“Follow the money” if you want to tell real news from fake news. That’s a time-tested saying among reporters who write about political and business issues, and it applies as well to the world of fisheries protection and conservation. Here is a sample of real news driven by funding.
Hundreds of Millions in Bond Funds for Fish and Wildlife
Proposition 68, which statewide voters approved on the June 5, 2018, ballot, specifically gave the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) $50 million to pay for the backlog of deferred maintenance on its lands and property and $30 million to improve habitat in rivers and streams, wildlife refuges, wetlands, and estuaries.
The bond did not specify that other monies from it would go to the CDFW, but the department will likely get a share. There is $200 million to implement the San Francisco Bay–San Joaquin Delta Water Quality Control Plan, including installing and improving fish screens, providing fish passage, restoring and enhancing river channels, and improving stream crossings, culverts, and bridges to benefit salmon and steelhead. It also funds purchasing land and conservation easements from willing sellers for riparian buffer strips and for local watershed protection, hatchery management, and to remove sediment and trash.
There is also $162 million to provide “river, creek, and waterway improvements” for the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, Santa Ana, and lower American Rivers, Los Gatos Creek, the upper Guadalupe, Russian, and Santa Margarita Rivers, various urban streams and creeks, and Clear Lake. (See the complete list at proposed-laws.pdf.)
There is $60 million to improve upper watershed lands in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, including “forest lands, meadows, wetlands, chaparral and riparian habitat, in order to improve the water supply and water quality, improve forest health, reduce wildlife danger, mitigate the effect of wildfires on water quality and supply, increase flood protection or to protect riparian or aquatic resources.” In addition, there is $52 million to support large-scale habitat conservation plans, $30 million to restore Southern California steelhead habitat, including removing barriers to migration, $25 million to enhance the natural resources of the California State Parks System, including projects for the “protection and improvement of water quality and biological health in streams, aquifers and estuarine ecosystems,” and $5 million for restoration projects in the Klamath-Trinity watershed that will benefit salmon and steelhead.
The $16.7 Billion California Delta Project
Governor Jerry Brown’s “WaterFix Plan” calls for spending $16.7 billion on water projects that include building two tunnels to route water around the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta to massive pumps so it can be transported to Southern California. That proposal is being opposed by environmental, agricultural, and some fishing groups because of its lack of protection for the Delta’s threatened and endangered fish.
The general public hasn’t weighed in lately, because most can’t locate the Delta, even if they live in it. In a 2012 survey by Probolsky Research, 78 percent of the respondents statewide said they knew nothing about Delta issues, and many had never even heard of the region. A mere 4 percent said they knew the Delta plays a role in protecting endangered fish.
The governor hopes to begin building the tunnels this year. Environmental groups have countered with campaigns to educate the public about the impact of the project on the Delta’s recreational and farming businesses.
One delta resident, Ken Scheidegger, is working to build a multimillion-dollar educational facility to increase the awareness of the Delta, its history, people, and agriculture. He is planning the build the center on the site of a vegetable market he owns at Highways 12 and 160, across the river from Rio Vista. Scheidegger holds a doctorate in oceanography from Oregon State University and owns the Riverboat Marina and Restaurant on the Delta Loop.
$16.25 Million for Klamath Salmon Sanctuary
In partnership with the US Bankcorp Community Development Corporation (a division of US Bank’s corporate headquarters in Portland, Oregon), the Yurok Tribe and the nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy (known as WRC and also headquartered in Portland) raised $16.25 million to purchase the lower 25 miles of Blue Creek in the Klamath River watershed to create a sanctuary for salmon. “This is a historic and joyous moment,” said WRC president Sue Doroff. “The Yurok Tribe has at last been reunited with its ancestral lands, and Western Rivers Conservancy has finally ensured that Blue Creek, the lifeline of the Klamath River, will always be a source of cold, clean water and a refuge for fish and wildlife that depend on it.”
$2.5 Million To Police Pot Grows
Many thought that legalizing marijuana in the state would put an end to illegal growing sites. Not so, US Attorney McGregor Scott told the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that illegal pot growing is ruining large swaths of national forest, poisoning wildlife, and siphoning water from rivers and creeks that support fish and wildlife. According to the Chronicle, “The situation is so dire that federal, state, and local law enforcement officials are using $2.5 million from the Trump administration this year to crack down on illegal growers,” and Scott also said “growers have been brazenly setting booby traps, confronting hikers, and attacking federal drug-sniffing dogs with knives.”
