Recently, the Klamath River Basin
Fisheries Task Force (KRBFTF) met in Yreka. I represent Siskiyou County. Several updates
on developments were presented:
(1) The California Fish and Game voted in favor of State listing of
the coho salmon. That process should be completed and regulations effective in December.
(2) The federal recovery group for coho should have its report out by
December identifying different populations of coho in our region. It is still working on a
recovery strategy.
(3) Although fall Chinook runs declined this year in the Klamath
system, including the Scott and Shasta, outmigration trapping for the birth years of fish
returning now were not low. This points to the problem being something other than fish production.
(4) This year’s coho run looks like it will be a good one.
(5) A Fish Health Assessment Team (FHAT) was formed in the fall of
2002. The FHAT has developed a hot line and a response plan for reported incidences of
fish die-off, dropping of flow in the lower basin and incidence of disease
(6) The Shasta River “multi-spectral” riparian and aquatic
habitat classification is almost complete. This looks at the Shasta from the perspective
of shading, temperature and instream habitat type.
(7) The fatal disease that has been hitting juvenile fish seems to be
occurring in the area of the Klamath River between Beaver Creek and Seiad.
(8) A Scott River fish habitat inventory study is now underway and
being conducted. Those conducting the study will not access land without landowner
approval.
At our prior meeting, we had worked on allocating funding to specific
projects. It was pointed out that three years ago, $99,000 was allowed for population
studies that plug into the harvest model that is used as a basis to allocate fish catch.
Last year it went up to $115,000 and this year it went to $145,000. The agencies appear to
have cut the studies from their budgets and are now raiding Task Force funding to pay for
them. It seems hat there is very little left in the Task Force budget for actual
restoration projects.
The Klamath Act, which authorizes the KRBFTF, sunsets in 2006. Peter
Brucker from the Salmon River is chairman of the Technical Working Group (TWG) and has
been tasked with creating a final overview of what has been accomplished. This will
include projects that were funded, identification of challenges to fish on a sub-basin
basis, lessons learned and recommendations for the future.
Gary Black and Bill Krum of the Siskiyou RCD gave a presentation on
vortex weirs. Particularly in the Scott Valley, it has been common to use seasonal “push-up”
gravel dams in the stream to raise the water level so it can be diverted down a ditch. It
has been found that these structures can make it difficult for juvenile and adult fish to
move up and down the stream. Permanent vortex weirs use large angular quarry boulders
placed across the active channel of a stream. The actual gradient step for the weir is at
around six inches to accommodate juvenile fish passage. A headgate and fish screen feed
water through a culvert out of the active channel into the ditch. The Task Force took a
field trip to French Creek to see one in operation. So far, 19 weirs have been installed
on 12 diversions in the Scott River system
There were several presentations on new databases: The California
Habitat Restoration Project Database at http://www.calfish.org and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Services water quality database at http://arcata.fws.gov/fisheries/tempdata.html The Klamath River Groups website also posts-up-to
date information about what is happening in the Klamath system http://www.kbef.org/groups/
The next KRBFTF meeting will be held in February in Crescent City. |
