Bureau of Reclamation Water Management Imperils American River Fish

October 8, 2004
By Dan Bacher

More Editorials By Dan Bacher

The American River and its fisheries are threatened as they have never been before. The fish kills over the past three years, when over 181,709 salmon died before spawning, will become even worse if the Bureau of Reclamation, under the Bush administration, is able to break federal and state law protecting fisheries and move forward with its plans to take more water from the Delta and the American River.

"I am convinced that what is going on right now is as big of a threat to the future of our American River, yet more sinister, than if the Folsom South Canal at Nimbus Dam had been completed," said Jim Jones, longtime river activist and past president of Save the American River Association.

I was on the river fishing for salmon on Monday, September 27, with Randy Buffington, fishing guide. Randy had caught four kings to 20 pounds in the morning, while I hooked a bright chinook in the afternoon. The water was already low, at 1500 cfs, and good numbers of fish had already arrived in the river, as evidenced by the many bright chinooks that we saw jumping.

A few days later, all hell broke loose when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dropped the flows to 1250 cfs and then down to 1,000 cfs. Felix Smith, retired federal biologist and the whistleblower in the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge Scandal, and Rob Titus, DFG biologist, both criticized this decision for threatening the adult salmon that are arriving in the river now, as well as the over summering steelhead.

"The idea that the American River could be at 1,000 cfs throughout the adult king salmon holding and spawning season is revolting," said Smith. "The water the Bureau is trying to conserve was lost during the months of June, July and the first two weeks of August. That water also cost us a lot of temperature control. Until the Bureau accepts the fact that it can reduce Delta pumping, there will be no protection against the Bureau's operation of the Folsom/Nimbus project for the contractors south of the Delta."

Smith emphasized that the Bureau's responsibility to meet the "Good Condition" of Fish & Game Code 5937 is independent of its water right. "These flow and temperature fluctuations are not good for the American River ecosystem," said Smith.

Rob Titus, DFG biologist, was very concerned about these flow reductions not only from an ecological standpoint, but also with regard to process. "Why hasn't the American River Operations Group been convened to discuss the costs and benefits of the extreme reductions," said Titus, referring to the group formed to balance the water needs of fish and water users.

Titus also said that with the so-called relaxation of the temperature requirement at Watt Avenue there may be a "growing perception that a green light exists to push conditions for over summering steelhead to the absolute edge."

"Recall that the agreement to temporarily relax the 65 F requirement is based almost entirely on water management realities and not the environmental preferences of steelhead," said Titus. "We are seeing signs of stress in some of the juvenile steelhead we are monitoring in the form of what the pathologist refer to generically as 'rosy anus.'"

Titus and other DFG biologists were collecting steelhead on October 5 so the DFG fish pathology lab could get a better idea of what may be causing this alarming condition. Based on the information provided to them so far, this condition is almost certainly associated with some form of stress, possibly temperature related. "We have carried the steelhead this far through the season, so let's not kill them all now by trying to push the envelope just a little bit too much," concluded Titus.

Thuy Washburn of the Bureau of Reclamation responded to the biologists' concerns. "With the lack of storage, we concluded that it would be best to conserve the water now and still have adequate temperatures and hope to slow the salmon from coming up early," she explained.

She said that they plan to increase the flows when the majority of salmon show up in mid October. Then the release will increase to 1,500 cfs and possibly up to 1750 cfs.

Unfortunately, the way the river is being operated now appears to be just a window into the future of the American River and other Central Valley fisheries. According to an article by Stuart Leavenworth in the Sacramento Bee on Saturday, October 2, officials of NOAA Fisheries, a federal agency designed to protect salmon, ordered their biologists to revise a report on salmon and other endangered fish so that more water can be exported to Southern California through the Delta.

The Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Water Resources are planning "major changes" to the reservoirs, aqueducts and pumping facilities that move water around California, freeing up more water for export.

According to Leavenworth, "In August, NOAA biologists issued a draft stating that the plan 'is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead,' as well as spring-run salmon - and recommended measures to reduce these impacts."

However, the Bureau. under pressure from Central Valley contractors, changed the report to be less favorable to fish and more favorable to water contractors. The revised document dramatically impacts the American River, already besieged by low flows, as well as other Central Valley rivers.

First, the latest draft no longer calls for a minimum flow standard for the American River as the original did. Fishery and environmental groups have been pushing for flow and temperature standards for years, but the Bureau has been stalling on adopting them.

Second, the document "softens the words for how the Bureau can avoid future impacts on fish," said Leavenworth.

"In the original report, NOAA biologists called on the Bureau of Reclamation to reserve 450,00 to 600, 000 acre of water in Folsom Lake by September to provide adequate supplies for returning salmon and steelhead. The latest version changes the wording from 'shall maintain' to 'shall target' the extra water," said Leavenworth.

Jim Jones is outraged by the current state of affairs on the American. Jones contends that it is clear that the Bureau of Reclamation is dragging their feet and not acting in a collaborative way - and is acting in concert with agribusiness to stop the implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992.

"The Bureau of Reclamation, Westlands, and other water users, are hell-bent on getting long term contracts signed that will mean delivery of more water--and less for fish and wildlife," Jones said. "Their mission is to get these contracts signed BEFORE a new standard is written, and what we must do is prevent that from happening. Otherwise, the opportunity to provide needed protection will be foreclosed. What we are seeing this year is a window to the future--only worse."

Jones recommended that anglers send letters of outrage to their Congressmen, especially Representatives Richard Pombo and John Doolittle, demanding that the Bureau uphold state and federal law and protect the fish of the American and other Central Valley rivers before any water contracts are signed. "These guys have been getting a free ride long enough," concluded Jones.

Note: The flows from Nimbus Dam will go back up to 1500 cfs over the next several days, the result of pressure by biologists, fishermen and environmental groups.