Subject: SARSAS Update
Date: Thursday, October 9, 2008, 8:00 PM
Hello SARSAS Supporters,
Sarsas is now a 501C3, non-profit, tax exempt organization so those of you who have volunteered to donate money may do so. We received our status from the California Secretary of State and must file with the IRS to obtain our tax exempt number to give to donors for their ability to deduct their donations to SARSAS.
We have a very knowledgeable SARSAS Steering Committee in place and are working in several areas to get anadromous fishes into the entire length of the Auburn Ravine. To update yourself on SARSAS, you can check out our Blog:
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail.html?sub_id=83086.
We have a monthly SARSAS meeting (fourth Monday of each month) with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt in which we meet with representatives of Placer Legacy, PG&E, Placer County Water Agency, Nevada Irrigation District, CABY, Auburn City Council, CaDFG, and other interested parties to keep our focus on getting salmon back into the Auburn Ravine. The most recent CaDFG fish count indicates the Auburn Ravine averages 7,000 trout per mile, making in one of the richest fisheries in California.
Last week I toured Butte Creek near Chico to view the most successful creek restoration project in the state. Six thousand spring run salmon were spawning, and I thought I was standing on the banks of a creek in Alaska such as Ketchikan Creek, watching the females using their tails to dig holes in the gravel to lay their eggs with the male fertilizing them. This creek is a foreshadowing of what the Auburn Ravine will be.
We are working with the Dry Creek Conservancy to coordinate a fish count on the Ravine sometime in December 2008.
Auburn Ravine has twelve man-made barriers blocking the salmon and steelhead from reaching Auburn, in whose Auburn School Park Preserve we hope the salmon will ultimately be able to spawn, in the center of Auburn, Ca. Four of the barriers are major barriers: the Lincoln Gaging Station, located a mile downstream from the city of Lincoln; the Hemphill Dam, two miles upstream from Lincoln, the Lincoln Ranch Duck Club Dam, a mile above Locust Rd several miles downstream from Lincoln; and the Gold Hill Diversion Dam, one mile upstream from Gold Hill Road.
Here is the good news. Placer Legacy working with CABY and NID has funded and are doing the design work to retrofit the Lincoln Gaging Station and the Hemphill Dam, making them both passable for salmon and steelhead, probably within a year.
We just learned this week that the CaDFG working with NOAA were able to get the Lincoln Ranch Duck Club Dam completely removed, opening up another ten mile reach of the Auburn Ravine. Removal of this barrier is our Big News. The next barrier to be addressed will be the Gold Hill Diversion Dam.
Once salmon reach the Wise Powerhouse one mile downstream from Auburn, the real work begins because this reach needs additional water and major habitat restoration.
All things are possible. First, comes the dream, then the strategy.
Thanks for all your support and interest.
Jack L. Sanchez SARSAS (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead)
Volunteer Coordinator
3675 Larkin Lane, Auburn, CA 95602 530-888-0281
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Another SARSAS Blog
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail.html?sub_id=83086
Copy and paste into google.
Copy and paste into google.
Friday, May 2, 2008
SARSAS ACTION PLAN
SARSAS (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead)
Action Plan
Mission Statement: to return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine
Organization: SARSAS is an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental organization, whose goal is to work collaboratively and cooperatively to modify the twelve man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes.
Vision: This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of the lives of those in this area and on the participants who will achieve something unique. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Collaborative Technique: SARSAS is working with volunteers, students, local businesses, government agencies and other Non-Government Organizations and donations of money, time and in-kind services to achieve its goal of returning salmon and steelhead with them ultimately spawning in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of Auburn. SARSAS is currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize its goal.
Locally, we are working with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy and the California Department of Fish and Game, Auburn City Council. We have been given stream access by property owners along the AR for volunteers to do fish studies. Placer Legacy is working with Nevada Irrigation District to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gaging stations. Granite Bay Fly Casters places fish tanks in schools.
SARSAS is committed to working collaboratively and cooperatively with all people and agencies to return the salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and to keep the water flowing for residential and commerical use.
Operations: SARSAS plans to accept donations of cash and work and professional expertise and to work outside the usual channels of large financial grants. SARSAS has the ability to accept grant money as well as apply for grants through such non- profits as CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and AmericanRivers.org, which already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers describe in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan. (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx).
Model: The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. All facets of the community worked together. SARSAS intends to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California.
Philosophy: Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE TRIUMPH AND THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH.
Comments and questions as well as donations made out to SARSAS can be directed to: Jack L. Sanchez, 3675 Larkin Lane, Auburn, CA 95602,530 888 0281,alcamus39@hotmail
Action Plan
Mission Statement: to return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine
Organization: SARSAS is an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental organization, whose goal is to work collaboratively and cooperatively to modify the twelve man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes.
