CSPA/TU - 100 Volunteers needed for fish Rescue at Caples

[JerryInLodi]

CSPA/T.U. News

Application deadline, midnight, Tuesday, August 19

CSPA and Trout Unlimited to assist DFG with fish rescue at Caples Lake: Over 100 Volunteers Needed! YOU can help!

by Chris Shutes, CSPA FERC Projects Director
August 15, 2008. -- For four days, August 26-29, 2008, the California Department of Fish and Game will be conducting a fish rescue at Caples Lake, Alpine County, just east of Kirkwood on Highway 88. El Dorado Irrigation District (EID), which operates the Caples Lake hydroelectric project, will pay DFG to perform the fish rescue. The fish will be captured by net and electrofishing, and then moved via truck to Silver Lake, located 7 miles away.

EID needs to draw Caples Lake down to repair the outlet works that are located inside of the dam. The work, which includes replacing damaged concrete, replacing slide gates, and replacing the rods that connect the gates to a wheel that operates them on top of the dam, must be done in the dry. EID will draw down the lake, and install a bladder dam to keep as much water in the lake as possible. Unfortunately, the amount of water that will remain in the reservoir is not believed to be enough to sustain fish in the lake over the winter.

DFG plans to have as many as 35 staff on site for the rescue effort but will need as many as 100 volunteers to make the operation successful. The rescue will be run by as a command-type operation. DFG will try to pair volunteers’ skills with assigned tasks, but bottom line is that volunteers, if capable, will be required to do what DFG asks.

DFG is developing an extensive operation and plan, but on-the-ground reality may require spur of the moment changes. The operation must adapt to what works and what doesn’t. Preference will be given to volunteers who are willing to work all night. Preference will also be given to volunteers who have commercial fishing experience handling fish in nets, or who have experience electrofishing.

DFG has appointed a staff liaison to coordinate with CSPA and Trout Unlimited who have been given the task of gathering and coordinating volunteers. Volunteers do not need to be members of CSPA or Trout Unlimited.

The fish transfer is estimated to take 72 hours and will begin the morning of August 26th. The work will be conducted in 8 hour shifts, with the exception of the electrofishing shifts which will be 12 hours and will operate through the three nights. Approximately 10 to 20 volunteers will be necessary per shift (fewer for all night shifts). Tasks include moving fish from pens to trucks, counting fish and recording data, and providing general support. On Friday, August 29, volunteers will be needed move the last of the fish and clear the work areas. To provide efficient and continuous assistance to DFG, volunteers are asked to work complete shifts, and to leave the immediate area when their shift ends.

Volunteers will have to provide all their own personal needs including their own food, warm clothing, rain gear or waders, a PFD, and lodging. CSPA and TU are trying to coordinate campsites nearby for those who will be staying over.

If you’ve never worked, “In the trenches” with the dedicated field staff of DFG, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. You may even get to hold a 30 pound brown trout in your hands. If you wish to volunteer, please fill out the on-line application at http://www.calsport.org/caplesapp.htm

[JerryInLodi]

Those that have signed up so far, thanks, we're about 1/4 of the way to having enough people.

I should post that we are NOT taking walk-ins. You have to sign up since this whole thing is going to take a lot of coordination and people are expected to be there prior to the start of shifts for safety and work training.

We have a signup deadline of Tuesday midnight since it will take some time coordinating people's skills and shifts with DFG personnel.

A rescue this big has not been attempted in years and everyone will be in a learning mode as we go. Luckily, quite a few of the people volunteering are retired fisheries people. Don't let that discourage you if you are not an expert. There will be work for everyone.

Some people have asked about Silver Lake next year. The dam configeration will not require the lake to be drained to the same extent and a rescue will not be needed. The fish transferred there will stay there.

The re-stocking of Caples will be massive. CSPA will watchdog that EIR pays adequate mitigation for the loss of the fishery and that the monies will be spent on Caples.

DFG is also discouraging spectators, who could slow down the transfer and cost some fish.

The form page on the website does not work with all browsers or e-mail programs, (thanks MicroSoft!) so if it doesn't seem to work, use the cut and paste list below on the same page and e-mail me.

[bolden]

Jerry,

Since you have a lot of knowledge on the entire Caples Lake thing, I have one question. What is going to happen to Caples Creek? Is there still going to be water flowing out?

[Ed Wahl]

Hang in there Jerry, there are more on the way. With such short notice it's difficult. Have to wait til monday at the earliest to get in touch with my boss and try and get some time off. The Tuesday midnight deadline also squeezes things. I'm sure there are a lot more people in my predicament. A bit more lead time would have been nice, but watcha gonna do. I missed prospect island, hope to make it up this time. Ed

[JerryInLodi]

Ed, if Tuesday midnight comes and goes and you find that you can help, send the info regardless. Actually, we don't know where we'll be at Tuesday midnight but we had to pick a time to allow the scheduling to begin. That doesn't mean that we'll have enough staff or that there is no possibility of additional people being fit in.

Hope this helps, (we also had to introduce a sense of urgency so people wouldn't wait until the last minute).

bolden, your question is a good one and amazingly, you've focused on our main concern, the creek. Its one of our principal oversights to make sure there is an adequate flow in the creek. It will be very small but we have a good info on the flows and know the minimum acceptable. We've been assured that this flow will be available into the spring. We will monitor the creek until no longer necessary. We haven't spoken much about the creek since its not the part that the public focuses on. CSPA however does.

If EID screws this up, you can bet that the full weight of all that CSPA can do will be felt and believe me, you would NOT want to be EID in this case.

[bolden]

Jerry,

I am thinking i will probably sign up for at least two days of work, and i am thinking about doing to fish moving. On the sign-up sheet it mentions furnishing my own personal flotation device, but i don't have one. Is that a problem?

Also, i am thinking that i might work a 6-2 shift and take photos of the rescue afterward. Do you think this would be possible?

Thanks for heading this up.

[bolden]

Another question. My dad is going to join me and he is 60 years old. Is the fish moving going to be a really physical thing, or do you think it would be fine to sign him up for that? He is still a contractor and can still do 5+ mile backpacking hikes, so he is in good shape for a 60 year old.

Thanks