SNOW SURVEY AND STREAM GAUGE FUNDING
The FY2002 Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill (S. 1191) provides the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) with $8,515,000 for snow survey and water forecasting. The House passed H.R. 2330, which provides NRCS with $7,137,000 for the same purposes. A conference committee will work out the difference. The Interior conference committee approved $64,318,000 to the USGS for cost sharing on stream gauging. State and local contributions total $123.2M. USGS is also funding a geology study of Lake Meade with $299,000. (The National Water Quality Assessment program funding is being decreased by $596,000) A note added to the Interior conference report reads, “Work by the [F&W] Service to mitigate the effects of water resource development projects conducted by other Federal agencies should be performed on a cost reimbursable basis and the Service should receive full and fair compensation for such work.”
WATER SALES
The City of Thornton has recently offered for sale 8,300 af of S. Platte River water and 4,000 af of storage in Spinney Mountain Reservoir. The asking price is between $10-15,000/af. Thornton is hoping either Aurora, Parker, or other water providers in Douglas County will bid on the rights.
There was a “fill deficit” in Green Mountain Reservoir this summer of 8,000 af. (This is the amount of water held back at Dillon Reservoir that prevented Green Mtn. from filling.) Denver Water released 5,000 af from its storage pool in Wolford Mtn. Reservoir, 1,000 af from its Williams Fork Reservoir and retained the rest in Dillon for instream support in the Blue River. To make up for its share of the fill deficit, Colorado Springs (which has a right to 10% of the inflow to Dillon Reservoir), purchased 400 af of water from the CO River District in Wolford Mtn. for $205/af.
DEEP CREEK WILDERNESS
The House Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Forests met to discuss establishing the Deep Creek Wilderness Area in Colorado. The bill, HR 2963, would protect 8,000 acres in the White River National Forest in land featuring considerable wildlife diversity, and 2,500-foot-deep canyon, and many caves. While the conservation community supports the creation of a Deep Creek Wilderness Area, the Colorado Environmental Coalition would like to see 22,000 acres receive wilderness protection.
Although compromise water rights language has been negotiated between water users and enviros, this language was not included in the introduced legislation.
ANIMAS/LA PLATA
Randy Kirkpatrick, San Juan Water Commission executive director, said an amended Animas-La Plata repayment contract could be agreed on in the near future, paving the way for construction to begin Nov. 9. One of the biggest roadblocks halting progress on the agreement may have been alleviated, Kirkpatrick said. The issue of whether the Water Commission would be paying for water use or water storage has been an issue since the negotiations began in July. The issue seems to have been resolved by quoting language from the law passed by Congress in 2000 and signed by President Clinton that spells out the Water Commission is to pay for storage.
N.M. WATER CHIEF MAKES CITIES GET WATER RIGHTS BEFORE THEY PUMP
New Mexico’s top water official has reversed years of practice and required the state’s fourth-biggest city to obtain water rights before it pumps more groundwater, a bold step toward managing a growing population and a finite resource. Santa Fe New Mexican; Oct. 22
ENERGY BILL COULD THREATEN FISH
Trout Unlimited contends that the House passed energy bill could harm some of the West’s best trout fisheries by requiring maximum “energy production at federal hydropower plants, regardless of the resulting impacts to fisheries below dams” says the Casper Star-Tribune 10/16. By requiring maximum power generation the bill would also be in “direct conflict” with recovery of endangered species that need “minimum flows at some dams like the Flaming Gorge Dam.”
WILDERNESS BILL FAILS TROUT
Environmentalists are fighting Utah Rep. Jim Hansen’s Pilot Range wilderness bill for omitting key areas, allowing “damaging activities such” as grazing and building structures in the wilderness, and including “several provisions that undermine the Wilderness Act of 1964” says SF Gate, AP 10/23. According to the Wilderness Society, the bill, which could soon come before the House for a vote, “denies a federal water right” for the wilderness and would “fail to protect the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.”