“Most alarmingly,” Scott said, “is the increasing use of carbofuran, a federally restricted insecticide so powerful that a teaspoon of it can kill a 600-pound African lion. The insecticide is banned in California. The cartels, mainly from Mexico, also use 760 tons of fertilizer every year on 400 growing sites that are hidden on 20 million acres of national forest land in California.”
$22,900 in CFFU Scholarships for Student Field Work
At a current rate of $3,000 per year, California Fly Fishers Unlimited (CFFU), a Sacramento fly-fishing club, has made a total of $22,900 in grants under its Bittner Memorial Scholarship Program since 1993 to University of California Davis students and professors to conduct fisheries research. This year’s scholarship went to Pete Moniz, a UCD graduate student who is studying the effectiveness of restoration projects on juvenile rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead on the Yuba, American, Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Merced, and San Joaquin Rivers. “With increased high-quality habitat comes an increased chance of these juveniles surviving to adulthood and someday being appreciated by some lucky anglers in California,” said Moniz.
$11,250 More for CFFU Projects
In addition to the Bittner funds, CFFU has also awarded $2,000 to purchase telemetry equipment to tag and radio track trout in the Little Truckee River between Boca and Stampede Reservoirs near Truckee, $5,750 to provide pack stock and packer services for CDFW crews to do a multiyear assessment of the golden trout, $5,000 to purchase cameras and video equipment to monitor Chinook salmon at Auburn Ravine near Lincoln, and $500 in grants to support the Fish in the Classroom Program in the Sacramento region.
$20,000 Grant for Kids Fishing the Los Angeles River
The Southern California Chapter of Trout Unlimited received a $20,000 grant to “provide fishing days and guidance for Hispanic youth and families to develop fishing skills on the natural lower sections of the Los Angeles River,” says a report on the funds. The grant was awarded by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation Fund to encourage family participation of both genders and multiple generations.
$8.8 Billion Water Bond Qualifies for the Fall Ballot
On the November 6, 2018 ballot, California voters will decide whether to approve an $8.877 billion bond to pay for water-supply and water-quality projects, many of which will benefit fish and the waters that supports fish.
The bond was approved for the ballot when the California secretary of state ruled that there were more than enough signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. A coalition of advocacy groups collected and submitted 600,000 signatures, more than the 365,000 needed to place the issue on the ballot.
“The November water bond will increase the state’s water supply by enough water to supply more than three million households, stabilize water supplies for agriculture, and provide much-needed water and water-related habitat for California’s fish and wildlife,” said Jerry Meral, director of the California Water Program at the Natural Heritage Institute, a Sacramento-based advocacy group that organized the grassroots effort for the ballot measure.
Supporters of the measure at the institute also worked to gain the endorsement of 237 conservation groups, agricultural and environmental justice organizations, water and local government agencies, labor, social justice, and business groups and individuals, including Phil Angelides, former state treasurer, Peter Moyle, a distinguished professor emeritus at University of California Davis, and Members of Congress Jim Costa of Fres-
no and John Garamendi of Mokelumne Hill. The endorsement list posted on the coalition’s website (https://waterbond.org) does not include any trout advocacy groups.
The bond earmarks $3.54 billion for rivers, streams, and fisheries projects, according to language in the measure. Some of these include fishery improvements ($400 million), water acquisition for fish and wildlife ($300 million), salmon and steelhead restoration ($300 million), American River Basin planning with an emphasis on fisheries ($10 million), Feather River sediment removal ($15 million), nonmotorized river and lake access ($20 million), removal of the Matilija Dam, located north of Ojai in Southern California ($80 million), restoration of spring-run salmon in the San Joaquin River ($100 million), and removal of weeds and invasive plants in Central Valley streams ($100 million).
