A few weeks ago I attended the Klamath River Basin
Fisheries Task Force (Task Force) meeting in Yreka. This is a federal committee that meets
quarterly. It was created by Congress many years ago to restore anadromous fish
populations in the Klamath and its tributaries. “Anadromous fish” are those fish
like salmon and steelhead trout that spawn in fresh water, but spend a portion of their
lives in the ocean. I am a brand new member on the Task Force representing all of Siskiyou County.
The Task Force includes
representatives from the counties along the entire river, the tribes, commercial and
recreational fishermen, the U.S. Forest Service and
Oregon, California and federal fish and wildlife agencies. Resource
interests, such as agriculture, timber and mining do not have a seat at the table, but are
represented through their county representatives.
There is also a Technical
Working Group (TWG) that examines the science behind fish restoration. The TWG also ranks
various restoration proposals. Some of these are funded by federal money available to the
Task Force. I have appointed John Menke, Ph.D. to serve as Siskiyou County’s
representative on the TWG. Dr. Menke is a well
respected U.C. Davis range ecologist who owns Quartz Valley Red Angus. Petey Brucker of
the Salmon River area represents commercial salmon fishing interests on
the TWG
The Task Force discussed
instream flow issues on the mainstem Klamath
River -
the operation of the Upper Basin’s
Klamath Project, releases from the Trinity
River and prevention of seasonal fish
kills. There were presentations on the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) relicensing of six of the seven dams on the Klamath River operated by PacifiCorp. [ http://newwww.pacificorp.com/Article/Article996.html ]
Local farmer and Superintendent of the Yreka High School District, Jim Beck, showcased his irrigation runoff recovery
pond system at a well attended field trip.
The Chinook salmon seem to be
running later this year. As of October 20 on the Shasta river, 3,251 fish had passed
through the video counting weir. At that time last year it was 6,300 and the year prior
9,800. Runs at the Iron Gate hatchery are slightly up, but the immature “jacks”
returning were down.
Irma Lagomarsino of NOAA
Fisheries gave an update on the progress of the federal coho recovery team (RT). They hope
to be done next spring with phase I. The RT is now trying to estimate historic population
levels and where they were located. They are looking for factors that are limiting
populations. The RT will determine how much habitat and what population numbers are needed
for delisting. They will also look at whether all small sub-populations need to be
recovered. Phase 2 will look at measures to be
taken to achieve delisting
One of the issues that the
Task Force will be discussing in its February 18-19 meeting in Brookings,
Oregon, is its policies on suction dredge mining. Ken Oliver
is working with the US Fish and Wildlife Office in Yreka to try and get some information
about the relationship of local dredging and fish introduced to the members of the Task
Force.
On a separate note, the CA Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has come out with the
draft of its Recovery
Strategy for California Coho Salmon. It is available online at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwb/src/coho.html or www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwb/index.html.
You can also get a hard copy from DFG offices in Sacramento, or Redding, or read a copy
at the public library. A public meeting will be held on the strategy November 19 from 6-9
p.m. at the Miners’ Inn Convention Center in Yreka. The
document has 12 chapters, 700 pages of text, more than 750 recommendations and more than a
thousand recovery tasks.
You can submit your written comments on the document no later than Nov. 28 to: Coho
Salmon Recovery Strategy, Atten: Gail Newton, Native Anadromous Fish and Watershed Branch,
Department of Fish and Game, 830 S St., Sacramento, CA 95814. Or you can e-mail your
comments to gnewton@dfg.ca.gov or fax them to (916) 327-8854.
The California Fish and Game Commission created two teams to work on the strategies. A
statewide team worked on all issues north of San Francisco effecting coho. Out of this was
carved room for another team working entirely on agriculture and irrigation use as effects
coho in the Shasta and Scott Valleys.
The Shasta and Scott Recovery Team (SSRT) came up with a detailed set of
recommendations last July that they have continued to prioritize, schedule, cost and
refine for implementation. It is not know whether the DFG altered any of these
recommendations in its final strategy. The recovery plan measures will be achieved on an
incentive and voluntary basis.
The State Fish and Game Commission is expected to list the coho as
threatened at their December meeting in Sacramento. Under state law, after listing, no one
will be able to engage in any activity that will kill a coho fish. However, you can get an “incidental take permit”
that will allow you to do the activity as long as you take specified measures to minimize
impact and fully “mitigate” or make up for anticipated fish deaths. This will be
enforced by DFG and has penalties for non-compliance.
It is my understanding that when the fish is listed, all 1603
streambed alteration permits for water diversion will be revoked. Folks will need to get
an incidental take permit in order to get a new 1603. A separate group is now working on a
“programmatic incidental take permit” that irrigators can opt into rather than
do their own process. This permit will not cover other activities.
The voluntary recovery incentive strategy is for actions over and
above the enforceable requirements of the incidental take permit process.
Finally, the National Academies of Science has also released its
report concerning the Klamath River, including the tributaries at http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309090970?OpenDocument
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