UPPER COLORADO RIVER RECOVERY PROGRAM
PROGRAM EXTENSION
On 10/17, the Implementation Committee agreed to extend the Program and funding until 2013. Program participants are expected to sign the extension by 1/21/02.
RESEARCHERS MEETING
The 23rd Annual Recovery Program Researchers Meeting will be held in Moab, UT, on January 16-17, 2002. Presentations will focus on the review of research and management actions pertaining to the recovery of Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpback chub and bonytail.
YAMPA RIVER DRAFT MANAGEMENT PLAN RELEASED
The management plan describes the actions which will be taken to provide flow augmentation, non-native species control, and other actions to promote the recovery of the endangered fish. Gerry Roehm, Instream Flow Coordinator, <gerry_roehm@fws.gov> , (303) 969-7322, x272 will be taking comments on the Plan until the end of November. The Plan can be found at <http://www.r6.fws.gov/crrip/yampa.htm> REMOVAL OF NONNATIVE FISH SLOWS – According the DOW, “Our ability to inform the public on the justification for expanded control activities for northern pike relies upon the evaluation of our ongoing control activities within critical habitat on the Yampa. The effectiveness of pike removal from the Yampa River has not yet been clearly demonstrated in terms of contributing to recovery. Secondly, we believe the expansion into the upper Yampa for pike control will roughly double the numbers of fish to be relocated to acceptable standing waters. While we are working on expanding the number of ‘go-to’ waters in the Yampa basin acceptable under the NNFSP to receive these fish, the preliminary results are not encouraging. If we cannot find enough local capacity to receive these relocated pike, then the terms of our ‘operating agreement’ with the Yampa public and Partnership will have to be revisited. This agreement includes (1) no lethal removal, other than by anglers, (2) keeping the relocated fish in the basin, and (3) making the fish available to anglers.”
TREATY COULD HURT CLAPPER RAIL
Because of treaty obligations with Mexico, the Bureau of Reclamation may end diversions of reclaimed irrigation water that supplies the Cienega de Santa Clara. The Cienega is the “largest cattail marsh in the Sonoran desert” and home to “nearly 6,000 of the endangered Yuma clapper rail” says the Salt Lake Tribune 10/1. Under the new plan water reaching the marshland on the northern end of Mexico’s Sea of Cortez would be “reduced by 90% and the remaining amount of water would triple in salinity levels,” dealing the “Cienega a fatal blow.” [In my opinion, this reporter is focused on the wrong source of the problem. It is not the treaty as much as the Salinity Control Act. I suppose, if you could say that the Act is intended to meet the treaty obligation (Minute 242), the treaty is the driving force. The Act does require the “least cost” alternative, which reactivating the Desalting Plant is not.]
VERDE RIVER GETS OVERDUE PROTECTION
As part of a lawsuit settlement, the Forest Service has agreed to “provide overdue protections to Arizona’s Verde River says ENN 10/10. The river flows through 3 national forests and provides habitat for a “unique population of desert nesting bald eagles,” 5 species of rare fish and other wildlife. Besides taking immediate action to “improve grazing practices along the river” the FS will be preparing a comprehensive management plan in the next 30 months, over 17 years after the river was designated a national wild and scenic river in 1984.
FAIRER FAUCET
For the first time, construction of new housing developments in California will be contingent on water availability, under a bill signed by Gov. Gray Davis (D). The new law prohibits cities and counties from approving housing projects of 500 or more units unless water agencies verify that there is sufficient water to serve the developments for at least 20 years, even in times of drought. The bill’s author, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D), is optimistic that the law can help California reconcile its dwindling water supply with a booming population. (The number of California residents is expected to increase by 70 percent in the next 40 years.) The law will have the greatest impact in arid Southern California and in the Central Valley, including parts of the East Bay. San Jose Mercury News, 10/10 <http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/water10tk.htm>
IRRIGATORS, FEDS, STATE AGREE ON DAM REMOVAL
The “long-running battle over Savage Rapids Dam” on Oregon’s Rogue River has come to an end with an agreement to remove the dam after installing pumps to supply irrigators says the Seattle Times 10/13. The state and federal government will also drop lawsuits “against the irrigation district over harm the dam has caused threatened coho” salmon.
