California’s two primary salmon species, Coho and Chinook, have
experienced significant declines from historical populations.
Of particular importance is the Chinook salmon because the
species supports commercial fishing and related jobs and economic
activities at fish hatcheries.
The decline in salmon numbers is attributed to a variety of
manmade and natural factors including drought, habitat
destruction, water diversions, migratory obstacles created by
local, state and federal water projects, over-fishing,
unfavorable ocean conditions, pollution and introduced predator
species. Wetlands have also been drained and diked; dams have
blocked salmon from reaching historic spawning grounds.
Years of declining populations represent a significant economic
loss and have led to federally mandated salmon restoration plans
that complicate water diversions and conveyance for agriculture
and other uses.
Last year, Pacific Gas & Electric announced that it would
demolish the [Eel River's] Scott and Cape Horn dams and
decommission the entire Potter Valley power project.
… Removing the dams will help restore natural river
flows, which will improve fish habitat along the Eel River.
That’s been a longtime objective of the Round Valley Indian
Tribes. The tribes have strong historic and cultural ties to
the river and its bounty. When the dams come down, the Eel
River will become the longest free-flowing river in California
according to fish advocates. Salmon, steelhead and trout all
will benefit. Lake Pillsbury will disappear. Demolition is not
restoration, though, and there will be ripple effects on other
nearby natural areas.
Fishers are fighting tire companies’ attempt to dismiss an
Endangered Species Act suit over the use of a rubber additive
known as 6PPD, which harms salmon, telling a California federal
judge the companies are trying to delay accountability…
Today, legislation to protect California’s iconic salmon and
steelhead trout authored by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San
Mateo) was approved by the Assembly Committee on Transportation
with a bipartisan vote. The S.A.L.M.O.N Act (Stormwater
Anti-Lethal Measures for Our Natives Act), would mandate the
development and implementation of a regional strategy by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to eliminate (a
contaminant from tire rubber) from stormwater discharges
into specified salmon and steelhead trout-bearing surface
waters of the state.
Near the California-Oregon border, reservoirs that once
submerged valleys have been drained, revealing a stark
landscape that had been underwater for generations. A thick
layer of muddy sediment covers the sloping ground, where
workers have been scattering seeds and leaving meandering
trails of footprints. In the cracked mud, seeds are sprouting
and tiny green shoots are appearing. With water passing freely
through tunnels in three dams, the Klamath River has returned
to its ancient channel and is flowing unhindered for the first
time in more than a century through miles of waterlogged lands.
Fresno’s largest body of water — and likely its most diverse
wildlife habitat — shimmers in silence on a sunny spring
afternoon. … Where we’re at is Milburn Pond, a reclaimed
gravel mining pit that belongs to the San Joaquin River
Ecological Reserve and is managed by the Department of Fish and
Wildlife. … Listed at 287 acres, Milburn Pond is large
enough to be considered a lake. Except for the fact that it’s
not surrounded by land on all sides. … Now, though,
there’s a state-approved proposal to isolate the pond that has
been kicking around since the historic 2006 settlement to
restore river flows and self-sustaining salmon runs. It’s a
plan Moosios and others believe would irreparably harm this
little-known or observed wildlife sanctuary — even though less
destructive and expensive options have been proposed that would
accomplish virtually the same stated purpose. -Written by columnist Marek Warszawski.
In 2023, PG&E announced its plans to remove both Scott and
Cape Horn dams on the Eel River as part of its license
surrender and decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project.
CalTrout has long advocated for removing both dams to improve
salmon and steelhead populations in the Eel River by
reconnecting the cold, perennial streams in the headwaters
behind the dams. CalTrout has also been working with water
users in the Russian River basin seeking to maintain the water
supplied by a transbasin diversion tunnel. On Tuesday, March
19, 2023, partners and stakeholders met to select a design
alternative for a potential future diversion from the Eel River
to the Russian River that balances both needs of water users
and fish.
The deconstruction of Copco Dam Number One is going to get
underway in the next few weeks, and the Klamath River Renewal
Corporation says it’s all going ahead of schedule. Klamath
River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) CEO Mark Bransom says things
are going exceptionally in the progress of undamming the river.
