June 1, 2012

News in Jefferson Country from Pie N Politics dot com editor Liz Bowen: The Support Rural America committee announced that its next Sheriffs’ Event will be the biggest yet with ten Northern California County Sheriffs participating.

Tehama County Sheriff Dave Hencratt is hosting this Sheriff’s Event on Saturday, June 23^rd at the Tehama County fairgrounds in Red Bluff. The panel of 10 sheriffs will take their seats on stage at 1:30 p.m. in an air-conditioned auditorium.

This huge panel of sheriffs will address local issues plaguing rural citizens.

Siskiyou Sheriff Jon Lopey said these sheriffs are committed to the “oath of office” they took to protect their citizens. Lopey will participate in the Support Rural America Sheriffs’ Event along with sheriffs from Trinity, Del Norte, Humboldt, Shasta, Mendocino, Plumas, Modoc and Glenn Counties on June 23^rd in Red Bluff. Admission is free. All U.S. citizens are invited to attend.

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May 29, 2012

We are headed into Memorial Day weekend and it is drizzling this morning, May 25 – even here in Callahan, with a snow level that I can see across the narrow valley. Yippee yahoo. I didn’t get the garden planted and may be a good thing. The ground was pretty dry and there are more weeds that need pulled. It is so much easier to pull them right after a rain and then plant. Boy the bunch grass is terrible in the flower beds. Looks like a lot of work to me to get it out.

My Oriental poppies are finally blooming bright orange and the delphinium is about to bloom as are the Shasta Daisies. Been eating lettuce from the volunteer batch that came up in Feb. and I covered with a clear plastic box through much of colder weather. This variety is pretty hardy. The crop planted in April will be ready soon. Garlic is doing great, I just have to remember to irrigate it as well as the small number of onions that made it through the winter and didn’t end up on our dinner table.

Keeping my purchases to the basics this year: Last week, I purchased six Ace tomatoes, six bell peppers, a six-pack of cabbage was still available and a small rectangle of onions. I did splurge and got a six-pack of bright pink zinnias. But, of course, I couldn’t decide whether or not to plant them; and the tomatoes, especially, needed to be hardened off. So they have sat in the garden by a bush and at night I cover them. I am sure their roots are screaming to be let free, so hopefully this weekend I will get them planted. I just need to make sure I have enough boxes or things to cover them, if frost threatens during the next month.

Thanks to Matt McQuoid for coming out and finding a valve to turn on for my upper irrigation water. We had missed it, when he fixed the pipe line that froze last winter. But it will still take me another month to set up all the hoses, soaker hoses and timers for irrigating everything.

New Mexico

I kinda left you up-in-the-air last week regarding New Mexico’s Otero County Commissioner, Ronny Rardin, who challenged the USFS and cut down an acre of trees in National Forest. This showdown occurred Sept. 17, 2011 after the USFS officials threatened to arrest anyone cutting trees, which included the County Commissioners and a Congressman. So the Otero Sheriff fired back that he would arrest, for kidnap, anyone arresting the U.S. Congressman. A stalemate was made and the trees were cut. But now the USFS has filed a lawsuit against the County for cutting the trees. This is exactly what Commissioner Rardin wanted to happen, because he believes they have enough law on their side for the (this is the important part) county to take back the National Forest within the county boundaries. This is huge.

This is an important lawsuit and could mean a whole new lease on life for Siskiyou County. So we need to watch this closely.

The most important statement that I heard Rardin say is that the USFS works under policy. His county operates under the law of the Constitution. Law should trump policy.

Farm Bureau lawsuit

Just learned that the trial that is half-over has been postponed, again. It is now out to June 26^th. I believe the California Dept. of Fish and Game asked for an extension and the judge allowed it.

Darren Mercier, attorney for the Siskiyou Co. Farm Bureau, really had his ducks in a row during the first week of trial earlier this month. Through his questions, which referred to deposition testimony, DFG officials Mark Stopher and Neil Manji, couldn’t seem to remember a variety of things and changed their testimony. Hum, interesting.

It was also learned that Stopher did not submit his “changes” in regulations, which included wording, to the Administrative Policy Act in Sacramento. Stopher admitted he did not follow his agency’s protocol and it is under Stopher that the word “significant” was re-defined as “anything I say it is,” according to Stopher.

The lawsuit claims that it is not a streambed alteration to extract water under a legal water right. DFG is demanding a new permit by irrigators to obtain their water, because DFG is claiming water removal alters the streambed.

