Hassle at Haiwee : After a Years-Long Struggle Between Anglers and Bureaucrats, the DWP-Controlled Reservoir Might Soon Be Open to Public

Judy McNally bought a small plot of land next to Haiwee Reservoir along U.S. 395 in 1983, planning to open a fishing-tackle shop.

“The real estate people and DWP said it was going to be open to fishing,” McNally recalled recently.

Ten years later, McNally is still waiting.

Soon, says the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

That was a condition Inyo County demanded when the DWP acquired the property in a land swap with the Bureau of Land Management in 1983: “ . . . that DWP make every effort to make the reservoir open to the public for recreational purposes.”

Mostly, fishing advocates have seen DWP’s efforts as foot-dragging cloaked in excuses “to protect the quality of the drinking water supply for the residents of the City of Los Angeles,” a position stated by Glenn C. Singley, DWP’s Northern District Engineer, and other DWP officials.

But whereas the DWP has excluded anglers to avoid contaminating the water, cattle wade free along the shores, and the DWP regularly administers copper sulfate to keep the algae bloom under control.

Haiwee holds a large population of largemouth bass, along with lesser numbers of smallmouth bass, carp and trout. The California Department of Fish and Game says the copper sulfate killed more than 100 fish in a single episode at Haiwee in 1991--a claim the DWP disputes while trying to change the law that protects fish from copper sulfate.

By the DWP’s figures, the Eastern Sierra provides 31% of L.A.’s drinking water and it all flows through Haiwee--as well as several other reservoirs where fishing is allowed. San Diego has no problem with fishing at any of its eight city lakes, but for years the DWP has seemed to put every possible obstacle in the way of fishing at Haiwee.

“We’re following what our regulatory agencies tell us to do,” DWP spokesman Chris Plakos said this week.

But, finally, the DWP is following through. Its board of Water and Power commissioners last month approved the fishing plan, which is now before the L.A. City Council. The council’s blessing would allow the DWP to reapply for a permit from the Department of Health Services, the same agency that sponsors anti-smoking billboards.

After eight years of ignoring terms of the ’83 acquisition, the DWP was finally prodded to budge in 1991 when two bass fishermen, Bob Hayner and Francis Pedneau of Lone Pine, discovered obscure Article 1, Section 25 of the state constitution, which states: “ . . . no land owned by the state shall ever be sold or transferred without reserving in the people the absolute right to fish upon.”

Pressed by Hayner and Pedneau, who formed the Owens Valley Warm Water Fishing Assn., the DWP had drafted an application by early in ’92. The first draft included the condition that “no person shall . . . permit any horse, mule, dog or other animal to go into . . . the reservoir or aqueduct.”

“The ranchers went ballistic,” said Thad Taylor, a Bishop angling activist and an Inyo County water commissioner.

The DWP and BLM lease large portions of their land to Owens Valley cattlemen. Cattle graze on BLM land around Haiwee and are often seen in the water. But when the DWP submitted the final draft of the application in June of ‘92, the animal clause had been removed.

Even then, it seemed a half-hearted application. Signed by Bruce W. Kuebler, the DWP’s director of water quality, it said that the public’s right to fish “is not necessarily an absolute right.”

The DWP application also proposed that only shore fishing be permitted--no boats, wading or float tubing--and that Haiwee be closed from Dec. 15 through March 15--the most desirable time to fish there--”to protect wintering bald eagles.”

Subsequently, since neither Fish and Game nor the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saw any conflicts between fishermen and bald eagles at hundreds of other lakes and reservoirs, Singley wrote The Times on April 1 this year, saying, “We are re-evaluating our proposal (about an eagle closure).”

Then there was the Mohave ground squirrel, whose habitat intruded on proposed parking areas. Although various DWP documents and communications refer to the squirrel as “endangered,” it has been listed only as “threatened” by California and not at all by the USFWS--and the California Fish and Game Commission recently moved to unlist it entirely, a process that will probably take two more months.

Hayner said, “It’s not DWP that’s dragging its feet at this point. Now it’s Fish and Game.”

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But the DWP continues to be contrary. Its latest move was an attempt, in the form of SB 1164 carried by State Sen. Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield), to amend Section 5650 of the Fish and Game Code, which prohibits depositing into state waters “any substance or material deleterious to fish, plant life or bird life.”

Such a law would allow the DWP to administer copper sulfate with impunity, no matter how many fish it killed.

In the face of opposition, the bill was withdrawn recently during a hearing by the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

The DFG examined dead fish from the ’91 episode at its lab in Rancho Cordova. They were found to have copper sulfate in their gills.

“Copper sulfate is extremely toxic to fish,” said Alan Pickard, the DFG fishery biologist who has been monitoring Haiwee.

Henry Venegas, the DWP’s engineer in charge of the aqueduct division, said, “I’m wondering whether if we found other fish that are alive in that reservoir, if the gills could be found to contain copper sulfate, also.”

The point was, DWP lobbyist Ron Cagle said, “It doesn’t mean the fish died from copper sulfate.”

The process--called “blue-stoning”--is common in lakes with algae problems. But, Pickard said, it’s usually administered in sections so fish can escape to an unaffected area. At Haiwee, it’s dumped at the inlet to the northern half of the double reservoir and spreads all over.

Worse, because the chemical dilutes and dissipates, an extra-heavy dose is needed at the top end to leave a concentration strong enough to be effective at the lower end.

“The real tough part is to put in just enough to kill the algae and not kill the fish,” Pickard said.

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The algae itself is not a health hazard but makes the water smell and taste bad. It also has been suggested that the cows aggravate the problem by fertilizing the algae.

But the DWP refuses to address the cattle as an issue.

“Grazing may be of concern,” Singley wrote, “but is unrelated to the project to allow public fishing at Haiwee Reservoir.”

When Health Services learned that people were fishing at Haiwee when it hadn’t issued a permit, it told the DWP to post no-fishing signs, which the DWP was more than happy to do, since its own signs were generally being ignored.

Gary Yamamoto, Health Services’ district engineer in the Office of Drinking Water, agreed with Singley that “the cattle will be a separate issue.”

Venegas said, “With humans, we can provide facilities they will use, whereas with cattle, we’d have to take some other steps to keep them out of the water.”

A fence?

“I’d have to get some background on that,” Venegas said.

Plakos said about eight miles of fencing would be required to keep out the cows.

Hayner’s group has won some small points, such as allowing fishing from float tubes with sealed waders.

The anglers themselves suggested the special fishing regulations calling for a 12-inch minimum and a two-fish limit for largemouth bass. They urge catch-and-release, considering not only conservation but the cows and the copper sulfate. Haiwee fish might be OK to catch, but you might not want to eat one.

So, how much longer?

Both sides think that with the bureaucratic process almost exhausted, Haiwee could open in August, once and for all. And perhaps, someday soon, Judy McNally can open her tackle store.