Other Conservation news:
West Carson Channel Restored
American Rivers, a Portland-based national land conservation organization, has restored one mile of stream channel in the West Carson River in Hope Valley, which is located in Alpine County, south of Lake Tahoe. “The major and long-anticipated effort to restore iconic Hope Valley has been completed,” said the group in a notice on its website. “The project will reduce erosion, improve floodplain connectivity, and enhance aquatic and west meadow habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife.” The valley and its meandering river have been popular with fly fishers, partially because of its easy access and lack of fly-eating trees and brush.
Hope Valley has a history of heavy use and abuse, dating back to when it was a stopover site along the Mormon Emigrant Trail, and more recently was heavily grazed as summer pasture, which damaged meadows and the stream channel. “The stream channel became eroded and disconnected from its floodplain and lost much of its willow cover, reducing the meadow’s storage capacity, impairing water quality, and degrading habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife,” stated the American Rivers’s Website.
In addition, the valley was once threatened by plans to construct a dam, which would have inundated the area with a reservoir. That threat and discussion for a housing development proposed for the valley led to opposition by local residents who formed Friends of Hope Valley and the Alpine Watershed Group to oppose the dam and advocate for public ownership. The groups have been working to restore the valley and have been planting willows to improve conditions for 20 years. More information is available at http://friendsofhopevalley.org and http://www.alpinewatershedgroup.org.
SF Casting Club Turns 85
At the ripe old age of 85, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club has many accomplishments, the most visible of which is the fly-casting pond complex in Golden Gate Park, a popular spot for honing casting skills, swapping fishy yarns, and hobnobbing with some of the city’s well-known anglers in front of the fireplace in the stately lodge. The club was formed in 1933 and had a lodge at Stow Lake in the park, club officials told the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that in 1938, they convinced the Works Progress Administration to create the Angler’s Lodge. The first casting tournament was held there a year later.
The club has grown from 350 members in the early days to more than a thousand. “It used to be a bunch of curmudgeonly old men,” longtime club member Larry Kenney told the Chronicle, “but it’s a lot more open now.” For more information on the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club and its activities, visit www.ggacc.org.
State Bill Seeks to Protect Wild and Scenic Rivers from Changes by Congress
Members of the California State Assembly in late May passed Assembly Bill 2895, which sets up a process that will give rivers state Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSR) protection if Washington withdraws them from the federal WSR program. Some Wild and Scenic River segments are now under state protection, while others are under the federal umbrella. According to Friends of the River (FOR), which has been championing the program for many years, there are 747 miles of federally recognized Wild and Scenic Rivers in the state. WSR status protects rivers from being dammed.
Friends of the River has expressed concern about the potential for the federal government to remove the rivers’ protective status under the WSR program or cancel the program entirely. Eric Wesselman, FOR’s executive director, said in a letter asking its members for support and funding that “we certainly can’t depend on this Congress or the Trump administration to protect these rivers. We need action at the state level with legislation, grassroots action, and litigation if necessary.” More information can be obtained at www.friendsoftheriver.org.
Bottled-Water Expansion Strains Pristine Rivers, Local Population
There is a new kind of water war burbling up in the northern reaches of the state, where fly anglers fish such fabled streams as the McCloud River north of Shasta Lake and the Sacramento River at Dunsmuir. Ten proposals have been made to take water from underground aquifers in these areas to be bottled and sent as far away as Japan, according to the Sacramento Bee, which reported that four proposals have been approved by cash-strapped Siskiyou County, which has had a high rate of unemployment since the decline of the logging industry.
The applicants to extract water include giants such as Nestlé Waters and Crystal Geyser and startups such as McCloud Artesian Spring Water. Nationally, bottled-water use continues to grow, from 9.2 billion gallons in 2011 to 12.8 billion gallons in 2016. Communities located above aquifers that hold pure water eyed by bottled water companies are split about the proposals. Dunsmuir supports the industry, because it brings jobs to the area, while McCloud opposes the big corporations seeking to privatize local water sources.
Buy a Stamp to Help a Game Warden
Officials at the CDFW are urging anglers to contribute to a Warden Stamp Program that helps game wardens and the enforcement of fish-and-wildlife laws. According to the CDFW, purchase of the $5 stamp will “procure vital equipment, protective gear, and training for wildlife officers and enhance the department’s K-9 Program.” Information on how to make a donation is available at www.wildlife. ca.gov/wardenstamp.