Sharing, with approval to move forward on Copco Dam Number 1,
they’re now looking at a finish by the end of summer, and only
better days for the Klamath River from there. “They will begin
a series of drilling into the top of Copco Number One, packing
those holes with explosives, detonating those explosives and
the idea is to break up that large concrete dam into more
manageable chunks of concrete,” Bransom said.
A court has upheld a key decision by California’s water board
calling for reductions in water diversions from the San Joaquin
River and its tributaries to help revive struggling fish
populations. In his ruling, Sacramento County Superior Court
Judge Stephen Acquisto rejected lawsuits by water districts
serving farms and cities that would be required to take less
water under the standards adopted by regulators. The judge also
rejected challenges by environmental groups that had argued for
requiring larger cutbacks to boost river flows. The judge’s
ruling, issued in a 162-page order last week, supports the
State Water Resources Control Board’s 2018 adoption of a water
quality plan for the lower San Joaquin River and its three
major tributaries — the Tuolumne, Merced and Stanislaus rivers.
A state policy that seeks to protect California’s major rivers
and creeks by cracking down on how much water is pumped out by
cities and farms can move forward despite widespread
opposition, the Superior Court has ruled. The long-awaited
decision on what’s known as the Bay-Delta Plan denies 116
claims in a dozen separate lawsuits that seek to undo a 2018
update to the policy, most of which are from water agencies
saying the limits on their water draws go too far. The 160-page
verdict, released Friday by Sacramento County Judge Stephen
Acquisto, specifically notes that arguments made by San
Francisco against the regulation fell short.
After decades of advocating, tribal members cheered as a blast
at JC Boyle Dam this year kicked off the process of drawing
down the reservoirs behind three Klamath River dams. The
removal is expected to restore the river and reopen spawning
habitat that salmon haven’t been able to reach for more than a
century. OPB science reporter and editor Cassandra Profita
brings us the perspective of the tribes living along the
Klamath River: what the country’s largest dam removal project
means to them and their hopes for the future.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering three
options for the ocean salmon season, set to begin May 16. The
federal council that manages water from California, Oregon and
Washington state came up with two options that would entail a
short salmon season, and it’ll come with small harvest limits
for both commercial and sport fishing. The last option includes
closing off the ocean fisheries for the second consecutive
year. Last year, commercial and recreation salmon fleets in
California were left anchored following the PFMC’s decision to
cancel the 2023 fishing season due to years of drought, low
river level and dry conditions affecting the Chinook salmon
populations in the Klamath and Sacramento rivers.
California environmental groups are urging a federal court to
intervene amid a “dramatic increase” in the deaths of
threatened steelhead trout at pumps operated by state and
federal water managers. Since Dec. 1, more than 4,000 wild and
hatchery-raised steelhead have been killed at pumps in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, according to public data
for the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley
Project. The agencies are now at about 90% of their combined
seasonal take limit, which refers to the amount of wild
steelhead permitted to be killed between January and March
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. A coalition of
environmental and fishing groups — including the Golden State
Salmon Assn., the Bay Institute and Defenders of Wildlife — are
involved in ongoing litigation that seeks to challenge current
federal operating plans in the delta, an estuary at the heart
of the state’s water supply.
A dozen tire companies are asking a California federal judge to
toss a suit claiming a rubber additive is harming protected
salmon, arguing that the litigation stretches the Endangered
Species Act “beyond its breaking point” and that regulation of
the substance belongs with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, not in courts.
California’s fishing industry is bracing for another bad year
as federal managers today announced plans to heavily restrict
or prohibit salmon fishing again, after cancelling the entire
season last year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council
today released a series of options that are under
consideration, all of which either ban commercial and
recreational salmon fishing in the ocean off California or
shorten the season and set strict catch limits. The council’s
decision is expected next month; the commercial season
typically begins in May and ends in October. … [P]opulations
are now a fraction of what they once were — dams have
blocked vital habitat, while droughts and water diversions have
driven down flows and increased temperatures, killing large
numbers of salmon eggs and young fish.
