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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><a href="http://www.trinityjournal.com/"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=650 height=140 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.gif@01CBDFF8.B3198A30" alt="http://www.trinityjournal.com/styles/logo.gif"></span></a><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Trinity weighs in on water issue</span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>BY SALLY MORRIS <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>THE TRINITY JOURNAL <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Reminding everyone where the water originates, Trinity County supervisors have weighed in on recent efforts by Humboldt County to gain an additional 50,000 acre feet of water annually down the Trinity River.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>With assistance from the Hoopa and Yurok tribes, Humboldt began pressing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last fall to reconsider its stance on the water the county claims its been owed since the 1955 Act to dam Trinity River water and divert it to the Central Valley Project was approved.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Reclamation has historically held that the 50,000 acre feet mentioned in the 1955 promise to make water available for the beneficial use of Humboldt County and other “downstream users” is included in the flows already sent down the river for fisheries.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>In a meeting last September with Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor, Humboldt County and tribal representatives argued that current flows are specifically linked to fisheries and therefore cannot logically be considered available as promised for out-of-stream uses.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>No particular deadline was set for a decision by Reclamation though there was an agreement by the agency’s leader in the Obama administration to re-evaluate its position concerning the 50,000 acre feet. Humboldt County and the tribes viewed that development alone as a milestone in their long fight for the water.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>But now Trinity County has weighed in.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“We want the Bureau of Reclamation to make sure ‘county of origin’ protections are taken into consideration,” said Trinity County Sup. Roger Jaegel.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>He worked with Sup. Judy Pflueger representing the Trinity Lake area and Arnold Whitridge, a longtime Trinity River restoration advocate and former county supervisor, to draft a letter of response to Commissioner Mike Connor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“We’re going to fight for our water rights. That’s what this is coming down to,” Pflueger said as the Trinity Board of Supervisors voted to approve and send the letter last week. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Connor, who also visited last fall with representatives of the Trinity River Restoration Program and interested local citizens, was thanked for his attention and commitment to clarifying the federal agency’s obligations concerning the 50,000 acre feet.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As he prepares to consult with local agencies on the matter, Trinity supervisors urged Connor to consider Trinity County’s perspective as the county of origin in that all water in the Trinity reservoir originates here and the river flows for most of its length within Trinity County.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The letter states: “Our citizens value the fish it sustains, the recreation it provides and the power it generates. Trinity County has actively participated in fishery restoration efforts on the river since fishery restoration efforts became necessary. Plainly, Trinity County citizens are ‘downstream users’ of Trinity reservoir releases.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Furthermore, it says that any decision on allocation of water from the Trinity River and Trinity Lake should carefully consider Trinity County’s preferential right as the county of origin.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>It also requests that the Bureau of Reclamation consult with Trinity County as a coordinating agency on decisions involving waters originating within the county.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Regarding the status of the agency review, Jaegel said, “We haven’t heard a word. They said they’d be consulting with all parties by the end of the year, but that didn’t happen. We understand that Humboldt and the tribes, the Bureau of Reclamation and a lot of solicitors are all looking at that 50,000 acre feet, but the water originates here and we are also some of those ‘downstream users’ mentioned in the original legislation.”<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 mobile</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></div></body></html>