Category Archives: Salmon

Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

On Northern California Rivers, Good Forecast For Summer Rafting

The story of this summer’s prospects for rivers, rafting and trout fishing might sound like a yarn right out of the “Outdoors Department of Yer Eyes Ain’t Foolin’ Ya.”

For the American and Tuolumne rivers, NorCal’s top rafting rivers, the forecasts look great.

What? Aren’t we in the worst drought in a gazillion years? Isn’t the snowpack (and the melt-off to come) about 30 percent of normal in the high country? And won’t the rivers be rendered into trickles by July?

Well, in many cases, nope.

In a reversal of what is logical thought for many, conditions and flows on several rivers will be spectacular into summer for rafting, fishing and camping. And no, yer eyes ain’t foolin’ ya.

It’s a surprise twist to the way things work in California, even in a drought.

It rained enough in February and March to replenish, in part, several watersheds and reload many of the smaller, high-country reservoirs. Enough, that is, for water managers to release water from them and make their deliveries this summer.

The timing of the flows has been worked out to benefit recreation. So when those water deliveries are made, rafters will have a chance to float on them.

One of the best examples is the San Francisco Water Department, which met with outfitters last week to work out flow regimes out of Hetch Hetchy and Cherry reservoirs for the Tuolumne River.

Everybody wins.

“Despite a historic drought in California, we’re fortunate to have a number of rivers that get water from upstream reservoirs,” said Nate Rangel of California Outdoors, a trade association that represents California’s river outfitters. “That means we’re going to have great water all summer long.”

“On the Lower American River (below Folsom Lake and Lake Natomas), the Bureau of Reclamation is tied into the federal water project and they have to deliver water,” said Randy Calvin of River Rat Rafting in Fair Oaks. “It will run right past where we rent rafts and give people a chance to float down the river on it.”

More at SFGate.com >>>

Events, Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Nimbus Hatchery Offering Presentation On Drought, Salmon

The public is invited to a free presentation May 3 at Nimbus Hatchery on how California’s drought is affecting salmon and steelhead populations in the American River.

The event is offered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which operates the hatchery, one of five in the Central Valley that produce most of the salmon caught by commercial and recreational anglers in the state.

Rob Titus, a senior environmental scientist at the department, will discuss the state of salmon and steelhead runs and the challenges the drought poses to their survival. He’ll also outline actions the agency is taking to protect these fish and improve their survival. Forest Williams of the Sacramento County Water Agency will then describe ways the public can reduce water use and lessen human impact on the river.

Both speakers will take questions from the audience.

The event begins at 11 a.m. May 3 in the hatchery visitor center. No advance registration is required. The hatchery is at 2001 Nimbus Road in Rancho Cordova.

More at SaccBee.com >>>
Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Complaint Alleges American River Flows Too Slow, Warm In Sacramento Area

The federal government’s operation of Folsom and Nimbus dams is harming fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead in the American River, several environmental and fishing groups allege in a complaint filed this week with the state.

The groups are urging the State Water Resources Control Board to amend the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s permits to require colder and faster river flows from the two dams. The board has authority over water rights issued to the Bureau of Reclamation, as well as responsibility for protecting public trust resources, including fisheries and water quality. The board first issued operating permits for the dams in 1958.

“We’ve got to have a guaranteed higher flow, and there have to be modifications to Folsom Dam that will allow them to tap the coldest (water) pool in the reservoir,” said Stephen Green, president of Save the American River Association. “When temperatures are high and flows are low, we know that fish are being killed, and it’s not just this year. It’s been going on for decades.”

The other groups involved in the complaint are the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Save Our Streams Council and the Public Trust Alliance.

The water board is reviewing the complaint, which was received on April 4, said spokesman George Kostyrko. If it decides the complaint has merit, it could be scheduled for a hearing or further investigation.

“It is still early in the process, so we haven’t arrived at that, or any conclusions yet,” Kostyrko said via email.

Reclamation officials said they haven’t reviewed the complaint yet and had no comment.

Reclamation’s permit with the state allows it to reduce flows in the lower American River, which cuts through the Sacramento area, to as low as 250 cubic feet per second under certain conditions. Such flows were reached earlier this winter because of the drought, and may occur again this summer and fall. The complaint alleges this is insufficient to support healthy fish life, and should be raised to at least 750 cfs, Green said.