In January, draining the reservoirs behind the Klamath Dams
began. Iron Gate Reservoir, Copco Lake, and the Boyle Reservoir
are now largely empty as blasts opened holes in culverts
beneath Copco #1 and the John C. Boyle dams and the outlet
tunnel below Iron Gate was opened. “The Klamath River flows
free,” ran some headlines. Well not exactly. Keno and Link
River dams in Oregon upstream near Klamath Falls will not be
removed. Iron Gate, Copco #1, and J.C. Boyle still stand,
although the reservoirs behind them are largely empty. Until
the dams are completely removed (slated for this
spring/summer), the flow is still impacted by the dam
structures, causing erosion and ponding. Constriction and
acceleration as the water flows through narrowed passageways
can lead to cavitation. Cavitation occurs when irregularities
in the bed lift the water. The resulting negative pressure
causes bubbles of water vapor to form. -Written by Lori Dengler, an emeritus professor of
geology at Cal Poly Humboldt.
The ocean and river salmon seasons in California are likely to
be closed or severely restricted this year based on low
abundance forecasts for Sacramento and Klamath River fall-run
Chinook salmon that were released by state and federal fishery
scientists at the CDFW’s annual salmon information meeting via
webinar on March 1. California representatives are now working
together to develop a range of recommended ocean fishing season
alternatives taking place now at the March 6-11 Pacific Fishery
Management Council (PFMC) meeting in Fresno. Final season
recommendations will be adopted at the PFMC’s April 6-11
meeting in Seattle, Wash. Due to the collapse of fall-run
Chinook salmon on the Klamath/Trinity and Sacramento River
systems in 2022, all commercial and recreational salmon fishing
on the ocean was closed in California and most of Oregon last
year.
The State Water Resources Control Board received a letter from
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)
submitting instream flow recommendations to inform a long-term
flow-setting process to support anadromous salmonids and
year-round ecological stream function on Mill, Deer, and
Antelope Creeks. Mill, Deer, and Antelope Creeks are
tributaries to the Sacramento River and provide aquatic habitat
for several native fish species including Chinook salmon
(spring-run, fall-run, and late fall-run), Steelhead, and
Pacific Lamprey. Additional information will be forthcoming on
the next steps in considering the recommendations. Additional
information related to this matter can be found on the Mill,
Deer, and Antelope Creeks – Flow Recommendations webpage.
A recent large die-off of young salmon released into the
Klamath River shocked and dismayed state biologists,
reinforcing that human efforts to restore nature and undo
damage can be unpredictable and difficult to
control. The tiny Chinook salmon turned up dead downriver
just two days after they were released from the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife’s brand new Fall Creek Fish
Hatchery, built to supply the Klamath River as it undergoes the
largest dam removal in history. … No wild salmon were
harmed. And the consequences aren’t expected to be catastrophic
for the Klamath hatchery project.
Three weeks after citizens stood up at a public meeting in
Siskiyou County, California, and raised concerns about heavy
metals in the Klamath River, the situation is about as clear as
the river. And the river’s pretty muddy. The breaching of the
Iron Gate, Copco 1 and JC Boyle hydroelectric dams in January
was done to draw down the reservoirs behind the dams as a
prelude to dam removal later this year. But the drawdown
released vast amounts of sediment that had been backed up
behind the dams. And some of those sediments contain metals.
… Only after a year from when drawdown is complete will
the company test for more metals, as directed by the state.
On March 1, 2024, the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife (CDFW) held its CDFW Annual Salmon Information Meeting
via a webinar. The prognosis for a 2024 salmon season does not
look good. The closure of all California salmon fishing in 2023
brought an uptick in salmon escapement to 133,000 in the
Sacramento River, which is somewhat positive. The forecast for
this year’s fishable stock in the ocean (made up of broodyears
2021-2023), however, is not much better than last year’s, with
the lingering effects of the 2020-2022 drought. If a normal
fishery had been held last year or were to be held this year,
the salmon stocks would no doubt fall into an “over-fished”
status.
Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are believed to have died
this week at the site of a historic dam removal project on
the Klamath River, after an effort to restore salmon runs
on the newly unconstrained river went awry, the Chronicle has
learned. The dead chinook salmon were among the first hatchery
fish released on the Klamath since four hydroelectric dams
were breached near the California-Oregon border, to allow
the river to flow freely again and ultimately help fish
flourish. … The salmon die-off, discovered downstream of the
173-foot Iron Gate Dam, is thought to be the result of trauma
the small fish experienced when they went through a tunnel at
the dam’s base, which had been opened to allow the river to
pass and dam demolition to proceed. … “No one,
especially those in my program who work night and day to keep
fish alive, wants to see something like this happen,” said
Jason Roberts, an environmental program manager for the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re going to
learn from it. We need to do better.”
