Save Yuba Salmon - South Yuba River Citizens League, Nevada City, California, USA

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Posted: October 15, 2008

Western Aggregates and SYRCL Announce Agreement For 180-acre Salmon Habitat Enhancement Along Yuba River

http://yubanet.com/regional/Western-Aggregates-and-SYRCL.php

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Posted: October 10, 2008

Recovering Spring-run of the Central Valley in
http://www.calsalmon.org/pdf/SRF_NwsltrSummer2008_sm.pdf

save yuba river salmon

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Posted: October 10, 2008

Yuba River Fish Passage Feasibility

NMFS recently awarded a contract to Montgomery Watson Harza to support the NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Southwest Region Office of Habitat Conservation’s work in evaluating options to restore access to spawning, rearing and holding habitat for anadromous
fish in the Yuba River.

Background
The Yuba River Basin supports a number of anadromous fish species under NMFS’ jurisdiction. These species include the Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) Evolutionarily Significant Unit, (70 Fed. Reg. 37160, June 28, 2005); the California Central Valley steelhead (O. mykiss) Distinct Population Segment (71 Fed. Reg. 834, January 5, 2006); and the North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) Southern Distinct Population Segment (71 Fed. Reg. 17757,
April 7, 2006); which are listed under the ESA as Threatened. In addition, NMFS has designated critical habitat on the Yuba River for Central Valley spring-run Chinook and California Central Valley steelhead (70 Fed. Reg. 52488, September 2, 2005) and designated Essential Fish Habitat in the Yuba River above Englebright Dam
(Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), 16
U.S.C. §1801 et seq.,).

The Yuba River once had a large population of salmon:

Referring to the salmon runs in 1850 and 1851, the California Fish Commission (CFC 1875, p 14) stated that “large quantities were taken by the miners and by Indians … as far up as Downieville on the Yuba,”... Yoshiyama et al. 2001Passage in the Yuba River is currently blocked at Englebright Dam, which is owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Yuba River is isolated from hazards that could affect Butte, Deer, Mill and Battle Creeks simultaneously, but has the only historically independent
population at high extinction risk in the Central Valley Spring-run Chinook Salmon ESU.

Englebright Dam is 260 feet tall but appears suitable for a ladder (volitional passage). Other quasi-volitional (lock) or non-volitional (elevator) options might also be feasible. There are two hydroelectric projects on Englebright (Narrows I and II). These appear suitable1 for screens.

Deliverables
NMFS-SWR HCD issued a contract to a qualified consulting firm for a watershed-based habitat suitability assessment and conceptual plans for engineered fish passage design alternatives for the safe and timely movement of anadromous fish through or around Englebright Dam. Design alternatives will include a minimum of 3 fishway/fish passage alternatives for upstream passage and a minimum of 3 fishway/fish passage alternatives for downstream passage. Each alternative may contain specific variations, options, or enhancements as recommended for consideration by the contractor. All alternatives shall be consistent with NMFS engineering criteria for fish passage and fish screens. The contract was executed prior to the end of FY08 and will be completed within one year. Deliverables will include, but are not limited to, the following elements:

1) Identifying potential suitable habitats, facilities, transport routes, and utility and equipment requirements, as well as conceptual-level operations procedures and mechanisms to support upstream and downstream fish passage in the upper watershed;
2) Describing and comparing the challenges, opportunities, and preliminary cost estimates involved with specific fish passage scenarios;
3) Providing conceptual level engineering drawings, 3-dimensional drawings or artist’s renditions of fishway alternatives and descriptions of alternative fish passage schemes;
4) providing aerial and site specific digital photographs of major project features, habitat areas of interest, and potential fish handling and collection, counting, tracking, and/or transport locations;
5) Describing how an interim fish passage facility and operation might be transformed into a permanent fish passage operation with a high degree of compatibility and economic efficiency.
6) Clarifying the hydropower regulatory environment among multiple licensees, agencies, and staggered relicensing timelines;

--
Steve A. Edmondson
Northern California Habitat Supervisor

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Posted: July 9, 2008

2008 Calling Back the Salmon Ceremony

October 11th, 2008: www.callingbackthesalmon.org

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Posted: July 9, 2008

Spring-run Chinook Salmon Symposium
Sponsored by Salmonid Restoation Federation and SYRCL

Nevada City, July 10-12, 2008

Please join us at 7:30 on Thursday July 10 for the Thursday Eening Salmon Social

$10... Miners Foundry

more info... www.calsalmon.org

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Posted, Thursday May 28, 2008

Salmon resurgence in Butte County San Francisco chronicle – 5/26/08
By Peter Fimrite, staff writer

Butte County -- The salmon looked like shadows gliding silently beneath the surface of a pool between the foaming rapids of rugged Butte Creek.
Suddenly, with a splash, a big glittering fish leaped out of the water, then another and another. The spring-run chinook were jumping this past week in the remote, forested gorge outside Chico. continued... >>

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Posted, Thursday May 1, 2008

Yuba River Restoration a Key Solution to Salmon Crisis

April 18, 2008 For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Jason Rainey, SYRCL Executive Director, 530 265-5961, ext. 207; jason@syrcl.org
Gary Reedy, SYRCL River Scientist, 530 265-5961, ext. 208
Christopher Sproul, Environmental Advocates: 415 533-3376

Yuba River Restoration a Key Solution to Salmon Crisis

As West Coast states begin to grapple with the extent of the environmental and economic crisis of collapsing Chinook salmon runs, SYRCL has issued a call for the federal government to aggressively pursue the removal or alteration of a dam on the lower Yuba River that interferes with the endangered salmon's spawning run.

The Yuba River has one of the last self-sustaining run of wild Chinook salmon in California's Central Valley, and it may be a critical part of this species' survival.

