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ACTION ALERT:

Speak Up for the Shasta River and Endangered Salmon!

Dry rocks on dewatered Shasta River, photo credit Nick Joslin.

On May 23, 2023, the Karuk Tribe of California, Environmental Law Foundation, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and Institute for Fisheries Resources submitted to the State Water Board a Petition for Rulemaking to Set Minimum Flows on the Scott River. The Water Board has set a hearing on the matter for August 15, 2023, and written comments were due on July 20, 2023. Now the Water Board has added the Shasta River to the upcoming August 15 hearing agenda item for the Petition for Rulemaking to Set Minimum Flows on the Scott River. The water board has re-opened public comments for the Scott River rulemaking petition to include minimum flows on the Shasta River. Written comments are due at noon on August 10, 2023.

Please take a moment to submit comments in support of setting minimum instream flows on the Shasta River.

The Scott River is located near Fort Jones in Siskiyou County, The Shasta River in California originates in streams flowing off the Klamath Mountains to the west and off Mount Shasta, a 14,179-foot volcano, to the southeast. The river joins Parks Creek and other tributaries and flows 58 miles to its confluence with the Klamath River. The watershed covers 793 square miles.

Snowfall on Mt. Shasta, and in the Eddy Mountains, varies considerably. Annual rainfall in the broad, flat Shasta valley is less than 14 inches on average. In recent years, the Shasta River basin as a whole has experienced significant drought. The effects of climate change are anticipated to worsen in the Shasta watershed, with higher ambient temperatures and elevated water temperatures.

Sporting miles of ideal salmon habitat, and glacial springs, the Shasta could produce vast numbers of fish. But low flows, water diversions, and polluted warm agricultural tailwater have left the Shasta River with a fraction of its historic fish populations.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined that a minimum of 50 cubic feet per second (cfs) is the bare minimum necessary to keep individual fish alive on the Shasta River in August. However, on August 3rd, three days after curtailments ended, flows had plummeted to 20 cfs, and at the time of writing this, they are hovering around 40 cfs.

In light of worsening drought conditions, in June 2021, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife submitted a letter to the State Water Board that requested that the State Board adopt drought emergency flows for the Scott and Shasta Rivers.

The State Board adopted the emergency regulations in 2021, and readopted them in 2022, but the current emergency regulation and water diversion curtailments expired on August 1, 2023, thus the need for a permanent rule making. After receiving the petition on the Scott River, the State Water Board held public comments and set the matter for August 15th. Now the State Board has added minimum flows for the Shasta River to the upcoming August 15th agenda, and written comments are due August 10. This is a very short comment period, and time is of the essence, so we need to let the Water Board know that we support setting minimum flows on the Shasta River, and not just the Scott River.

We need your help to speak up for the Shasta River and endangered salmon by asking the Water Board to approve the rulemaking petition and set minimum flows on the Shasta River.

Fill out the form below to submit your comments now!

If you are able to also make a brief (likely 3 minute) public comment at the Water Board Hearing on August 15, 2023 at 9:30am, please complete the virtual speaker card which should be available here: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/board_info/calendar/#08-2023

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California State Water Board

Subject: Support for setting minimum instream flows on the Shasta River

Message:

Dear Chair Esquivel and Members of the Board, I support Water Board staff’s recommendation to set minimum flows on the Shasta River, and strongly encourage the State Board to act swiftly to adopt permanent flow regulations. The Shasta River provides important habitat for endangered salmon fisheries, however, overuse of water for agricultural use has left the Shasta with historically low flows and a fraction of its historic salmon populations, some of which are on the brink of extinction. The flow of the river is enhanced by glacial melt from Mount Shasta that historically maintained a consistent cold water flow to the Klamath River of at least 103 cubic feet per second during the summer. California Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined that a minimum of 50 cubic feet per second (cfs) is the bare minimum necessary to keep individual fish alive on the Shasta River in August. Before the curtailments became effective, flows were less than 20 cfs. And, on August 3rd, three days after curtailments ended, flows once again had plummeted to 20 cfs, and at the time of writing this, they are hovering around 40 cfs. State Water Board intervention is necessary for even bare minimum survival flows on the Shasta River. The “depensation threshold” for coho in the Shasta River is 144 returning adults. Since 2012, the number of adult coho returning to the counting station near the mouth of the Shasta has not even reached the depensation level, and the trend is downward: 115 adult coho returned in 2012, and 39 adult coho returned in 2018. By January, 2020, 62 adults had returned. Based on this fact alone, coho salmon populations are so low that extirpation is likely. In conclusion, I urge the Water Board to implement a permanent instream flow requirement ASAP with the CDFW recommended curtailment bare minimum as a baseline starting point. The instream flow requirement should be designed to provide additional flows as warranted by science, law, and biological outcomes. Possible Language to Achieve Recovery Flows includes: * Establish minimum flows based on CDFW’s 2017 Flow Criteria building on information gained from DFW's recommendations for 2021-23 and with provision for adaptive changes over time as additional studies are completed, with additional flows required if biological objectives are not met which are consistent with endangered species recovery; * Include mandatory monitoring and information reporting to demonstrate compliance and refine modeling; * Include mandatory groundwater pumping limitations sufficient to preserve adequately high groundwater levels to protect beneficial uses of interconnected surface water as required by SGMA, the Public Trust Doctrine, the Federal and California Endangered Species Act, Tribal Beneficial uses of instream flows recognized by the Water Board, and the Water Board’s stated racial equity goals; and * Maintain the Emergency Regulation’s prohibition on inefficient livestock watering. Sincerely,

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ACTION ALERT:

Speak Up for the Shasta River and Endangered Salmon!

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