… In an effort to demonstrate the power of proper floodplain
management, the Floodplain Forward Coalition came together with
the conservation touring company, EcoFlight, to show media,
legislative staff and California Natural Resources Secretary,
Wade Crowfoot, how the floodplains are working in the
Sacramento Valley and demonstrate how we can provide more
benefits to people and wildlife with an increase in investment
and permitting from state leaders.
Recreational and commercial fishermen are holding their breath
for this Friday’s California Department of Wildlife’s annual
Salmon Information Meeting to be held by webinar only. Although
the escapement of fall-run salmon in the Sacramento River Basin
exceeded the minimum of 122,000 returning hatchery and natural
spawners, 133,638 returners fell short of the projected
spawning escapement of 164,964 salmon. The 2023 salmon closure
below Cape Falcon in Oregon throughout California was
devastating to commercial salmon fishermen along with coastal
communities due to the loss of economic activity by
recreational anglers. According to the Golden State Salmon
Association, Central Valley salmon have provided over $2
billion in economic activity to communities in California and
Oregon along with 23,000 jobs in California and half that again
in Oregon.
Scott Artis, the Golden State Salmon Association’s executive
director, responded to the latest California salmon return
numbers reported in the Pacific Fishery Management Council
report released on February 16, 2024: “Under Governor Newsom,
the upper Sacramento River, formerly the most important salmon
producing river south of the Columbia, has been killed off.
… Salmon eggs faced overheated water because of the
failure of the State Water Resources Control Board to
adequately control temperature pollution from Shasta Dam.
… In 2023, the upper Sacramento River escapement (the
spawning population) of fall-run Chinook salmon was 6,160
adults. Between 1995-2005, the average escapement was 175,496,
which represents a loss of 96% of the upper Sacramento River’s
spawning adults.”
The Willow Bend wetlands have become a refuge for tiny salmon
as they mature into fish strong enough to survive the ebbs and
flows of migration to the ocean. The preserve also provides a
home for birds such as wood ducks and vultures, as well as
facilitating groundwater recharge and reducing the flood risk
for nearby communities.
According to a 1908 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as the
Winters Doctrine, Native American reservations are entitled to
enough water to meet their tribe’s needs. That doctrine was
recently invoked during a push by tribes to restore the Klamath
River, which flows through Oregon and California. The goal, in
part, is to restore the spawning grounds for fish for the first
time in more than 100 years. Indigenous Affairs Reporter Debra
Krol from the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network,
joins The Excerpt to discuss the ongoing battle over Indigenous
water rights.
Some of the thorniest debates over water in California revolve
around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where pumps send
water flowing to farms and cities, and where populations of
native fish have been declining…. State water regulators are
considering … “voluntary agreements” in which water agencies
pledge to forgo certain amounts of water while also funding
projects to improve wetland habitats. … To learn more
about these issues, I spoke with Felicia Marcus and Michael
Kiparsky, two experts who wrote a report outlining what they
say should be “guiding principles for effective voluntary
agreements.” … Marcus said if voluntary agreements go
forward without adequate standards in place, “the ecosystem
will continue to collapse and more species will go extinct.”
Salmon face many perils during their migration to the ocean,
including disease, entrainment, degraded water quality, and
predation. However, predation has been the factor that has
generated the most interest and debate. FISHBIO has been
conducting a research program focused on fish species that prey
on other fish in the Stanislaus River to understand how
predatory fishes may affect juvenile salmon migration.
… The most frequently encountered predators were the
non-native striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and black bass
(multiple species in the genus Micropterus), and the
native Sacramento pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus grandis). Analysis
of their diet contents revealed that the non-native basses
consumed native fish species such as fall-run Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus
tridentatus) at significantly higher frequencies than native
predators …
The State Water Resources Control Board handed environmental
and fishing groups a surprise loss Friday when it denied their
petition for permanent instream flow restrictions on the
drought-stricken Shasta River in Northern California. The
denial came as a surprise because both the water agency and
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have said they want to prioritize
making some emergency drought rules for rivers permanent this
year in order to better insulate the state from recurring
drought. The board already extended the emergency limits it put
on the Scott and Shasta rivers during the drought in a December
decision, but the temporary rules run out in February 2025.