More at SacBee.com >>>
Bike Trail, Events, Fish, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Volunteers Will Clean Up American River Parkway This Weekend

It’s going to be a beautiful weekend, and you can get out and enjoy the weather while helping the American River Parkway Foundation with its  “Spring Clean Up.”

Sacramento County Supervisor Susan Peters says the clean-up is an important activity.

“The annual effort helps maintain the American River Parkway as a sustainable, natural resource for everyone to enjoy,” she said.

It’s not too late to join in tomorrow morning.

“It’s very easy to sign up if you go to the website of the American River Parkway Foundation, it’s ARPF.org,” she said.

More at KFBK.org >>>

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Recent Rain, Snow Bring Surge Of Water To Folsom Lake

After days of rain in the Valley and snow in the Sierra, California reservoirs are getting a much needed surge of water.

In the last seven days, Folsom Lake has risen 4.34 feet, according the California Department of Water Resources statistics.

As of midnight Wednesday, Folsom Lake’s surface elevation was 409.42 feet.  The lake hit its lowest point this season in early February when it was at 357.06 feet, according to the state’s data exchange.

Even with the surge of water, Folsom Lake remains just 45 percent of capacity and 69 percent of normal for this date.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Bike Trail, Fish, History, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Outdoors: Wealth Of New Information In American River Guidebook

american_river_cover500

A ceramist by profession, and by passion, Eric Peach often leaves his home studio in Auburn to venture down into the American River Canyon, looking for inspiration in the rushing white water, the winding trails, the abundant wildlife and bountiful flora of a thriving ecosystem.

You can see the result in his works, ranging from playful river otters to fish sculptures to those psychedelically hued fire belly newts.

But you can also see Peach’s love for the American River and its foothills in bookstores and at outdoor retailers. The third edition of “The American River: Insider’s Guide to Recreation, Ecology and Cultural History of the North, Middle and South Forks” ($24.95, Protect American River Canyons, 416 pages) recently was released, all proceeds going to the nonprofit Protect American River Canyons, the organization that sponsors the American River Confluence Festival and other fundraising events.

Peach, 64, and wife Paula enlisted no fewer than 44 writers and editors, and 30 photo and graphics contributors, to completely revamp the second edition, published a decade ago. This time around, 15 trails were added, as were scores of new and updated rafting routes, including a new stretch from the confluence down to Rattlesnake Bar. There’s also a complete digest of plants and trees, birds, reptiles and mammals, as well as an exhaustive history of the area, from the Indian settlements up to the now-revived attempts to dam the river.

More at SacBee.com >>>
Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Trucking Of Sacramento River Salmon Starts Monday

More than 12 million juvenile hatchery salmon will get a truck trip downstream starting Monday to help them circumvent the harmful effects of drought on the Sacramento River.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the plan Friday, as a way of bolstering survival rates for the fish. The Sacramento River, compromised by California’s persistent drought, is too low to provide adequate food and protection from predators, potentially jeopardizing a crop of fish that supports the state’s commercial and recreational salmon fishing industries.

Agency spokesman Steve Martarano said it will take 22 days to transport all the fish in tanker trucks from Coleman National Hatchery near Red Bluff. The first salmon will be trucked in a trial run on Monday, with additional shipments continuing Tuesday, if all goes well. Each delivery will deposit the fish back into the Sacramento River near Rio Vista.

Each truck holds about 2,800 gallons of water and 130,000 salmon smolts – juveniles 4 to 6 inches long – and is climate-controlled to maintain a water temperature between 55 and 60 degrees.

The agency owns only two such trucks, so it will borrow five from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The state agency also plans to truck its salmon production from four hatcheries, including Nimbus Hatchery on the American River, starting April 4.

More at ModBee.com >>>

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2014/03/21/3252063/trucking-of-sacramento-river-salmon.html#storylink=cpy
Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

In Severe Drought Plan, California Salmon May Be Moved By Truck

Starting next month, millions of young California salmon could be migrating to the ocean in tanker trucks instead of swimming downstream in the Sacramento River.

