<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div>http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_23933204/trinity-river-releases-start-sunday-supes-continue-low <br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 19px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; "><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="max-width: 100%; background-color: transparent; border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; "><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%" style="max-width: 100%; background-color: transparent; border-collapse: collapse;
-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><tbody><tr><td class="articleBox" style="padding-left: 15px; width: 639px; "><h1 id="articleTitle" class="articleTitle" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; color: inherit; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-size: 33px; ">Trinity River releases start Sunday: Supes to continue low flow discussion</h1><div id="articleByline" class="articleByline" style="text-align: left; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-style: italic; font-size: 14px; ">Catherine Wong/The Times-Standard</div><div id="articleDate" class="articleDate" style="text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 10px/16.989px 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); text-transform:
uppercase; white-space: nowrap; ">POSTED: 08/24/2013 02:24:50 AM PDT</div><div id="articleDate" class="articleSecondaryDate" style="text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 10px/16.989px 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); text-transform: uppercase; white-space: nowrap; ">UPDATED: 08/24/2013 02:24:50 AM PDT</div><br><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span><div class="articlePositionHeader" style="text-align: left; "></div><span fd-type="end" fd-id="default"></span><div id="articleBody" class="articleBody" style="text-align: left; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><div class="articleViewerGroup" id="articleViewerGroup" style="text-align: left; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial;
"><span class="articleEmbeddedViewerBox" style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "></span><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span><span fd-type="end" fd-id="default"></span></div><span fd-type="start" fd-id="default"></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">With additional Trinity River flows ready to be released on Sunday, the Board of Supervisors will meet Tuesday with representatives of state agencies and a group doing outreach in Southern Humboldt to discuss water storage issues along Humboldt County rivers in an effort to protect future fish generations.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia,
'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">”We're very relieved,” Board Chairman and 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said in response to a federal judge's ruling on Thursday that lifted a stay on the flows to protect Klamath salmon. “I'm proud of the collaboration between the county and tribes.”</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The federal Bureau of Reclamation had authorized releases to begin Aug. 13, after deciding the additional water is needed to protect an expected run of 272,000 Chinook salmon. Central California irrigators and farmers sued and a federal judge in Fresno granted a temporary restraining that was lifted Thursday after he found the water was needed to stave off a repeat of the 2002 fish
kill.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">A special release approved last week in support of the Hoopa Valley Tribe's bi-annual Boat Dance Ceremony will begin from Lewiston Dam at around 8 a.m. Sunday. According to the bureau, the increased releases will raise flows gradually from the summer base of 450 cubic feet per second to a peak of 2,650 cubic feet per second by midnight.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The flows will begin to be gradually reduced Tuesday night to a rate of approximately 850 cubic feet per second. With Judge Lawrence O'Neill's ruling, releases from the
dam will continue and vary from around 850 to 900 cubic feet per second until approximately Sept. 19, when flows will gradually be reduced back to 450 cubic feet per second.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Bureau Mid-Pacific Region spokesman Pete Lucero said the total amount of water released will be approximately 20,000 acre-feet over the next few weeks.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The dispute over the increased flows highlighted concerns surrounding Humboldt County's water rights and the protection of local rivers.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">O'Neill acknowledged the letter of declaration Sundberg sent to the Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, asserting the government is legally obligated to annually provide water to Humboldt County.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">”The record is not well developed on this issue,” O'Neill concluded. “Members of Congress from the Humboldt area wrote to the Secretary of the Interior requesting that the 50,000 AF allocation be put to use in supporting the flow augmentation. ...Yet, Federal Defendants (the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior) have taken no
position on this possible source of authority.”</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Sundberg said the legal battle over the releases would have been avoidable if the Department of the Interior would honor Humboldt County's right to no less than 50,000 acre-feet of Trinity River water.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">During Tuesday's meeting, supervisors will hear a presentation from state Department of Fish and Wildlife water specialist Jane Arnold, Matt McCarthy with the State Water Resources Control Board and Tasha McCorkle-McKee of Sanctuary Forest regarding private water
rights and fisheries restoration in the county.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">According to a county report, one way to offset impacts on local fisheries is to store water for use during a dry season. County Planning & Building Department officials said storage tanks that hold at least 5,000 gallons of water require private land owners to go through a sometimes expensive process to receive a permit. Before the building department will approve a permit, the landowner must prove that a home or other structure on the property is permitted -- a delicate issue in some areas of the county.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Supervisors Rex Bohn and Estelle Fennell said they added the presentation to the agenda because they would like to ease restrictions on private water storage.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">”The water we're losing during high flows in the winter, we should be storing for the low flow months when we need it,” Bohn said.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Fennell said there is already a pattern and practice of storing water for private use in the county, and the issue has been in discussion for years.</div><div
style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">”Traditionally, there have been limitations,” she said. “What we're seeing now is the community responding to help the fisheries and the environment. We have had a lot of people asking if they could get a tax break or more flexibility with permitting process.”</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Bohn said he does not expect there to be any major changes made by the board before high flows this winter.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia,
'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">”We'd probably have a very tight deadline to have anything done for this winter,” he said. “But if we can get something in place, or at least the planning started, hopefully some people will preemptively get on board.”</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">If you go:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height:
22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">What: Board of Supervisors meeting</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">When: 9 a.m. Tuesday</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Where: Supervisors chamber, first floor, Humboldt County Courthouse, 825 Fifth St. in Eureka</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">The full agenda can be viewed online at <a href="http://co.humboldt.ca.us/board" style="color:
rgb(82, 120, 174); text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition-property: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out; -webkit-transition-delay: initial; ">co.humboldt.ca.us/board</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 11.326px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.652px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Catherine Wong can be reached at 441-0514 or <a href="mailto:cwong@times-standard.com" style="color: rgb(82, 120, 174); text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition-property: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.1s; -webkit-transition-timing-function: ease-out;
-webkit-transition-delay: initial; ">cwong@times-standard.com</a>. Follow her on Twitter and Tout @cmwong27.</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><div style="text-align: left; clear: both; "></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="complexListingBox" style="max-width: 100%; background-color: initial !important; border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; width: 654px; background-image: none !important; background-attachment: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; "><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td
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