[env-trinity] Chronicle: Farmers sue on Klamath water releases for salmon

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Farmers-sue-on-Klamath-water-releases-for-salmon-4718932.php
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Farmers sue on Klamath water releases for salmon
By Peter Fimrite
8:52 AM
 
Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle
Young Chinook salmon are about two weeks away from release from the fish hatchery in Lewiston, Calif. Friday July 19, 2013. The fish are in the process of being marked to record their migration after release. Low water and a giant salmon run has created concern about a fish die off in the Klamath River similar to what happened in 2002. The Bureau of Reclamation is proposing releases of water from Trinity Dam to help fish but agriculture interests have threatened to block the idea.
A simmering feud over water rights boiled over Thursday when Central Valley agricultural interests sued the federal government in an attempt to stop releases into the Klamath River to protect spawning salmon.
At issue is a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release cold Trinity River water into the lower Klamath between Aug. 15 and Sept. 21 to prevent what biologists fear could be a giant fish die-off if river flows are not increased.

The lawsuit, filed by the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and the Westlands Water District, both of which represent farmers who receive water from the federal Central Valley Project, claims the Bureau of Reclamation does not have the legal authority to release water that should rightfully be used to irrigate thousands of acres of farmland.
Farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta have been allocated only 20 percent of the water they contracted for this year, claimed the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
"Orchards and vineyards are suffering severe stress, and row crops have been abandoned and other fields have been left fallow," the lawsuit says. "Given this calamity, it is unthinkable that the defendants would unlawfully release water from (Central Valley Project) storage to the ocean instead of delivering that supply to water users who desperately need it."
The fish-versus-farms dilemma has been heating up for two years as a lack of rain and snow has slowly reduced the amount of water available for spawning fish and for irrigation in the Central Valley. A percentage of the water from Trinity River, the main tributary of the Klamath, is piped over from Trinity Dam every year and released into the Sacramento River, where it is used for both agriculture and fish restoration.
The problem this year is that a huge number of chinook salmon, an estimated 272,000, are expected to swim up the Klamath this fall, but there does not appear to be enough water in the river for them to spawn. The conditions are similar to 2002, when as many as 65,000 salmon died from disease because of a lack of cold water, according to fisheries experts.
Environmentalists and fisheries experts have blamed the deaths on agricultural interests for blocking proposed water releases that year. The National Marine Fisheries Service predicts there will be 100,000 more spawning fish this year than there were in 2002.
"It's deja vu all over again," said Tom Stokely, the water policy analyst for the environmental advocacy group California Water Impact Network. "Back in 2002, these same water agencies blocked downstream releases of Trinity River water, which could have prevented the deaths of tens of thousands of adult salmon. Now they want to do it again."
The issue is a big deal for the Upper Klamath, Karuk, Yurok and Hoopa tribes, which hold traditional fishing rights along the Klamath and Trinity rivers and hold some sway when decisions are made about water usage.
"That's our livelihood; that's our life," said Terrance "Chitcus" Brown, a traditional fisherman and member of the Karuk tribe. "A die-off is a major concern."
Brown, Stokely and others have said the huge run of chinook can do wonders for the future of the beleaguered California fishing industry and for the ecosystem if the fish survive long enough to create the next generation. The key is water, and who has the right to use it.
Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: pfimrite at sfchronicle.comTwitter: @pfimrite



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