STEELING HOME
Anglers in north-central Washington state could be allowed to fish for endangered steelhead for the first time in four years if the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has its way. More than 32,000 steelhead are expected to swim up the Columbia River this year, the largest run since 1986. State wildlife officials would like to permit fishing to reduce the number of hatchery steelhead, which they fear will out-compete the wild fish for spawning areas. Both hatchery and wild steelhead were listed as endangered in 1997, but the former are making a stronger comeback. The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently considering the state’s request. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associated Press, 10/18 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/43271_steelhead18.shtml>
“BARELY ENOUGH” KLAMATH WATER
Continued dry weather in the Klamath Basin has left Upper Klamath Lake, home to two species of endangered mullet, with “barely enough water to meet minimum guidelines for protecting endangered species” says the Klamath Falls Herald and News 10/10. For 5 days in late September and early October, releases into the Klamath River were also below the “minimum flow considered necessary to protect threatened coho salmon.”
KLAMATH MEDIATION COLLAPSES
Klamath agribusiness interests have “dropped out of federal mediation” and have filed another lawsuit claiming a “seizure of private property worth $1 billion,” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, AP 10/12. The court supervised mediation had involved a “wide range” of parties in the basin, including federal agencies, Indian tribes and environmental groups and sought “long-term solutions to the basin’s water problems.” Although the agribusiness interests are claiming a Fifth Amendment taking, the Bureau of Reclamation contends that it is obligated to supply water “only when available.”
INDEPENDENT REVIEW CONFIRMS ESA PROTECTIONS
The good news is that the “first full scientific review” supports the decision to maintain water in Upper Klamath Lake to protect ESA listed fish says the Oregonian 10/24. The bad news, however, is that the independent review by 4 University of California professors found that “Klamath water is so degraded that it may not help the fish” all that much. The scientists found that the “historic replumbing of the Klamath Basin’s rivers and marshes has combined with damaging nutrients from livestock manure to threaten suckers, even with the higher lake levels.” The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to release by mid-November a revised biological assessment on how it plans to run the Upper Klamath Lake irrigation project for next year says the Eureka Times-Standard 11/2. A report commissioned by irrigators should also be released soon and is expected to show that farmers have been “vastly more affected by international trade than by water allocations” with a “large number” of farmers long suffering with “marginal profits.”
IRRIGATORS SUCKING LAKE DRY
Mineral County along with “bird-watchers, fishermen and local business owners” are “accusing the federal government of sitting idly by while farmers suck a desert lake dry in western Nevada” says the Las Vegas Sun, AP 10/17. A lawsuit brought by the Western Environmental Law Center is a “last-ditch effort to save Walker Lake” and the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout which “won’t survive much longer without more water flows to the 38,000 acre lake.” A century of water diversions have caused the lake to drop 130 feet, losing over 70% of its volume and biologists now “give the lake only a few years before it is devoid of virtually all life.”
SALMON SURVIVAL AMONG LOWEST RATES EVER
Federal biologists couldn’t say whether “fish were hurt more by the drought or by ramped-up power generation.” One thing was certain, though, survival rates for the spring-and-summer migrations of young salmon and steelhead along the Columbia River were “among the lowest ever recorded,” reports OregonLive.com, AP 10/11. Many died from high water temperatures caused by flow levels that were the “second-lowest ever recorded,” due in part to the drought but exacerbated by Bonneville Power Authority’s decision to save money by reducing the amount of water sent over spillways to “only 10% of the amount called for in the recovery plan.”
