Conservation News
Assorted Conservation News Bits
By Dougald Scott
Assorted Conservation News Bits
By Dougald Scott
* Some Good News From the Eastern Sierras
The Mono Lake Committee reports success in restoring flows to Mill Creek, Mono Lake's third largest tributary. Many years ago, a diversion created to deliver a portion of Mill Creek to water rights holders for irrigation, aquaculture, and other human needs was not properly engineered, and resulting flows were not accurately measured. This resulted in the water rights holders getting more water than they entitled to under California law, and Mill Creek being short-changed.
The lowered flows downstream from the diversion devastated the riparian habitat. Fish populations plummeted, the streamside forest collapsed, and the once-vibrant lakeside delta deteriorated. Fortunately, the issue came up during relicensing hearings for the Edison power plant located upstream of the diversion. The Mono Lake Committee was able to negotiate a settlement with Edison and other stakeholders which will restore flows in Mill Creek to their legal entitlement.
Although it took more than a decade to work out, the settlement is considered a win-win. The water rights holders get their allotments and Mill Creek will get its fair share. Streamside forests and habitat will rebound, and fish populations will be restored. Many thanks to the Mono Lake Committee for diligence and hard work on this project.
* Proposed Water Bottling Plants in the Mt. Shasta Area Are Back
The cold, naturally filtered spring water of the McCloud and Upper Sacramento Rivers creates a wild trout paradise and, naturally, a premier destination of many for many of our club members. But it's not just good for fish, it also makes for fine drinking water, and the fast-growing water bottling industry has taken notice.
According to the fall 2005 Streamkeepers Log, (the quarterly newsletter of CalTrout) two new bottled water plants in the Mt. Shasta area are planned. The Swiss conglomerate Nestle wants to build a million-square- foot facility in the town of McCloud, and a smaller plant is being proposed in Dunsmuir. There are already several water bottling plants extracting spring and ground water in Siskiyou County, including Crystal Geyser, Dannon and Mt. Shasta Spring Water.
CalTrout opposes the plants because they feel the potential adverse impacts on the McCloud and Upper Sacramento Rivers have not been adequately addressed. The proposed Dunsmuir plant will draw its water from one or more subterranean stream channels, which are part of a poorly understood underground system that feeds the famous Shasta Springs and Mossbrae Falls on the Upper Sacramento.
The Nestle plant proposes to draw water from three sources: groundwater that can be tapped virtually anywhere in the McCloud Community Services District; 1,600 acre-feet of surface spring water purchased from the District; water diverted from the upper McCloud River as part of an appropriative water right that came with the purchase of the plant site. These water sources were guaranteed for 99 years as part of a contract Nestle signed with the District. Fortunately, the contract was nullified by the Siskiyou County Superior Court on grounds that the contract itself required a California Environmental Quality Act review. Nestle is currently appealing the decision.
Over the objections of the City of Dunsmuir, CalTrout, and others the Dunsmuir proposal was recently approved by the County Planning Commission. As for the Nestle project, the county-led environmental review process should be available for public scrutiny in early 2006. Siskiyou County does not presently have a comprehensive groundwater management plan, and until such a plan is in place, the County should place a moratorium on all new water bottling plants.
* Congress Yanks Funding of Biologists Who Support Salmon Protection
Rocky Barker, excerpted from High Country News 12/12/05
"When they don't like the message, they are going to kill the messenger," Michele DeHart said in November. By "they," she meant the industrial and agricultural interests along the Snake and Columbia rivers, and their powerful friends in Congress; "the messenger" is herself and the federal agency she manages. DeHart runs the Fish Passage Center in Portland, a team of fisheries scientists who analyze the impacts of dams on salmon for the Northwest's state fish and wildlife agencies and Indian tribes. The center's findings have often challenged the views presented by federal and hydro industry scientists.
Last summer, at the request of Indian tribes, DeHart wrote an analysis supporting U.S. District Judge James Redden's order that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spill water over dams to help migrating salmon. The spills cost the Bonneville Power Administration some $74 million in lost power generation.
In November, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, with the acquiescence of other Northwestern legislators, cut off the center's funding. That means that when their current funding runs out in the coming months, DeHart and her scientists are most likely done. "She took a position that supported one side of the argument, and that's advocacy," says Mike Tracy, a Craig spokesman.
Craig's legislation, attached to a budget bill, allows Bonneville Power to fund other agencies to do the analysis currently done by the Fish Passage Center. Nonetheless, the center's demise shows that salmon fishermen, environmental groups and Indian tribes have far less political traction than their opponents.
"The states of Oregon and Washington should have come to the aid of the Fish Passage Center but they didn't," says Bert Bowler, a fisheries biologist who used to work for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and is now with the nonprofit Idaho Rivers United.
* GOP Removes Changes in U.S. Mining Law From Budget Bill
Janet Wilson, excerpted from S.F. Chronicle 12/14/05
Republicans in Congress late Tuesday stripped proposed mining law revisions from a budget bill that critics said could have led to the sell-off of millions of acres of federal land, including portions of national parks and forests such as Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve. The package faced mounting bipartisan opposition from Western senators, after scores of groups, including a coalition of hunting and fishing interests, complained. A Senate spokesman said opposition to the mining law revisions could have jeopardized passage of the budget bill.
The legislation, which came out of the House Resources Committee chaired by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, would have lifted a moratorium on the sale or patenting of federally owned lands and allowed private development. The sponsor said such legislation was needed to help poor, rural communities survive after mining operations were shuttered and to maintain a domestic mining industry. Critics who had been caught off guard when the mining provisions were tucked into the House's massive budget bill last month welcomed the news that the provisions had been stripped as part of the reconciliation process between the House and the Senate.