Conservation News

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* The Salmonid Restoration Conference - submitted by Tim Loomis

The 27th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference was held this year in Santa Cruz March 4th - 7th at the Civic Center. Workshops were held throughout the four day event in various locations from Big Sur to the south and as far north as San Francisquito Creek in San Mateo county. The main goal is salmonid habitat restoration and issues that pertain to coastal watersheds and coho salmon recovery.
Our club's own past Conservation Chair, Dougald Scott, ran a Saturday morning session titled "Central and South Coast Steelhead: Biology, Genetics and Recovery Strategy". Our club's current conservation chair, Marcus McDonough, was the host at the Friends of the River booth at the poster session held the Friday night before Dougald's meeting. It's good to know that a few of our club members are actively involved in the conservation side of our sport. Granted, most of the attendees were scientific types associated with state, county and local agencies whose business is conservation related. Still, the club had a booth manned by club Publicity chair Mike Kosloski and myself, letting the agencies know that we are here and actively involved in salmonid restoration.
Both Mike and I managed to learn that we are not alone in the struggle to maintain our fisheries as representatives from far and wide stopped in the booth to introduce themselves and learn more about our fly club.

March 29, 2009

Dear Mr. Loomis and The Santa Cruz Fly Fishermen,

Thank you for your generous co-sponsorship of the 27th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference that was held March 4-17, 2009, in Santa Cruz, California. This year the conference featured workshops on topics including estuary restoration, fish passage design and implementation, coho use and restoration of off channel habitat, and watershed monitoring and management tools and resources. All day field tours included tours of the lower San Lorenzo River; Balancing Habitat, Flood Control, and Public Use, Carmel River restoration projects, Southern Coho Streams and the NOAA lab and broodstock program, Coho Salmon and Steehead Enhancement projects, and a tour of Dams and Daylighting: Progress and Opportunities in San Francisquito Creek.
Concurrent sessions focused on environmental, biological and policy issues that affect salmonid habitat restoration and recovery of native fish populations. Concurrent sessions included Water Diversions and Water Wars in California, FERC Relicensing Restoration Opportunities, Central Coast Coho Salmon & Steelhead Conservation, Fire Ecology, Forests, and Fisheries, Dam Removal and Modifications for Salmonid Recovery, Restoration at the Crossroads, Central and Southcoast Steelhead, Hydrologic and Geomorphic Legacy Issues; Solutions for the Past and the Future and Coho Salmon Recovery and Restoration: Putting Theory into Practice.
SRF is dedicated to keeping the conference affordable for restoration practitioners, agency personnel, watershed members, and others interested in the restoration field. Co-sponsors enable us to produce a dynamic and informative conference at an economical rate for participants and to offer scholarships for students and Native American tribal members. SRF acknowledges co-sponsors in our publicity materials and at the conference. Thank you for your co-sponsorship donation of $200. We hope you enjoyed your participation in the 27th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference.

Thank you for your generous contribution,

Dana Stolzman
Executive Director
Salmonid Restoration Federation

P.S. The Salmonid Restoration Federation is a 501c non-profit organization; all donations are tax-deductible. Our federal tax ID # is 68 9187121.

P.O. Box 784, Redway, CA 95560 - www.calsalmon.org - srf@calsalmon.org - (707) 923-7501 - Fax (707) 923-3135

