It’s good news for coastal steelhead populations, which are under siege, often due to illegal water diversions which leave their spawning grounds dried up.

From the Weekly Calistogan:

Malan alleges there are 286 illegal water diversions, mostly from vineyard development, in the Napa River watershed.

Because so many people steal water from creeks — either they don’t get permits or they violate the conditions of their permits, which constitutes a trespass against the people of the state — many of the Napa River tributaries go dead during the summer from too many diversions, said Malan. Steelhead and numerous other aquatic animals die a slow death as pools become warm and lack oxygen and eventually dry up.

“People who steal water from creeks deprive the down stream ecosystem and people of their public trust right to fish, swim and recreate,” she said. “This is an issue that has been going on for years and the major media just doesn’t get it because it’s wineries, not just cities, that are the major takers.”

…

“This new Superior Court ruling on Monday says that anyone who diverts water must provide enough flow for downstream fish and if they don’t they can be sued by anyone,” said Malan.

Prior to the ruling the people were told by the State Water Resource Control Board (SWRCB) that is was the sole agency with jurisdiction to enforce water law. In truth, anyone wanting to sue anyone diverting had to file a complaint with the SWRCB and it would decide whether to sue.

Impacts On Northern California Salmon & Steelhead Streams?

While this case focuses on diversions in the wine country, you have to wonder how this ruling might affect flow issues in Northern California’s Scott and Shasta Rivers, both of which see damned little water in the summer and fall.

Frankly, it’s a mess up here; Fish & Game has long been vilified for avoiding its enforcement responsibilities, yet instead of phasing in a solution, has suddenly mandated a fairly draconian program.

Now, even the ranchers who want to do the right thing are staring straight down the twin barrels of expensive environmental studies.

The pushback has been enormous, and we’re left to wonder why Fish & Game let this one go for so long.

After all, the salmon up here are truly teetering on the brink – and drying up the rivers (as almost happened last year) is the equivalent of a good shove.

In truth, the political pressure on the issue in Siskiyou County is immense – and it’s not supportive of salmon or steelhead restoration.

Talking to North County political types is one long, head-banging lesson in idealogical thinking: “The salmon are gone anyway,” is a statement you’ll hear over and over.

Not yet, but if that thinking remains in place, soon.

See you in court, Tom Chandler.

The following is a press release received from Craig Tucker (of the Yurok Tribe) and the Klamath Riverkeeper. It’s not what you’d call great news: Excessive agricultural surface and groundwater withdrawals – and the willingness of state and federal agencies to look the other way – are imperiling salmon and steelhead populations in these two major spawning tributaries of the Klamath River:

Thursday, September 24, 2009

High numbers of fall Chinook salmon returning to the Shasta River are coming home to record low flows and extremely hot weather this week, creating ideal conditions for a large-scale fish kill in the Shasta River. Biologists and water managers with state and federal agencies are monitoring the situation closely as irrigators continue to maximize water withdrawals through the late September heat wave.

“We need to get more water in the river immediately,” said Erica Terence of Klamath Riverkeeper. “Unfortunately, the fish are moving much quicker than the resource managers on the Scott and Shasta Rivers this year.” The USGS realtime streamflow gage on the Shasta River shows record low flows for the last several days, as it has much of the summer. Temperatures are forecasted to be in the 90s through the weekend.

With 1,319 fish past the California Department of Fish and Game’s counting station in the Shasta River canyon as of Sept 22nd, this year’s fall Chinook run is shaping up to be among the largest in the last 20 years on the Shasta. Whether the fish are able to migrate and spawn throughout the basin, or whether the fish turn up dead, will be determined by the extent of irrigation deliveries over the next week. CDFG’s fish counting station on the adjacent Scott River is not yet operational.

“Unfettered agricultural diversions are playing Russian roulette with salmon, and it’s the commercial fishermen and Tribal people downriver who will deal with the consequences,” said Terence. She noted that the sacrifices of commercial salmon fishermen, who face a season closure caused by low returns to the Sacramento River, may be in vain if river conditions do not allow a successful spawning season.

Klamath Riverkeeper is surveying the Shasta River for fish mortalities and is monitoring locations where fish are currently holding in deeper, colder pools. Representatives of multiple organizations and agencies are also keeping tabs on the situation. Unofficial reports indicate at least 7 dead adult Chinook have been documented in the river at this time and fisheries managers and advocates would like to avoid an increase in that number.

Agricultural diversions and groundwater pumping have de-watered the Scott and reduced the Shasta to a trickle for much of the summer. Both tributaries were once abundant salmon producers and are recognized by scientists as key priorities in the effort to restore Klamath basin salmon. Terence added, “We cannot rely on dam removal alone to fix this watershed, it’s time to address the steadily increasing agricultural demand on the Klamath’s water.” The Shasta River was once the most productive salmon stream, for its size, in the state of California. Peer-reviewed science on the adjacent Scott River has demonstrated that decreasing flows cannot be fully explained by climate change.

