Not everyone pleased with Gorge settlement
News of a settlement agreement that requires the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to permanently provide the Owens River Gorge with water to restore lost natural resources, including the historic fish population, might read like a victory for Mono and Inyo Counties. But one Crowley Lake resident has a bone to pick with the agreement, which requires greater water flows to replicate the historic seasonal water patterns on a 10-mile stretch of the river.
In a letter addressed to California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Chuck Bonham, and cc’d to all local media, Jim Parker accuses the settlement agreement of “totally ignor[ing] the first nine miles of the Owens River immediately below the Long Valley Dam (Lake Crowley) to LADWP’s Upper Gorge Power Plant.”
Parker writes that the Gorge used to be “one of the finest fisheries for very large brown trout in California,” until the LADWP completed its Long Valley Dam and kept all but natural spring water from supplying the river.
He notes that the DWP’s dewatering of 19 miles of stream was “in flagrant violation of section 5937 of the Fish and Game Code which requires every dam keeper to maintain a live stream below his dam to preserve the then existing fishery in good condition.”
Parker concludes his letter by arguing that the new agreement, which he stated will not re-water the nine-mile stretch directly below Crowley, continues to violate section 5937.
CDFW Biologist Steve Parmenter disagrees. According to the recent Mono County D.A.’s press release on the settlement, Parmenter is “the last standing” of the team of Fish and Wildlife personnel that began looking for ways to restore the Gorge in 1991.
He explained that in spite of the significant drop in water flow after the Long Valley Dam was built (from a low of 160 cubic feet per second [cfs] pre-dam, to a low of just 16 cfs post-dam) four fish species survived in the river.
Among them is the Tui Chub, a fish designated endangered at both the state and federal level.
The Tui Chub resides in the first nine mile stretch below Crowley Lake, and as a result of the endangered listing, “The Fish and Wildlife Service designated that section as critical habitat in 1985,” Parmenter said. “So if we were to alter the conditions there, if we were to apply the flows we’re using in the lower Gorge, it would pretty much destroy the Tui Chub habitat.”
Moreover, he said, since the time the dam was built, Crowley Lake was invaded by a different species called the Lahontan Tui Chub. “When they come in contact with the native Tui Chub, they hybridize,” he said. “So the solution we crafted in this agreement was not to apply the State law [section 5937] there, but only in the lower Gorge.”
Although Parmenter admitted this could disappoint trout advocates, he pointed out that the bottom 10 miles re-watered by the DWP will likely generate their share of large trout.
Stream flows, which the DWP will vary according to season and to simulate naturally occurring wet and dry years, will rise to 55 cfs in the middle of this summer. After three years of lower baseline flows to allow the DWP to conduct necessary infrastructure improvements, the flow should rise to an occasional peak of 85 cfs. For comparison, the public is used to seeing about 35 cfs.
“One of the things that characterized the Gorge [before the dam] were these deep pools, which grow big fish,” Parmenter said. “There are pools with historic high water marks that go above my head. Now the pools have all filled in with sand and muck. The peak flows will scour out these pools to regular depth.”
Parmenter said that a 2003 experimental flow proved “50 years of accumulated sand and muck” could be cleared away by increased water flow “in a few hours.”
As for any effect on the climbing areas in the Gorge, Parmenter said he hadn’t heard complaints. It’s unlikely belay stations will be inundated, and “The footbridges shouldn’t really be affected. On the other hand, peak flows will wash them all the way down to the Pleasant Valley Reservoir. That will be a necessary management component. There will be plenty of warning.”
The overall change to the river, however, won’t be dramatic to the eye. “An increase from 35 to 85 cfs doesn’t make the river two and a half feet wider; it makes it a little wider, deeper, and faster,” he said.
The CDFW plans to continue monitoring the Owens River Gorge, and adapting water flows based upon scientific study. “The Gorge should be improving in three years, and then there should be a big leap forward in the quality of both the habitat and fishery,” Parmenter said. “I can’t say we’ll conclude monitoring in five to 10 years. It’ll be an ongoing thing.”