A legislative analyst was also brought in by the Farm Bureau and she testified that the Streambed Alteration Permit never ever mentioned water or water removal. In 1961, the state legislature established the Streambed Alteration 1600 code section and it only dealt with gravel, actual streambed and bank protection.

Interesting how bureaucracies can’t leave things alone, but must always be creating more layers of policy infringing on our rights.

Liz Bowen writes biographies and freelances. Check out websites: Pie N Politics.com and Liz Bowen.com

PNP comment: This next season is expected to be a bumper crop. So it looks like this is a “set-up” to demand that this huge number of salmon must return each year or else the fear of “dropping” numbers will kick in more regulations. Chinook are doing just fine. Their numbers are high. They are abundant. A “new” management plan will just add bureaucracy layers. Oh, is that the plan? — Editor Liz Bowen

June 03, 2012

By Mark Freeman

Mail Tribune

State fish managers are crafting a management plan for the Rogue River’s fall chinook salmon to ensure that the basin’s most robust salmon run stays that way.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking comments on its draft plan that at first would create no changes in angling seasons, rules or catch limits in the Rogue. But it would set minimum standards that could trigger changes to protect the nearly all-wild run of the basin’s largest salmon.

If you go

Public meetings on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s draft management plan for fall chinook in the Rogue basin are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Marie Hill Conference Room, 510 N.W. Fourth St., Grants Pass, and at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers at Brookings City Hall, 898 Elk Drive, Brookings.

The plan will set benchmarks for a desired number of chinook and for a minimum level of returns that would trigger measures to conserve the run.

But the draft defines the run’s “desired status” as a running 10-year average of just under 58,000 chinook returning to the basin, according to the draft. The current 10-year average for the basin actually is more than 97,000 chinook and the run’s estimate has been below that desired status line only once — during the drought-ravaged run of 1991.

That’s far different than the basin’s Spring Chinook Management Plan, crafted last decade amid depressed runs. Those numbers triggered cutbacks in the quantity of wild spring chinook caught and kept by anglers.

Unlike the spring chinook plan, the fall chinook plan has been crafted not in the midst of a salmon crisis, but with averting one in mind.

“We’ll be setting some sideboards for conservation, but we’re nowhere near there,” says Todd Confer, the ODFW’s Gold Beach District fish biologist, who has worked on the plan.

“We’re doing this because we want to avoid conservation issues down the road.”

The picture is less rosy for the Chetco River and a handful of other Curry County rivers with fall chinook runs. They also are covered in the 176-page draft plan, but it focuses primarily on the Rogue.

Public meetings on the draft are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Marie Hill Conference Room, 510 NW 4th St. in Grants Pass and at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers of Brookings City Hall, 898 Elk Drive, Brookings.

The Rogue run of fall chinook begins in July and extends into December. They have ranged historically from small 2-year-old “jack” salmon to 6-year-olds weighing sometimes more than 70 pounds. Most river-bound chinook spawn in the mainstems of the Rogue, Applegate and Illinois, while lower Rogue fish tend to spawn largely in tributaries.

The only hatchery influence is a small facility on Indian Creek near Gold Beach and strays from other river systems.

An estimated 16 percent of the Rogue’s fall chinook population is caught at sea in sport and commercial fisheries, while in-river catches can shave another 10 to 15 percent off the run, Confer says.

Read it:

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120603/NEWS/206030327

PNP comment: We knew this would be a slam with lies. The Karuk’s hired a firm last fall to do a groundwater study and it was completed in 6 months!!! Didn’t even do a study on the complexities of groundwater for a full year. Pretty amazing hypothesis! Sham science for sure. Flawed and fraud, it is. — Editor Liz Bowen

Report says groundwater pumping is depleting Scott River flows : Indybay

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/06/02/18714577.php

by Dan Bacher

June 2, 2012

Photo: Dead endangered coho salmon on Patterson Creek, a tributary of the Scott River. Photo by Erica Terence, Klamath Riverkeeper.

Happy Camp, CA – On June 1, the Karuk Tribe released a report entitled “Groundwater Conditions in Scott Valley” documenting the depletion of Scott River flows by groundwater pumping.

S. S. Popadopolous and Associates, a prominent environmental engineering firm, prepared the report under contract with the Tribe. The Scott River is a major tributary of the Klamath River.

The results show that as groundwater pumping has increased in Scott Valley over the years, stream flows have decreased. “We believe that this will have a critical effect on all natural resources,” explained Karuk Chairman Buster Attebery.

