THE CALIFORNIA DROUGHT : Salmon Run May Impinge on Release of Federal Water

The winter run of endangered Chinook salmon on the Sacramento River may influence how much federal water is released to cities and farms in drought-plagued California this year, officials said Monday.

No decision has been reached, but the National Marine Fisheries Service, citing the Endangered Species Act, has asked for consultations with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials before any final decisions are made on 1991 water deliveries from the Central Valley Project.

While fisheries officials have yet to make any formal demands on behalf of the fish, environmentalists predict that the officials’ involvement may force the bureau to cut already reduced water deliveries this year.

“Endangered species can overwhelm any situation,” said California Department of Water Resources Director David Kennedy. “(Use of the Endangered Species Act) has the potential to have a significant impact.”

One of the most powerful weapons in the federal environmental arsenal, the act carries criminal penalties that can be levied against those who fail to adequately protect threatened fish and wildlife.

If federal fisheries officials determine that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has not adequately protected the fish--by delivering too much water and drawing down the reservoir--they can make a finding that would set the stage for lawsuits against the bureau. Then, any outside group can file a lawsuit that could force them to reduce water deliveries.

“I think there is hope inside (the fisheries service) and state agencies that they now have the legal handle for reducing water deliveries,” said Hamilton Candes, senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council.

The bureau advised farmers in February that drought conditions are so severe this year that it expects to cut normal deliveries by 75%. By law, water rights contractors can be cut only 25%.

Even under this scenario, federal fisheries officials said in a letter to the bureau’s regional director, Lawrence Hancock, “We expect little to no survival of winter-run (salmon) from this year’s spawning.”

As the largest water supply operation in California, the federal project serves about 20,000 farms primarily in the fertile Central Valley and 1.5 million urban households.

Jim Lecky, chief of the protected species division of the fisheries service’s southwest region, said the winter run of the Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River became eligible for endangered species protection last November with its formal designation as a threatened population. The larger fall run of Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River is not threatened.

“We have a pretty good record of the decline of the run and we have an understanding of why we think the run declined, and some of that is associated with the operational procedures of the Central Valley Project,” Lecky said.

Federal studies showed that the salmon run has declined in recent years and in 1989 numbered only 500. By 1990 it had dropped to 450.

As the bureau released vast quantities of water from Shasta Dam near the spawning site during the prolonged drought, Lecky said, the remaining reservoir water heated up. “The basic problem with the operation of Shasta Dam is that it directly affects temperatures in the river. . . . And when the water comes out too hot it can kill a substantial number of (salmon eggs),” he said.

The winter-run salmon is unique, he said, because it migrates and spawns at different times than any other populations of Chinook. Adult salmon swim up the Sacramento River in the winter and spawn in June, July, August and September. The eggs usually take two months before they hatch.

For the fish to survive, Lecky said, there must be enough water in the reservoir so it remains cold when it is released in the critical spawning months.

To protect the salmon, he said, federal fisheries officials will want a voice in both the amount and timing of water releases.

Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the bureau, said the letter from the fisheries service is being examined by bureau lawyers in Washington and his agency is still in the process of “firming up some sort of plan to deal with this.”

With water supplies at an all-time low, he said, the bureau is trying to balance the demands of farmers and urban households and the survival of the winter-run salmon.

“There are a number of varying needs for this water and Lord knows we don’t know how to meet all of them as much as we might want to,” McCracken said.

But he said the bureau is committed to trying to protect the salmon. Last year, he said, the bureau tried to save the salmon by withholding releases from the Shasta reservoir and drawing down Folsom Lake east of Sacramento, but that option is not available this year.

“We lose a lot of flexibility in years of drought,” he said.