Distressed by Drought : Lack of Rain, Short Water Allocations Have Taken a Toll on Forests, Wildlife

They stretch skyward like flaming orange torches, their odd hue just a shade or two paler than the fireweed sprouting on the slope below.

Ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, white firs and Western junipers--millions of trees are dead and dying in California’s forests, victims of drought and the opportunistic insects that thrive in dry conditions.

The ailing trees--visible here in the San Bernardino Mountains and as far north as the Lassen National Forest--dramatically symbolize how five drought years have punished the California environment. But they are merely the beginning of the story, the most striking evidence of what experts describe as an ecosystem in distress.

On the forest floor, deer, bear and other mammals are struggling to find water and food on terrain parched by sparse rain. Mountain streams are drying up, causing entire fisheries to collapse.

On larger rivers like the Sacramento, native fish populations have taken a frightful tumble. The winter-run Chinook salmon is hovering on the edge of extinction, its ability to spawn imperiled by lethally warm water released into the river from half-empty reservoirs.

Migrating waterfowl, their populations already on a downward spiral, will return to California’s Central Valley this fall to dry or shrunken wetlands. Thousands of ducks, geese and cranes will thus be crowded onto tiny marshes offering little food--conditions ripe for disease.

Even some insects are suffering. The elderberry longhorn beetle is losing the streamside bushes in the Sacramento Valley on which it relies, and several endangered butterflies are in serious decline because drought is killing off their host plants.

“It’s a very, very scary picture, and a potential disaster for the state,” said Karen Garrison, senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The worst news is that much of this damage may be irreversible. . . . We just don’t know.”

Droughts are certainly not a new phenomenon in California, and fish and animals that evolved here are armed with the ability to weather dry cycles and rebound.

But the natural landscape of California has changed dramatically since the last comparable drought, between 1929 and 1934. Scientists say urban encroachment into wilderness, habitat destruction from dams and cultivation, as well as rising demands for water make recovery a much trickier process for fish and wildlife today.

“Natural ecosystems need a minimum amount of water, and in the absence of human interference, they basically get it--even in drought years,” said Peter Gleick, an environmental scientist who co-authored a July report for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency that chronicled the myriad consequences of the drought. “The trouble is, we have all sorts of human effects now. . . . You add a drought on top of that and the ecosystems really suffer.”

Environmentalists argue that one fundamental--and preventable--cause of the suffering is mismanagement of California’s water supply. Fish and wildlife populations, they say, would not be in such dreadful shape if they had been given a larger share of the state’s water pool from the start of the drought.

Instead, “the ecosystems are in most cases last in line” for water, Gleick said. During the drought, California’s state and federal water projects have not given adequate consideration to the water needs of the environment, he said.

“If we can’t get fish and wildlife elevated to equal priority status with cities and agriculture, then fish and wildlife are in for a world of hurt,” said Dan Chapin, a vice president of the California Waterfowl Assn.

An illustration of the problem can be found in the Central Valley, where 290,000 acres of wetlands--a mere 5% of the marshland that existed there in the mid-1800s--provide a winter home or rest-stop for millions of migratory birds.

Cut off from historic water supplies, these once-natural wetlands are now carefully managed small marshes. That means they need irrigation to create open water and produce the wild millet, swamp-timothy and other plants that the pintail, Aleutian Canada geese and other birds need as they fatten up for their journey north to breed.

Water to keep the wetlands wet comes from a variety of sources--all of them subject to interruption during droughts. The Central Valley’s federal wildlife refuges, for example, initially were scheduled to receive just 25% of their normal water allotments from the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation this year.

Only six months of arduous negotiations produced enough emergency water to bring supplies up to at least 75% of normal, federal wildlife officials said. State refuges in the valley are expected to get only half their normal water supply this year.

However, the vast majority of remaining Central Valley wetlands--70%--are privately owned, mostly by recreational duck hunting clubs. Their water sources are far less assured and have been subject to even more Draconian cuts.

Moreover, the owners of these private marshes typically can’t--or won’t--pay the inflated prices of emergency water. Thus, crucial pieces of the wetlands puzzle are drying up this year, “forcing us to stack the birds up” onto the small publicly owned marshes, said Gary Zahm, manager of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Los Banos.

Such conditions, Zahm said, could lead to epidemics of avian cholera, which can wipe out thousands of birds. Even if they escape disease, many birds will find insufficient food on the crowded wetlands, forcing them to return to Canada and Alaska malnourished. Underfed birds, Zahm said, have poor reproductive success.

Competition for food also will force some waterfowl to stop at sewage treatment ponds and contaminated agricultural evaporation pools, which may lead to deformities or death as birds ingest pesticide residues. Already, several thousand pintail ducks and shorebirds have alighted on an evaporation pond north of bone-dry Bakersfield, according to federal wildlife officials in the area.

“When you figure that these postage-stamp sized wetlands are all that’s left for these birds, you see it’s vital that they have a more reliable source of water,” said Richard Spotts, California representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s like being a trucker on Interstate 5 and only having a Denny’s once every 600 miles.”

While the waterfowl’s plight is sounding alarms, perhaps the most quantifiable drought damage to date has struck the state’s fisheries, which began to experience the drought’s effects in 1987.

A recent report by UC Davis fisheries biologist Peter Moyle says California’s aquatic resources “are facing a crisis of survival.” About 65% of the 113 fishes native to the state need immediate special protection if wild populations are to survive another 25 years, Moyle warned.

Scientists say many species are declining largely because their habitat has been disturbed by water development--dams, pumps and other machinery used to divert supplies to farms and cities. “Inappropriate resource stewardship” during the drought, Moyle said, has exacerbated these effects.

