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<H1 style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><A
href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/22/MN158255.DTL">http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/22/MN158255.DTL</A></FONT></H1>
<H1 style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Young fish die as
water laws go unenforced</FONT></H1>
<H2 style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Ranchers' cooperation
threatened</FONT></H2>
<P class=byline style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><A
href="mailto:glenmartin@sfchronicle.com"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Glen Martin, Tom Stienstra, Chronicle Staff Writers</FONT></A></P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date w:st="on" Month="6"
Day="22" Year="2001"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Friday, June 22,
2001</FONT></st1:date></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Irrigation by ranchers is decimating
salmon and steelhead populations on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s second biggest river system, and
Department of Fish and Game officials acknowledge they are not implementing a
tough state law that could stop the diversions. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Ranchers have diverted most of the flow
of the Scott and <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Shasta</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Rivers</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Siskiyou</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> to irrigate alfalfa fields and
pastures, leaving thousands of young salmon and steelhead without enough water
and facing imminent death. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>State game wardens generally are disposed
to citing the diverters under Fish and Game Code 5937, which requires dam owners
to maintain water in state streambeds sufficient to keep fish healthy.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>But agency officials say they are being
told not to cite offenders out of concern that cooperative restoration projects
between the state and ranchers on the Scott and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Shasta</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Rivers</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> would end instantly if the law were
enforced. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The controversy points out difficulties
with cooperative programs between government agencies and private parties.
Though such agreements can help resolve thorny environmental problems, they may
also inhibit agencies from cracking down on private sector partners. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Warden Renie Cleland said he was told to
back off from citing ranchers on the Scott and Shasta rivers. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"This has gone all the way to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>," said Cleland.
"It's extremely politically sensitive. I was told to take no enforcement action
on it. These fish are dying. We've got five or six thousand steelhead trout dead
on the Scott, and (dead juvenile steelhead) everywhere on the Shasta."
</FONT></P>
<H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">MAJOR KLAMATH
TRIBUTARIES</FONT></H3>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The Scott and Shasta are major
tributaries of the Klamath River, which is second only to the <st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place> in its dimensions and the number of fish
it supports. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>The Klamath and its tributaries once
supported hundreds of thousands of chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead
trout. Their numbers began declining in the mid-20th century from dams,
agricultural irrigation and timber harvesting. By the mid-1980s, only a few
thousand fish were left -- mostly on the Scott and Shasta. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>During the past decade, efforts to screen
agricultural pump intakes, reduce soil erosion, restore riparian forests and
transport fish trapped in "dewatered" streambeds have bolstered the fish
populations somewhat. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>WATER RIGHTS FROM THE 1930S </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>But conflict between environmentalists
and ranchers over diversions has simmered for years. Ranchers exercising water
rights adjudicated in the 1930s typically lower the rivers through irrigation
during the summer. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>This year, a severe local drought has
greatly increased the degree of the problem. The Scott has been sucked dry, and
the Shasta reduced to a trickle at its juncture with the Klamath. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Temperatures in the river have reached or
exceeded the level considered lethal for salmon species, which favor cold water.
Thousands of fish have died, and thousands of others face imminent death, making
the pumping a clear violation of Code 5937. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"Everything has died," said Fish and Game
Captain Chuck Konvalin of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Scott</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. "The system has been dried up."
Konvalin, who heads a team of wardens who operate in the north state, says their
superiors are reigning them in. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"This thing is out of whack," said
Konvalin. "I get my orders." </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Gary Stacey, a fisheries program director
for Fish and Game who oversees projects in the Klamath area, said enforcing Code
5937 would "slam the door" on meaningful restoration programs along the Scott
and Shasta, which cost $25 million a year. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"All our current programs depend on
landowner cooperation," he said. "That would all stop immediately if we pulled
the trigger. And the process involved in filing and prosecuting a case like this
could take years -- years the fish don't have. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"By taking strong law enforcement action,
we could simply be assuring that the (fish) populations would wink out."
</FONT></P>
<H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">COOPERATIVE
EFFORTS</FONT></H3>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Ranchers confirm they would scrap all
cooperative ventures with the state if they were cited by game wardens, and say
they are guaranteed diversion rights by court rulings made decades ago.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Gary Black, who diverts <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Scott</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> water to irrigate alfalfa and wheat
on his 240-acre farm, said ranchers would respond to voluntary incentives to
improve fish populations but would resist government fiat. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"We're looking for win-win situations,"
said Black, who helps direct a local resource conservation district that
promotes fish-friendly agricultural methods. "I've worked with more than half
the farmers in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Scott</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. Everyone is willing to do their
part for fishery protection -- the question becomes how far is too far."
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Still, "flows remain the number one
issue, and this is a good time to sit down and talk," Black said. "That will
work better around here than getting out the citation book." </FONT></P>
<P><I><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>E-mail the writers at </FONT><A
href="mailto:glenmartin@sfchronicle.com"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>glenmartin@sfchronicle.com</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>
and </FONT><A href="mailto:tstiesntra@sfchronicle.com"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>tstiesntra@sfchronicle.com</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>.</FONT></I><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>This article appeared on page <STRONG>A -
3</STRONG> of the
San Francisco Chronicle</FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>