On Wednesday a federal judge in Fresno issued a temporary injunction halting the planned release of additional water from Trinity Dam to the Trinity and Lower Klamath Rivers. The Bureau of Reclamation had scheduled the pulse flow in order “to prevent a potentially serious fish die off impacting salmon populations entering the Klamath River estuary.”
An
injunction can only be issued if the judge believes those seeking the
injunction are likely to prevail in the subject litigation. In his
order granting a temporary injunction Judge Lawrence O'Neill
indicated that:
The
Trinity
River
Record
of
Decision
(“TRROD”),
which,
among
other
things,
sets
forth
the
volume
of
water
to
be
released
to
provide
in-stream
flows
below
Lewiston
Dam
on
the
Trinity
River
in
various water year types, clearly indicates that while “the
schedule for releasing water on a daily basis ...may be
adjusted...the annual flow volumes...may not be changed.”
The
Judge
has
promised
to
make
a
final
decision
on
the
requested
injunction
on
August
16th
after
parties
and
intervenors
submit
replies
to
their
respective
original
briefs.
It
appears
likely
he
will
issue
a
full,
ongoing
injunction
at
that
time.
Meanwhile,
native fishermen tell KlamBlog that, while some some adult salmon
have already ascended the Klamath River, most of the expected large
run come into the estuary but then – sensing that conditions are
bad for making the run - go back to the ocean.
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Where River meets Sea
Reclamation
could still help the salmon
There
is debate among fisheries biologists about whether artificial, short
duration pulse flows as proposed by Reclamation are a good idea.
Fishermen report that past pulse flows on the Trinity (aka South Fork
Klamath) side of the basin – while they entice the fish to run up
river – subsequently confused them when Reclamation turned off the
spigot at Trinity Dam and the higher flows ended.
Some
biologists are concerned that many of the adult salmon attracted
upriver by increased flows will turn left at Weitchpec and enter a
Klamath River above the Trinity confluence which is running low and
is polluted to the extreme. KlamBlog shares the fear that augmented
flows in the Trinity could help create a large die-off of adult
salmon in the Klamath River above Weitchpec.
The threat of a fish kill above Weitchpec has motivated some
activists to call for more water to be released from Iron Gate Dam in
order to ameliorate poor flow and water quality conditions in the
Klamath River below iron Gate Dam. Others feel that increasing Klamath River
flows could be detrimental to salmon because water from the Upper
Klamath River Basin is of such poor quality. Increased Klamath flows
could be particularly detrimental to salmon if they are not sustained
or are "ramped up" too rapidly.
As
one fisheries biologist quipped recently, temporarily augmenting
river flows to prevent a repeat of the 2002 fish kill in the Lower
Klamath River is, in essence, an “uncontrolled experiment”.
Post
Adjudication
Not
withstanding
the
experimental
nature
of
artificially
augmenting
Klamath
and
Trinity
flows
in
August,
and
the
questionable
legality
of
augmenting
Trinity
River
flows
this
year,
the
Bureau
of
Reclamation
possess
the
legal
right
and
ability
to
augment
flows
on
the
Klamath
River
(North
Fork
Klamath)
side
of
the
basin
in a sustained manner
The
State
of
Oregon
recently completed
the
Klamath
Basin
Adjudication
and
granted
to
the
federal
government
the
top
priority
among
consumptive
uses
of
water.1
Under Oregon law, those water rights can be temporarily or
permanently shifted from irrigation and used to augment Klamath River
flows or to provide water to Klamath Wildlife Refuges.
Furthermore,
Reclamation
failed
to
meet
minimum
Klamath
River
flows
the
agency
stated
in
their 2013OperationsPlan
they
would
provide.
Reclamation failed
to
meet
minimum
Klamath
flows
during
11
days
in
April,
29 days in May and 12
days
in
June.
During the same period, the Agency also
dewatered
Lower
Klamath
and
Tule
Lake
National
Wildlife
Refuges
in
order
to
provide
more
water
to
the
irrigation
interests
it
serves.
At
the same time Reclamation was shorting the Klamath River and
providing San Joaquin farmers who rely on Trinity River water with
only 20% of their full, contracted water allocation, the same Agency
provided Klamath Project Irrigators with about 80% of their full,
contracted water allocation. This is yet one more reason KlamBlog
refers to the Klamath Basin's pampered federal irrigators as the
Irrigation Elite.
