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Look at the other end of the river for help
published April 4, 2003
People are beginning to look at the Trinity River to help solve Klamath river problems, and they're looking in the right place. A court case is putting some focus on it. It's about time.
The Trinity is a big tributary of the Klamath River, joining the Klamath 43.5 miles from the Klamath's mouth on the northern California coast. Its water is colder than the Klamath's, and water temperature is a critical factor for fish. Unlike the Trinity, which rises in northern California's Trinity Mountains, the Klamath River starts out in wide, shallow wetlands - Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna - and flows about 200 miles before it meets the Trinity.
When an estimated 34,000 fish died in the lower reaches of the Klamath River last year, most of the blame was focused on the Klamath Reclamation project, which draws irrigation water from the Upper Klamath Lake region. That's also where the Klamath River begins.
The popular theory was that the project pulled too much water out of the River, and that contributed to the fish kill.
Almost ignored - at least in the early stages of the fish kill - was the impact of the Trinity River diversion, which began in 1963. Up to 90 percent of that river - almost 1 million acre-feet annually - is diverted south for industrial, agricultural and residential use in central and southern California. That's far less than the diversion for the Klamath Project, which usually ranges from 300,000 to 450,000 acre-feet annually.
In 2000, the Department of Interior tried to reduce the amount of water being diverted, but the California irrigators went to court, where the matter remains. Recently, though, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the judge in that case that stronger flows in the Trinity would have helped head off the 2002 fish kill. Most of the fish that died were heading for the Trinity River to spawn.
Federal biologists have not announced the results of a study on the fish kill. We hope they do so in time to do some good for this year.
Meanwhile, those quick to judge continue to look to the Klamath Reclamation Project to solve all of the problems that come in a drought year. But much of the solution may be a lot closer to the other end of the river than it is to this one.
People are beginning to look at the Trinity River to help solve Klamath river problems, and they're looking in the right place. A court case is putting some focus on it. It's about time.
The Trinity is a big tributary of the Klamath River, joining the Klamath 43.5 miles from the Klamath's mouth on the northern California coast. Its water is colder than the Klamath's, and water temperature is a critical factor for fish. Unlike the Trinity, which rises in northern California's Trinity Mountains, the Klamath River starts out in wide, shallow wetlands - Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna - and flows about 200 miles before it meets the Trinity.
When an estimated 34,000 fish died in the lower reaches of the Klamath River last year, most of the blame was focused on the Klamath Reclamation project, which draws irrigation water from the Upper Klamath Lake region. That's also where the Klamath River begins.
The popular theory was that the project pulled too much water out of the River, and that contributed to the fish kill.
Almost ignored - at least in the early stages of the fish kill - was the impact of the Trinity River diversion, which began in 1963. Up to 90 percent of that river - almost 1 million acre-feet annually - is diverted south for industrial, agricultural and residential use in central and southern California. That's far less than the diversion for the Klamath Project, which usually ranges from 300,000 to 450,000 acre-feet annually.
In 2000, the Department of Interior tried to reduce the amount of water being diverted, but the California irrigators went to court, where the matter remains. Recently, though, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the judge in that case that stronger flows in the Trinity would have helped head off the 2002 fish kill. Most of the fish that died were heading for the Trinity River to spawn.
Federal biologists have not announced the results of a study on the fish kill. We hope they do so in time to do some good for this year.
Meanwhile, those quick to judge continue to look to the Klamath Reclamation Project to solve all of the problems that come in a drought year. But much of the solution may be a lot closer to the other end of the river than it is to this one.
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