Eel River has stopped flowing

[Rick J]

Been around a bit but pretty sad - due to drought and likely exacerbated by all the marijuana growers sucking all the water up!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyWbi5EE3H0

[DAVID95670]

Hopefully salmon will spawn below ? Cuz they won't get above that section.


Has it ever done this before?

We nred to stop water flow to socal

[Rick J]

not much spawning gravel below

[slim]

WOW! Makes my stomach turn. What a sad state of affairs.....

[Ned Morris]

You all best pray hard as hell we get some rain and SOON this Fall/Winter/Spring or start getting the nails out for the coffin.

[Rherrjr]

Im curious to know the level of impact the marijuana growers actually have, to include terrestrial habitat destruction. Does anyone know of any peer reviewed research that has been done on this issue?

[Rick J]

It is huge. Last spring I attended the Western Regional meeting of Trout Unlimited and there were numerous talks on the issue - a guy from DFW and a guy from RWQCB gave a joint talk about the Eel and many of the small tributaries have been completely blocked off with no water making it to the river. Trucks with 7000 gallon tanks are pumping right out of the river. Just take a view with Google Earth and you will see acres of pot farms in the hills.

the water is one thing but they also put out poison and poison traps and are killing many animals - for some reason there isn't much that can be done - the process of going through the court process took over 6 years on one case.

better news up on the Klamath on the Indian tribal land that falls under federal regulations: see post below:

Plants, 300 Pounds, Seven Guns and Environmental Violations Galore



Hank Sims / Monday, July 28 @ 9:17 a.m. / Crime , marijuana






PREVIOUSLY: ‘Operation Yurok’: LA Times Reports on Weed Grow Raids Taking Place Along the Klamath This Week
###
From the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

From 07-21-2014 to 07-24-2014, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs, California Department of Justice, California Fish and Wildlife Service, Marin County Sheriff’s Office, Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, Yurok Police Department and Eureka Police Department in eradicating marijuana grows on Yurok Tribal Land and adjacent properties. The 35 officers served twenty Humboldt County Superior Court Search Warrants and nine Tribal Court search warrants during the four days. A total of 12,898 marijuana plants, over 300 pounds of processed marijuana and seven firearms were seized. Officers located extensive environmental damage at several search warrant locations, along with California Fish and Wildlife violations. No arrests were made, however several suspects have been identified and arrest warrants will be requested.
Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.

[Digger]

I often wonder how many illegal crops may have been destroyed by wildfires during a given year.
Another benefit to forest fires!

Is there a more effective means of eradication!?

[BillB]

That's just tragic! Truly a sad day.

[ycflyfisher]

This is more awful news. Obviously this has already severely impacted multiple age classes of juvies developing instream, hopefully we get some early rain and a really wet winter.

Rherr,

To my knowledge there is little peer reviewed science on this issue since it's not a legal (and easy to study/monitor) endeavor. The only science I'm aware of is on the effects of rodentcides (sp?) on fishers or martins or both around Hoopa. I didn't read that science, but I recall reading an interview with the individuals who were collecting the data.