Klamath River Increased Releases

[Langenbeck]

Extra water to be released for salmon in Klamath River
Goal is to prevent repeat of 2002 fish kill

Published 12:21 PM PDT Aug 22, 2014


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SACRAMENTO, Calif. —A federal agency says it will release more cool, clean water into Northern California's Klamath River to prevent a repeat of a 2002 fish kill that left tens of thousands of adult salmon dead.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director David Murrillo said Friday the drought has produced low and warm water conditions very similar to those in 2002. Murrillo said the agency recognizes how valuable each drop of water is during the drought, but the conditions pose a threat to fall chinook that have been entering the lower Klamath River in Northern California earlier than normal to spawn.

The extra water will begin being released on Saturday and continue to the middle of September.

Indian tribes have been pressing the bureau to change its July decision to hold off on extra releases.



Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/extra-water-to-be-released-for-salmon-in-klamath-river/27684360#ixzz3B9UPZeGZ

[SeanO]

Awesome.

Wonder if they'll cut flows from Trinity into the Sac or if there's enough to go around.

Best,

[Larry S]

Gordon,
Wonder if they had to hold a gun to his head? What a simple solution. Trinity Lake = Trinity River.
Best to you, Gordon,
Larry S

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/08/22/fish-kill-averted-department-interior-agrees-release-water-klamath-river-156543

[Rick J]

maybe not so simple. I have been in constant contact with Brian Johnson from CA TU and he told me tonight that Westlands is filing an injunction to stop the releases. I believe a decision may be made by Tuesday though expect they will start the releases now but then may need to shut them off.

Maybe too soon to say that a fish kill has been averted as there are for sure some sick fish out there already, some dying from gill rot - just hope it is not too late

[SeanO]

Arrggghhh!

I was thinking it seemed too easy.

Maybe Westlands should have to contend with only the water they get from NATURAL sources that does not include out of basin transfers.

Thanks for the update, Rick!


maybe not so simple. I have been in constant contact with Brian Johnson from CA TU and he told me tonight that Westlands is filing an injunction to stop the releases. I believe a decision may be made by Tuesday though expect they will start the releases now but then may need to shut them off.

Maybe too soon to say that a fish kill has been averted as there are for sure some sick fish out there already, some dying from gill rot - just hope it is not too late

[NCL]

A friend sent me the release schedule. The release starts today and steadily increases until it hits 2450 cfs Monday at 1700 hours. The flow remains at 2450 cfs until Wednesday then it start decreasing until it is back to 450 on 9/14.

[winxp_man]

Oh I got it how about people in CA stop wasting damn water during this drought with the ALS thing and just donate to the foundation! I mean think about it how many millions in CA 32 million? Lets say half do the ice bucket stuff. How many gallons at just one gallon but we know based on videos that its way above 1 gallon of water being wasted. Hell I would not give two turtle poops if we were not in a drought!

People need to start thinking about water issue in CA for real because if we do not get much rain this season too we are in deep poop for real !!!

Regardless westlands can suck a fat donkey **** because these fish need this water down river to make their way up to there resting place for spawing!


Anyways rant over and tight lines everyone :)

[Rick J]

Water has not yet reached Hoopa but it is getting there - flows up in the 1000 cfs range upstream!!!

[Rick J]

flows just reaching Hoopa at around 6 PM

[Terry Thomas]

Flows at Hoopa 956 cfs at 8:00 this morning. Unfortunately, the temps are close to 72f. Hope they get the fire near Weaverville under control.

[Rick J]

starting the big 24 hour release up at the dam and first bunch of water seems to be getting to Blue Creek as gage at Klamath Glen is starting to spike

[SeanO]

Flows at Hoopa 956 cfs at 8:00 this morning. Unfortunately, the temps are close to 72f. Hope they get the fire near Weaverville under control.


starting the big 24 hour release up at the dam and first bunch of water seems to be getting to Blue Creek as gage at Klamath Glen is starting to spike

Bring it on, that's really great to hear! The fish deserve it.

The temps on the lower Sac are around 75 degrees in the afternoon around Knights landing-Verona yet still the chinook are coming through everyday. I guess the fish are adapted to these high temperatures in California. Before dams were installed the summer and early fall flows on lots of our rivers must have been much reduced compared to what they are today? Although maybe the fish had enough sense to wait to come up until there were sufficient flows with cooler water too.

Best,

[ycflyfisher]

This is great news.

[Rick J]

I think a judge's decision is due today about the injunction that has been filed to stop the releases - just saw this:

A federal judge Wednesday denied a request by irrigation suppliers in California's Central Valley to stop emergency water releases intended to help salmon hundreds of miles away in the Klamath Basin survive the drought.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill in Fresno, California, denied the temporary injunction sought by Westlands Water District and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. Westlands is the nation's largest supplier of water for agricultural use.

The judge ruled that the potential harm to salmon from drought conditions right now outweighs the potential harm to farmers next year.

Dan O'Hanlon, attorney for the irrigation suppliers, did not immediately respond to a telephone call and email seeking comment. The bureau routinely refuses to comment on pending litigation.

At issue is water in a reservoir on the Trinity River in Northern California, which has long been shared with farmers in the Central Valley. The river is the main tributary of the Klamath River, where sharing scarce water between fish and farms has long been a tough balancing act marked by lawsuits and political battles.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ordered the emergency releases to prevent a repeat of a massive fish kill in 2002. The agency has said the salmon releases were not expected to reduce the amount of water exported to the Sacramento River this year, but would likely mean less water stored for next year.

