Tag Archives: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
First Nations seek salmon return to Columbia Basin in new treaty with U.S.
Representatives from the Ktunaxa and Syilx Okanagan nations say they continue to bring up salmon restoration in negotiations for a modern Columbia River Treaty and will not stop until a solution can be reached within or outside a new agreement. The U.S.-Canada treaty regulates the cross-border Columbia River to prevent flooding and generate hydro power. A key component of the 62-year-old treaty is set to expire in September 2024, lending urgency to the ongoing talks. “I think what we are doing in the fight to bring salmon back is vital to us moving forward,” said Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow, who is a member on the Syilx Okanagan Nation’s Chiefs Executive Council and the Nation’s lead in the Columbia River Treaty talks. >>click to read<< 14:25
For first time in 60 years, spring-run Chinook salmon reproduce in San Joaquin River
As work to restore the San Joaquin River continues, scientists are seeing promising signs that salmon can thrive in the river as hatchery fish reach new milestones. A recent breakthrough came in fall 2017, when spring-run Chinook salmon created their nests, called redds, in the deeper and colder parts of the river below Friant Dam. The fish successfully spawned, laying eggs that incubated and hatched into tiny fry as the sexually mature fish died, part of the species’ unusual life cycle. >click here to read< 15:16
Trump official says government won’t stand in the way of removing Klamath dams
After the Obama administration helped broker a deal last year to tear down four dams straddling the California-Oregon border, practically everyone involved figured President Donald Trump would undermine it. They assumed Trump would side with conservative activists and Republican congressmen who thwarted an earlier version of the same agreement in 2015. Those assumptions are proving wrong. The fight over the Klamath River is one of country’s fiercest, longest-running water wars. click here to read the story 08:26
California fishermen win key ruling over Delta water supply
A group of commercial fishermen won a potentially significant court ruling in the seemingly endless battle over California’s water supply and the volumes of water pumped south through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A federal appeals court last week ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which delivers water from the Delta via the federal Central Valley Project, violated federal environmental law by renewing a series of two-year delivery contracts for south-of-Delta agricultural customers. The court said the bureau should have given “full and meaningful consideration” to the idea of reducing the amount of water available for delivery in the contracts. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals won’t void any of the supply contracts, said Stephan Volker, an Oakland lawyer representing the fishermen. But it could force the Bureau of Reclamation eventually to reduce the amount of Central Valley Project water pumped through the Delta to farmers and leave more water in the estuary to help endangered fish species. Read the rest here 16:51
Federal models for saving the species have proved faulty as Feds scramble to avoid another mass salmon die-off in the Sacramento River
Larry Collins, a commercial fisherman operating out of Pier 45 in San Francisco, said that in the fight over water, the fishing industry – and wild fish – lack the political clout compared with municipal and agricultural interests.“I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve fought the battle for a long time, and I’ve watched the water stolen from the fish,” he said. “The fish are in tough shape because their water is growing almonds down in the valley. To me, it’s just outright theft of the people’s resource for the self-aggrandizement of a few, you know?” “You got money you can buy anything,” he added. “You can buy extinction.” Read the rest here 12:57
Feds release extra water to save Klamath salmon from disease
With water scarce in Northern California’s Klamath Basin, a federal agency is again releasing cool, clean water into the Klamath River to prevent a repeat of the 2002 fish kill that left tens of thousands of adult salmon dead.The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said releases started Friday from Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River, the Klamath’s primary tributary, and would continue into late September. Similar releases were done the last three years. They come from water that is shared with farms in the Central Valley. “In this fourth year of severe drought,,, Read the rest here 19:54
Central Valley irrigators ask judge to stop releases for salmon
Agricultural water providers in California’s Central Valley have asked a federal judge to stop the newly approved releases of extra water intended to help salmon in the Klamath Basin survive the drought. Read more here 08:07
Feds say no to fish-kill preventive water releases from Trinity Lake used to cool the Klamath and Trinity rivers
Federal officials today told local tribes and North Coast officials that extra water releases from Trinity Lake used to cool the Klamath and Trinity rivers for fish may only occur in an emergency — when enough fish begin to sicken. Public Affairs Officer Mat Maucieri of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said that due to the ongoing statewide drought,,,Read more here 07:41
Ambitious Calif. river restoration problem plagued
What had been pitched by environmental groups as a $250 million revival now is projected to cost more than $1 billion. And government officials say the river system may never operate without human intervention and hard-to-get federal funds, even after the 2025 estimated completion date. [email protected] 08:44
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to upgrade fish protections at Delta water pumps
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $4.3 million contract to install new fish protection devices at its water diversion pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. more@sacbee 19:45
Fishermen Defend Increased Trinity River Flows to Protect Salmon
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
(PCFFA) represented by Earthjustice, filed intervention papers late Friday defending the planned release of Trinity River water to keep salmon alive in drought conditions. The groups will file a full brief with the court on August 13th. more@enews
California farmers sue over water releases for salmon
The suit alleges the release from the Trinity Reservoir would be unlawful and would further decrease the little water available to farmers for irrigation. It was filed Wednesday by the Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. more@bakersfieldnow
California representatives: Federal reports confirm Bay Delta plan not based on sound science
On Friday, several U.S. Representatives from Northern California called on the Brown Administration to withdraw and fully revise their proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) in light of draft environmental documents being found “biased” and “insufficient” by federal agencies in public comments made available Thursday. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service provided these comments to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) as part of a review of the draft environmental impact report/environmental impact statement. continued@lakecountynews
Bureau of Reclamation plans water release for lower Klamath in hopes of preventing fish kills
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.—The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposes to release water later this summer from the Trinity River in California in hopes of preventing fish kills in the lower Klamath river. The Klamath Basin straddling the California-Oregon border is in a drought that has led to irrigation shutoffs, recalling similar events more than a decade ago when thousands of fish died in the lower Klamath. continued@marinindependent
