The Current Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 29

We were able to see first-hand an unusual phenomena along the Trinity River during August and September. Diverted by as much as 90% since 1963, the Trinity would typically be running at about 400 cubic feet per second (cfs). Yet here it was, spilling around 1100 cfs over Lewiston Dam downstream toward the Klamath, of which the Trinity is a tributary, water. Water that is direly needed in a parched Central Valley, where ground water extraction has actually caused the earth to lower in the San Joaquin Valley in a phenomena

called subsidence.

According to Leon Szeptycki, of Stanford University’s Woods Institute, ground water extraction has become the fallback during drought that has policy makers scrambling with arcane issues like senior and junior water rights throughout the state. Who would think anyone, on any level, would peer into the far northwestern corner of California and eye anything concerning salmon. And if so, who would tackle it? Yet, as the parasite Ick was discovered among salmonids in the Klamath estuary this year, fear arose of another salmon die-off similar to the massive kill of 2002.

Back to who would tackle the issue. Oddly enough, it was the Bureau of Reclamation, ordering water from the Trinity down to the Klamath to dilute the stream. Cries of foul were immediate from such groups as Westlands Water District, near Fresno, yet the ruling was upheld.

The elephant in the closet here, though, is Klamath dam removal, and the impounded water that is the source of Klamath contaminates. Stop-gap measures, while good for the Trinity, underscore the plight of salmon and steelhead without dealing

with the root of the problem. How this plays out as we move forward will say much about redefining the balance between corporate agriculture and anadromous fisheries throughout the state. As the old saying goes, ‘may you live in interesting times.’