Among those fish in the poorest shape are the Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, which now number as few as 190. Already officially endangered, this salmon has been hurt during the drought by low river flows and water too warm for spawning. Some biologists believe the winter-run Chinook has suffered irreparable harm and is destined for extinction.

The tiny Delta smelt and the striped bass, an introduced game fish, also have suffered recent population crashes. Evidence links their decline to drought-related reductions in freshwater flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Such reports recently prompted the American Fisheries Society to urge Gov. Pete Wilson that state water decisions take into consideration the protection of native fishes.

Throughout the state’s forests, meanwhile, officials are watching in dismay as a wave of death turns huge swaths of trees a garish reddish brown. An estimated 10 million commercial-sized trees--as well as many millions of smaller specimens--have succumbed during the drought, mostly from an infestation of burrowing bark beetles that overwhelm trees weakened by lack of moisture.

In some areas, up to 80% of the trees in certain stands are dead or dying, the California Department of Forestry reports. Things are so bad in San Diego County’s Cleveland National Forest that the region may undergo a permanent habitat change because of massive losses of conifers.

“They’ve lost so many trees near Mt. Palomar that if the drought continues, all the conifers may die and eventually be replaced by hardwoods (such as oak),” said Brian Barrette, chief of resource management for the forestry department. The pines, firs and other conifers will not regenerate easily, he said, “because rainfall and other conditions in that area are so marginal.”

In all, enough trees have died during the drought to supply as much as 18 billion board feet of lumber, the forestry department said.

Rain would be the only real salvation, but a state Senate committee this week will consider a $15.2-million drought-relief package proposed by the California Department of Fish and Game. The cost of the program has sparked grumbling from some lawmakers, but state resource officials say the money will pay for little more than environmental triage.

“It most certainly will not drought-proof our fish and wildlife populations,” said Dick Daniel, drought coordinator for the fish and game department. “We hope it will take care of the most critical needs and help those species hit the hardest to recover.”

The funds will pay for emergency water to irrigate wildlife refuges in the Central Valley and underwrite a host of projects to aid particularly vulnerable plants and animals. Money for anything more is simply not available because of the state budget crisis, Daniel said.

Among items on the $15.2-million program Daniel hopes will pass the state Senate in the coming weeks are the rehabilitation of a well to provide water for the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander; irrigation to improve water and vegetation for tule elk, endangered kangaroo rats and other wildlife in San Luis Obispo County; a rescue project for the dwindling Modoc sucker, a Northern California fish that now numbers in the dozens, and selective weeding throughout the state to remove invasive species competing with rare or endangered plants.

In Southern California, there are plans to help the unarmored threespine stickleback--a tiny fish in peril in a creek near Big Bear Lake--by pumping treated sewage into its nearly dry habitat.

For long-term drought insurance, others are pinning their hopes on two bills in Congress--by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) and Sen. Bill Bradley (D-New Jersey). Both would require major changes in the operation of the massive federal water delivery system and ensure guarantees of water for the environment.

“The way things work now, fish and wildlife get the short end of the stick during drought,” said Wayne White, field supervisor for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento. “We’ve got to correct that imbalance so they come up on equal footing. It’s a hard road to plow, but if we don’t, this state is going to keep losing these resources.”

As bad as things are in the woods, wetlands and along the rivers of the state, those tracking the ongoing damage find solace by reminding themselves that things could be much worse.

“If this drought lasts a sixth year,” says Daniel of the fish and game department, “I have no idea what we’ll do. At this point, we’re doing a lot of praying.”

Endangered by Drought

Here is a sampling of plants and animals affected by the state’s drought, now in its fifth year. * PINTAIL DUCK: Its numbers already down 62% because of problems with Canadian breeding grounds, this migratory duck returns to dramatically shrunken wetlands in California’s Central Valley this fall. Crowded conditions and limited food threaten the pintail and other waterfowl with disease.

* CHINOOK SALMON: Fewer than 200 winter-run Chinook salmon remain on the Sacramento River, and scientists say the threatened species is on the threshold of extinction. Low reservoir levels have made water temperatures in the river below too warm for spawning.

* SEBASTOPOL MEADOW FOAM: This plant occurs at the edges of vernal pools--seasonal ponds vital to many unusual species. Federal biologists have proposed classifying the meadow foam as endangered.

* PONDEROSA PINE: Millions of drought-weakened pines, firs, cedars and other trees are dying from an infestation of bark beetles and other predators that thrive in dry conditions. Huge splotches of red taint green forests from San Diego County to the Cascades.

* DELTA SMELT: Increasing water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta may be to blame for this species’ drastic population decline--90% in the last decade. The tiny bluish fish spends its entire life in the delta and is a candidate for federal endangered species listing.

* GIANT GARTER SNAKE: This reptile depends almost exclusively on seasonal and permanent creeks, which in many areas are dry or at record low levels.

* STRIPED BASS: Reproduction levels sank to an all-time low in 1990. The decline is not well understood, but many young fish and eggs are sucked up by pumps that export water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta--a phenomenon exacerbated by drought.

* ELDERBERRY LONGHORN BEETLE: Dependent on elderberry bushes growing along stream banks, primarily in the Sacramento area, this insect appears to be declining because of habitat loss.

* KANGAROO RAT: Three listed species of these rodents are suffering because of a drought-induced lack of plants, which produce its main food supply: seeds. Populations in the San Joaquin Valley and San Luis Obispo County are hardest hit.

* FAIRY SHRIMP: Already in jeopardy, its plight has been exacerbated as the seasonal pools in which it lives have been parched by drought.

* SAN JOAQUIN KIT FOX: The fox is suffering from a decline in the small rodents on which it feeds.

SOURCE: Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service