Mammoth wants to reposition the water gage it uses to measure flows in Mammoth Creek, and LADWP has filed suit challenging their right to do so. This quote doesn’t spell out the details (you can get those here), but you can definitely feel the love:

Norby accuses the enormous L.A. agency of deafness and bad science. “It’s fundamentally false and without merit,” he said. “Less than 1 percent of their water is exported from here. We’ve told them the amount is immeasurable, but they won’t listen.”

A host of environmental agencies signed off on the proposal to change the measuring point for bypass flow, a point emphasized by the local water district’s director.

“These are the experts, the people who really serve the public interest,” he said.

“Their endorsement stands in clear rebuttal to the statements made by the LADWP, which are indicative of the quality of the facts they’re working with,” he added.

“They have no grasp on the basics.”

Norby believes that Los Angeles is simply continuing its 100-year-old campaign of expansion and take over. “They are trying to take away rights that Mammoth Community has exercised for half a century,” he said.

And this love letter:

Calls to the L.A. water agency were met with silence or revealed a lack of knowledge of journalistic practice. Jana Sidley, the Deputy City Attorney on the case, directed calls Chris Plakos, who said he could not comment on the case because the matter was in litigation.

“A reporter for a courthouse news service should have known that,” Plakos added despite the fact that lawyers are regularly televised commenting on ongoing litigation from the courthouse steps, and that Courthouse News regularly includes quotes from lawyers about ongoing litigation.

Norby suggested that obduracy and inpenetrability are the agency’s stock in trade.

“It took six months of effort just for us to get a meeting with them,” he said. “It will likely take many more years of litigation and cost the rate payers millions in legal and consulting fees before anything gets done,” he added. “They’re impenetrable.”

See you remaking Chinatown, Tom Chandler.

Salmon born in captivity become domesticated in as little as one generation, a new study finds, explaining why hatchery-born fish don’t do as well as wild-born ones in Oregon rivers.

Researchers created an enormous fish family tree using genetic samples from 12,700 steelhead trout (which are in the same family as salmon) returning from the sea to Oregon’s Hood River to spawn. This fishy pedigree revealed the fish that spawned well in hatcheries had offspring that spawned poorly in the wild.

Later, the article quoted a steelhead hatchery fish survival rate only 80% that of wild fish. And the concern is that “hatchery” genes — which result in higher reproduction in hatcheries, but far lower reproduction in the wild — would suppress natural steelhead populations.

In other words, wild fish good, hatchery fish bad. On a lot of levels.

The article makes some intersting points, and is well worth a read.

He and John Gierach are the reasons I still subscribe to one of the Big Three fly fishing magazines, and while you should read the short interview in its entirety, I’ll excerpt one of the questions here:

It has to be frustrating and depressing at times being a conservation writer in this age of widespread habitat damage and loss—what keeps you going?

What keeps me going is that I’m old enough to remember how far we’ve come. When I went to work for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife there was no Clean Water Act, no Clean Air Act, no Endangered Species Act, no Environmental Protection Agency. I recall arguing with a fisheries biologist about DDT. “It will never be banned,” he proclaimed. Two years later when it was banned he said, “The ban won’t make a difference.” Since the 1920s my family has had a camp on a New Hampshire Lake. Eagles and loons had never been seen there by any of my relatives until about 20 years ago. Last week two bald eagles spent most of the morning in one of our big pines, and we heard loons all night.

In the face of invasive species, dewatering, access issues and an energy development free-for-all, it’s sometimes hard to remember just how bad things had gotten before they started getting better.

I’d suggest that’s a healthy perspective, at least if you want to avoid burnout.

Finally, I’ll leave you with Williams’ always-provocative thought about the incredible growth in “canned” hunting (where often semi-tame animals are hunted in enclosures):

Real hunting is to canned hunting what holy matrimony is to prostitution.

See you fighting the good fight, Tom Chandler.

Now it appears the Canadian government knew of positive test results as early as 2004, but refused their biologists permission to publish the findings (from the Seattle PI):

A 2004 draft manuscript, leaked out of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, indicates that the deadly infectious salmon anemia virus was identified eight years ago in coho, pink and sockeye salmon taken from southern British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Bering Sea waters.

Testing done in 2002 and 2003 “lead us to conclude that an asymptomatic form of infectious salmon anemia occurs among some species of wild Pacific salmon in the north Pacific,” said the manuscript.

But a senior official at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently rejected a request to submit the manuscript for publication.

…

The manuscript surfaced less than a month after disputed findings of the virus in fish taken from the Harrison River in B.C.’s lower Fraser Valley, not far from the Washington border, and juvenile sockeye collected at Rivers Inlet about 400 miles north on the British Columbia Coast.

Infectious salmon anemia, or ISA, is a severe disease of marine-farmed Atlantic salmon, characterized by anemia and hemorrhaging livers as well as kidney damage.

ISA has already done a great of deal to salmon farming operations around the globe (British Columbia is home many salmon farming operations), but the fear is that the disease is jumping to wild salmon (Fraser River salmon stocks collapsed two years ago), and that the fisheries department is protecting salmon farms at the expense of wild fish.

