Conservation Projects (9)
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Volunteers Needed for Vital Trout Monitoring!
Written by Dustin Rocksvold
Attention anglers, conservationists and river goers! Trout Unlimited, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Forest Service tagged 22 rainbow trout and 3 brown trout with radio tags in the Little Truckee River (LTR). This year long monitoring effort will help better manage and understand the LTR system, and help better implement fish habitat improvement projects. Not only this, the data gained through monitoring will be essential to understanding trout streams all over the United States. We need volunteers to help track trout! If you are interested in tracking these trout in the field please email Sam Sedillo: or call (408) 718-9897.
You will be trained on how to operate the tracking equipment, data entry, and have an unparalleled look into how trout move through the Little Truckee River.
If you are lucky enough to catch or find a tagged trout (image above), please take a picture, measure (if possible) and email the info to: . A huge thanks to all those involved especially the Sagebrush Chapter of Trout Unlimited for funding the project and California Fly Fishers Unlimited for lending us the tracking equipment.
Major win for one of America's best coldwater fisheries
Written by Dustin RocksvoldFive hundred miles. That’s a pretty significant distance, right? Now, imagine swimming that far.
That’s how many river miles will re-opened to native steelhead in the Klamath River under the terms of a revised agreement between the federal government, the states of California and Oregon, and the utility company PacifiCorp.
The amended Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement, and the Klamath Power and Facilities Agreement were signed today at the mouth of the Klamath River by Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan, Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr., of California, Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon and PacifiCorp CEO Stefan Bird.
Under the new-and-improved KHSA, four old, unproductive hydropower dams on the Klamath River will be removed beginning in the year 2020. This action will open up 500 miles of habitat for steelhead and some 420 miles for salmon.
Yesterday was a big day for TU - a seriously big day. After years of concerted effort and leadership by our very own Brian Johnson, as well as his predecessor Chuck Bonham, with many setbacks along the way, and bedeviled by drought, total water cut-offs, massive salmon kills, and Siskiyou County's unique view of the world, we finally reached a long-dreamed-of milestone on the Klamath River.
Yesterday afternoon, four members of the U.S. Senate introduced legislation that will authorize and pay for key elements of the three formal agreements now in place between Klamath Basin water users, Tribes, farmers and ranchers, a major utility, conservation groups, local and state governments, and resource management agencies. These agreements collectively resolve virtually all of the issues (including water sharing, listed species recovery, commercial and sport fishing, hydropower operations and infrastructure, river management, Tribal rights, wildlife refuge needs, and irrigation requirements) that have undermined a comprehensive solution for the Klamath for decades.
Senator Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) introduced the Mokelumne Wild and Scenic bill (SB 1199) in April. This is an opportune time for TU to come in and rally support to protect the proposed 37 miles of river between Salt Springs and Pardee.
The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors recently unanimously voted in support of the bill, and now efforts are focused on getting the support of EBMUD.
There is an upcoming meeting at EBMUD Tuesday May 13th at 1 pm in Oakland. I know it's in the middle of the day, but if any of you or anyone from your chapters could attend and perhaps speak as a representative of the the "sportsmens" voice, that would be great!
Amador Flyfishers and Sac-Sierra Trout Unlimited members completed a cleanup day along the Mokelumne River. Read more about it.
Klamath River Restoration Begins: Scoping Meetings Scheduled July 7 - July 15
Written by Dustin RocksvoldKlamath River Restoration Begins: Scoping Meetings Scheduled July 7 - July 15
“We’ve studied the problem to death,” says Leaf Hillman, Natural Resources Director for the Karuk Tribe. “We believe that when viewed through the lens of objective science, only one conclusion can be reached and that’s to implement these agreements. Otherwise none of the communities and economies on the Klamath River can survive.”'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : July 7, 2010
Media Contacts:
Craig Tucker, Karuk Tribe: 916 207-8294
Steve Rothert, American Rivers: 530 277-0448
Chuck Bonham, Trout Unlimited: 510 917-8572
Karl Scronce, Upper Klamath Water Users Assoc.: 541 281-2053
Mark Rockwell, N. CA Council, Federation of Fly Fishers: 530 432-0100
Glen Spain, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations: 541 689-2000
Curtis Knight, California Trout: 530 859-1872
Greg Addington, Klamath Water Users Assoc.: 541-892-1409
Jeff Mitchell, Councilman, Klamath Tribes - 541-891-5971
Your chance to weigh in on solutions for the Klamath Basin
Written by Dustin RocksvoldOregonLive.com
Your chance to weigh in on solutions for the Klamath Basin
Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 8:00 AM
Guest Columnist
By Dennis Lynch and Mark Stopher
The Klamath Basin is one of America's treasured landscapes. It's a place of beauty, and it offers its abundance to farmers, fishermen, ranchers, Indian tribes, landowners, recreation interests and the public in general.
But there's also ample evidence that much of this historical abundance has reached its limit. In just the last decade, various Klamath Basin communities have encountered hardships because of natural resource crises.
In 2001, water deliveries to farmers and ranchers served by the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project were substantially reduced in order to provide flows in the Klamath River and lake levels in Upper Klamath Lake for protected fish species.
In 2002, tens of thousands of returning adult salmon and other fish species suffered a major die-off before they reached their spawning grounds during a very dry, warm September.
In 2006, the commercial salmon fishing season was closed along 700 miles of the West Coast to protect weak Klamath River stocks. This total closure was partly driven by the loss of so many spawners in 2002. Extremely weak or partially closed commercial salmon seasons also occurred in Oregon and California in 2005 and 2007 for the same reasons.
In 2010, drought conditions have forced the Klamath Project to curtail irrigation deliveries that could result in the potential short-term idling of farmland and increased groundwater pumping.
Also this year, the c'waam (Lost River suckers) fishery for the Klamath Tribes has been closed for the 24th year, limiting the tribes to only a ceremonial harvest. Other tribes who fish along the Klamath River rarely harvest enough fish to meet modest subsistence needs.
Caples Creek Electro-shocking September 2009
Written by Dustin Rocksvold
Rich Lobrovich, Cindy and I joined other volunteers from Trout Unlimited and other fly fishing clubs to assist the Heritage and Wild Trout Program with their electro-shocking of Caples Creek 9/8-9/10. They split the group into 3 smaller groups and broke the creek down into three sections. Unlike the shocking in November of last year we only did a single pass this time, though we covered a lot more water. The flows were too high for the block nets to stay in the stream. The flow was at ~30 CFS compared to 3 last November.