MONTANA RANCHER YIELDS WATER FOR TROUT
A recent agreement by a Montana rancher to lease unused irrigation water to Trout Unlimited for in-stream flows marked a new era of cooperation between traditional antagonists. Billings Gazette; 10/15 <http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?section=opinion&display=content/opinion/guest.inc>
CONSERVATION EFFORTS RETURN WETLANDS TO IDAHO RIVER VALLEY
Piece by piece, landowners, state officials and conservation groups are restoring some of the wetlands that once characterized Idaho’s Kootenai River Valley and provided rich wildlife habitat. Spokesman-Review; Oct. 8
COMPANIES WANT TO IGNORE DOWNSTREAM IMPACTS OF IDAHO PLANTS
The companies planning new power plants in north Idaho say state officials shouldn’t consider impacts in Washington of drawing huge amounts of water from the aquifer that underlies both states. Spokesman-Review; 10/11 <http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=101101&ID=s1037155&cat=section.idaho>
WATER FIGHT PUSHES PROPOSED IDAHO POWER PLANT TO COOL WITH AIR
The company proposing a gas-fired power plant in north Idaho says it can cool the plant with air instead of vast amounts of contested groundwater, a technology becoming more popular as water rights get harder to obtain. Spokesman-Review; 10/24
STAKES RAISED ON DELISTING DECISION
In the wake of a judge’s decision to delist Oregon coastal coho, land owners and ranchers have filed suit to delist Puget Sound chinook runs and Hood Canal chum, just a few days after irrigators sued to de-list Columbia river salmon stocks says the NW Fishletter 10/19. Agri-business interests are also using the decision as the basis for a formal settlement proposal on a 1999 lawsuit that seeks delisting for lower-Columbia fall chinook. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C. “NMFS top brass” met for several days to discuss whether to appeal the Hogan decision, as worried environmentalists, represented by Earthjustice, filed for intervenor status in the case. (See below)
DELISTING DECISION APPEALED
Earthjustice and other groups filed suit against an Oregon judge’s ruling in September that delisted coastal coho salmon from the endangered species list, citing no difference between hatchery and wild salmon. The groups asked the judge to restore ESA protections for the coho pending the appeal. Also at stake are a dozen timber sales which had been suspended but are now moving forward. <http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=243> Federal Judge Michael Hogan has refused to restore ESA protections for the Oregon coastal coho salmon pending an appeal of his decision to delist the species says SF Gate, AP 10/30.
VIDEO TRAINING FOR FISH
According to a story out of the UK, most hatchery fish die within two days of their release. Scientists are making videos to train fish reared in hatcheries to cope with life in the wild.
Hatchery fish are reared in a protected environment with a regular supply of food. But they stand little chance of survival when, at the age of about six months, they are released into oceans and rivers to replenish diminished stocks or provide sport for anglers. Most of them die within the first two days, and fewer than 5% make it to adulthood, according to studies of reared salmon. But now scientists are devising training videos for hatchery fish that show fish of their species being devoured by a predator.
As well as the instructional video nasties, teaching techniques created by the scientists include group training for fish. One tactic is to put a clued-up demonstrator fish in a naive shoal and place a predator behind a transparent, porous screen. The inexperienced fish learn from the reactions of the demonstrator fish that they should flee, and the sight and smell of the predator reinforces that reaction.
University of Helsinki researcher Sampsa Vilhunen has devised a tactic with even more shock factor. He fed predator fish in a tank of Arctic charr, and then removed them. Hatchery-raised Arctic charr were then placed in the water, and the mere odor was enough to teach them to avoid the predator fish in the future.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1580000/1580600.stm>
CAPTIVE-BRED ATLANTIC SALMON SPECIES CAUGHT IN ALASKA RIVER
Alaska fishermen have caught a pen-reared Atlantic salmon in a river on the state’s Gulf Coast for the second year in a row, raising concerns about the threat the non-native fish might pose to Pacific salmon stocks.
