{"id":3224,"date":"2020-05-11T07:57:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T14:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=3224"},"modified":"2020-05-11T07:57:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T14:57:32","slug":"klamaths-scott-river-salmon-and-steelhead-in-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=3224","title":{"rendered":"Klamath\u2019s Scott River Salmon and Steelhead in Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scott River – April 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

The Scott River is a major contributor to Klamath River salmon and steelhead runs.1<\/a><\/sup> The fry of fall-run Chinook and Coho salmon that spawned in the Scott system this past fall-winter are now leaving their gravel beds. Steelhead are completing their spawning run. These salmon and steelhead are in for a tough year because flows are low (Figure 1), precipitation has been minimal (Figure 2), and the snowpack is well below average (Figure 3).<\/p>\n

The state of California needs to step up to protect these iconic and socio-economically important wild salmon and steelhead runs and the critical habitats that support them. The State Water Resources Control Board, supported by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, needs to maintain adequate flows in the Scott River through the fall. If the state does nothing, the river will dry up by summer, and most of the young fish will die.<\/p>\n

The State Water Board and CDFW must control and carefully monitor surface diversions and groundwater extractions for pasture and hay irrigation. Otherwise, the river and all its aquatic life will die, and domestic-use water will dry up.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Coho salmon are a state and federally listed endangered species protected by law. Water rights issued and managed by the State Water Board require protection of these natural resources. Fish habitat is protected by state laws; state agencies need to enforce these laws. Local entities such as water districts, resource conservation districts, water and land trusts, tribes, communities, and landowners need to pitch in.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Streamflow in the Scott River September 2019 to April 2020, plotted next to 70-year average (log scale).<\/p><\/div>\n

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Figure 2. Monthly average precipitation in inches at Callahan, CA over past two decades. Note near zero precipitation in Feb 2020. Source: CDEC.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Figure 3. Snow survey data summary for Scott River and Shasta River watersheds in 2020. Source: CDEC.<\/p><\/div>\n

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  1. http:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=3013<\/a>, http:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=2900<\/a> ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Scott River is a major contributor to Klamath River salmon and steelhead runs.1 The fry of fall-run Chinook and Coho salmon that spawned in the Scott system this past fall-winter are now leaving their gravel beds. Steelhead are completing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinook","category-northern-california","category-water-quality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3229,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3224\/revisions\/3229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}