The massive deaths of non-native fish and the deluge of
sediments resulting from the drawdown of reservoirs as part of
the Klamath River dam removals was expected and is predicted to
result in long-range benefits. Public concern has been
expressed following because of the recently completed initial
drawdown of reservoirs created by the John C. Boyle, Copco 1
and Irongate hydroelectric dams. Copco 2, a diversion dam, was
removed late last year because it would have interfered with
the Copco 1 drawdown. The dam removal project is the largest in
U.S. history. During a Thursday video news conference, Mark
Bransom, chief executive office for Klamath River Renewal
Corporation, which is overseeing the dam removal project, and
Dave Coffman, the habitat restoration as program manager for
RES (Resource Environmental Solutions), briefly discussed the
ongoing project and impacts of the recently completed initial
drawdown.
A new state-level plan to protect salmon is underway, and it
might benefit Marin County’s fish. The “California Salmon
Strategy” was released by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 30. It
lists six priorities and 71 actions to build healthier,
stronger salmon populations throughout the state in the age of
climate change-induced drought and heat. The six goals are
removing barriers and modernizing infrastructure; restoring and
expanding habitat suited for spawning and rearing; protecting
water flows and quality at times essential to salmon;
modernizing salmon hatcheries; transforming technology and
management systems for climate adaptability; and strengthening
partnerships with local groups.
Partners have pulled together to support the recovery of
endangered Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon in the last few
years. However, the species still faces threats from climate
change and other factors. That is the conclusion of an
Endangered Species Act review that NOAA Fisheries completed for
the native California species. It once returned in great
numbers to the tributaries of the Sacramento River and
supported local tribes. The review concluded that the species
remains endangered, and identified key recovery actions to help
the species survive climate change. While partners have taken
steps to protect winter-run Chinook salmon, blocked habitat,
altered flows, and higher temperatures continue to threaten
their survival.
…Tuesday, the State Water Resources Control Board took
action to protect the salmon,
unanimously extending the region’s
expired emergency drought measures. Ground and surface
water for farms will be restricted for another year if flows in
the Shasta and Scott rivers dip below minimum thresholds. State
officials say these measures are likely to kick in next
year. Water board chair Joaquin Esquivel said action
is needed because “a fish emergency” remains on the rivers.
“Time isn’t our friend,” he said at a previous meeting in
August. “There is an urgency.” The water board also
is investigating the possibility of permanent requirements to
keep more water in the rivers, after the Karuk Tribe and the
fishing industry petitioned the state for stronger protections.
That decision, however, could take years.
The Klamath River Basin was once one
of the world’s most ecologically magnificent regions, a watershed
teeming with salmon, migratory birds and wildlife that thrived
alongside Native American communities. The river flowed rapidly
from its headwaters in southern Oregon’s high deserts into Upper
Klamath Lake, collected snowmelt along a narrow gorge through the
Cascades, then raced downhill to the California coast in a misty,
redwood-lined finish.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues
associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
Land and waterway managers labored
hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly
rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their
water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing
some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore
the state’s major floodplains.
Biologists have designed a variety
of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the
benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking
studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon
smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their
river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because
the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment
on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth
and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
In 1983, a landmark California Supreme Court ruling extended the public trust doctrine to tributary creeks that feed Mono Lake, which is a navigable water body even though the creeks themselves were not. The ruling marked a dramatic shift in water law and forced Los Angeles to cut back its take of water from those creeks in the Eastern Sierra to preserve the lake.
Now, a state appellate court has for the first time extended that same public trust doctrine to groundwater that feeds a navigable river, in this case the Scott River flowing through a picturesque valley of farms and alfalfa in Siskiyou County in the northern reaches of California.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway
repairs.
An hour’s drive north of Sacramento sits a picture-perfect valley hugging the eastern foothills of Northern California’s Coast Range, with golden hills framing grasslands mostly used for cattle grazing.
Back in the late 1800s, pioneer John Sites built his ranch there and a small township, now gone, bore his name. Today, the community of a handful of families and ranchers still maintains a proud heritage.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the
Oroville Dam spillway.
Before dams were built on the upper
Sacramento River, flood water regularly carried woody debris that
was an important part of the aquatic habitat.