This year’s record low flows come as CDFG is releasing its final Watershed Wide Incidental Take Permit Program for the Scott and Shasta basins – a controversial and potentially precedent-setting project that would widen allowances for coho kills from agricultural de-watering and other impacts. Klamath Riverkeeper is joining with other salmon allies to oppose the program. Terence said, “With conditions deteriorating for fish every year on the Scott and Shasta, CDFG should be proposing programs that expand protections for fish, not destroy them as the watershed wide permits would do.” She added, “the Scott and Shasta are now growing more alfalfa than they are fish – and its time for that to change.”

Irrigation season ends on the Scott and Shasta Rivers during the month of October.

I’d love to add a poignant twist to all this, but in truth, I’m too pissed off to do so. The politcal environment up here is so backwards (those who participated in our Stream Access/Land Use Planning Nightmare know the County Board of Supervisors would happily see every last fish disappear from the area), and it seems the agencies charged with protecting wildlife are willing to turn a blind eye in efforts to maintain good working relationships with irrigators.

How’s that working for us?

Just so you can watch the water levels dwindle in near realtime, here’s the USGS Streamflow Gage for the lower Shasta River can be found here.

More information on this summer’s Shasta and Scott flow crisis can be found here.

The story – originally broken by North State water activist Felice Pace on his Klamblog site – made it clear that flows had fallen so low, that salmon and steelhead populations simply weren’t going to survive.

Pace noted that the federal government has an adjudicated water right that it seemed unwilling to exercise, and that unlimited groundwater pumping was a big part of the problem.

Now the story’s made it to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, which offers up a fairly grim prognosis:

“Large areas of the (Scott) River have gone completely dry, stranding endangered coho salmon as well as chinook and steelhead in shallow, disconnected pools of water,” said Greg King, president of the nonprofit Siskiyou Land Conservancy, which has fought to protect the salmon runs in the Klamath River system.

“This could be the year that causes the coho to go extinct if they can’t get upstream in the Scott and Shasta.”

You can read the entire article here: Key salmon spawning rivers all but dry.

This whole mess isn’t simply the result of a three-year drought; excessive surface water diversions are a long-time problem, and the overharvesting of groundwater is a major factor in low stream flows.

Farmers and ranchers – trying to increase their harvest of often-marginal crops like alfalfa – have been increasingly turning to unregulated groundwater pumping to do so.

Low Flows Not the Whole Problem

The loss of some of the Klamath Basin’s best salmon and steelhead spawning habitat is only part of the problem.

The Scott and Shasta contribute badly needed cold water to the Klamath River, which suffers from high water temperatures and poor water quality – due in large part to the four Klamath River dams.

Remarkably, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors are fighting hard to retain the Klamath River dams and resisting any attempt to leave water in the rivers, in many cases suggesting the dams are actually helping salmon populations – despite the fact that the waters flow pea-soup green below the lowest dams in summer (the result of a toxic algae bloom).

In fact, a commonly heard refrain in Northern Siskiyou County is that “the salmon are gone anyway,” so no measures need to be taken.

In a political environment like that, it’s hard to imagine we’ll be reading too much good news about salmon and steelhead anytime soon.

See you on the non-existent Scott and Shasta Rivers, Tom Chandler.

In fact, both the Scott and Shasta Rivers are almost wholly dewatered – and this despite the fact they’re populated by endangered Coho salmon.

Making matters worse is California Fish & Game’s willingness to look the other way as Siskiyou County ranchers and agriculture hammer salmon populations – even after those same populations were listed and (supposedly) received federal protection.

It’s one more example of Siskiyou County’s crazy inbred politics, where extreme ideology serves as a substitute for facts, science and (dare we say it) reality.

This lengthy excerpt is from Pace’s Klamblog post on the Scott & Shasta’s flows, though the whole post is worthwhile reading for any taxpayer who wonders what current stupidity is going to require salvaging in the near future – at the cost his or her tax dollars:

The Shasta and Scott are spawning grounds for most of the Fall Chinook produced in the Upper Klamath River watershed; the Scott has the most Coho. If spawners do not reach their natal streams, Klamath River salmon production will be low and the impact on tribal, commercial and sport fishing – and related economic activity – will be great.

Here is flow data for the Shasta from the US Geological Service ~

* Early on October 11th Shasta River flow declined to nearly 6 cubic feel per second. The flow then became too low to measure for several hours. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=11517500

* The minimum daily flow recorded during the 2008 water year was 14 cfs.

* The lowest minimum mean flow during August for the period of record (1934-2008) was 8.35 in 1939.

From this data we conclude ~

THE SHASTA RIVER CURRENTLY IS EXPERIENCING THE LOWEST RECORDED FLOW DURING AUGUST SINCE FLOW RECORDING BEGAN IN 1934!

Precipitation at Yreka in the Shasta River Valley during 2008 was 77% of long-term mean annual precipitation. This is a dry year but not a drought.

The flow situation in the Scott is just as bad or worse ~

* On August 14th flow at the Scott River gauge operated by the USGS was less than 2 cubic feet per second (cfs).

* The lowest mean flow for the period of record during August was 5.52 cfs in 2002. The lowest daily mean flow in August was 3.4 cfs also in 2001.

