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<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>California's water wars heat up<br>
Proposed incidental take permits could spread elsewhere, change diversion<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Capital Press – 12/12/08<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>By Tim Hearden, staff</span></b><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><br>
<br>
A proposal for irrigation in parts of remote Siskiyou County has statewide
implications that have raised the ire of both farm groups and
environmentalists.<br>
<br>
The Department of Fish and Game is preparing watershed-wide permits for
streambed changes and incidental takings of threatened coho salmon along the
Scott and Shasta rivers, which are key tributaries to the Klamath River.<br>
<br>
Participation by landowners would be voluntary and those who signed up would be
responsible for certain measures to protect salmon, such as adding fish
screens. The program could eventually be implemented throughout California,
said Bob Williams, an environmental scientist for the Department of Fish and
Game based in Redding.<br>
<br>
Incidental take permits insulate irrigators from having to pay thousands of
dollars in fines if their diversions unintentionally kill imperiled fish. A
watershed-wide license would encourage compliance by offering an easier and
more affordable alternative than if a farmer were to seek a permit on his own,
Williams said.<br>
<br>
But this proposal's potential to spread elsewhere - and its influence on future
water diversion policy in California - have made it the latest battleground in
the state's ongoing water wars.<br>
<br>
California Farm Bureau Federation environmental attorney Jack Rice isn't
concerned so much about the streambed alteration permit itself, but rather the
Department of Fish and Game's interpretation of who needs the permit.<br>
<br>
It used to be that a streambed alteration agreement was only necessary if an
irrigator physically changed the bank or channel, such as by dredging a
temporary dam, he said. Now Fish and Game is asserting an irrigator may need
the permit if he simply diverts water, Rice said.<br>
<br>
"What it requires is payment of a fee, and it would require certain terms
and conditions," Rice said. "Basically what this (environmental
impact report) says is that Fish and Game has the authority to impose whatever
terms and conditions it finds reasonable on every water right in
California."<br>
<br>
Environmentalists assert the stricter mandate has always existed but was never
fully enforced. For their part, they're concerned that groundwater pumping
wouldn't be regulated under the new program and that the permits would be
administered by local resource conservation districts.<br>
<br>
"They (Fish and Game) would actually be ceding their authority as a
regulator to the resource conservation districts," said Felice Pace, a
longtime environmental activist who lives in Klamath. "Is that even legal,
to take the regulatory authority you have and constantly give that to another
entity that's appointed by the Board of Supervisors that tends to be
farmer-friendly?<br>
<br>
"There's a place for regulation and a place for restoration and
conservation," Pace said. "When you have regulatory laws that have to
be enforced, those should be enforced by the state."<br>
<br>
A 60-day comment period on a pair of draft environmental impact reports on the
proposed permits was set to expire Dec. 9. The program, which could apply to as
many as 180 water rights holders in the Scott and Shasta valleys, could be
approved as early as March, Williams said.<br>
<br>
The permits are part of a fish-recovery effort developed when coho salmon north
of San Francisco were listed as threatened in 2005. As a result of the listing,
Fish and Game has been "looking at diversions throughout our region,"
Williams said.<br>
<br>
But requiring a streambed alteration permit for a diversion isn't new for the
agency, he said.<br>
<br>
"We're not doing anything with regard to water rights," Williams
said. "Water rights are what they are. ...One of the things we are doing
is verifying that they're taking the amount they're legally entitled to."<br>
<br>
However, many of the roughly 50 farmers and ranchers who attended an
informational meeting in Yreka on Tuesday, Dec. 2, suspected otherwise.
Siskiyou County Farm Bureau board member Jeff Fowel rattled off dozens of
perceived problems with the EIRs, including that they didn't consider the economic
impacts from anticipated decreases in water diversions.<br>
<br>
One attendee, organic beef producer Craig Chenoweth, has about 40 cows and
calves on 456 acres in Scott Valley. He said the permit program would have
little if any impact on his own operation, but he thinks the proposal is a form
of "tyranny."<br>
<br>
"It's about them trying to control us," Chenoweth said. "What
Fish and Game wants is control of water on private land. ... They want us to
pay for it, too."#<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>Byron Leydecker, JCT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>Chair, Friends of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>415 383 4810</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'>415 519 4810 cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span
style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a> (secondary)</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:gray'><a href="http://fotr.org"><span style='color:blue'>http://fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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