Friends of the Eel River Claims a Win for Eel River Salmon and Steelhead, and the Endangered Species Act
Aerial photo of Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury [Photo by Rob Badger; via Friends of the Eel River]
Friends of the Eel River (FOER) has claimed an obscure but important win in our fight to reverse the harms Pacific Gas & Electric’s two Potter Valley Project dams continue to cause critically imperiled Eel River salmon and steelhead. Though it took the threat of a lawsuit, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has conceded it improperly approved an operations plan for new doors on the fish ladder at Cape Horn dam. The Commission failed to take the basic steps required by the Endangered Species Act to ensure listed species won’t be pushed closer to extinction by federal actions.
On March 25, FERC issued a new Order withdrawing the January 28 Order FOER had challeged. Having apparently received a revelation, FERC wrote that “(c)ommission staff has determined that we are required to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to ensure that implementation of the Plan is not likely to ‘jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of such species…’”
“FERC’s about-face is a victory for us and a result of our diligent efforts to protect the Eel River’s native fish,” said Alicia Hamann, FOER’s Executive Director. “FERC is notorious for refusing to consult over the impacts on fish and wildlife of the dams it regulates. We’re very happy to see the Commission acknowledge, even in this small instance, that the Endangered Species Act does impose a legal duty on FERC itself to ask the expert agencies how its projects affect listed species.”
“This should help move all parties involved toward a realistic solution to the Eel River dams,” said FOER Conservation Director Scott Greacen. “FERC’s concession means NMFS will take a long overdue look at Cape Horn dam’s fish ladder, the longest and highest in California, through the prism of the Endangered Species Act. If a truly adequate fish ladder is even possible at Cape Horn dam, we have to know what would it cost compared to just removing the dam. The Two Basin Partnership now seeking to relicense the Potter Valley Project has proposed removing Scott dam, but so far refused to even consider removing Cape Horn dam. That will have to change.”
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We need more water storage in the west not less. Temperature in the river is not conducive to a good Salmon run without the dams anyway. The fiction of a huge economic return from dam removal is false it’s an extremely small amount of fish compared to historical levels and just a few years ago less than 20 years the same tribes pushing dam removal were commercially fishing the rivers in obscene quantities but it was done in secret and Carl the fishery observer is a crook sorry Calaveras bro. We should not be fooled by the false tribal propaganda I am part Native American and because a part of my community chooses to live on reservations in remote areas I don’t believe that we should have to reorder our entire water system to suit there selfish desires.
How can people still be so profoundly ignorant on this topic?
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/feb/13/econews-report-busting-myths-about-klamath-dam-rem/
hmm, basically because they don’t give a “dam.”!
So if a species of fish that habitually returns to where it was originally born in order to spawn, and those parts of the river beyond the Cape Horn Dam have been blocked to fish travel for decades, forcing the subsequent generations of fish to spawn below the dam, will building a fish ladder even do anything or will it be a waste? Will the fish actually start to use the ladder to explore previously inaccessible parts of the river? Or will they just continue to spawn below the ladder where they were born?
Great question. Assuming the fish ladder is suitable, a portion of the run will begin to spawn upstream.
there are hundreds if not thousands of green sturgeon that attempt to reach a creek/lagoon system that hasn’t existed for a hundred years. some of the fish are old but not that old. that’s Jacoby Creek. the same behavior can be witnessed at Lagunitas Creek in Tomales Bay at the same of the year. I have witnessed both locations.
Below unless released by a hatchery at very high cost in the unexplored areas. Anecdotal evidence of seeing some fish doesn’t show the cost benefits of keeping the dams for water storage or what improvement of the fishery and who will be allowed to benefit from the increase in fishery. I would be happier if all tribes forsworn commercially fishing the salmon in perpetuity. To be monitored by fishery observers that don’t live on the reservation and grow large amounts of cannabis.
Great. Nice too see are community coming together for the three with if the address. Finally hot take take take for a CA wants. Three still some good people left in see community. Keep up the good work.
I wanted to try just using auto correct suggestions too! They hold half of the day before I got a ride home and haven’t pulled pork chops with the adjusted to go back tmrw nite-
They’re upset over new doors on a fish ladder? Seems like they should sue friends of the eel for harassment at this point.
They don’t have a case.
The issue is not the modifications to the fish ladder, but FERC’s lack of consulting with wildlife agencies as required by the endangered species act. And lol, federal agencies can’t sue citizen’s groups for commenting on their actions.
Dams at the headwaters of the Eel aren’t the big problem.
Only way to save the Eel river is block diversion of the Eel river waters to the Russian river.
However, big $$$$$$$$$ won’t allow that.
Water diversion had been going on for a long time, but the construction of the Lake Mendicino reservoir
(near Ukiah) made the diversion issue a lot worse.
At that point the Eel river was headed er… downhill. (No April fools joke there.)
the best stretch of the entire eel river system for steelhead, IMO, is between this dam and the potter valley diversion. you can’t keep anything except squawfish so you must claim you are targeting squawfish to throw your barbless lure around legally.
According to fish biologists:
1. The best spawning grounds for steelhead and salmon are between Van Arsdale and Scott Dam because the water temperatures are regulated by outflows of Scott Dam
2. Global warming has made many of the tributaries feeding the eel poor fish habitat, including those above Scott Dam
There is no short term solution for global warming so using Scott Dam to control temperatures and flows in the eel is the only tool available to counterbalance warming.