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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Again…My
apologies for any multiple postings<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><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Byron<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>NOAA
Releases New Biological Opinion on Salmon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>NOAA
News Release-6/04/09</span></b><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>NOAA released its final biological
opinion today that finds the water pumping operations in California’s
Central Valley by the federal Bureau of Reclamation jeopardize the continued
existence of several threatened and endangered species under the jurisdiction
of NOAA’s Fisheries Service.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The bureau has provisionally accepted NOAA’s
recommended changes to its water pumping operations, and said it will begin to
implement its near-term elements as it carefully evaluates the overall opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Federal biologists and hydrologists
concluded that current water pumping operations in the Federal Central Valley
Project and the California State Water Project should be changed to ensure
survival of winter and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the
southern population of North American green sturgeon and Southern Resident killer
whales, which rely on Chinook salmon runs for food.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Two independent peer review panels were
conducted to ensure the opinion is solidly grounded in the best available
science. The package was peer reviewed by the CalFed Independent Science Board
and the Center for Independent Experts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“What is at stake here is not just
the survival of species but the health of entire ecosystems and the economies
that depend on them,” said Rod Mcinnis, southwest regional director for
NOAA’s Fisheries Service. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“We are ready to work with our
federal and state partners, farmers and residents to find solutions that
benefit the economy, environment and Central Valley families.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As part of the final opinion,
NOAA’s Fisheries Service has provided a number of ways the bureau can
operate the water system to benefit the species, including increasing the cold
water storage and flow rates. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Such methods will enhance egg incubation
and juvenile fish rearing, as well as improve the spawning habitat and the
downstream migration of juvenile fish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Changing water operations will impact an
estimated five to seven percent of the available annual water on average moved
by the federal and state pumps, or about 330,000 acre feet per year.
Agricultural water use in California is roughly 30 million acre feet per year.
Water operations will not be affected by the opinion immediately and will be
tiered to water year type. The opinion includes exception procedures for
drought and health and safety issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In addition, the opinion calls for the
bureau to develop a genetics management plan and an acoustic tagging program to
evaluate the effectiveness of the actions and pilot passage programs at Folsom
and Shasta reservoirs to reintroduce fish to historic habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act will mitigate some costs resulting from the opinion’s recommended
actions. The Department of the Interior identified $109 million to construct a
Red Bluff Pumping Plant that will allow the old Red Bluff Diversion Dam to be
operated in a "gates out" position to allow salmon and green sturgeon
unimpeded passage. In addition, the Act contains $26 million to restore Battle
Creek, a salmon tributary to the Sacramento River.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The water projects included in the
opinion are Shasta Dam at the upper headwaters of the Sacramento River, Folsom
and Nimbus dams on the American River, and New Melones Dam on the Stanislaus
River. The opinion also covers the state and federal export facilities in the
Delta, the Nimbus hatchery on the American River, and the operations of
diversion structures, including the Red Bluff Diversion Dam on the mainstem
Sacramento and the Delta Cross Channel gates in the Delta.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The bureau initiated the formal phase of
consultation in May 2008 and then cooperated with NOAA’s Fisheries Service
throughout the development of the biological opinion and alternative actions in
coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California
Departments of Water Resources and Fish and Game.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>A copy of the final biological opinion
and alternative actions may be found at <a
href="http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/ocap.htm">http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/ocap.htm</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>NOAA understands and predicts changes in
the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the
sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.# <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;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;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;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;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;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</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;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><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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