Fishermen netted the Atlantic salmon in the Situk River in late July, but the fish was not discovered until it had been gutted and beheaded at a processing plant in Yakutat. Last year, another Atlantic salmon was caught in a river near Yakutat, and a third was caught by an angler in Ward Creek in 1998. Since then, nearly 300 Atlantic salmon were caught in Alaska marine waters.
Biologists and fishermen worry that the Atlantic salmon, which likely escaped from fish farms in British Columbia and Washington, could compete for food, bring disease or colonize rivers used by Alaska’s five species of Pacific salmon. A report by the Canadian Parliament has found that escapees are “gradually adapting to Pacific conditions” and have been found in 77 British Columbia river systems.
<http://www.adn.com/front/story/723575p-763174c.html>
MISSOURI RIVER RIDER
The House version of the energy and water bill (HR 2311) includes a controversial rider that would prevent the Corps of Engineers from improving Missouri River flows to better protect species listed under the Endangered Species Act including the piping plover and the pallid sturgeon. The Senate bill, S 1171, also includes language on Missouri River operations that would allow the Corps of Engineers to consider flow alternatives other than those recommended by the Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. The environmental community opposes inclusion of any Missouri River rider, but has urged adoption of the Senate language if the conference committee insists on including a provision on this issue. [The Senate language has emerged from the conference committee.]
ANOTHER ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FAILING SPECIES
A new report by marine conservation groups is sharply critical of the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act for failing to “rebuild U.S. fish stocks — many of which are now on the verge of extinction” says the Daily Astorian 10/15. Although the “status of nearly 80% of all ocean stocks are still unknown,” the report finds that “31, or nearly half of all federally managed species” are “currently at risk of extinction.” The Marine Fish Conservation Network says inadequate funding to implement the law, a “lack of political will and mismanagement” have contributed to the problems.
WETLAND PROTECTIONS WANING
Army Corps is directing its staff to expedite wetland development permits to spur “economic development and moving money into the economy” following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. At the same time, according to a report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Corps records show steady declines in inspections, enforcement and wetland restorations. The Corps has doubled its reliance on Nationwide and Regional Permits (types of relaxed regulatory review permits based on categorical exclusions), issuing more than 60,000 in 2000. Meanwhile, individual permits that require environmental evaluations have declined every year. Despite these numbers, the Corps is proposing to further weaken wetlands protections in their Nationwide Permit standards.
CLEAN THE RIVERS AND THEY WILL COME
Experts from North America and Europe who gathered to discuss conservation of the wild Atlantic salmon reassured “Mainers that their efforts will pay off” if they follow through and “clean up” their rivers says the Bangor Daily News 10/16. “Maine has the last wild Atlantic salmon in the U.S.” and of 2,005 rivers worldwide that once supported the species, the salmon are “extinct in 294,” endangered in another 403 and face “critical conditions” in 236 rivers.