SYRCL Executive Director, Jason Rainey, states: "Daguerre Point Dam is a proven fish-killer, plain and simple. And yet for years the federal government has dragged its feet and delayed doing anything about it. We hope this crisis at last prompts action from Washington."

Referring to Governor Schwarzenegger's emergency request for federal assistance for commercial fishing, Rainey continues, "The Governor is appropriately asking the federal government for relief for the fishing industry. Yet, where have the feds been while local citizens have clamored for sensible measures that might actually recover California's salmon populations? Calls for leadership from the Corps of Engineers to protect and recover salmon have fallen on deaf ears."

SYRCL has been working for over a decade to protect and restore one of the last wild, self-sustaining runs of Chinook Salmon, with the Yuba River representing the only major tributary to the San Francisco Bay with wild (non-hatchery) populations of spring-run, fall-run, and late fall-run Chinook, as well as Steelhead Trout and Green Sturgeon.

The Army Corps of Engineers operates two federal dams-Daguerre Point Dam and Englebright Dam--that no longer serve their original purpose (to capture new hydraulic mining sediment), have caused human fatalities, operate at a financial loss to the taxpayers that own them, and are well-documented as structures that kill salmon and/or block their migration to preferred ancestral habitat.

Gary Reedy, SYRCL's Fishery Biologist states, "Salmon require habitat in the form of abundant clean water. They also need access upstream and downstream. Recovering salmon will require major actions to control water pollution, limit water diversions and provide access to habitats currently inaccessible due to dams."

SYRCL has worked collaboratively with our partners to address the need for abundant cold water habitat through the Fisheries Agreement of the Yuba Accord, which successfully reached conclusion last month with an order from the State Water Resources Control Board after nearly two decades of litigation and negotiation. Reedy serves on the River Management Team of the Yuba Accord, representing the citizen groups that signed the Fisheries Agreement.

Referring to a March 2007 visit to Washington DC to meet with Senator Feinstein and officials with the Army Corps of Engineers, Rainey states, "Despite our efforts in Washington, we couldn't compel Congress or the Corps to even conduct the first phase study of fish passage at a 102-year old dam that the feds acknowledge is a death trap for the Yuba's uniquely wild and imperiled salmon."

In November 2007, Congress overturned the President's veto and passed the Water Resources Development Act. SYRCL's formal request of Senator Feinstein for a $100,000 authorization to the Corps of Engineers for a feasibility study on Fish Passage at Daguerre Point Dam was not included in the ~$23,000,000,000 package that authorized over 900 Corps of Engineers projects.

SYRCL, joined by Friends of the River, has been pursuing relief from the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Yuba County Water Agency since 2006 for those agencies' role in impacting the Yuba's salmon, steelhead and sturgeon that are "threatened" with extinction, and which therefore require protections and a recovery plan under federal law.

"The federal attorneys have been stalling through procedural maneuvering. My clients are anxious to get to the substantive issues in this case, and so too, I'm sure, are the wild Yuba Salmon whose existence hangs in the balance," says Christopher Sproul, the lead attorney for SYRCL and FOR.

SYRCL's call comes as experts acknowledge a collapse in the West Coast's Chinook salmon populations, prompting the following actions:

Pacific Fisheries Management Council decision on April 10th to adopt a complete closure of commercial and sport Chinook fisheries off California and most of Oregon;
The subsequent action by Governor Swartzennegger to declare a state of emergency, request federal relief for the commercial salmon industry, and also sign a bill by state Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) to fund $5.3 million in restoration projects for salmon and steelhead;
The decision on April 14th by the California Department of Fish and Game to close salmon fishing in California's coastal waters;
And the federal court decision by Judge Oliver Wanger on April 15th to dismiss the Biological Opinion governing impacts to salmon and steelhead at the federal and state water pumps in the Delta, SYRCL issues the following statement.

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Posted, Thursday March 6, 2008

SYRCL to Highlight Yuba Salmon at 25th Annual Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference

The Salmonid Restoration Federation holds its annual conference in Lodi this weekend, March 5-8th. The SRF Conference brings together fisheries agencies, watershed groups and salmon restoration practitioners throughout the state. SYRCL fisheries biologist and RiverScience program director, Gary Reedy, will present Friday on the topic “Yuba River Salmon: Status and Challenges.” SYRCL Executive Director Jason Rainey will chair a Saturday session on “Engaging Watershed Communities in Salmonid Restoration.” SYRCL will be bringing information and tools from the foremost experts in salmon recovery and restoration to apply to our Save Yuba Salmon campaign and to share with members of the Calling Back the Salmon group. More info at www.calsalmon.org.

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Posted, Thursday March 6, 2008

COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN, ANGLERS, TRIBAL NATIONS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE FISH RECOVERY ACTIONS

For Immediate Release: March 1, 2008

“The Crisis and Recovery Strategies for Salmon”
Press Conference Will Call For Immediate Action

WHAT:
A panel of fishing, tribal and environmental groups will discuss the current state of the Delta fisheries and the recent unprecedented collapse of the Central Valley salmon runs. The group is proposing immediate, practical, and necessary measures that will begin to rebuild the stocks of salmon.

WHERE:
Double Tree Hotel, Sacramento
Del Paso Room
2001 Point West Way
Site of the Pacific Fishery Management Council Meeting

WHEN:
Friday March 14, 2008 at 1000 AM.

Information:
Local - Jason Rainey - 530.065.5961 x 207

SPEAKERS:
John Beuttler or Bill Jennings, Calif. Sportfishing Protection Alliance
Zeke Grader, Pacific, PCFFA
Ron Reed, Karuk Tribe
Coleen Sisk-Franco, Winnemen Wintu Tribe
Dick Pool, Pro-Troll Fishing Products
Others to be announced...