Vision: This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of the lives of those in this area and on the participants who will achieve something unique. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Collaborative Technique: SARSAS is working with volunteers, students, local businesses, government agencies and other Non-Government Organizations and donations of money, time and in-kind services to achieve its goal of returning salmon and steelhead with them ultimately spawning in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of Auburn. SARSAS is currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize its goal.
Locally, we are working with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy and the California Department of Fish and Game, Auburn City Council. We have been given stream access by property owners along the AR for volunteers to do fish studies. Placer Legacy is working with Nevada Irrigation District to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gaging stations. Granite Bay Fly Casters places fish tanks in schools.
SARSAS is committed to working collaboratively and cooperatively with all people and agencies to return the salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and to keep the water flowing for residential and commerical use.
Operations: SARSAS plans to accept donations of cash and work and professional expertise and to work outside the usual channels of large financial grants. SARSAS has the ability to accept grant money as well as apply for grants through such non- profits as CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and AmericanRivers.org, which already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers describe in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan. (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx).
Model: The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. All facets of the community worked together. SARSAS intends to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California.
Philosophy: Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE TRIUMPH AND THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH.
Comments and questions as well as donations made out to SARSAS can be directed to: Jack L. Sanchez, 3675 Larkin Lane, Auburn, CA 95602,530 888 0281,alcamus39@hotmail
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Saving the Salmon One Stream at a Time
Re: A Fisherman’s View of the salmon crisis by Dave Bitts, April 28, 2008, SacBee
“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee,” says Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick, after averting another fishing crisis. Someone must have Ishmael's courage to see things straight on and speak truth to power.
David Bitts rightly says the pressure on all waterways in the Sacramento River drainage has been unrelenting and unabated. I know first hand the pressure on one stream on which I grew up, the Auburn Ravine, which has continued unabated for over sixty years. I want to use the Auburn Ravine to speak to the pressures that all our waterways are under and try to understand why the salmon are currently in such peril.
Mr. Bitts says rightly that “we have abused our rivers to the point that the fish are on the verge of vanishing”. The Auburn Ravine was polluted for years by the affluent of the city of Auburn, improperly treated, being dumped directly into the Ravine. Finally, the State of California fined the city and forced it to clean up itS affluent. The stench was so strong from the polluted Ravine that people living on it were forced to leave their homes. Water quality was improved when the State of California began fining Auburn for non-compliance with its water quality standards. Conditions improved but pollutions spills continue.
Then the Feds started to build the Auburn Dam on the American River near Auburn. A tunnel was drilled from the dam sight through the mountain to the Auburn Ravine in Ophir. The Ravine bed was bulldozed supposedly to improve water flow, destroying countless aquatic life forms and their habitat such as pond turtles, pacific lamprey eels, muskrats, sculpin and frogs to name only a fraction. The Chinook salmon were blocked long ago from coming up the Ravine to Auburn.
Noone seems to pinpoint a cause so many causes are listed. As Mr. Bitts states the main cause can all too neatly be attributed to ocean conditions that cannot be measured or controlled and no one or no one condition can be held accountable for the impending extinction so nothing logically can be done about it because no one agrees on the cause. Not knowing the cause is much too neat and too easy an attribution.
Salmon have evolved over eons to survive the vagaries of ocean conditions and have successfully done so. What salmon have not evolved to survive is the damming of their rivers, the diversion of the river water and the seasonal shutoffs of water flow by irrigation districts to maintain canals.
When streams are blocked and water is taken away from the creeks during the fall, when agricultural usage is lowest, that is specifically the time when Fall Run Chinook Salmon are coming up the stream to spawn, then the mystery of the impending salmon extinction is obvious and easily explainable: salmon are deprived of stream passage, water quality and, finally, of water, the world they live in.
If salmon do not have water to spawn in, the salmon cycle is doomed. Not having adequate water when they need it is a death sentence for salmon. Blocking stream passage with barriers is another death sentence.
Everyone wants to help but no one individual or person is starting the process to help.
Man has put salmon on life support; man must now start supporting the life of salmon. Job is telling us to start now to save the salmon.
Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS) is a good organization to contact alcamus39@hotmail.com to start helping the salmon on one small ravine in the Sacramento River Drainage. SARSAS’s goal is to provide a navigable passage for anadromous fishes on the entire fifty mile length of the Auburn Ravine so salmon may spawn in the center of Auburn.
SOURCES FOR ABOVE ARTICLE
View: Oregon, California salmon
LC
April 1, 2008
The (Eugene) Register-Guard, March 26, 2008
Times are hard for industries all across America, but they may be toughest for salmon fishermen on the Oregon and California coasts.
For three consecutive years, dismal salmon returns on the Klamath River have resulted in disastrous seasons for West Coast fishermen and the communities that rely on the business they create for small ports.
