Firm Offers to Restock Fish in Spill Area : Environment: But Southern Pacific’s plan for Sacramento River section devastated by chemical accident receives cautious reception from state.

Southern Pacific Transportation Co., joined by a group dedicated to protecting native trout, offered Thursday to restock fish populations on the upper Sacramento River and take other measures to repair environmental and economic damage caused by a chemical spill last summer.

The railroad--which operated the freight train that derailed near Dunsmuir and caused the July 14 spill--and California Trout Inc. released their package of proposals at a state Fish and Game Commission meeting in Palm Springs.

In a prepared statement, Southern Pacific President Mike Mohan said that while “it is obvious that the river is recovering on its own,” the railroad wants to help the region’s struggling tourist industry--reliant on trout fishing--rebound as quickly as possible.

Tom Hesseldenz, California Trout’s regional manager in Mt. Shasta, said his group shares that desire and believes that the $1-million program will help restore the upper Sacramento’s prized trout fishery to its pre-spill size and quality.

But officials with the Fish and Game Department, which must approve most of the proposals, are not sure. The department has been conducting an exhaustive survey of damage to the river’s plant and wildlife, and scientists worry that Southern Pacific’s plan could amount to dangerous meddling.

“This is a very complex ecosystem, with all the elements delicately interrelated,” said Gary Stacey, the department scientist coordinating documentation of spill damage. “We recognize the frustration that people have about wanting to do something . . . but we have to take a cautious approach so we don’t mess up our chance of restoring this river.”

Specifically, Stacey criticized a plan to harvest native trout from Sacramento tributaries and either propagate them in hatcheries or release them in the 40-mile section sterilized by the spilled chemical, metam sodium. He said there are few such fish remaining in tributaries and that wild trout do not do well in hatcheries.

Stacey was also unenthusiastic about a proposal to build an in-river barrier near Shasta Lake to prevent squawfish from migrating upstream, where they likely would prey on young trout. Those squawfish, he said, provide an important food source for otter, osprey and mink.