others have their own opinions. King, who has chronicled his observations on his website, said the federal government needs to release the water now. 

In 2002, Reclamation did not increase flows until well after the fish kill began, and the boost at the end of the event served mainly to flush some carcasses out of the river.

State, federal and tribal biologists diving on the river recently have not seen signs that salmon have begun migrating up from the estuary. Lowering a remote camera into several well-used deep holes in the river, few salmon could be seen, although steelhead darted here and there. 

Reclamation has said it will likely release the water at the same time it releases its plan. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project supervisor Mike Long said he does not believe the bureau is dragging its feet. 

"I don't think there's any hesitation about releasing the water if that's what's needed," he said.

Flows from the Klamath's lowermost Iron Gate Dam will increase a slight 200 cubic feet per second on Aug. 24. Flows from the Trinity could go to 1,650 cfs on Sunday, then ramp back down until mid-September, if the bureau goes with the Trinity Management Council's recommendations. 

The team on Wednesday found about the same number of fish that had been reported by fishermen. In one backwater, a 35-pound chinook salmon lay dead, its skin drying on its bloated body.

It showed signs of columnaris, but no one could say what killed it.

"Hopefully not a sign of things to come," said Fish and Game biologist Wade Sinnen. "I wouldn't expect to see anything right now until big numbers of fish come up the river."

That could be any time now. # 

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