<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">What "long drought" is this article referring to? Writer should have been clearer that it was in the upper basin .. it's misleading... Certainly not in the lower Klamath or Trinity basin ... there has not been a drought here since the drought of the late 80's / early 90's ...<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>maybe the writer is referring to the drought of compassion ... <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>emelia</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Mar 20, 2006, at 10:10 AM, Byron wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"> <O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"><O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PostalCode"> <O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"><O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"> <O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="address"><O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"> <O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"><O:SMARTTAGTYPE namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PersonName"> <DIV class="Section1"><P class="MsoNormal"><B><FONT size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold"><A href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/20/EDGU9GJD121.DTL" title="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/20/EDGU9GJD121.DTL"><FONT color="black"><SPAN style="color:black"><SPAN title="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/20/EDGU9GJD121.DTL">Where are the Klamath salmon?</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></A> <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P class="MsoNormal"><B><I><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic">San Francisco Chronicle</SPAN></FONT></I></B><B><FONT size="4"><SPAN style="font-size:14.0pt; font-weight:bold"> </SPAN></FONT></B>Editorial<FONT size="1" face="Arial"><SPAN style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial"><BR> </SPAN></FONT><B><SPAN style="font-weight:bold">Monday, March 20, 2006 <O:P></O:P></SPAN></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">GOT SALMON? Come next month, federal rule-makers may so restrict fish-catching off <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Northern California</ST1:PLACE> that the season will all but end. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">The reason is diminishing population of the migrating fish on the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Klamath River</ST1:PLACE>. Farm diversions, dams and a long drought have reduced river flows, decimating salmon schools stuck in warm, unhealthy pools along the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACENAME w:st="on">North</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">Coast</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> river. For several years, the numbers have dipped below a 35,000-fish-count judged minimal to perpetuate chinook salmon. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">The water-quality problem isn't much in doubt, not after federal studies and a review by the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACENAME w:st="on">National</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE w:st="on">Academy</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE> of Sciences. The hard part is coming up with a solution that will revive salmon runs. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">One painful step will begin in April. A federal fishery agency will likely recommend a reduced salmon season that will drop from a half to a quarter of last year's catch. Though salmon pour into the Pacific from many rivers, the silvery schools are impossible to tell apart -- hence the need to limit all fishing to save a sub-species reared in just one watershed. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">But stopping fishing, by itself, won't fill the Klamath with future generations of fish. If boat owners, deck hands and their orbit of wharf-side businesses endure hardship, there should be a response by the federal government that can do much to repair the larger problem of a sick river. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">For years, upstream farmers in eastern <ST1:STATE w:st="on">California</ST1:STATE> and southern <ST1:STATE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Oregon</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> have held off calls for change. The salmon will come back after a bad patch, this group says in defending their historic water rights. But that's a delusional position, given the weak fish numbers. Farm runoff is tainting the water. Dams warm the water flows to fish-killing temperatures. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">Change can only come if there is concerted pressure on <ST1:STATE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Washington</ST1:PLACE></ST1:STATE> to negotiate a compromise to a complicated, multisided problem. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, have shown an interest in the problem and should push for a solution. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">For starters, the Department of Commerce, which sets fishing catches, needs to press the Department of Interior, which watches over crucial water flows. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also has a role because it is relicensing four dams on the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Klamath River</ST1:PLACE>'s upper end. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">Finding the money for these changes won't be easy. Washington has little to spare with the Iraq war, a Katrina fix-up and a deficit hitting $400 billion this year. But doing nothing means fewer salmon, ever-shorter fishing seasons and angrier participants from all sides. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></P><P><B><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt; font-weight:bold">The prospects aren't hopeless. Sinking numbers of salmon along the <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Sacramento River</ST1:PLACE>, the state's biggest fish-nursery waterway, have shot up, thanks to better management and water conditions. That's a fish story worth repeating. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></B></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"><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><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">Advisor, 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><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt"><A href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</A></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="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</A></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><U><FONT size="3" color="blue" face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue"><A href="http:www.caltrout.org">http:www.caltrout.org</A></SPAN></FONT></U><FONT color="lime"><SPAN style="color:lime"> </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> </DIV> </O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE></O:SMARTTAGTYPE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">env-trinity mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us">env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity</A></DIV> <BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>