Sac Bee article " Anglers calling for emergency closure of American River to fishing"

[Tony Buzolich]

I started to write this twice and quit thinking "why stir up more crap" when it's already been said and probably decided by those with "the money" like Jeannie said.

At the ISE show last week I stopped at the DWR booth next to the Fish & Wildlife booth. What caught my eye was a large banner saying "Save the Delta". Ya, I like hearing that. Lets see what the guy there has to say about the tunnels they're planning and what it'll do to impact the delta. So I asked, "How are these tunnels going to improve the flushing action we need to clean the sediment and salt out of the delta?" His answer just about floored me. He was quick to agree we need to flush out the delta,,,,,"but the pipes or tunnels AREN'T going to affect that at all". Obviously he's already been paid and brainwashed by those "with money".

He went on to say (and this gets REALLY good) "What we need to do is stop tearing down these dams they're all talking about and build MORE of them. "And"( he goes on), we need to raise the height of all of the ones we already have". I'm choking a little but I let him continue with his paid oratory until I couldn't take it any longer. I asked him to clarify this a little more and he continued on about building more dams, more reservoirs, and not letting it just "drain out to sea" I think were his words.

Still overwhelmed but feeling a bit argumentative I asked him again about sending so much of our water south. "Look" he said, "it's pretty simple. What's more important, Animals, or People?". Yep, that's pretty simple all right. He continued by saying that 90% of the population of California live SOUTH of Sacramento. Obviously money talks and he's been bought by those who pay his wages and can only profit from some higher up down south, and with this I left.

Feeling more than a little depressed I walked to the Fish & Wildlife booth next to them where a cute girl was handing out brochures. She smiled, and I asked how she felt about all the low water conditions and what it was doing to the salmon and steelhead. She was quick to say that yes we are having drought conditions and things are bad for lots of wildlife. I continued and asked about the redds and dying eggs in the gravel. She lost her nice smile and was now quite serious saying that with the high water flows in late summer it pulled lots of salmon up river. "Then" she said," they (DWR) cut the flows leaving great numbers of salmon to die in warm shallow water". I asked, "don't you guys have something to say about this?". She replied by asking me if I've ever heard of a "biological opinion". A biological opinion is a written statement saying what F&W believe will be the result or impact of another party's doing something that affects the wildlife concerned. Fish & Wildlife have written many, many, biological opinions concerning the affects of poor water regulation,,,,,,,,,, only to have them rejected or vetoed by the governor or his cronies. This (our) governing power, has the ability to ignore and veto whatever it wants under the guise of being for the greater good.

Well, this ended my day. Now I've gone from being a bit depressed with the DWR people to totally bummed out by the knowledge that our government doesn't seem to care about our salmon or steelhead as long as they get the water they want AT ANY COST.

I meet up with my buddies and I've gone from being depressed to down right mad. It was a long ride home back to Yuba City and I couldn't get over feeling the frustration of wanting to do something good while at the same time knowing we're fighting against those with the money that talks.
Tony

[Troutsource]

If the Auburn Dam were in place, wouldn't there be more water in the American now? More hatchable eggs?

[Black Cloud]

The best dam sites require a small dam that can store massive amounts of water, Auburn would store very little water compared to its size. It was also sitting on a seismic fault.