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<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=5><SPAN><SPAN class=335154315-09022004><SPAN
class=272115915-18082004><SPAN class=451533616-19082004><SPAN><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=4><STRONG>State review of
Humboldt water request yields nothing</STRONG><SPAN
class=459104416-19082004><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <STRONG><FONT
face=Tahoma>- </FONT></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=4><STRONG><FONT face=Tahoma>Eureka
Times-Standard</FONT></STRONG> </FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
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<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs
of another disaster </STRONG></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=459104416-19082004> <FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>-
</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Eureka
Times-Standard</STRONG><SPAN class=459104416-19082004><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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class=459104416-19082004> </SPAN><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT><FONT
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<DIV><STRONG>State review of Humboldt water request yields nothing
</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>Eureka Times-Standard - 8/18/04</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>By John Driscoll, staff writer</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">"Ultimately what they're saying is the contract
has no benefit at all for Humboldt County," said county Supervisor Jill
Geist.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">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. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Geist said the county intends to exhaust every
administrative avenue, and would not rule out taking legal action.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Are the responses from the federal and state
governments setbacks?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">"No, it's nice to have some response," Geist
said. "It gives us direction on how we should proceed." <SPAN
class=459104416-19082004> #</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></P></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>A river on edge: Watching the Klamath for signs of another disaster
</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Eureka Times-Standard -
8/19/04</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>By John Driscoll, staff
writer</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>"We netted the most beautiful 12-pound steelhead -- floating dead down the
river," said fishing guide Tim King on Tuesday.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>"Basically the only thing missing for a fish kill are the fish," said
California Department of Fish and Game biologist Sara Borok.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>"When it's really low they seem to come right to here and just stack," said
Yurok Tribe fisheries technician Mark Sanderson.</P>
<P>So if the salmon run begins, gets sick, and crowds into areas like Blue
Creek, the Trinity water could come too late. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>Others have their own opinions. King, who has chronicled his observations on
his website, said the federal government needs to release the water now. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>Reclamation has said it will likely release the water at the same time it
releases its plan. </P>
<P>U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project supervisor Mike Long said he does not
believe the bureau is dragging its feet. </P>
<P>"I don't think there's any hesitation about releasing the water if that's
what's needed," he said.</P>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>It showed signs of columnaris, but no one could say what killed it.</P>
<P>"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."</P>
<P>That could be any time now. #<SPAN class=459104416-19082004> </SPAN></P>
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