Deprived of this refuge, salmon in the lower parts of the upper
Sacramento River have had a difficult time surviving and making
it down the river and out to the ocean. Seeing this, a group of
people, including water users, decided to lend a hand with an
unprecedented pilot project that saw massive walnut tree trunks
affixed to 12,000-pound boulders and deposited into the deepest
part of the Sacramento River near Redding to provide shelter for
young salmon and steelhead migrating downstream.
Protecting and restoring California’s populations of threatened
and endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead trout have been a big
part of the state’s water management picture for more than 20
years. Significant resources have been dedicated to helping the
various runs of the iconic fish, with successes and setbacks. In
a landscape dramatically altered from its natural setting,
finding a balance between the competing demands for water is
challenging.
Butte Creek, a tributary of the
Sacramento River, begins less than 50 miles northeast of Chico,
California and is named after nearby volcanic plateaus or
“buttes.” The cold, clear waters of the 93-mile creek sustain the
largest naturally spawning wild population of spring-run chinook salmon in the Central Valley.
Several other native fish species are found in Butte Creek,
including Pacific lamprey and Sacramento pikeminnow.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
The Red Bluff Diversion Dam, its gates raised since 2011 to allow
fish passage, spans the Sacramento River two miles
southeast of Red Bluff on the Sacramento River in Tehama County.
It is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and operated and
maintained by the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority.
Pelagic fish are those that live near the water’s surface rather
than on the bottom. In California, pelagic fish species include
the Delta smelt, longfin
smelt, striped bass and salmon.
In California, the fate of pelagic fish has been closely tied to
the use of the water that supports them.
The Klamath River Basin is one of the West’s most important and
contentious watersheds.
The watershed is known for its peculiar geography straddling
California and Oregon. Unlike many western rivers, the
Klamath does not originate in snowcapped mountains but rather on
a volcanic plateau.
A broad patchwork of spring-fed streams and rivers in
south-central Oregon drains into Upper Klamath Lake and down into
Lake Ewauna in the city of Klamath Falls. The outflow from Ewauna
marks the beginning of the 263-mile Klamath River.
The Klamath courses south through the steep Cascade Range and
west along the rugged Siskiyou Mountains to a redwood-lined
estuary on the Pacific Ocean just south of Crescent City,
draining a watershed of 10 million acres.
A bounty of resources – water, salmon, timber and minerals – and
a wide range of users turned the remote region into a hotspot for
economic development and multiparty water disputes (See
Klamath River
timeline).
Though the basin has only 115,000 residents, there is seldom
enough water to go around. Droughts are common. The water
scarcity inflames tensions between agricultural,
environmental and tribal interests, namely the basin’s four major
tribes: the Klamath Tribes, the Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Yurok.
Klamath water-use conflicts routinely spill into courtrooms,
state legislatures and Congress.
In 2023, a historic removal of four powers dams on the river
began, signaling hope for restoration of the river and its fish
and easing tensions between competing water interests. In
February 2024, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
announced a “historic” agreement between tribes and farmers
in the basin over chronic water shortages. The deal
called for a wide range of river and creek restoration work and
modernization of agricultural water supply infrastructure.
Water Development
Farmers and ranchers have drawn irrigation water from basin
rivers and lakes since the late 1900s. Vast wetlands around
Upper Klamath Lake and upstream were drained to grow crops. Some
wetlands have been restored, primarily for migratory birds.
In 1905, the federal government authorized construction of the
Klamath Project, a network of irrigation canals, storage
reservoirs and hydroelectric dams to grow an agricultural
economy in the mostly dry Upper Basin. The Project managed by the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation irrigates about 240,000 acres and
supplies the Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake national wildlife
refuges managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Water Management
Since 1992, federal mandates to restore populations of fish
protected by the Endangered Species
Act have led in some dry years to drastic cuts in
water deliveries to Klamath Project irrigators.
Water in Upper Klamath Lake must be kept above certain
levels for the endangered shortnose and Lost River suckers. Lake
levels and Klamath River flows below Iron Gate Dam also must be
regulated for the benefit of threatened coho salmon (See
Klamath Basin
Chinook and Coho Salmon).