This would have greatly limited public access.

With your help, a group of locals and CalTrout turned that one back, but given the views of those populating the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, I warned you then it wasn’t over.

And it isn’t.

Powered By The Klamath River

With Klamath River Dam Removal issue as a backdrop, the question of public access to navigable rivers — the central theme of our prior fight — has popped up again in Siskiyou County.

At a recent meeting, County Sheriff (Jon Lopey) — apparently grandstanding in the hopes of furthering his political ambitions — decided to single-handedly redefine the legal standard of navigability(from the Two Rivers Tribune):

Murphy said he’d tried to research navigability but the results were inconclusive and asked Lopey for his opinion. Lopey answered, “It’s not navigable if you can’t put a boat on it,” and coached landowners that they have a right to file a complaint if people trespass.

Wow. The leading law enforcement official in the county doesn’t know the legal standard of navigability (hint: it involves prior use for purposes of commerce). Based on this faulty knowledge, he tells landowners they can charge the lawful members of the public with trespass?

Excellent! What could possibly go wrong?

Participants in the Land Use fight will likely recall Supervisor Jim Cook — who after receiving a couple hundred protest emails took to telling emailers they were “bizarre.” At the same meeting, Cook was quoted as saying:

Jim Cook, chair of the County Board of Supervisors, said the county government could declare whether a water course was navigable or not and suggested the county would take action.

Extreme Legal Scholar Cook might want to research that assertion. It’s not true.

Not even close.

Just The Facts… Not

Driving all this is the potential removal of the Klamath River Dams, which among the dam-hugger set is generating an astonishing number of “facts,” including:

• The water-heating, toxic-algae spawning dams actually protect salmon runs
• The government is trying to run Siskiyou County ranchers off their land to create a huge game preserve run by the UN
• Coho salmon aren’t native to the Klamath basin (despite being native everywhere else), so protecting them is actually illegal

None of the above comes within even artillery distance of the truth (I’ll debunk them for you if you really need it done), yet they’re widely accepted as fact in Siskiyou County.

In a recent newspaper editorial, an outdoor writer — who apparently dreams of black helicopters in his sleep — compared dam removal proponents to the 9/11 terrorists.

(Charmingly, he also compares opponents to “vermin” and “liars, cheats and thieves”.)

Welcome to Siskiyou County.

You’ll come for the fishing, but you’ll stay for the vicious, invective-ridden local politics.

This isn’t a call to action… yet.

Still, dam removal — and all the craziness that’s accompanying it — is gaining profile. And more crazy is sure to come.

This one’s going down to the wire, and mostly likely, you’ll be asked to contribute a minute or two of your time at a handful junctures along the way.

See you sharpening those pencils, Tom Chandler.

That’s the short version of this post.

The Longer Version

The four lower Klamath River dams (which are currently throttling the salmon and steelhead populations on what used to be the west coast’s third-most productive salmon fishery) are not only bad for fish, it turns out they’re bad for the economy.

The owner of the dams (PacifiCorp) is in the midst of a FERC relicensing, and if they were to update the dams with fish ladders (as would be required), they’d operate at a $20 million annual loss.

If taken out, they’d:

• Create 4600 jobs
• Provide an estimated 86% bump in Chinook salmon populations
• Open up an additional 300-400 miles of spawning habitat to salmon and steelhead
• Make my day

In literally thirty seconds, you can help us take them out. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky thing — we’ve got a fair to good chance to make this happen, though it’s going to require putting pressure on legislators over the next couple years.

Still, you want to know how easy this comment will be?

Here’s a picture of the form (click it to go to the real form):

How hard could this be? (We even wrote the comment -- click image to go there now.)

And here’s your cut and paste comment:

Subject: Klamath Draft EIS/EIR: I support Alternative 2

Comment: I support Alternative 2 of the Klamath Draft EIS/EIR proposal (full removal of the Iron Gate, Copco1, Copco2, and J.C. Boyle dams).

• These dams are decimating one of the west’s most prolific salmon and steelhead fisheries and strangling the area’s economy
• Alternative 2 will help restore salmon runs (dramatically increasing steelhead populations), and ensure predictable water deliveries to irrigators
• The dams don’t make economic sense: if upgraded to modern standards they’ll actually operate at a $20 million annual loss
• Even the owner (PacifiCorp) wants these privately owned dams taken out

I support healthy fisheries and a healthy local economy (dam removal brings many jobs to the area) — and I support Alternative 2.

Thank you,
[your name]

****************************************

I try not to bombard you guys with a lot of “Save The World” stuff but the Klamath River dams issue is about to hit a series of critical moments.

At stake is the future of what used to be one of the west coast’s best salmon rivers (and let’s not forget the steelhead fishery, which is good, but could become stellar).

With a little more water and a little less dams, the Klamath could become a wholly kickass salmon and steelhead fishery (again).

Want More Information?

For an executive summary of the Klamath River dam removal Draft EIS/EIR, click here.

