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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Department
of Interior Backs Down On Attempted Raid Of Trinity Water<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>by Dan Bacher<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Department of
Interior, under pressure from recreational anglers, Indian Tribes and
environmental groups, recently withdrew a controversial request to divert cold
water from the Trinity River this fall to stop a fish kill on the beleaguered <st1:place
w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Bureau of Reclamation
on April 22 finalized the <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> flow
schedule for 2005, following the Trinity Management Council’s rejection
of its request for a diversion of Trinity water. The flow is designed to
implement the objectives of the historic Trinity River of Decision (ROD) issued
by Bruce Babbitt in December 2000.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“We called Interior
on its attempt to gut the Trinity River Restoration Program and they backed
down,” said <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Byron Leydecker</st1:PersonName>,
chair of Friends of the <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> and
consultant to California Trout. “This is a very significant victory for <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> restoration. If Interior’s request
had gone through, it would’ve been the camel’s nose under the tent
to destroy the total concept and vision of the Trinity Restoration
program.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The Hoopa Valley
Tribe is glad that DOI didn’t try to re-contour the ROD flows and
compromise their integrity, since this is the first year that the Bureau can
legally release ROD flows,” explained Mike Orcutt, the tribe’s
fishery program director and the tribe’s representative on the TMC.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Reclamation recently determined
this to be a “normal” water year in the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Trinity</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType>, according to a joint press
release by the Bureau and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Fish and Wildlife Service
on April 22. Under the 2000 Record of Decision for this water year type, a
total volume of 647,000 acre feet will be released from Trinity Reservoir down
the <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> this season.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Bureau agreed to
adopt a 4 day, 7,000 cubic feet per second flow, as called for by the Trinity
Management Council. This is a minor adjustment of the standard ROD schedule for
a normal year calling for a 5 day, 6,000 cfs peak.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“This schedule
benefits juvenile salmon and steelhead growth and survival in late spring and
early summer,” explained Jeff McCracken, spokesperson for the Bureau of
Reclamation. “The peak flows will flush significant accumulations of
fine sediment, move and redeposit gravel and scour riparian vegetation that has
growing along the channel’s edge.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The eight member Trinity
Management Council, in response to letters from the Bureau and USF&WS,
voted 7 - 1 against a fall 2005 pulse flow. They argued that the decision,
already delayed because of the lengthy court battle that resulted in victory
for the Hoopa Valley Tribe last July, needed to be implemented without any
further delays.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Diverting ROD
flows from their planned purposes in order to provide water for a fall pulse
flow will result in not fully meeting ROD objectives,” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>stated the
Council’s resolution. “Therefore, the TMC does not support use of
ROD water for fall, 2005, flow releases."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Tribe, in a March
letter, said the Trinity Management Council (TMC) had no authority to redirect
Trinity ROD flows to be used to prevent another <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">lower Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
fish kill. The ROD provides 53 percent of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place>
water for irrigation and hydroelectric uses and the other 47 percent for
Trinity fisheries.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Clifford Lyle
Marshall</span></font></st1:PersonName>, chairman of the Tribe, said the
Council risked dealing a “triple blow” to restoration by postponing
the ROD, under funding it and then withholding the water needed to restore the
river’s geomorphology.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Unfortunately, the threat
of a fish kill on the Klamath remains, due to the Bush administration’s
change in water policy in 2002 that favors agribusiness over fish and
downstream users. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> farmers would
receive 70 percent of their normal irrigation water, in spite of this being the
third driest year on record. While this is a normal year in the Trinity, most
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> is experiencing another drought
year in a series of dry years.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Snow pack in the upper
Klamath Basin is estimated at 30 percent of normal, significantly increasing
the possibility that low flows and high temperatures could lead to another
die-off similar to the one that occurred in 2002, “When combined with one
of the lowest projected adult spawning escapements in recent years, impact to
fisheries in both the Trinity and Klamath Basins could be severe,” said <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Kirk Rodgers</st1:PersonName>, regional director for the Bureau of
Reclamation in Sacramento, and <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Steve Thompson</st1:PersonName>,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional manager, in a letter to the Trinity
River Restoration Program on April 11.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Although the TMC ruled
against the fall pulse flow, they recommended, due to conditions that may
develop over the next several months or in any given year, that scientists from
the Klamath and Trinity coordinate “the establishment, monitoring, and
assessment of criteria for determining the onset of die-off conditions in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The TMC will convene and
recommend emergency actions should those conditions develop. In the meantime,
the TMC “believes it prudent for Reclamation to explore the potential for
acquiring ‘outside sources’ of water, i.e. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>supplemental to the ROD
volume, in the case the need arises.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In at letter to Interior
before the TMC meeting, <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Byron Leydecker</st1:PersonName>
pointed out the hypocrisy of the Bureau of Reclamation proposing use of the
Trinity water to avert another 2002-style fish kill “when the Department
of Interior has maintained that factors other than inadequate flows created the
disaster.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Leydecker said the Bureau
could purchase water from <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
contractors, as it did two years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Another source of water
for the Bureau to utilize to prevent a fish kill is the 50,000 acre feet of
water contracted to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Jill Geist, Humboldt
County Supervisor, said she was “astounded” by the ability of
Interior to continue to ignore ignoring use of the county’s contract
water – and the county’s willingness to have that water available
for late summer/early fall release for the Trinity and Klamath fisheries.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Recreational anglers, the
Klamath River Indian tribes, commercial fishermen and environmental groups
have won a big victory by stopping a potential raid on Trinity water. The
Bureau should have considered the precarious situation that Klamath salmon and
steelhead would be in this year BEFORE allocating near-normal water allocations
to Klamath agribusiness.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Klamath fishery,
faced with a projected record low spawning escapement this year, cannot afford
another taxpayer-subsidized fish kill this fall. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Bureau must come up with a plan for procuring emergency water, such
as using <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>’s 50,000 acre feet of contract water or
purchasing water from <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>
contractors, to stop a repeat of the 2002 disaster from taking place.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></u></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a><u>
</u></span></font><font color=black><span style='color:black'>(secondary)</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="http://caltrout.org">http://caltrout.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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