March 11, 2009 6:00 AM
California's "drought" is overblown. The alarmists calling it a historic disaster are trying to pull a fast one. Rain fell constantly through February. The drought broke. Yet at month's end, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ominously declared a "drought emergency." drought in modern history."
Not even close. In reality - a word seldom placed in the same sentence as water in California - rainfall is nearly normal for this time of year.
Don't take my word for it. Here are the current 15-year average watershed precipitation levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation:
Sacramento River: 77 percent, American River: 102 percent, Stanislaus River: 96 percent, San Joaquin River: 91 percent.
That is not a drought. That is below-average rainfall. And not far below average: 91.5 percent. But it is true Stockton's only at 75 percent.
Officials say the snowpack is critically low. False. The snow-water equivalent, according to the DWR itself, is 90 percent. Officials say rainfall has been below average for three years. That is true. There should be water anyway. More on that later. Officials say there are more people in California now. Well, yes. The addition of more people, however, does not constitute a drought, only perhaps an expansion beyond resources. Officials say reservoirs are dry. False. Here are the 15-year average percentages for regional reservoirs:
Shasta: 69, Oroville: 68, Folsom: 108, New Melones: 74, Millerton: 88.
The average is 81.4 percent of normal - and rising. The inflow into Lake Shasta as of midnight Saturday was 13,239 cubic feet per second. Reservoirs are filling. They may not fill brimful. But that is far from "the worst California drought in modern history."
Besides, state officials, SoCal water importers and other Chicken Littles don't mention they drained Northern California reservoirs prior to February's storms.
"In the first year of the drought, we passed water like a drunken sailor," said Bill Jennings, head of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
Some perspective: In the 1990s, the state and feds exported 4 million acre-feet of Delta water annually. In this decade - and well into the drought - officials imprudently powered up exports to more than 6 million acre-feet a year. They irresponsibly sucked reservoirs down. They nearly killed the Delta. They stopped only when a federal judge called a halt.
"We cannibalized Northern California to sock it away in the Kern water bank and Diamond Valley water bank down south," Jennings said, "giving no thought to the question of a second or third year."
This controversy is about more than a peripheral canal. It is about a state that forgot how water rights work. Or special interests who are attempting to overthrow them.
Many of these distant users are last in line. Their contracts promise surplus in wet years. Yet they now feel entitled to water deliveries every year.
The irony is, the entitlements are bogus. Be they big metropolitan water agencies or small farmers, they've been had. Or they've been foolish.
The 80-year average for Delta water is 29 million acre-feet annually. The state and feds wrote contracts promising 130 million acre-feet: 41/2 times reality.
Other contracts bring total export contracts to an insane 245 million acre-feet, an ocean of paper water promised to people who gauged their farms, businesses or urban water consumption accordingly.
This delusion has been abetted by a series of governors from Southern California, misguided regulators and politicians caving to constituents.
So the "solution" to the ginned-up drought really amounts to an old-fashioned California water grab based on the failure to face nature's limits.
The Delta and the law be damned.
"It's an attempt to rewrite 150 years of California water law and legal precedent," declared Jennings, "by giving the most junior and inferior water rights equal footing with the most senior water rights. And to do that, its screws the Delta and Northern California." Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270 or michaelf@recordnet.com.

Most of us have felt soles on the bottom of our wading boots. For a few good reasons we should start to think about replacing or repairing our old sidekicks. Please pick two reasons, Safety, Conservation or Good Looks.
Recently Trout Unlimited has sent out a recommendation of "No felt soles for 2011". Manufacturers such as Patagonia, Simms and others have introduced new models with softer rubber soles for Safety reasons, better traction in and out of the water. The Conservation reason would be "Risk Reduction of Invasive Species". Research has proven that felt soles are capable of moving a variety of problem organisms from river to river. Our own San Lorenzo River has recently picked up New Zealand Mud Snails.
Another option, replace your felt soles with rubber. I recently sent my boots to Rocky Mountain Resole of Colorado, www.rmresole.com. Within 10 days my boots returned with new Simms Aqua Stealth rubber bottoms, costing only $45.00 plus shipping. They have been recently been running a special for $ 40.00. There are even studded options. There may be a local resource that I am unaware of (please use it). Their sale says it runs until the end of March, but I contacted them and explained that this article probably wouldn't get to our members in time for them to take advantage of the special deal, so they generously extended the sale until May 31st. All any SCFF member needs to do to get the deal is let them know you belong to our club. Nice!
What you should be doing with your felt soles now? Between traveling from river to river, your felt soles should be dried out and or cleaned after each use. For more information on the treatment and other conservation issues contact Trout Unlimited, www.tu.org. Click on Science and Aquatic Invasive Species.

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