Category Archives: Salmon

Boating, Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

California Drought: El Niño Chances Fall Again

Hopes of an almighty El Niño bringing rain to a drought-stricken California – with its fallow fields, depleted streams and parched lawns – were further dashed Thursday. The National Weather Service, in its monthly El Niño report, again downgraded the chances of the influential weather pattern occurring in the fall or winter.

The odds were 80 percent in May, but were placed between 60 and 65 percent this week.

Meanwhile, the agency also announced that the much-needed weather event is likely to be weak instead of moderate in strength – another retreat from the more robust projections made earlier this year that fueled speculation that California’s three-year dry spell might be snapped.

El Niños, defined by warming Pacific Ocean waters that release enough energy to shape worldwide weather, have been associated with wet winters in the Golden State. The strong 1997-98 event correlated with San Francisco’s biggest recorded rain year: a whopping 47.2 inches of rain.

But the correlation doesn’t always hold up. While El Niños carry the potential to bring quenching showers, this week’s climate report doesn’t necessarily doom the state to another year of drought.

More at SFGate.com >>>

Boating, Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Folsom Lake Spillway Keeps To Schedule, Budget

The approximately $900 million auxiliary spillway for Folsom Dam, which will increase the dam’s release capacity and reduce flood risk downstream, is “on time and on budget” for its scheduled October 2017 completion.

 Also on schedule are the first phase of the project’s control structure, scheduled to wrap up in the summer of 2015, and the second phase, set for completion in May 2017, said Katie Huff, a senior project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Site restoration will begin in 2016-17,” she said.

The auxiliary spillway’s completion target is four years sooner than the original planned completion date of 2021 — and nearly $416 million below original cost projections.

Construction on the new dam, the control structure, began in May 2012. Crews have been working nearly around the clock, six days a week, to meet the completion deadline of mid-2015.

The third year of California drought hasn’t had an impact on construction of the auxiliary spillway. It’s essentially a second dam that will allow water to be released earlier and more safely from Folsom Lake during large storms.

Rather, with the extended dry conditions, “We’ve been able to do work in the ‘dry,’ instead of the ‘wet,’” said Huff, who lives in El Dorado Hills.

The Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California’s Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the Sacramento Flood Control Agency are working together to build the auxiliary spillway to increase its release capacity and reduce flood risk downstream.

More at AuburnJournal.com >>>

Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

American River Water Flows Cut In Half Due To Hatchery Work

Users of the lower American River will notice a significant drop in the water flow over the next few days as workers at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery complete annual work on the fish weir.

At 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, hatchery workers began installing metal pipes that block fish from proceeding any further up river from the hatchery.

The weir is designed to divert fish into the Nimbus Fish Hatchery during the fall run.

To complete the work, crews have to enter the river at the base of the weir.

Water flowing out of the Nimbus Dam was cut overnight from 1,500 cubic feet per second to 800 to make conditions safer for workers.

The Bureau of Reclamation advised anyone using the river to expect water level fluctuations of as much as eight inches along the shore line during the work.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Boating, Fire, Fish, Rafting, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Drought-Busting El Niño Getting Less Likely

Average sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (°C) for the week centered on 30 July 2014. Anomalies are computed with respect to the 1981 - 2010 base period weekly means. Photo: NOAA
Average sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (°C) for the week centered on 30 July 2014. Anomalies are computed with respect to the 1981 – 2010 base period weekly means. Photo: NOAA

The idea of an El Niño rescuing California from its devastating drought appears to be nothing more than wishful fancy.

Not only have climate scientists recently downgraded the strength of a potential El Niño, but a report released Thursday by the U.S. Climate Prediction Center indicates that the odds of an El Niño happening this year at all are down.

An El Niño is the much-watched warming of the Pacific Ocean that tends to influence worldwide weather and has had many in California hoping it will trigger a wet winter for the rain-starved state.

While Thursday’s climate report suggests that an El Niño is still likely, the chances of seeing one this fall or winter dropped from 80 percent – projected in early reports – to 65 percent.

The change, said climate scientist Michelle L’Heureux, comes as the warmer-than-usual surface temperatures observed this spring in the equatorial Pacific have cooled.

