Arizona Water Resource Volume 12 Number 1

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4 Arizona Water Resource July - August 2003 CEMIXI Increased Fees Enable ADWR to Rehire Some Staff Some Arizona Department of Water Resources personnel laid off due to the ongoing budget crunch have been rehired, although their rehiring is not a sign that hard times are letting up for the agency. Last fall, six staff members who processed notices of intent to drill were let go. With the staff gone, the agency still had the statu- tory responsibility of responding to the about 4,000 to 6,000 requests per year to drill wells. The agency was able to rehire staff members in the Notice of Intent section because the Legislature last year raised the notice of intent to drill fee from $10 to $150 within Active Management Areas. Fees in non -AMAs were raised to $100, to even- tually reach $150 in two years. Jim Holway, assistant director of ADWR's water management division, says, "That money gave us a dedicated fund for the wells- related program that allowed us to rehire four staff members.... We laid off six, and one retired and we hired back five. The sixth person had been previously re- hired when a vacancy occurred." Holway explains the funding concept: "The idea is that the fee basically pays for the program. Many people hold the theory that this might be something the state should do a whole lot more of, that persons needing the service of permit programs pay for the program." The agency figures that the fees will ini- tially bring in about $400,000 this year and up to possibly $500,000 when the higher non -AMA fees take effect. This will allow the agency two additional FTS in the NOI section. The state's Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund also suffered staff cut- backs. Without the good fortune of a new funding stream, however, WQARF lacks the resources to rehire its laid off staff. Holway warns that the agency remains in difficult budgetary straits. He says agency staffing is down to about 170 general fund employees, although it is authorized to ap- proximately 200 minimum. Even consider- ing the number of employees now on board the agency is underfunded by $1.8 million. Fire, Drought Aid Recovery of Native Species Fire Likely Cause of Native Fish Increase Last year's Rodeo- Chediski fire wrought havoc to a large for- ested area of the state but may have helped boost Arizona's na- tive fish population in a stretch of the Salt River. State biologists speculate that runoff from the fire area caused a population de- cline of a flathead catfish that preyed on native fish. The flathead catfish has been the bane of native fish in the area since their introduction into the Salt River in 1974. At that time, state biologists released 400 4- inch -long flathead hatcblings into the river at a point north of Roosevelt Lake as game fish for recreational fisherman. Native to the Mississippi River Basin, the catfish in their new environment became voracious feeders on fish native to Arizona, with the result that the catfish population multiplied while the native fish numbers in the area plummeted. These included the Sonora sucker, roundtail chub and other native fish. The catfish, which can grow over 4 feet, became stubborn residents of their new waters, able to withstand efforts to remove them to preserve the native fish. Biologists monitored their num- bers. Numbers of a recent survey of 32 miles of the Salt River greatly surprised biologists when they found the flatheads almost gone. Expecting to find hundreds, they found only 35. The largest catfish measured only 20 inches, with no young fish to be found. In an effort to explain the drastic, albeit welcome decline of the catfish, biologists speculate that the ash and soil that the monsoon rains of last year washed from areas burned by the Rodeo - Chediski fire were the likely cause. The rains washed the sediment through tributaries into the Salt River which flowed black for while. The ash likely killed the catfish. This was contrary to expectations. Native to the Mississippi River, the flatheads were expected to survive muddy waters. Biologists are under no illusions the catfish are completely eradicated but expect that the native fish population will make significant gains before the catfish again reach population levels. Drought Benefits Sabino Canyon Frogs Whatever hardships or inconveniences were caused by the ex- tended drought, Tucson's Sabino Canyon native frog species have benefitted from the prolonged dry conditions. This is a finding of the authors of an upcoming book devoted to Sabino Canyon's reptiles and amphibians. Phil Rose of the University of Arizona's School of Renew- able Natural Resources explains that pools serving as habitat for exotic critters such as bullfrogs, crayfish and green sunfish have dried up. With these invasive species gone, conditions were thus favorable for the return of the native frogs. Native frogs had previously been at a disadvantage. Invasive species are more aggressive when competing with native spe- cies for food and /or they prey on them. The result is the same: reduced numbers of native species. With the occurrence of extreme desert conditions such as prolonged drought or severe flooding, native species can hold their own against exotic species that generally prefer slow - moving perennial waters. Rose is collaborating on the Sabino Canyon book with natu- ralist David Lazaroff who has studied the amphibian and reptile species of the area for over 25 years.