[env-trinity] Capital Radios Report on Shasta River salmon and restoration

Felice Pace unofelice at gmail.com
Fri Jan 23 12:55:37 PST 2015


Restoration programs are very adept at claiming credit for things for which
they have little or no responsibility. There is near scientific consensus
that the relatively "good" salmon returns we've seen up and down the coast
the past few years are mainly due to excellent ocean conditions and not to
"restoration" of  habitat. What TNC has done on the Shasta is a good thing
and clearly a benefit to those salmon which go up Parks Creek. But these
recent runs are not anywhere near what they should be. Most importantly,
TNC's good work is being use to provide "cover" to those who continue to
starve key Shasta salmon habitat of water; that includes the main stem
below Dwinnell Dam and the Little Shasta River.   TNC also provides a means
to avoid the single most effective action which could be taken to recover
Shasta River Salmon, that is removal of the illegal, salmon-killing
Dwinnell Dam and Reservoir.

I see that it is not TNC but the UC Davis Watershed Center which issued the
press release resulting in  this story. That Center's real mission is to
provide cover for the environmental impacts of agriculture; they are not a
credible source and there is no real science behind their claim.

During the last few drought summers, irrigators on the Shasta turned on
their diversions after the watermaster went home at 5 PM and stole water
all night. TNC and UCDavis Watershed Center folks likely knew what was
going on but did not report it or take action to end it. DFG, DWR and SWRCB
almost certainly knew what was going on (or should have known)  but failed
to take any meaningful action. The failure to provide adequate flows for
salmon will trump anything good that TNC does; restoration is no substitute
for adequate stream flows.

Felice Pace
Klamath, CA
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