There is plenty of cold water in California for the Sacramento and American Rivers, if, we would capture more of it when it rains so that when the salmon need it, we can release it to the rivers, see this recent blog post.
With this obvious reality—well understood by public leadership of times past—still being ignored by some media, as today’s Bee editorial repeats, the elusive solution that doesn’t rely on building more dams, will remain so, and editorials like this one will keep ending up writing about blank walls of water-starved rivers and degraded salmon runs.
An excerpt.
“• Central Valley salmon are suffering only because of ocean conditions. Another falsehood. Salmon runs have bounced around but have generally declined since the 1960s, even with gyrating ocean conditions. Clearly, their habitat in the Valley has degraded – a habitat that is dependent on clear, cold, abundant water.
“Through improved conservation, water banking, groundwater storage and other projects, California can help its farms and cities weather the dry periods while rebuilding a healthy fishery. That will take a cooperative approach.”
