Meeting I
“Spring-Run Chinook Salmon Work Group”
Date:
November 17, 1995 (Friday)
Location:
San Joaquin County. Terminous, CA.
Schedule:
Opening & Introductions: Nat Bingham.
Welcome: Yvonne Mabee.
Description of Tower Marina facilities and history of site as rail terminus for Delta agriculture
Announcements: Nat Bingham, Leon Davies.
Conference Reports
Water Policy V Conference in Sacramento: Nat Bingham.
Watershed Reports:
This year special emphasis is to be on stories about past and present ecological restoration and fisheries enhancement efforts, jobs they’ve created and the communication links used for community support.
The Delta
History of Human Impact:
- Structure of this inland Delta, successive periods of human impact: Nat Bingham.
- Effects of habitat loss on salmon: Dick Daniels, CAL-FED Bay Delta planning staff.
The Restoration Planning Process:
- Overview of the implementation processes of the December 15, 1995 agreement; report on the Bay Delta agreement Category III process: Cynthia Koehler.
- Overview of the CAL-FED planning process; outline of a possible habitat restoration approach to Delta planning: Dick Daniels.
- Overview of the water users perspective of the Delta restoration process, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act process: Jason Peltier.
Workgroup Plans and Goals for 1996
Fieldtrip:
Delta Pumping Station: Randy Brown (Department of Water Resources).
Meeting II
“Spring-Run Chinook Salmon Work Group”
Date:
January 17, 1996 (Wednesday)
Location:
Butte County. Kramore Inn Restaurant, 1903 Park Ave., Chico, CA.
Schedule:
Welcome and Opening Remarks: Nat Bingham.
Review Meeting Notes and Approve Agenda
Announcements
National Fish and Game/Wildlife Foundation Funding
Discussion regarding SB1255 (suction dredging plans & penalties): Chris Parta (Sea Grant intern from the office of Senator Mike Thomspon).
Watershed & Meeting Reports
- Deer Creek. Now having non-profit status. Start of their scoping process. Fencing & bamboo removal projects are progressing. Suggestion that before & after photos be taken. Report on presentation to the Fish & Game Commission on the Deer Creek Conservancy: Chris Leininger.
- Clear Creek. Report on watershed assessment and the progress in putting together a watershed conservancy or RCD [Resource Conservation District]. Current priorities are spawning gravel placement and erosion control below Whiskeytown Dam: Jeff Souza.
- Butte, Mill, Chico Creeks. Sampling done shows the fish are emerging earlier due to warmer temperatures. Would like to mark 100,000 fish to learn when the fish get to the Delta. Thermographs have been placed in Butte Creek: Paul Ward and Terry Mills.
1996 Workgroup Planning Process
- Review Existing Workgroup Plan
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Draft Anadromous Fish Restoration Plan
- California Department of Fish and Game Central Valley Stream Restoration Plan. Actions within include- restoration and flows, screening and passage, law enforcement: John Icanberry.
- Discussion of Spring-Run Chinook Workgroup Role in Planning Process
- Action on Planning Direction
- Informational Presentations and Speakers
- Nominate Action Items for Plan. Including: move meetings around to feature variety of topics/locations; continue focus on the watersheds, fieldtrips and reports; make meetings concurrent with watershed scoping sessions; make more handouts; maintain strict non-advocacy approach of group; purge mailing list to lower costs.
Future Meeting Schedule.
February in Los Molinos, March in Red Bluff, April in Chico.
Meeting III
Date:
February 14, 1996 (Wednesday)
Location:
Tehama County. Veteran’s Memorial Hall, 7980 Sherwood Blvd., Los Molinos, CA.
Schedule:
Welcome, Opening Remarks and Announcements: Nat Bingham.
Announcements
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Funding. Current status of the $500,000 funding in the BOR [Bureau of Reclamation] budget for coho/Spring-run restoration: Nat Bingham.
Upcoming Meetings and Conferences Announced: DFG ocean salmon informational meeting, American Sports Association meeting, Salmonid Habitat Restoration Conference, Friends of the River’s annual State of the River Workshop, International Fisheries Conference, Annual Fisheries Forum (Nat Bingham).