The Tribe said the report is based on “extensive data presently available in the public record,” including over 1,000 well logs, soil and geologic data, groundwater elevations, well tests, high-resolution land surface elevation data, crop and riparian vegetation mapping, climatological data and stream gage records.

As part of this work, a high-resolution groundwater model of the Scott Valley has been prepared, suitable for characterization of valley-wide groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions.

“The report shows that unregulated groundwater use is a key factor in the decline of one of the Klamath’s most important salmon streams,” according to the Tribe.

Some groundwater use in the Valley is regulated pursuant to the 1980 Scott Valley adjudication. However, the adjudication only applies to groundwater users within a limited area near the river channel referred to as the ‘interconnected zone.’

“Outside the interconnected zone, groundwater users are free to pump all the water they wish,” the Tribe stated. “The overwhelming majority of wells drilled since 1980 have been placed outside this interconnected zone. The report shows that the interconnected zone is drawn too small such that much of the use in the Valley is not considered by the adjudication.”

Since 1980, the number of wells has steadily increased. There were 99 irrigation wells in 1979; 130 irrigation wells by 1999; and 172 irrigation wells as of 2010. In all there are nearly 800 wells in Scott Valley.

“We support Siskiyou County’s agricultural economy, but we have to find a better balance between agriculture and fisheries so we can all thrive economically and culturally,” said Attebery.

The Tribe hopes to work with local, state, and federal agencies as well as landowners to put the Groundwater Model to good use. The model can be used as tool to evaluate restoration ideas to determine what actions address the problem of impaired stream flows.

“We want to hear ideas that we can evaluate using this new ground water model,” said Attebery. “Can we solve this problem by recharging groundwater stores with off channel reservoirs or beaver ponds? Do we need a shorter irrigation season? We don’t know the answers to all these questions yet but that’s the next step and this model is a good tool for answering such questions.”

The Scott River has been the frequent scene of coho salmon strandings in disconnected pools in the summer when the river dries up. More than a thousand ESA-listed coho were reportedly “rescued” from dewatered creeks feeding the Scott river by California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) personnel in July 2011, according to the Klamath Riverkeeper.

The agency transferred the stressed baby salmon into the nearby mainstem Scott River. More than 1,500 coho were transported out of disconnected pools up Kidder Creek July 25 and 26, according to the Yreka CDFG Senior Scientist Mark Pisano.

The Tribe plans to set up a technical work group made up of fisheries and hydrology experts, including local input, to develop a list of potential restoration actions that can be evaluated with the model. The idea is to develop a restoration plan for the Scott that allows for a sustainable fishery and healthy farm economy for the area.

The report and an executive summary can be found at: http://www.karuk.us/karuk2/departments/natural-resources/dnr

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

This information and much more that you need to know about the ESA,
the Klamath River Basin, and private property rights can be found at The
Klamath Bucket Brigade’s web site – http://klamathbucketbrigade.org/index.html –
please visit today.

Hastings Weighs in on Farm Bill Reauthorization
Last week, 83 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Hastings, sent a bipartisan letterexpressing support for specialty crops growers. The letter to the Committee on Agriculture requests fair consideration of research, pest management, and trade assistance programs that help U.S. growers and processors stay competitive.

Natural Resources Committee Continues Investigations on Energy Production
The Natural Resources Committee, led by Chairman Hastings, continues to investigate the Obama Administration and their energy policies. The Department of Interior installed a 6 month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a rewrite to the rules on coal production. Both measures have disrupted efforts to increase American energy development and have resulted in lost American jobs.

Hastings Praises Court Ruling to Allow Protection of Northwest Salmon to Continue
On Wednesday, a federal district court released a ruling that blocked a preliminary injunction to stop lethal removal of predatory California Sea Lions that have been feasting on endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam. Hastings, who has introduced the bipartisan Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act, applauded the ruling, which will allow the most aggressive sea lions to continue to be removed this year. Click here to read Hastings’ full statement.

PNP comment: I applaud the Fox 5 for addressing this situation in such a frank manner. Even Democrat Bob Beckel says using drone fly planes to spy on cows and cow manure is unconstitutional. — Editor Liz Bowen

Midwest cattle farmers cry foul!

Fox 5 asks that question: On what statute is the authority given to EPA to spy on ranchers in Nebraska?

Also: This is an invasion of the 4th Amendment of illegal search and seizure.

Even Agenda 21 is mentioned.

EPA claims ranchers need a Permit for cow manure!

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/the-five/index.html#/v/1668141654001/epa-spying-on-ranchers/?playlist_id=1040983441001