From this information KlamBlog concludes ~

THE SCOTT RIVER CURRENTLY IS EXPERIENCING THE LOWEST RECORDED FLOW DURING AUGUST SINCE FLOW RECORDING BEGAN!

The rest of Pace’s article makes for interesting reading – especially when he notes that Fish & Game and other agencies are spending $500,000 to fund “improvements” for diversions (screening a diversion), but nothing is being done about flows.

That sounds about right given the backwards politics of the area. You don’t have to scientist to know that salmon and steelhead need something to survive, and it’s wet.

All the “diversion improvements” in the world – which could easily be construed as another giveaway to ag interests – won’t matter one bit if the water’s gone.

Now, it appears the project has landed some economic stimulus money. (Ummm, you guys need a fulltime blogger on the project – one capable of checking fish populations via fly rod methods?)

The Nature Conservancy is honored that our Shasta River/Big Springs Creek Restoration project for coho recovery in the Klamath received economic stimulus funding  from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today as part of  the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which will help restore critical salmon habitat.

The Conservancy’s efforts to restore the cold water fishery habitat on its Shasta Big Springs and Nelson Ranches, coupled with the California Department of Fish and Game’s efforts to remove fish passage barriers and to improve water use efficiencies by Shasta Valley ranchers, offers tremendous potential for re-establishing bountiful salmon populations in the Klamath River, and ultimately could help revive California’s once robust wild salmon fishery and wild, locally-caught salmon markets.

The Shasta Big Springs Ranch project will contribute to the recovery of the $60-100 million per year fishing industry in Northern California, but it will also help stimulate Siskiyou County’s struggling ranching and farming community.  According to the Siskiyou County 2005 Crop and Livestock Report, the industry contributes more than 3,000 jobs and $150 million to the regional economy, or about 10% of total sales by industry.  The restoration of the Shasta Big Springs Ranch is also important because the site could become one of the last and best strongholds for Coho and other salmon species in California that are on the brink of collapse.  By ensuring the protection of salmon in the Shasta River, the project site could serve as a natural nursery for re-establishing populations of Coho and other salmon species in the upper Klamath River.  This could be a significant lifeline for California’s salmon industry which has faced closures.

Seven other Nature Conservancy projects were selected by NOAA to lead eight coastal restoration projects in coastal U.S. states.

To view the NOAA announcement and interactive map – http://www.noaa.gov/recovery/

Now all we need is some rain and some salmon – and an important part of the one of the Klamath’s (formerly) richest spawning tributaries could start pulling its own weight.

Of course, the Nature Conservancy’s also looking to replace the $14.2 million or so they paid for the place, so send any winning lottery tickets to them.

See you rolling in stimulus money, Tom Chandler.

When I spoke to him this morning, CalTrout biologist Curtis Knight said “This is a critical element to restoring coho in one of the Klamath’s most important tributaries. It’s huge. It’s cool.”

For those unaware of the topology, the Shasta River runs through the Shasta Valley and empties into the Klamath River. Upwards of 80,000 Chinook salmon used to jam into the river, and it’s some of the most productive Coho salmon rearing habitat on the West coast.

One of the former owners of Big Springs Creek (the trib bought by the Nature Conservancy) remembers that, as a child, she was awakened at night by the “thousands of thrashing salmon” in the creek.

Last year, only 30 coho salmon returned to Big Springs Creek. In total.

Dewatering, Cattle Damage Main Culprits

Dewatering, overgrazing and other cattle damage, diversion dams, and Dwinnell Dam (Lake Shastina) have absolutely hammered salmon populations on the Shasta River, and while Chinook populations are in trouble, Coho salmon have taken the biggest hit.

That’s because Coho live in the watershed for a whole year before heading to the ocean, and despite the spring-fed nature of the Shasta River (and Big Springs Creek), dewatering and destruction of habitat by cattle drove summer water temperatures into the lethal zone.

Knight said “The issue in the Shasta is they can’t make it through the summer due to all the diversions. The water heats up, and they’ve got no place to go. That’s why restoring Big Springs Creek is one of the big keys to restoring the Shasta River. ”

Ideal Rearing Habitat

The meandering, spring-fed, nutrient rich Shasta River is critical to salmon recovery because smolt growth rates in the river are exceptional. Given the proper water temperatures, the salmon smolts that are headed to the ocean are bigger than those coming from less-rich streams, which leads to much higher survival rates in the ocean – and much higher return rates later.

The San Francisco Chronicle covered the story here, and details the reasons for the precipitous decline in salmon:

Conservationists had been trying to get hold of the land for 30 years, but it was only in the last year and a half that biologists noticed a deadly plume of warm water flowing down from the ranch.

Cattle had tramped the banks so much that the creek spread out, making it shallow and slow-moving. The summer heat warmed the water, and there was no vegetation left to shade it from the blazing sun.

That’s when the conservancy stepped up efforts to persuade the last owner, Irene Busk, to sell. Besides the ranch, the conservancy purchased a conservation easement on 407 acres where Busk will continue her ranching operation.

The purchase, which was made with private funds, also will protect 3 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat along the upper Shasta River.

It’s a good day to be a salmon. Now I’m getting the heck out of here.

See you in the river, Tom Chandler.