Fishery expert says PG&E not to blame for salmon deaths
Chico Enterprise Record - 8/16/03
By Heather Hacking, staff writer

PG&E isn't to blame for fish dying along Butte Creek, according to Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist Paul Ward.

As many as 3,000 spring run Chinook salmon may have died this year, upsetting canyon residents and environmental groups that want better protection for the fish, which are listed on the state and federal Environmental Protection Act list as threatened.

Last year an estimated 1,700 fish died in the same waterway.

But Ward said fish are better off due to PG&E's operation of hydroelectric power plants on the Feather River and funneling of water back to Butte Creek after power has been generated.

Friends of Butte Creek leader Allen Harthorn and other environmental leaders blamed PG&E for not allowing enough water to flow in the upper reach of Butte Creek. He said PG&E could allow more water in that part of the creek, rather than siphoning it off to feed power plants along the stream.

PG&E is required to provide a minimum flow of 40 cubic feet per second in that part of the creek, which it does.

Spring run Chinook salmon were listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act list in 1998. The average run of the salmon from the ocean to spawn in Butte Creek was 360 from 1967-1991, according to numbers in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.

One year the count was below 100, Ward said.

Since then a concerted effort has been made to improve conditions along Butte Creek. Five dams have been removed, eight fish ladders were installed and five fish screens were added. A water exchange deal also secured a 40 cfs water flow in the creek from October to June.

The fish appear to be recovering, however its too soon to drop the spring-run Chinook from the threatened status through ESA, Ward said.

"It still merits being threatened until we have a recovering plan in place," through the National Marine Fisheries Service, Ward said.

The fish die-off this year is due to higher temperatures in the creek. The average temperatures in holding pools where fish congregate before spawning has been in the high 60s, Ward said.

Warm temperatures can exacerbate a disease called columnaris, which spreads especially fast when fish are bunched up together in large groups.

Fish deaths were higher in the area where PG&E takes water to run through the power plants. But Ward said that shouldn't be use to blame the utility company for the deaths.

"I don't think there is any impact from PG&E," Ward said. "If anything, what PG&E is doing is benefiting fish."

PG&E diverts water from the upper reaches of Butte Creek to Butte Canal. Then the water goes through hydro-electric plants, and is put back into Butte Creek, along with water brought from the West Branch of the Feather River.

This week environmental groups and canyon residents said lower levels of water in that upper section of the creek were causing high amounts of fish moralities because there wasn't enough water for the large fish population.

Ward said it was true low water causes the creek to warm up. Adding a few inches does cool down the water, but after that, the improvement in water temperature from increased flow has less and less effect, he said.

July was a lethally hot month for fish with much of the month over 100 degrees.

The water from the West Branch of the Feather River is cooler.

While temperature above where the Feather River water goes back into Butte Creek are warmer, the water is cooler overall throughout the entire stream, which has an overall better effect than leaving it for the upper stretch of the creek, Ward said.

Harthorn doesn't agree. He said 75 percent of the fish spawn above the powerhouses, in the area where water is the lowest. He believes the fish would be better off by having more water where the most spawning is done.

He said a document from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 1993 said Fish and Game wanted more water in the low-flow section to improve fish condition.

"If in 1993 they wanted more water in the low-flow, why don't they want more water now when there's more fish," Harthorn questioned.

He wants PG&E to stop pumping during July and August, which would mean less energy production at DeSabla and Centerville powerhouses.

A meeting of the Spring-Run Chinook Workshop is planned for 10 a.m. Sept. 3 at the Centerville Schoolhouse. Harthorn said he and other people who want changes on Butte Creek plan to attend and voice their concerns.

Ward said PG&E has been working closely with wildlife agencies and has been "very receptive to any suggestions on the part of the agencies as to how they might better manage it."

He said it could be problematic to attract large numbers of fish to the upper section. When fish are bottled up that way one fish might lay eggs in the same spot where another fish had just finished spawning. It's best for the population to be spread out, he said.

The creek overall "would have half the water if it weren't for PG&E. We don't feel they could distribute it better."

"There may be some fine tuning," Ward said, "but to paint PG&E as the culprit is inappropriate in this case."

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