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF BIOINVASIONS
Scientists are warning that the “rate of known ‘bioinvasions’ of aquatic species, pathogens, parasites and weeds has increased exponentially over the past 200 years” calling them “one of the most serious environmental threats of the 21st century,” says SF Gate, AP 10/22. Among the measures proposed to combat the invasion is an “early warning system” run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
AMAZON PAINFOREST
Outrage is brewing among human rights organizations and environmental advocates over the murder of Brazilian environmental and labor leader Ademir Federicci. Federicci, one of seven environmental, labor, or religious leaders to be murdered in the Amazon Basin since July, was the director of the Movement for the Development of the Trans-Amazon and the Xingu. At the time of his death, Federicci was leading opposition to a dam project sponsored by the Brazilian government and denouncing corruption in the Superintendency for the Development of the Amazon. Federicci had made enemies of loggers in the Amazon and hijackers along the Trans-Amazon highway. Officials say he was killed by a petty thief, but his family and other activists dispute that claim. In the meantime, a hit list with the names of 25 opponents of local business interests continues to circulate in the region. New York Times, 10/12 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/12/international/americas/12BRAZ.html>
CHINESE WATER TABLE
What if the world’s most populous nation runs out of water? Lester R. Brown, founder of the Worldwatch Institute and the Earth Policy Institute, takes a sobering look at the disappearing water table under the North China Plain, which produces over half of China’s wheat and a third of its corn. The water scarcity could cause “catastrophic consequence for future generations,” according to a World Bank report, as well as skyrocketing global grain prices. <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/brown102601.asp?source=daily>
FLOOD INSURANCE
Chinese officials and the United Nations Environment Program hope a $10 million plan to restore lakes and reduce logging and erosion will prevent a repeat of the disastrous 1998 flooding of the Yangtze River. Severe environmental degradation exacerbated the effects of heavy rainfalls that year, causing floods that killed upwards of 3,600 people, cost $31 billion, and destroyed 5.7 million homes along the world’s third-longest river. UNEP says the new plan will restore thousand of lakes and natural drainage systems and return farmland along the Yangtze to natural forests and grasslands, thereby increasing the land’s capacity to retain water. Creatures that stand to benefit include the giant and red pandas, the wild yak, and the Yangtze River dolphin — not to mention the 400 million people who live along the river. BBC News, 10/12 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1595000/1595327.stm>
NUCLEAR WASTE MAY SOON SPREAD INTO IDAHO AQUIFER
A recent compilation of 50 years of data indicates that plutonium waste buried at the federal Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory will contaminate the aquifer within decades, not millennia as previously assumed. Idaho Falls Post-Register; 10/10
EPA ADOPTS CLINTON-ERA ARSENIC STANDARD
The EPA has adopted a Clinton-administration regulation that cut the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water. The new rule will cost Utah water systems an estimated $50 million. Salt Lake Tribune; Nov. 1
River Network collects success stories and lessons learned from river conservationists throughout the nation. Visit their Success Stories web page for the latest triumphs in watershed conservation. Check out the Success Stories on-line form and submit your stories today. <http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/libsuccess.cfm>
RIVER NETWORK’S SEARCHABLE DATABASE
Rivernetwork has a new Clean Water Act database at <http://www.rivernetwork.org/cleanwater/cwa_search.asp> , which allows you to search for information on each state’s contacts for water quality standards, NPDES permits, and TMDLs; the dates of your last and next triennial reviews; designated uses of your state’s waters; detailed information on your state’s antidegradation policy; and much more.
NEW TMDL GUIDANCE
EPA has sent a draft of its guidance to combine the 305(b) and 303(d) process to the EPA Regions and the States. You can find it at <http://www.asiwpca.org/programs/docs/Listing%20Guidance.pdf> This draft guidance is being recommended for use in the 2002 listing cycle. The draft covers: 1.) Assessment and listing methodologies; 2.) Integrated list of waters and monitoring schedules; 3.) Supporting data and information; 4.) Public participation; 5.) Submission to EPA; 6.) EPA action on 303(d) lists; and 7.) Support from EPA headquarters and regions
PROTECTING AND RESTORING AMERICA’S WATERSHEDS: Status, Trends and Initiatives in Watershed Management – This new interagency report published by EPA’s Office of Water describes watershed-related activities – projects, programs, and coordination efforts- implemented during the recent past. It explores the successes of selected case studies and evaluates programs and partnerships representative of the larger national efforts underway to move stakeholders toward a watershed management approach. The report focuses on areas that many stakeholders believe still need improvement — the building and sustaining of partnerships, coordination amongst government agencies, watershed monitoring and assessment data, and evaluations of project success. To obtain copies, call the National Environmental Service Center for Environmental Publications 1-800-490-9198. Ask for EPA Publication #840-R-00-001. The report is also posted at <http://www.epa.gov/ow/new.html> and <www.epa.gov/owow/protecting>