Watershed Reports
- Mill Creek Conservancy held their first organizational meeting for implementation of the EPA grant to develop a watershed management plan. Plans for the next scoping session, mapping committee meeting, and the GIS grant proposal: Burt Bundy.
- Lassen Forest and anadromous watersheds discussed the Owl Environmental Impact Statement: Ken Roby.
- Butte Creek Conservancy progresses on developing favorable responses from the potential signatories to the proposed MOU [Memorandum of Understanding?] via writing letters concerning the fishery impacts at the Sanborn Slough bifurcation in the Butte Sink. Also, discussion of the position of the Sacramento River Preservation Trust in regard to the M&T pumps relocation project. And lastly, Stony Creek fishery issues were not being addressed and is not a Spring-run resource: John Merz.
- Deer Creek Conservancy had an information booth at the annual Tehama County bull sale, the planned scoping session for the Deer Creek management plan: Mark Parson.
- Quincy Library Group reported the Barkley Fire timber sale was recently reopened by the Forest Service and it is felt that this will create environmental damage and set back or destroy the cooperation and trust that had been built in recent years: Steve Evans.
(Ken Roby disagreed with the former, but agreed with the latter.)
CALFED Bay-Delta Action Alternatives document was discussed. The document contains 20 different proposals (including revisiting the Peripheral Canal) regarding resolving water conveyance issues through the Delta: Nat Bingham.
Department of Fish and Game Reports:
- Mill and Deer Creeks. Presentation on ongoing projects, regarding: estimate of Spring-run adult fish numbers, spot sampling to determine spawning timing & numbers of redds, juvenile outmigrant trapping, fry being trapped, and tissue samples taken for genetic analysis: Collen Harvey.
- Butte Creek. Review of programs, estimate for 1995 Spring-run adult numbers, opinion that available spawning gravel was saturated and so spawning areas were in marginal areas, marking project being conducted at Parrott-Phelan Dam, reiteration of value of the pilot marking program as it generates life history information on Spring-run salmon: C/Kathy Hill.
- Proposed California Endangered Species Listing. Discussion in relation to the petition to list Spring-run salmon for ‘Candidate’ status by the California Department of Fish and Game to the Fish and Game Commission: Deborah McKee.
Discussion of Spring Run Chinook Workgroup Participants’ Role in the Fish and Game Commission Endangered Species Act Processes
Plan Spring and Summer Fieldtrips:
- Proposal for a two-day fieldtrip into the upper Mill and Deer Creek watersheds, and possibly the area of proposed logging near Polk Springs. Tentatively scheduled for June 18-19, at Camp Tehama.
Future Meeting Schedule:
March in Red Bluff, April in Chico at the Kramore Inn, May in Butte Sink at the Wild Goose Duck Club.
Meeting IV
Date:
March 21, 1996 (Thursday)
Location:
Tehama County. Red Bluff Community Center, 1500 South Jackson, Red Bluff, CA.
Schedule:
Welcome, Opening Remarks and Introduction: Nat Bingham.
Review Meeting Notes and Approval of Agenda
Announcements
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Funding
Meeting and Watershed Reports
- CAL-FED Bay-Delta Alternative Workshop.
- Butte Creek EIS process.
- Watershed Reports.
Department of Fish and Game Reports
- Status of Steelhead in the Central Valley.
Battle Creek Update
- Scott Hamelberg (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
- Harry Rechtenwald (Department of Fish and Game [/Wildlife]).
Modify Headwaters Fieldtrip Plan
Participants Attending:
- Between 300 and 400 people attended part or all of the meetings.
Organizing Committee Members:
- Debbie Hubsmith
- Judy Goldhaft
Sponsors:
Prospective:
- Deer Creek Watershed Group,
- Feather River CRIM,
- Lead Partnership Group,
- Mill Creek Conservancy,
- Quincey Library Group,
- U.C. Cooperative Extension.
Reader Interactions