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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>Court orders Trinity River flows
restored</STRONG></SPAN> </FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN class=articleByline>By <STRONG>James Tressler</STRONG> The
Times-Standard</SPAN> </DIV>
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<P>EUREKA -- In what's being called a major victory for North Coast tribes and
fish advocates, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday stood by a 2000
plan to restore water to the Trinity River that's being diverted to the
Sacramento Valley.
<P>The 9th Circuit overturned a lower court decision earlier this year that had
ordered more environmental studies be done before the 2000 restoration plan is
implemented. The appeals court ruled the existing studies in the plan were
adequate.
<P>"Nothing remains to prevent the full implementation of the (2000 Record of
Decision), including its complete flow plan for the Trinity River," the court
ruled.
<P>Tuesday's ruling is the latest in a battle over the Trinity River that has
raged ever since water began being diverted to the Sacramento Valley in the
1960s. The ruling upholds a plan to restore the Trinity River ordered in 2000 by
then-Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.
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<P>North Coast tribes, local government leaders and fish advocates, who all see
the restoration plan as key to repair the region's fisheries, have worked
together to fight a lawsuit the Westlands Water District, San Luis and
Delta-Mendota Water Authority in the Central Valley have waged to stop the
implementation of the restoration plan.
<P>"I got the phone call when I was in a meeting and I couldn't keep the smile
off my face," said Hoopa Valley Tribe Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall. "It is a
great day."
<P>Others who helped in the legal battle include Humboldt and Trinity county
officials, fishermen's groups like CalTrout and the Yurok Tribe.
<P>"This is a gigantic leap forward," said Humboldt County Supervisor Jimmy
Smith, a former commercial fisherman. "We were up against some of the most
powerful forces in the Central Valley and it looks like perseverance has finally
paid off."
<P>Smith and other leaders anticipate the Trinity's restoration will go a long
way in rebuilding the fisheries in the Trinity and Klamath rivers.
<P>North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson also hailed the decision.
<P>"This is a great victory for the Hoopa Tribe and Northern California's
coastal communities, whose economy and jobs have been decimated by declining
fisheries," Thompson said, in a press release from Washington, D.C.
<P>Since the completion of the Lewiston and Trinity Dams on the Trinity River in
1963, up to 90 percent of the Trinity River water has been diverted to the
Central Valley. The result has been the near destruction of the river's fishery.
Salmon and steelhead populations are found in less than 10 percent of their
historical range and most are either listed, proposed for listing or under
status review for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
<P>The word from the Central Valley Tuesday was that officials there are
evaluating the appeals court's decision.
<P>"We're looking at it very carefully and evaluating all our options," said
Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Westlands Water District. Hull characterized the
court's decision as "mixed," meaning the court did uphold the lower court's
decisions that at least two biological studies relied on in the 2000 plan were
inadequate.
<P>Hull added that the district continues to be hopeful that a settlement can be
reached. While he could not be specific on exactly how a loss in Trinity River
water would impact Central Valley users, Hull did say the issue is complex and
he hopes parties on all sides understand that Central Valley users will be
affected.
<P>"Central Valley projects and facilities are enormously complex and
interrelated systems," Hull said. "We recognize there is a need to address
fisheries on the Trinity River. The problem is ... that we have to address those
issues from a much broader, statewide perspective."
<P>Under the 2000 plan upheld by the federal appeals court Tuesday, the volume
of water flowing to the Trinity will vary each year, depending on whether its a
dry, normal or wet year.</P></FONT></BODY></HTML>