Indian tribes that depend on the salmon for subsistence, ceremonial and commercial fisheries had pressed the bureau to reverse an earlier decision to only release more water once significant numbers of fish began to die.

"The court again recognized the scientific basis for the supplemental releases, and the best decision was made for the resource and the fishery," said Susan Masten, vice chairwoman of the Yurok Tribe. "Klamath (Basin) water is meant to support Klamath River fish, not industrial agriculture in the Central Valley."

In his ruling, O'Neill cited a statement from tribal fisheries consultant Joshua Strange that the extra water was needed to prevent an outbreak of disease from a parasite known as Ich, short for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, that attacks fish crowded together in drought conditions. The parasite was the prime killer of salmon in the 2002 drought.

O'Neill noted that the fish expert for the irrigation suppliers, Charles Hanson, asserted that higher, colder flows in the Trinity would harm other protected species, such as the Western pond turtle, yellow-legged frog, and lamprey.

O'Neill has indicated that he is likely to find in favor of the irrigation suppliers on at least one of their claims in a lawsuit over last year's releases to the Trinity, but that would not affect his findings in the current case, he wrote.














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[NCL]

Thank you, I was wondering if the injunction was approved. This is good news.

[Darian]

Hmmm,.... Good news but, apparently, this is not done, yet. It's kinda like waiting for the other shoe to drop....

[Digger]

and further upriver . . . . Lol


Happy Camp Complex Wildfire
WILDLAND FIRE NOTICE TO RIVER-USERS

The Happy Camp Complex is burning in this area, south of the Klamath River between Happy Camp and Hamburg.

Areas south of Highway 96 are under a mandatory evacuation; areas north of Highway 96 are in an evacuation advisory (people should be prepared to leave if instructed by the Sheriff's Office). Helicopters are dipping water out of the river to aid in fire suppression efforts.


Boaters should take extreme care on this section of the river and in the area.

[ycflyfisher]

I was told there was a fish kill in Lewiston resulting from Trinity Lake being drawn down so severely. Mostly kokes but supposedly some mykiss also. Supposedly tens of thousands of dead fish in Lewie. I didn't drive up to confirm it, but the nature in which the message was conveyed leads me to believe it happened and was pretty severe. We need a wet winter.

[SeanO]

Draw down rate looks similar to historical average to me, maybe just the low amount of water has allowed the water temp to increase?

Curtailing flows into Whiskeytown would probably help.

Best,


I was told there was a fish kill in Lewiston resulting from Trinity Lake being drawn down so severely. Mostly kokes but supposedly some mykiss also. Supposedly tens of thousands of dead fish in Lewie. I didn't drive up to confirm it, but the nature in which the message was conveyed leads me to believe it happened and was pretty severe. We need a wet winter.

[Rick J]

the draw down rates may be similar but due to the lack of snow pack Trinity Lake is very close to empty and close to the cold water pool level - the thinking is the fish were hanging in this cold water level that was reached by the pumps and they got sucked up by the pumps to Lewiston. Another bad year and we will not have this cold water reservoir to pump down river - kind of makes you wonder how the fall run reacted to low water years before dams on the Trinity and Klamath without controlled flows

[booneshaya]

So, the way I'm reading this is that the fish that are dead in Lewiston are fish that came from Trinity Lake? So, does that mean the fish in Lewiston are okay for now?

[ycflyfisher]

What I heard came from two older anglers who were vacationing last week on Lewiston Lake, where they intended to spend the week fishing. They stated that they were seeing some dead fish on Monday (1st day) of last week and lots of dead fish by Tuesday. Along with the dead fish they said turbidity started to spike a bit in the upper end of Lewie by midweek. By Thursday they quit fishing the lake because they were seeing dead fish everywhere and started fishing the upper portion of the lower T and that’s where I ran into them.

What they were told and seemed to believe is that the fish were “electrocuted” when they passed through the turbines of Trinity Dam (effectively the “headwaters” of Lewie).


I don’t believe the fish were electrocuted because that’s just not possible from my perspective, but I do believe that the dead fish in Lewie more than likely did originate from Trinity Lake.

I’m going with what I think Rick is trying to say in that the declining HGL on Trinity Lake as it has been drawn down possibly put the level in the lake the majority of the CW fish were holding/ foraging at approximately the same level as the influent to the turbines and the fish simply got sucked through the turbines. And that the fish died as a result of over pressure/velocity throttle from literally getting shot through the turbines at high velocity and increasing depth. I don’t know if this is ongoing or if the fish kill in Lewie has effectively ended.

I’m not 100% certain about that, but that’s my take because that seems the most plausible scenario to me.

I was recording water temps in the 50’s on the river through Lewiston (the town) so I don’t think this fish kill is directly temp related. I think it has more to do with what Rick’s getting at: There’s next to no water left in Trinity Lake and it’s forcing the CW fish in the lake to hold/ forage at levels that are much lower in elevation than is normal.

[Rick J]

take a look here

http://anewscafe.com/2014/09/02/kokanee-salmon-die-off-prompts-questions-no-official-explanation/

[DAVID95670]

dinner is served

[ycflyfisher]

Rick,

Thanks for the link. The news that this kill is likely ongoing pretty much sucks.