The same underwater swell that pushed heat to the surface, known as a Kelvin Wave, is having its normal counter effect, but that effect has been much stronger than usual and has moved more cold water up than expected, L’Heureux explained.

“We’re still banking on seeing a reinvigoration of El Niño,” she noted. “But with that said, we wanted to lower our projections because there are structural weaknesses that have made this El Niño less likely.”

The federal forecast calls for the El Niño to be weak or moderate. The consensus earlier this year was that the event would be at least of moderate strength – and some believed it would be really strong.

In Northern California, strong El Niño’s have correlated with wet winters. San Francisco’s biggest rain year in the last century came during the big 1997-98 El Niño.

Weak and moderate El Niño’s, however, haven’t translated into significant rain years in Northern California. (Southern California has sometimes seen wetter weather during moderate and weak events.)

The absence of a strong El Niño doesn’t sentence Northern California to a dry winter.

More at SFGate.com >>>

Events, Fish, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Learn About Aquatic Invasive Species On Aug. 5

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will host the fourth installment of its speaker series with a presentation on Aquatic Invasive Species in the American River at 7 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Nimbus Hatchery Visitor Center, 2001 Nimbus Road, in Rancho Cordova.

Preregistration is not required.

The presentation is part of a program highlighting California Invasive Species Action Week Aug. 2-10. Among other activities being offered that week are field tours to check invasive crayfish traps and opportunities to help remove invasive plants on the American River Parkway near the hatchery.

For more information on the speaker series, go to www.facebook.com/NimbusHatchery. For more information on invasive species week, go to dfg.ca.gov/invasives.

Fish, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Feds Give SMUD 50-Year License For Hydroelectric Projects On American River

The Sacramento Municipal Utility Districtgot a 50-year renewal to operate its hydroelectric projects on the upper American River.

The utility operates 11 reservoirs and eight powerhouses in the upper American, which generate 688 megawatts of electricity, representing about 15 percent of SMUD’s annual power.

Part of the new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission calls for SMUD to make some changes. The utility will make several recreational upgrades to reservoirs and it will increase the volume of water it releases into streams to benefit natural resources.

“It is gratifying to receive a new 50-year license,” SMUD CEO Arlen Orchard said in a news release. “It allows SMUD to continue to generate large quantities of non-carbon-emitting energy over the next 50 years from our most valuable, lowest-cost power supply.”

The license also allows SMUD to move ahead with the design and potential construction of the 400 megawatt Iowa Hillpumped-storage development, which would pump water uphill during times of light electric use, and generate power during summer peak periods.

The utility is still doing feasibility work on the $800 million Iowa Hill project, which could take three years.

More at BizJournals.com >>>

Events, Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Climate Change’s Effect On Fish Subject Of Hatchery Talk

As part of a series of discussions presented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, a presentation the effect on climate change on salmon and steelhead trout in the American River is being held at 7 p.m. July 17 at the Nimbus Hatchery Visitor Center, 2001 Nimbus Road, Rancho Cordova.

Preregistration is not required.

Fisheries Branch Program Manager Kevin Shaffer will review the potential impacts of climate change on salmon and steelhead runs in the American River. Climate Associate Whitney Albright will show the steps the department is taking to reduce the effects of climate change and the actions needed to manage fish runs. Both speakers will take questions from those in attendance.

The final session in the series on Aug. 7 will look at aquatic invasive species.

For more information, call (916) 358-2884.

Bike Trail, Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Sacramento State Gains Grant To Deal With Stormwater Runoff

California is mired in a drought, but Sacramento State is getting ready for rain.

The city has received a grant to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff that flows into the adjacent American River. The $3.5 million grant is one of the largest of 27 stormwater grants awarded last month under Proposition 84, a 2006 bond measure that funded water quality projects.

The funds will pay for projects such as landscaping that absorbs and filters stormwater on the California State University, Sacramento, campus. The city hopes that the demonstration projects will serve as models that local businesses and developers can incorporate on their own.

Rainwater that falls on urban areas can’t be absorbed by rooftops and asphalt. The same applies to other urban sources of water – like runoff from overwatered lawns, industrial discharge and even condensation on air-conditioning units.

