I saw dead fish in the river today here is a video the Yurok youth made and the pathetic response I got yesterday from the Bureau of Reclamation. It would have been a reasonable response 2 weeks ago, but the fish were already dying yesterday. Big Lagoon has toxic Algea the fish are dying my heart is broken for what is happening to the water ways of the place I love. This is the response from reclamation - I appreciate that they actually responded but I am so upset and angry at how pathetic this whole situation is. We are glad to provide you some additional detail on the rationale behind that decision and below is a short summary of how and why the decision was made, and how it will be implemented. Implicit in the summary is the fact that drought and extremely dry hydrology this year are the extremely significant factors in the decision. Reclamation carefully evaluated the proposals and recommendations provided by Tribes, fishery agencies, water and power users, other partners, and the Office of the Solicitor in recent weeks regarding measures to protect fall Chinook salmon returns in the lower Klamath River this year, as Reclamation continues to refine the draft long-term plan. We also reviewed the earlier studies by Tribes, state and federal fishery agencies, and others immediately following the 2002 Klamath River fish die off and then again from 2010 through 2013. This review identified flow and run size thresholds for proactive flow augmentation, as well as emergency flow augmentation triggered by observed fish disease, developed in 2012. We are aware of the low-flow projections in the lower Klamath River during August and September. The accretion forecast is actually lower than 1977, but releases from Lewiston Dam and Iron Gate Dam will be higher than that year. We also acknowledge that end-of-September storage levels in Shasta Reservoir and Trinity Reservoir will be the lowest in many years – in Trinity Reservoir’s case only twice since the initial fill – 1978 and 1992 – has the storage volume receded below the current 654,000 acre-feet projected at the end of September this year. The Trinity Reservoir projection causes us concern due to the diminished cold water pool, not only in meeting Trinity River temperature objectives this year but also in the following years if the drought continues. We are also concerned about the overall water supply next year if there is not sufficient precipitation this winter. We are also concerned about meeting this year’s modified water temperature objectives on the upper Sacramento River and Clear Creek, which may be adversely impacted by reduced storage and cold-water volume in Trinity Reservoir. Part of the response effort developed primarily in 2012 was enhanced monitoring in the lower Klamath River and a protocol for increasing releases to the lower Klamath if diseased fish were documented by the Fish Health Center. We acknowledge that Tribes and fishery interests prefer a more immediate preventative augmentation approach, rather than relying on the emergency response. With all of this information carefully considered, it is Reclamation’s decision that no immediate preventative releases will be made from Trinity Reservoir or from the Klamath River Basin to augment flows in the lower Klamath River during the period of concern. We will work closely with the Yurok and other Tribes, the Fish Health Center, and other partners to make the monitoring and response protocols effective and will be prepared to increase releases from Trinity Reservoir in accordance with the 2012 emergency response criteria (e.g, a doubling of flows in the lower Klamath River for a period of seven days) if the fish disease criteria are met. ESA – Reclamation is reviewing the available information on temperature and related habitat needs of the Sacramento Valley ESA listed species. The ability to increase releases from the Trinity Reservoir may be tempered by the need to also protect the Sacramento Valley listed species. NEPA –Reclamation is continuing to review available information concerning potential impacts from any Trinity release to augment lower Klamath River flows and will take appropriate steps to meet NEPA requirements, if necessary.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 21:03:45 +0000
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