Category Archives: Water

Fish, News from Other Watersheds, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Central Valley Salmon Runs Could Be Restored

Salmon advocates say they know how to restore sustainable salmon runs in the Central Valley – 26 different ways.

The Golden Gate Salmon Association says two years of study have resulted in a 26-project salmon rebuilding plan to reverse the steep decline of California’s four salmon runs, including two considered endangered and threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act — the winter and spring runs.

The fall and late fall-runs, which support the sport and commercial fishery, declined by 90 percent and 87 percent respectively from 2001 to 2011, the association says.

“The salmon problems are not in the ocean but rather in the freshwater rivers where salmon reproduce and then try to migrate downstream through the many hurdles that exist on their journey to ocean waters,” says GGSA Chairman Roger Thomas.

The 26 projects are divided into three tiers to prioritize completion. In April the first eight high priority projects were selected with most underway or in the pipeline for 2014. The second tier is currently being considered by federal agencies for implementation.

The rebuilding plan can be broadly broken into two categories of projects, says the association. The first calls for better flows for salmon in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The second are projects aimed at healing manmade structural impediments built in and along the rivers.

The loss of many baby salmon at the pumping facilities that divert water from the Delta for export south is another problem the GGSA says its plans address.

More at CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com >>>

Fish, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Folsom Imposes Water Use Restrictions

The Sacramento suburb of Folsom is imposing a mandatory 20 percent cut in water use as the dry winter continues and as the city’s main source of water – Folsom Lake – is 22 percent of capacity.

“This low water level, combined with critically dry weather conditions, necessitates immediate action to conserve water and protect our water supply,” says Folsom City Manager Evert Palmer.

Folsom is the first Central Valley city to impose such restrictions during the current dry spell.

Mandatory water use restrictions for businesses and residences limit landscape watering to two designated days per week; prohibit washing of parking lots, streets, driveways or sidewalks; and prohibit use of city water for construction purposes such as dust control, compaction or trench jetting without approval.

“During cold winter months, landscapes need very little water, making this an easy time of year to achieve significant water savings,” says Folsom Environmental and Water Resources Director Marcus Yasutake. “Approximately 60 percent of the water used by a typical Folsom family is directed to landscape. We’re encouraging residents to turn off sprinklers to conserve water. An added benefit will be significant savings on water bills.”

Those who choose to water are restricted to two days per week and asked to avoid excessive watering that runs off onto sidewalks, street and gutters.

More at CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com >>>

Bike Trail, Events, safety, Water, Wildlife

Sacramento County Sued Over Parkway Events

A group that has fought to protect the American River Parkway for more than 50 years is suing Sacramento County in a bid to stop officials from allowing permits for foot races, concerts and other events that it says are harming the area and threatening the safety of parkway users.

Save the American River Association, a nonprofit group that helped create the 23-mile parkway enjoyed by an estimated 5 million people each year, filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court last week seeking an injunction against events that it says are violating parkway guidelines and state law.

“We have tried to work with the county, and for 50 years we were able to work with the county on any issue that came along with the parkway,” said Stephen Green, the association’s vice president. “We can’t do that anymore, and it’s very unfortunate.

“The county has been issuing permits for events that are totally inappropriate and are not allowed by the American River Parkway Plan, which is in state law.”

County spokesman Zeke Holst declined to comment Monday, saying the county had not yet been served with a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday.

The complaint takes aim largely at events held away from the bike trail and is not targeting longstanding community events such as Eppie’s Great Race.

Instead, it is seeking to halt the issuance of permits for some events that are being allowed on equestrian and hiking trails, and at other locations where SARA claims events have damaged parkway property and disturbed riparian areas.

“The more intensive uses include concert events, food truck events and competitive events off the bicycle trail,” the complaint states. “The more intensive uses by organized groups and special events can impede and deny access to individuals, families and small groups.”

The suit is the second SARA has filed this year against the county seeking to stop such events. The first was filed in April and was aimed at stopping a 100K “Gold Rush Run” last May from Sutter’s Mill to Sutter’s Fort that charged a $150 entry fee. That event took place with 190 runners and is scheduled to be repeated next year, although on a different course that will not use the parkway.

Ellen Moore, executive director of the Sacramento Running Association that sponsors the event, said the change was not made because of the lawsuit. She added that her group has supported the county’s efforts to allow such events to take place on the parkway.

“We want to support that and feel that different groups can co-exist,” she said.

More at SacBee.com >>>
Fish, News from Other Watersheds, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

In Other Watershed News: San Joaquin Valley Salmon Make Small Gains Against Tough Odds

With a flash of silver and pink, a male salmon signaled its arrival in a stretch of the Tuolumne River near La Grange.

It sought to fertilize eggs laid in the shallow stream bed gravel by a female that also had returned from a few years in the Pacific Ocean.

Chinook salmon spawning has been going on since September on San Joaquin Valley rivers. It’s a stirring sight for people who love nature, but important as well to farmers and other water users who could face cutbacks if the fish numbers stay low.

This year, at least, they are not doing too badly. Many of the spawning fish were born on the rivers in 2010 and 2011, when the water ran high, and they enjoyed healthy conditions at sea. They return to streams shrunken by drought, but well-timed reservoir releases have provided some of the flows they need.

“This is where they want to be,” said Gretchen Murphey, an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, during an early December visit to the La Grange stretch. “This is the habitat they’re looking for.”

As of Monday, 3,607 salmon had passed through a fish-counting device on their way to the Tuolumne’s spawning stretch in the low foothills, up from 2,152 a year earlier, and just 255 in 2009.

