Central Valley rivers once pulsed with millions of salmon and other native anadromous fish, but over the past five decades a variety of human activities have greatly diminished those great migratory runs. Today fewer than 300,000 Chinook salmon pass through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Now, federal and state agencies, stakeholders, and myriad partners are working on a variety of mitigation and restoration projects to benefit California's historic fishery.
Perhaps the most difficult and challenging of these is the Anadromous Fish Restoration Program (AFRP), a component of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992.
"This is an opportunity for the Department of the Interior to collaborate with other agencies, organizations, and individuals to increase natural production of anadromous fish in the Central Valley," said Wayne White, California state supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Meeting the needs of diverse and often competing water users is a complex and difficult endeavor that requires the participation of local, state, and federal agencies, nonprofits, and stakeholders in the Bay-Delta and other watersheds.
"The discussion is not whether the restoration of the Valley's great rivers and streams is a worthy goal, but, rather, how that objective is pursued. The only feasible way to do it is through cooperation with each of California's major water sectors - environmental, urban, and agricultural," said Doug Wheeler, the state secretary for resources.
The AFRP fish restoration plan currently being circulated in draft eventually will be integrated with other federal and state programs to restore fish and wildlife in the Central Valley, such as California Department of Fish and Game's Plan for Action, the CALFED process to "fix" the Delta, and other components of the 1994 Bay-Delta Agreement.
Released in December 1995, the draft plan identifies 170 actions and 109 evaluations deemed "reasonable" by the Federal government in pursuit of the program's goals. The actions range from regulating flows to improving habitat for spawning fish, screening water diversions, and revitalizing gravel spawning beds.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has held four public workshops on the plan and expects to have the final plan out by late Spring.
The AFRP's goal is to make all possible efforts to ensure that by the year 2002 natural production of anadromous fish in Central Valley rivers and streams will be sustainable on a long-term basis at levels not less than twice the average levels attained in the years 1967-1991.
In June 1995, the Service released a Working Paper on Restoration Needs compiled by fish experts that estimated target levels of long-term, average production for four races of Chinook salmon, steelhead, striped bass, American shad, and white and green sturgeon. The paper also listed restoration actions that could at least double the natural production of these fishes.
Greg Gartrell, planning director for the Contra Costa Water District, said, "The Service has developed a useful process in which urban, agricultural, environmental, and fishing interests had the opportunity to provide input, and which allowed areas of consensus to be identified."
"There is no question that we must do what we can to restore California fisheries," said Bob Potter, chief deputy director of the State Department of Water Resources. "However, the actions deemed reasonable should not result in unreasonable costs or unreasonable impacts to urban or agricultural water users. We are working to ensure that the actions proposed under the AFRP incorporate the work of the CALFED process and the restoration actions already supported by stakeholders in the Bay-Delta process."
Mike Spear, Regional Director for the Service's six-state Pacific Region, hailed the approaches contained in the draft plan as a road map for all interests to work together to take reasonable actions to restore these valuable fish resources. "Through eventual implementation, we will be investing in the long-term health of Central Valley and Delta habitats," Spear said.
Some actions stipulated in the Act are underway, such as the use of 800,000 acre-feet of CVP water for fish and wildlife.
The draft ranked watersheds by their capacity to increase natural production, support species of special status, and be impacted either by CVP facilities or controlled flows. The Delta ranks first because it is highly degraded and because all anadromous fish in the Central Valley must pass through it as both juveniles and adults. Other priority watersheds are the Upper Sacramento River because it provides habitat for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon; its tributaries, especially Battle, Butte, Deer and Mill creeks; and tributaries of the San Joaquin River.
Local involvement is the key to the success of this program, according to White, who points to the 1991 California biodiversity memorandum of understanding as a model for the strategy employed by AFRP. The spirit of partnerships is already flowering along the Deer and Mill Creeks, where local conservancies and groups are working together to create solutions to resource problems.
"Partnerships are the cornerstone of making the program work," said Martin Kjelson, AFRP program manger. "There has been a lot of damage to the system. We can't do it all ourselves, but the Service and the Bureau of Reclamation do bring to the table a variety of tools, including the Restoration Fund."
To track the progress of the AFRP plan, call the "Grapevine" information line at 1-800-742-9474, then dial extension 542 after the recording begins. It also is on-line at (http://www.delta.dfg.ca.gov/afrp/).
For further information on AFRP, contact Martin Kjelson or Dan Castleberry at 209-946-6400.