Conflict
In 2001, Reclamation all but cut off irrigation water to hundreds
of basin farmers and ranchers, citing a severe drought and legal
obligations to protect imperiled fish. In response, thousands of
farmers, ranchers and residents flocked to downtown Klamath Falls
to form a “bucket brigade” protest, emptying buckets of water
into the closed irrigation canal. The demonstrations stretched
into the summer, with protestors forcing open the irrigation
headgates on multiple occasions. Reclamation later released some
water to help farmers.
In September 2002, a catastrophic
disease outbreak in the lower Klamath River killed tens of
thousands of ocean-going salmon. The Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen’s Associations sued Reclamation, alleging the Klamath
Project’s irrigation deliveries had violated the Endangered
Species Act. The fishing industry eventually prevailed, and
a federal court ordered an increase to minimum flows in the lower
Klamath.
Compromise
The massive salmon kill and dramatic water shut-off set in motion
a sweeping compromise between the basin’s many competing water
interests: the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the
Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. The 2010 agreements
included:
Removal of four hydroelectric dams
$92.5 million over 10 years to pay farmers to use less water,
increase reservoir storage and help pay for water conservation
and groundwater management projects.
$47 million over 10 years to buy or lease water rights to
increase flows for salmon recovery.
Dam Removals
Congress never funded the two agreements, allowing the key
provisions to expire. The restoration accord dissolved in 2016.
The hydroelectric pact, however, was revived in an amended
version that did not require federal legislation.
The new deal led to the nation’s largest dam removal project ever
undertaken.
California and Oregon formed a
nonprofit organization called the Klamath River Renewal
Corporation to take control of the four essentially obsolete
power dams – J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2 and Iron Gate –
and oversee a $450 million dam demolition and river restoration
project.
Taking out the dams will open more than 420 miles of river and
spawning streams that had been blocked for more than a century,
including cold water pools salmon and trout need to survive the
warming climate.
Demolition crews took out the smallest dam in 2023 and the others
were scheduled to come down by the end of 2024.
The images of yellow heavy machinery tearing into the dam’s
spillway gates prompted a cathartic release for many who have
been fighting for decades to open this stretch of the Klamath.
“I’m still in a little bit of shock,” said Toz Soto,
the Karuk fisheries program manager. “This is actually
happening…It’s kind of like the dog that finally caught the car,
except we’re chasing dam removal.”
The Klamath Basin’s Chinook salmon and coho salmon serve a vital
role in the watershed.
Together, they are key to the region’s water management, habitat
restoration and fishing.
However, years of declining population have led to federally
mandated salmon restoration plans—plans that complicate the
diversion of Klamath water for agriculture and other uses.
Battle Creek, a tributary of the
Sacramento River in Shasta and Tehama counties, is considered one
of the most important anadromous fish spawning streams in the
Sacramento Valley.
At present, barriers make it difficult for anadromous fish,
including chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout, to
migrate. Battle Creek has several hydroelectric dams, diversions
and a complex canal system between its north and south forks that
impede migration.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed issue of Western Water examines science –
the answers it can provide to help guide management decisions in
the Delta and the inherent uncertainty it holds that can make
moving forward such a tenuous task.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the Russian and
Santa Ana rivers – areas with ongoing issues not dissimilar to
the rest of the state – managing supplies within a lingering
drought, improving water quality and revitalizing and restoring
the vestiges of the native past.
This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the
idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions
surrounding its cost, operation and governance
This printed copy of Western Water examines the native salmon and
trout dilemma – the extent of the crisis, its potential impact on
water deliveries and the lengths to which combined efforts can
help restore threatened and endangered species.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the
many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta
Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal
proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and
will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the
problems tied to the Delta.
This issue of Western Water explores the implications for the San
Joaquin River following the decision in the Natural Resources
Defense Council lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation and
Friant Water Users Authority that Friant Dam is required to
comply with a state law that requires enough water be released to
sustain downstream fish populations.
Fresh from the ocean, adult salmon struggle to swim hundreds of
miles upstream to spawn — and then die — in the same stream in
which they were born. For the salmon, the river-to-ocean,
ocean-to-river life cycle is nothing more than instinct. For
humans, it invites wonder. The cycle has prevailed for centuries,
yet as salmon populations have declined, the cycle has become a
source of conflict. Water users have seen their supplies reduced.
Fishermen have had their catch curtailed. Environmentalists have
pushed for more instream flows for fish.