[env-trinity] Kokanee Salmon Die-off in Trinity and Lewiston Lakes

[Kelli Gant]

There is always another side to every story. Just because there is a 
dam, the entire length of water is still ALL Trinity River. Coffee Creek 
and all other pre-dam streams remain listed as a tributary to the 
Trinity River.


  Drought impacting salmon in Trinity Lake


KRCR News Report video: 
http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/drought-impacting-salmon-in-trinity-lake/27765616


    Kokanee Salmon Die-off Prompts Questions; No Official Explanation

**ByBill Siemer <http://anewscafe.com/author/bill-siemer/>**August 31, 2014

Thousands of dead and dying Kokanee salmon were floating on the upper 
end of Lewiston Lake this week after increased flows were initiated to 
save this fall’s run of adult Chinook salmon in the lower Klamath River.

<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dead-fish-another-view.jpg>

Thousands of dead Kokanee salmon float on Lewiston Lake. Photo by Bill 
Siemer.

The dead Kokanee fingerlings, floating belly side up, were killed by the 
rapid change in pressure which occurred when they were sucked into 
Trinity Dam’s intake shafts when water was released downstream into 
Lewiston Lake, according to a knowledgeable source who asked not to be 
named.

The four-to-six inch Kokanee were washing up on the Lewiston Lake shore 
for a quarter of a mile on Tuesday evening when this reporter kayaked 
by. Early estimates, given to the Trinity Journal, had the losses 
between 200 to 400. The source estimated the die-off at 2,000. However, 
dead fingerlings were scattered on the Lake’s bottom and caught in the 
marshy grasses. Eagles, buzzards and crows dined from the shore. It was 
a smelly mess.

<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dead-fish-food-for-vultures.jpg>

Vultures and other creatures feast on the dead fish at Lewiston Lake. 
Photo by Bill Siemer.

Kokanee need cold water to survive and the land-locked Kokanee are 
forced deeper into Trinity Lake as the water is released downstream. The 
Lake dropped 5.84 feet during the week ending August 25, according to 
the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, which made the decision to increase the 
flows last week.

The Bureau’s website reported that releases from Lewiston Dam began at 7 
a.m. on August 23.

Initially, the release was raised from 450 cubic feet per second (cfs) 
to 950 cfs. At 7 a.m. on August 25, releases from Lewiston Dam were 
increased to 2,450 cfs for a period of 24 hours, then dropped to 950 
cfs. The goal, according to the Bureau, is to keep the lower Klamath at 
approximately 2,500 cfs until September 14.

Trinity Lake’s depth, as of August 25, was 316.27 feet, according to the 
Bureau’s website, with the Lake being 29 percent full. As of the end of 
that week, the average release to Whiskeytown and the Carr Powerhouse, 
was 2,119 cfs, while the Trinity River release averaged 1,650 cfs.

The Bureau’s decision to increase the flow of water for the lower 
Klamath salmon was met immediately by lawsuits from several water 
districts in the Sacramento Valley. A federal judge denied their request.

<http://anewscafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dead-floating-fish.jpg>

Thousands of dead fish litter Lewiston Lake in Trinity County. Photo by 
Bill Siemer.

Calls to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Redding, and 
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, seeking answers to questions regarding 
how many Kokanee are actually dying and whether the die-off is expected 
to have an impact on the Kokanee fishery, were not returned.


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