<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="Street"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="address"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PersonName"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
h1
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold;}
p.MsoEnvelopeAddress, li.MsoEnvelopeAddress, div.MsoEnvelopeAddress
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:2.0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-element:frame;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
p.MsoEnvelopeReturn, li.MsoEnvelopeReturn, div.MsoEnvelopeReturn
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAutoSig, li.MsoAutoSig, div.MsoAutoSig
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle19
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN style='font-size:
14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>Farmers sue in fight over water;
State fish policy ruining the Delta, they claim<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><b><font size=4
face=Tahoma><span lang=EN style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
font-weight:bold'>Sacramento</span></font></b></st1:City></st1:place><b><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
font-weight:bold'> Bee – 1/31/08<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN style='font-size:
14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>By Denny Walsh and Matt Weiser,
staff writers</span></font></b><b><font size=4><span lang=EN style='font-size:
14.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>After months of losing fights over how much water can
be pumped to farms from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a coalition of farm
groups is striking back with a federal lawsuit blaming state agencies for
endangering native fish in the Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>In a suit filed in <st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City>
federal court, the groups ask for a halt to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s practice of maintaining
predatory, nonnative striped bass in the Delta for the benefit of fishermen,
claiming the policy violates the Endangered Species Act.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The bass feed on spring- and winter-run chinook
salmon, steelhead and Delta smelt – all protected by the Endangered
Species Act – and their dwindling populations harm the overall health of
the estuary, ultimately resulting in reduced water deliveries to farmers, the
lawsuit charges. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>"Allowing this destruction to continue when the
populations of several of these species – including the Delta smelt
– are crashing is outrageous," said Michael Boccadoro, spokesman for
the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, the lead plaintiff in the suit filed late
Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Biologists already are concerned about drastic
reductions in the <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>'s fall
chinook salmon run, saying it is near collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Sport fishermen, however, scoffed Wednesday at the
lawsuit's thesis, saying the real threat to the Delta is all the water channeled
to farmers through the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>"We're irrigating desert that never should have
been irrigated anyway," said Jim Crenshaw, president of the California
Sportfishing Protection <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alliance</st1:place></st1:City>.
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>"The real resolution is to stop
sending water to the west side of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>"Anything they can do to relax the restrictions
on pumping they'll do," Crenshaw said of the agriculture interests.
"I suspect the judge will see through this foolishness."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Members of the coalition include four large
agricultural water districts in <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Kern</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>, at the southern tip of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
The districts supply State Water Project deliveries to land within their
respective boundaries through contracts with the Kern County Water Agency.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The agency has grown over the past 10 years into one
of the most powerful and wealthy water players in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The coalition's tactics suggest it aims to draw
attention from the effects of water exports on the Delta's habitat and fish.
Its Web site, for example, offers information about virtually every other
problem affecting the Delta except the major pumping systems.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The Delta ecosystem is deteriorating due to a number
of factors, including degradation of water quality from urban and agricultural
runoff and water withdrawals to support the needs of the state's growing human
population.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>A federal district judge recently ruled that State
Water Project and Central Valley Project water deliveries must be reduced
substantially to protect the Delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The coalition's suit names as defendants the
California Fish and Game Commission and the Department of Fish and Game, along
with the agencies' top officials. It has been assigned to U.S. District Judge
Frank C. Damrell Jr. Department spokesman Steve Martarano declined comment
Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The suit claims one factor in federal regulators' past
decisions to cut <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> farmers' water
allocations has been the declining Delta populations of the protected fish, and
the "illegal and unmitigated" killing of them aggravates the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Matt Nobriga, a staff environmental scientist at the
CalFed Bay-Delta Program, said Wednesday very little is known about whether
striped bass are a serious threat to any other fish species. Much of the
available information, he said, is decades old.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>In 2001 and 2003, Nobriga examined about 1,000 striped
bass stomachs to find out what they were eating. He learned they were mainly
eating lots of shad and goby, both nonnative species. But, he said, more
research is needed before drawing any conclusions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>"It should be studied, but all we can do right
now is guess," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>He said striped bass are definitely a top predator in
the estuary, and are themselves preyed upon only by humans and sea lions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The coalition's suit says the Department of Fish and
Game estimates that, at a population of 765,000 adults, striped bass annually
consume 6 percent of Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon and 3 percent
of the <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> spring-run chinook salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>It says that, at the same population, the department
estimates striped bass annually consume 5.3 percent of Delta smelt.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Despite those facts, the Fish and Game Commission's
policy "establishes a long-term bass restoration goal of 3 million adult striped
bass in the Delta," the suit says. The policy also "requires the
Department of Fish and Game to stabilize and restore the striped bass fishery
in the Delta," the suit says.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:14.0pt'>The suit asks Damrell to enjoin the state from
enforcing its strict limits on striped bass sport fishing and policies that
tend to protect the bass, and to direct the state "to remedy their
violations of the ESA."</span></font><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:
italic'>Byron Leydecker</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font color=gray><span
style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>Friends of <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place>, Chair<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>California Trout, Inc.,
Advisor<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray;font-style:italic'>PO Box</span></font></i></st1:Street><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'> 2327</span></font></i></st1:address><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>Mill Valley,
CA 94942-2327</span></font></i><span lang=ES-EC><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 4810</span></font></i><span
lang=ES-EC><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 9562
fax<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bwl3@comcast.net<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font></i><i><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-style:italic'> <font color=gray><span style='color:gray'>(secondary)<o:p></o:p></span></font></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>http://www.caltrout.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></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>
</body>
</html>