PUB00136

• Year: 1997
• Title: Arkansas Groundwater Users Association - 1997 Plan Year Arkansas River Replacement Plan
• CWCB Section: Stream & Lake Protection
• Author: Rocky Mountain Consultants, Inc.
• Description: Application for plan to divert tributary groundwater in the Arkansas River Basin, Colorado
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

Sacramento River made by the California Depart*
ment of Fish and Game fell from a record high of
117,000 adults and grilses (retuming one- or two-
year-aids) to as low as 191 in the drought year of
1991, Experts cite a number of factors potentially
responsible for the dramatic decline of salmon
populations in many Central Valley rivers, including
droughts, habitat destruction, water diversions,
migratory obstacles such as dams, over-fishing,
climate changes such as the El Nino phenomenon,
pollution, and introduced predator species,

Better management of instream flows is expected to
be a primary strategy for rebuilding salmon popula-
tions, but it is being augmented by many other steps
such as habitat restoration and fish screens at water
diversions to keep salmon in the stream. The Bureau
installed an $80 million temperature-control device
at Shasta Dam in 1997 that allows for release of
colder water for winter-run salmon reproduction
without affecting hydroelectric power production,

SACRAMENTO RIVER

Flowing south 380 miles from the slopes of Mount
Shasta to the Delta southwest of Sacramento, the
Sacramento is California's longest river, and
arguably its most important. The river is the
largest source of fresh water flowing into the
Delta, delivers a major part of the irrigation water
that sustains California agriculture and supports
four salmon runs.

During the Gold Rush, the river regularly flooded
the would-be state capitol named alter it. Over
the next several decades, the Sacramento was
tapped for irrigation water by farmers drawn to
the rich valley soils, and extensive levees were
built to keep the river from flooding farmlands and
small towns that sprang up along its banks,
Finally, in 1945, Shasta Dam was completed just
north of Redding, giving some measure of control
to periodic flooding,

The levees and Shasta Dam allowed farming and
towns to develop up to the very banks of the
Sacramento River, sharply reducing the riparian
forest of cottonwoods, willows and valley oaks that
once lined its course. Mining, flow changes and
pollution on the Sacramento and its tributaries
sharply reduced salmon runs,

The Sacramento River is a focal point for resto-
ration efforts involving government agencies,

Ideal salmon spawning areas feature clean gravel
stream beds and cool, deep pools. Dams erected
on major rivers and tributaries have blocked salmon
from reaching much of their historic spawning habitat
and the natural downstream movement of gravels
that create the habitat. Dams have been removed
on some tributaries of the Sacramento River such
as Battle and Butte creeks to open access to
upstream spawning areas.

Stream flow measures announced under the CVPIA
have been controversial. While the law mandates up
to 800,000 acre-feet per year of CVP yield be
dedicated for environmental purposes, stakeholders
have disagreed about how much of that flow can later
be recaptured and exported for other uses, Attempts
by the U,S, Department of the Interior to find a
compromise solution haven't satisfied environ-
mentalists or CVP water users, both of which filed
legal challenges to an Interior plan to vary the amount
of water depending on the needs of fish,

environmental groups and private landowners,
In December 1999, state officials created a
213,000-acre Sacramento River Conservation
Area between Redding and Sacramento where,
with the cooperation of local landowners, they
hope to recreate some of the river's former
meandering course and restore some of the
riparian forest that once lined its banks, These
cooperative restoration projects could become
models for similar efforts on other rivers,

Several smaller scale restoration projects along
the river suggest that the Sacramento River
Conservation Area could work as its backers
intend, At one pilot project, a 33-acre site
just north of Orland, midway between
Sacramento and Redding, native riparian
vegetation was planted in 1991, and has attracted
20 species of native songbirds, At another
GO-acre parcel near Bulle City, a Chico-based
conservation group is experimenting with row
planting of nafive cottonwoods, elderberries and
oaks along the river that later will be filled in by
other vegetation during floods, The city of
Hamilton City wants to remove a failure*prone,
privately owned levee near the town and replace
it with a 9,000-acre meander belt and bypass
area that would provide open space, wildlife
habitat and acreage for perennial agriculture such
as orchards,

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