For more information about the Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and other Klamath Issues, click here.

Tell your senator that you support a healthy Klamath River, and want them to support legislation that restores the Klamath’s salmon and steelhead runs.

Now For The Backstory

The dam removal effort on the Klamath River is approaching crunch time, and you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff opponents are saying.

Most of the opposition is coming right from my troubled little county (Siskiyou County), and you’ll see wild claims posted on blogs and in newspaper opinion pieces that can only lead you to conclude the American Educational system is in serious trouble.

To whit:

• Coho salmon aren’t native to the Klamath River (huh??)
• Removing the dams will decimate the salmon population
• Salmon couldn’t surivive in the river without the dams
• Hatcheries and management have actually allowed salmon to thrive on the West Coast the last 30 years
• Fish & Game kills more salmon than the dams

Frankly, I could go on and on, but rather than spoil anyone’s appetite, I’ll just say it’s getting wild up here.

People keep screaming about private property rights, conveniently forgetting that the dams are privately owned (by PacifiCorp), and retrofitting (instead of removal) will cost more than 2x as much as removal — and then the things would run at a $20 million annual loss.

At some point in the near future I’ll wade into this giant pile of manure (waders suggested), but for now, click here, donate 20 seconds of your life to the Klamath, and be thankful you don’t have to read some of this insanity every day in the paper like I do.

See you signing a petition, Tom Chandler

While there isn’t yet a direct link to the millions of Atlantic Salmon eggs imported to the west coast by fish farmers, a bit of a smoking gun remains: this is a European strain of the virus, and until now, it hasn’t been seen on the west coast.

Read it and weep, Undergrounders (from the NY Times):

Farms hit by the virus, infectious salmon anemia, have lost 70 percent or more of their fish in recent decades. But until now, the virus, which does not affect humans, had never been confirmed on the West Coast of North America.

The researchers, from Simon Fraser University and elsewhere, said at a news conference in Vancouver that the virus had been found in 2 of 48 juvenile fish collected as part of a study of sockeye salmon in Rivers Inlet, on the central coast of British Columbia. The study was undertaken after scientists observed a decline in the number of young sockeye.

Richard Routledge, an environmental scientist at the university who leads the sockeye study, suggested that the virus had spread from the province’s aquaculture industry, which has imported millions of Atlantic salmon eggs over the last 25 years, primarily from Iceland and Scandinavia. He acknowledged that no direct evidence of that link existed, but noted that the two fish had tested positive for the European strain of infectious salmon anemia.

Note that the two infected fish (of 48) were netted 60 miles from the nearest salmon farm, suggesting the virus might already be well entrenched in wild populations. This mess might even be wholly man made — in a plot twist worthy of a made-for-TV movie, the virus was benign until it come into contact with “densely packed salmon farms.”

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infectious salmon anemia virus morphed from a benign form in nature into a “novel virulent strain” when salmon stocks entered Norway’s densely packed salmon farms. Rather than getting picked off by a predator, a sick fish would undergo a slow death in a crowded pen, shedding virus particles.

See you paying a lot more for salmon…

Years ago I’d ride my road bike around Shasta Valley and take a break on this funky wooden bridge over the Shasta River; I’d watch these great big salmon sitting on redds, and that these fish had come so far and endured so much to end back where they started was pretty awe inspiring.

Take up the Nature Conservancy on their offer and for part of the time, you’ll be viewing these salmon from the same bridge (another example of life’s amusing circularity).

You can be sure we’re dragging Little M out there Saturday to infuse her with a little awe and wonder (never too early).

The living definition of awe-inspiring.

Here are the details:

Shasta Big Springs Ranch
Open House
Saturday, October 22, 2011

Come observe the annual run of Fall Chinook in the Shasta River. Watch female salmon guard and build nests and males compete with each other for spawning opportunities.

Staff from The Nature Conservancy and the Department of Fish and Game will be available to answer questions and lead short walks to see spawning salmon.

Where: Parking near the Louie Road bridge over the Shasta River (4 miles east of I-5 on Louie Road)

See you there, Tom Chandler.

How to get there...

(click image for more information)

For more information, click here.

Monday, October 17, 7pm
Seattle, Washington
Leif Erikson Lodge
2245 Northwest 57th St.
Seattle, WA 98107
Free Admission

Monday, October 24, 7pm
San Francisco, California
Temple Nightclub
540 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94105
Free Admission

Wednesday, October 19, 7pm
Portland, Oregon
Baghdad Theater
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
Free Admission

Tuesday, October 25, 7pm
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Center for Contemporary
Arts Cinematheque
1050 Old Pecos Trail
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Free Admission

Friday, October 21, 7pm
Corvallis, Oregon
The Arts Center
700 SW Madison Avenue
Corvallis, OR 97333-4514
Free Admission

Thursday, October 27, 7pm
Denver, Coloardo
Oriental Theater
4335 West 44th Avenue
Denver, CO 80212
Free Admission

Tuesday, November 1, 7pm
New York City- SOLD OUT

For more information, click here