Sacramento has a system of storm drains to collect this water and send it into the nearby rivers. But along the way, the runoff collects pollutants such as fertilizers, fluids from cars and animal waste. Heavy runoff also contributes to flooding and erosion. To combat those problems, CSU Sacramento will build several new landscaping features.

Rain gardens have a specific mix of soils and often use native plants. The gardens are placed in low areas where runoff occurs, typically near a large building, parking lot or street. The soil and plants filter out sediments and other pollutants. Some of the water evaporates. The rest returns to the storm drain system, cleaner than it was before entering the rain garden.

The project will also have a “green street,” whose porous pavement will let water filter through to soil underneath.

Once complete, the new features at Sacramento State are expected to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff from their respective drainage areas by 50 to 88 percent.

The biggest challenge for the project at Sacramento State will be dealing with what’s already there.

The updated standards recommended by the Sacramento Stormwater Quality Partnership focus on new developments rather than retrofitting old buildings, said Maureen Kerner, a research engineer at the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs and a leader on the grant application. The stormwater partnership is run by multiple local agencies, including the city and county of Sacramento, with the goal of reducing erosion and pollution.

Adding the new facilities will be tricky, since it requires checking for incorrectly recorded utilities, finding enough space and managing local traffic on a campus founded in 1947. Sacramento State civil engineering professor John Johnston, who works with the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs, said they will have to “shoehorn these (changes) in, into a system that’s already there.”

Plants used in rain gardens need to be able to tolerate the varying amount of water, and are likely to include plants native to the local area, such as deergrass. According to Sherill Huun, supervising engineer for Sacramento’s stormwater program, landscape changes like rain gardens are “things that you don’t even notice.”

When physical construction finishes in the early part of 2017, signs describing the facilities, a website and walking tour information will be available to the public. Kerner expects the “campus to be a unique location as an educational facility to promote stormwater management.” $290,000 of the project’s funding is reserved for education and outreach efforts.

Stephen Green, president of the Save the American River Association, was cautious about the project. “The thing about the rain gardens is if they’re neglected, the water just goes through. If they maintain them, (the rain gardens) should continue to work.”

More at SacBee.com >>>

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/20/6500417/sacramento-state-gains-grant-to.html#storylink=cpy

 

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Baby Steelhead Released Early As California River Water Heats Up

State wildlife officials released hundreds of thousands of baby steelhead trout from a Northern California fish hatchery on Wednesday — months too early — to try to save their lives in the face of a severe drought.

The baby trout, known as salmonids, were deposited into the American River near Sacramento in the hope that they can survive the heat of summer expected to make water in the drought-stricken state’s hatcheries too warm for them.

The fish normally get many more months to grow in the relative safety of hatcheries before being released into the river, where they swim to the Pacific Ocean to spawn and repopulate Northern California waterways.

California’s fisherman contribute more than $300 million to the state economy.

So, on Wednesday, California Department of Fish and Wildlife workers netted and removed the last of more than 400,000 trout fingerlings from the Nimbus Fish Hatcheryin Gold River, trucked them to a boat launch and released them into the American River.

Water at the hatchery is expected to rise to 78 degrees by late summer, far too hot for the baby fish to tolerate.

“That’s too hot for steelhead,” Gary Novak, the hatchery manager, told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

“We expect they will have a better chance in the river,” Novak said, where the fish could find cooler spots.

“The situation is pretty severe — I have to get rid of all my fish and then hope it rains next year,” he said.

Nimbus Fish Hatchery is one of 22 such facilities run by the state to supply tens of millions of fish to California rivers, which would have been overfished to extinction without the program, the newspaper said.

On Wednesday, the last 85,000 finger-sized babies were released from the hatchery’s tanks and workers with nets scooped them up to be transported to the American River and released.

The Nimbus hatchery released the last of its 3.6 million chinook salmon a few weeks ago, the newspaper said, and the American River Trout Hatchery in nearby Fair Oaks has released all of its fish.

“This happens to be the tip of the iceberg,” Novak said.

“We have the warmest water, (but) with this drought I would assume there is concern at every hatchery,” he said.

More at AllVoices.com >>>