More at ModBee.com >>>

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/12/19/3097869/salmon-make-small-gains-against.html#storylink=cpy
Fish, News from Other Watersheds, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Feds May Have Harmed Sacramento River Salmon

The federal agency that regulates water releases from the Shasta Dam in Northern California drastically cut those releases in November, and one fisheries group is afraid that the move could have killed millions of eggs laid by fall-run chinook salmon in the Sacramento River below the dam.

According to the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) cut releases from Lake Shasta from 6,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) to 3,750 CFS between November 1 and 25. This caused river levels downstream to drop dramatically, which means that any salmon eggs laid in parts of the river that died up will almost certainly be lost.

This isn’t the first year BuRec has cut November water releases from the dam, and those cuts have hurt salmon in previous years. As many as 15 percent of the Sacramento river’s fall-run eggs were lost after a similar move in 2012, and almost a quarter of the run’s 2011 eggs were killed the same way, according to GGSA.

More at KCET.org >>>

Fire, safety, Water, Wildlife

Prescribed Burns in Tahoe National Forest

The Tahoe National Forest American River Ranger District has begun its fall prescribed burn program. Fall and winter burning will include roadside hand piles, large machine piles, and up to 450 acres of underburning.

The exact timing of burns depends on specific fuel moisture and weather requirements designed to reduce the possibility of escape, manage smoke concerns, and ensure the best possible conditions for fuel consumption.

Burning is scheduled to occur in the following areas: Foresthill Divide; Humbug Ridge; the Sailor Point area off the Texas Hill Road; and Last Chance. Because smoke may cause diminished visibility during burning operations, forest visitors should stay alert for signs warning of prescribed burning or smoke obscuring the road. People traveling through a prescribed burn area should turn on headlights and be aware that burn personnel may be working along the road.

District fire managers work with the Redding Fire Weather Center and Placer County Air Pollution Control District to plan the prescribed burns to minimize smoke impacts to communities. However, some smoke may settle into the valleys during the evenings and mornings until atmospheric conditions allow for smoke dispersal.

For questions concerning the fall burn program, please contact fire management staff at the American River Ranger Station in Foresthill by calling (530) 367-2224. Daily updates can also be obtained at (530) 367-2224 as the burn program progresses.

For more Tahoe National Forest information, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/tahoe/home.

 

Fire, safety, Water, Wildlife

Forest service officials assess trails in American Fire area

American_Fire

Now that fire activity within the American Fire area has diminished, Tahoe National Forest officials have assessed conditions on two popular trails: the Western States Trail and OHV Trail Loop 6, also known as Forest Service Trail 11E44 (Loop 6).

The Western States Trail between Michigan Bluff and Deadwood Cemetery is open, and Loop 6 is open west of Deadwood Ridge Road. The entire fire area, including all roads and trails, is closed under Forest Order 17-13-08, which is in effect until May 1, 2014.

Therefore, the Western States Trail and Loop 6 within the fire area east of Deadwood Ridge Road remain closed. These trails will be returned to acceptable standards before being considered safe for recreationists.

The American Fire affected approximately 25 miles of the trail. To date, roughly 18 of those miles have undergone rehabilitation through fire suppression and/or burned area emergency rehabilitation efforts.

More at TheUnion.com >>>

Events, Fish, safety, Water, Wildlife

1964 Highway 49 Bridge Rubble Remains A Cleanup Quandary

HWy49Bridge

By most accounts, the Highway 49 bridge blowout of December 1964 was spectacular.

The Dec. 23, 1964, bridge washout put traffic on the Mountain Quarries Railroad Bridge for four months, and a new Highway 49 bridge was in place by spring of 1965. That year was also when the Auburn dam project was authorized by Congress. Though the dam was never built, the possibility that it would be constructed left the option of doing nothing open. The downstream rubble and steel the washout left behind would soon be under hundreds of feet of water.

Almost 50 years later, the dam has yet to be built and the remains of the bridge have yet to be cleared away – leaving a quandary for several levels of government, as well as environmentalists advocating greater use of the Auburn State Recreation Area as a park.

During fall days like Wednesday, when the American River flows are down to their lowest levels of the year, the mangled steel can be seen clearly in the river bed, some of the pieces poking up above the water line. The broken concrete – giant gray chunks weighing several tons – litters the canyon shoreline.

Elias Silver of the Lake Tahoe area was at the shoreline skipping stones with friends as their dogs romped in the calm, meandering waters at the confluence below the newer Highway 49 bridge.

“It’s definitely noticeable,” Silver said. “With all the state budget problems, it would be expensive to fish out. It’s not a small project.”

More at FolsomTelegraph.com >>>

Events, Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Salmon ladder opens at Nimbus Hatchery on Monday

Chinook_Nimbus

The fish ladder at Nimbus Hatchery on the American River opens Monday, and salmon are reportedly piling up waiting to use it.

The Chinook salmon run is an annual spectacle on the American River as the giant fish return each fall from the ocean to spawn. This year, the run that continues into December should be noteworthy, because the salmon population is expected to rebound significantly from recent lows.

The fish ladder leading to the hatchery is a great place to view the run, and visitors can stand alongside the ladder while the big salmon jump into the hatchery. The ladder is scheduled to open at 10:45 a.m. Monday.

“There will definitely be fish,” said Andrew Hughan, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which operates the hatchery.

More at SacBee.com >>>

 

safety, Water

Blasting From Folsom Dam Work Underway

The Army Corps of Engineers is excavating sections of the spillway for the new Folsom Dam. The corps will be blasting as it lays the groundwork to connect the American River with the new dam.

Chris Gray with the Army Corps says Folsom Lake Crossing Bridge will be closed from 1:30 to 2:30 in the afternoon for the next two weeks.

“We’ve more or less excavated the chute that’s part of the new spillway,” says Gray.  “That’s where the water will go when it leaves the new dam and connects to the American River. So that’s excavation’s done. Right now, we’re basically building that second dam.”

More at CapRadio.org >>>