Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to leave office having achieved what he calls "comprehensive water reform."
This includes improved water conveyance and habitat restoration in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, and increased water storage and conservation for the entire state.
This is a worthy and ambitious to-do list. Yet it doesn't go far enough. Along with advancing a water agenda, Schwarzenegger needs to advance a salmon agenda. Otherwise, the governor could leave office with the state's prized salmon fisheries sinking into oblivion.
During Schwarzenegger's tenure, he has supported Klamath River restoration and aid to salmon fishermen who have been put out of work. But his administration hasn't done enough to improve conditions for salmon in the Central Valley, where these magnificent fish confront a range of perils.
The giant pumps in the Delta, which kill fish directly and also alter the flows of the estuary, are one of these perils. Unscreened water diversions are another.
Extremely warm, polluted water from the San Joaquin River hurts salmon in that part of the Delta. Upstream on the Sacramento River, irregular flows in dammed tributaries such as the American River harm salmon trying to spawn.
To be sure, conditions in the ocean have much to do with recent salmon declines. Scientists have documented a reduction in the usual "upwelling" of nutrient-rich currents that generate food for salmon while they are in the ocean.
Yet as biologists have pointed out, the decline of chinook salmon has been ongoing for 150 years, even during periods when ocean conditions were favorable. As UC Davis biologist Peter Moyle points out, blaming ocean conditions for salmon declines is like blaming an iceberg for sinking the Titanic. Such a view, he says, "ignores the many human errors that put the ship on course for the fatal collision."
With the change in the White House, there's an opportunity for California and the Obama administration to pursue the goals of salmon recovery. The 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act, viewed with hostility by the second Bush administration, calls for at least a doubling of salmon populations on a "long-term sustainable basis."
To meet this goal, California must learn from successes. These include the dismantling of obsolete dams on Butte Creek and Clear Creek that previously blocked salmon from important habitat. Congressional approval of the San Joaquin River restoration settlement also offers potential for restoring salmon.
The Yolo Bypass is an even bigger prize. For years, scientists have known that young salmon rearing in the floodplains of the bypass grow faster and fatter than their counterparts in the Sacramento River. If the state were to better manage the bypass for salmon – by putting more water down it in non-flood years and improving fish passage – it could reap a huge return for very little investment.
None of this comes easily. Flooding more of the bypass for salmon means less for agriculture or other forms of habitat. All that must worked through, with affected parties adequately compensated.
Yet these and other salmon restoration goals can't stay on the back burner any longer. With state's fishing industry on the ropes, Schwarzenegger must make salmon a centerpiece of his water agenda.
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