On Monday, state and federal wildlife officials announced a plan to move hatchery-raised salmon by truck in the event the state’s ongoing drought makes the Sacramento River and its tributaries inhospitable for the fish. They fear the rivers could become too shallow and warm to sustain salmon trying to migrate to sea on their own.

Shrunken habitat could deplete food supply for the young fish, and make them easier prey for predators. It also would make the water warmer, which can be lethal to salmon.

“The conditions may be so poor as to produce unacceptable levels of mortality for the out-migrating juveniles,” said Bob Clarke, fisheries program supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Clarke’s agency operates Coleman National Fish Hatchery on Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River near Red Bluff. It is the largest salmon hatchery in the state, producing about 12 million fall-run Chinook salmon. The hatchery was built to atone for habitat losses caused by construction of Shasta Dam.

Coleman hatchery salmon are usually released into Battle Creek in April and May. Fishery experts prefer to release young fish into rivers so they imprint on the location as “home” and are better able to migrate back from the ocean for spawning three to four years later.

Fall-run Chinook salmon from the Sacramento River and its tributaries compose the bulk of the wild-caught salmon available in California markets and restaurants, and also feed a lucrative sport-fishing industry. In total, these fish represent a multibillion-dollar slice of the state’s economy each year.

California is experiencing one of its driest winters on record. Despite the recent storms, the Sierra snowpack that the state relies on to replenish its reservoirs remains depleted. Without an unusually wet March – and the long-term forecast calls for predominantly dry weather – officials fear rivers may be so diminished in April and May that young salmon will not survive their migration to the ocean.

They are also concerned that water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during a low-water year could slaughter many of these young salmon, which measure about 6 inches long. Water pumped out of the Delta by state and federal agencies serves 25 million people from Napa to San Diego.

The trucking plan, devised by the state and federal fisheries agencies, includes a series of triggers, based on river and water supply conditions, that would launch a massive operation to haul the salmon in tanker trucks on a nearly three-hour drive from Red Bluff to San Pablo Bay near Vallejo. There, the salmon would be released into floating net pens to acclimate to new salinity and temperature conditions, then set free to swim for the ocean.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is adopting similar plans for its hatcheries on the Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers. Each produces several million young salmon every year.

More at ModBee.com >>>

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Flows Increase In American River

The American River is flowing higher through Sacramento today, part of a federal effort to help young salmon at risk during the drought.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation doubled water releases from Nimbus Dam from 500 cubic feet per second to 1,000 cfs. The increase began Wednesday night and is expected to reach 1,000 cfs before returning to 500 cfs just before midnight today.

Biologists call the release a “pulse flow.” It is intended to help some of the wild-spawned fall-run chinook salmon eggs that became dewatered in their gravel nests, or redds, when Reclamation reduced flows in January. That action was taken to conserve water stored in Folsom Reservoir for Sacramento-area communities.

It turns out that not all of those stranded salmon eggs perished as the river shrank. Tom Gohring, executive director of the Sacramento Water Forum, said many were able to survive on the small amounts of water and oxygen that remained within the gravel and hatched into “alevins,” a kind of embryo life stage. The pulse flow is intended to wash those alevins into the river so they can transform into fry, the first finned stage of salmon life.

More at SacBee.com >>>

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

California Snowpack Still Well Below Normal

California’s Department of Water Resources said Thursday its latest survey shows the Sierra Nevada snowpack is still well below normal — which is bad news for the drought-stricken state.

The survey was done as the first of two back-to-back Pacific storms lightly blanketed the Sierra with fresh snow.

The department said manual and electronic readings show the snowpack’s statewide water content at 24 percent of average for the date.

“It’s just a reflection of the fact that what storms do come through are fairly modest,” snow survey chief Frank Gehrke said. “And then the blocking high-pressure ridge sets back in almost as soon as they’ve left the state.”

The northern and central Sierra snowpack provides about a third of California’s water supply.

More snow is expected from the week’s second and more powerful storm, which is expected to arrive late Thursday and last into Saturday.

Gehrke said such storms are still far from enough to end the drought.

“We’d need 15 or 20 of them — and that’s just not in the cards,” he said.

Rainwater streamed across the parking lot and down the boat ramp at Folsom Lake on Thursday afternoon.

The lake level has risen by more than 6 inches in the past 48 hours, but the reservoir remains about 70 percent empty.

More at KCRA.com >>>