The coming year could be the worst of all — the first complete shutdown of both the commercial and sport seasons ever on the West Coast.
A closure order could come as early as this weekend, when the Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in Sacramento. The council is weighing three options, ranging from a bare-bones season to a total ban. Fishermen are expecting the worst and for good reason.
While the Klamath River runs have improved, returns on the Sacramento River have collapsed. Only 90,000 Chinook returned to spawn last year, a 90 percent decline from just five years ago.
Projections for 2008 are abysmal — so low that any fishing, even for scientific research, will require an emergency order from U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who oversees the National Marine Fisheries Service.
That’s bad news on any river, but the Sacramento has by far the most important salmon run on the West Coast. By some estimates, the Sacramento supports 90 percent of the ocean fishery off the California coast and 50 percent off the Oregon and Washington coasts.
If the council announces a ban or even a repeat of the severe cutbacks ordered in 2006 the federal government must begin immediately the process of issuing the disaster declaration needed before Congress can approve emergency assistance for the fishing industry.
The governors of California, Oregon and Washington have asked Gutierrez to declare a fishery disaster, as have Sen. Ron Wyden and other members of Oregon’s congressional delegation.
The message should be clear to Gutierrez that there must be no repeat of the 2006 debacle in which the Bush administration took months to declare the salmon season a failure. As a result of that needless delay, some fishing families and businesses are just now getting some of the $60 million in aid that finally was authorized in the summer of 2007.
Gutierrez should pay a visit to ports in Oregon to get a firsthand feel for the extent of the problem. Without assistance, fishermen who barely have managed to hang on by turning to other species, such as tuna and crab, won’t be able to make it through another year.
With no income from salmon, they’ll be unable to cover boat mortgage payments and moorage fees. Businesses that rely on income from fishermen may fail, as will an Oregon Coast where the economy is built on a foundation of salmon.
It’s frustratingly unclear why the traditionally robust run of Sacramento Chinook has fallen to such perilously low levels. The most widely held theory is that a shift in ocean conditions has wiped out the salmon’s food supply.
But fish biologists rightly point out that a long chain of interlinked factors are also to blame, including overfishing, pollution, excessive water diversions to farms and cities, an overreliance on hatchery-produced fish, and, perhaps most importantly, the debilitating impact of dams. It’s revealing that the fishery management council plans to review 46 possible causes of the collapse of the Sacramento runs.
The solution to restoring runs on the Sacramento won’t be any less challenging than it is on the Klamath. It will require the combined effort of the fishing industry, farmers, Indian tribes, water-control agencies, utilities and environmentalists to rescue the Sacramento’s dwindling salmon runs.
But the first step must be to help the people who catch salmon for a living and the coastal communities where they live and work.
-- The Associated Press
Delaying Critical Habitat
The Bush Administration often asserts that critical habitat designations are being rushed, and that it quite
reasonably wants to delay them until after recovery plans are complete. Yet only 17% (=33) of the 195 critical
habitats it has been forced to designate occurred prior to a recovery plan. And in 25 of those 33 cases, it was
the Bush administration that was at fault for violating federal guidelines to issue recovery plans within three
years of listing. The Bush Administration is playing a cynical and deadly game by asking to delay critical
habitat until after recovery plans are complete, then refusing to complete the recovery plans.
“And I only am escaped alone to tell thee,” says Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick, after averting another fishing crisis. Someone must have Ishmael's courage to see things straight on and speak truth to power.
David Bitts rightly says the pressure on all waterways in the Sacramento River drainage has been unrelenting and unabated. I know first hand the pressure on one stream on which I grew up, the Auburn Ravine, which has continued unabated for over sixty years. I want to use the Auburn Ravine to speak to the pressures that all our waterways are under and try to understand why the salmon are currently in such peril.
Mr. Bitts says rightly that “we have abused our rivers to the point that the fish are on the verge of vanishing”. The Auburn Ravine was polluted for years by the affluent of the city of Auburn, improperly treated, being dumped directly into the Ravine. Finally, the State of California fined the city and forced it to clean up itS affluent. The stench was so strong from the polluted Ravine that people living on it were forced to leave their homes. Water quality was improved when the State of California began fining Auburn for non-compliance with its water quality standards. Conditions improved but pollutions spills continue.
Then the Feds started to build the Auburn Dam on the American River near Auburn. A tunnel was drilled from the dam sight through the mountain to the Auburn Ravine in Ophir. The Ravine bed was bulldozed supposedly to improve water flow, destroying countless aquatic life forms and their habitat such as pond turtles, pacific lamprey eels, muskrats, sculpin and frogs to name only a fraction. The Chinook salmon were blocked long ago from coming up the Ravine to Auburn.
Noone seems to pinpoint a cause so many causes are listed. As Mr. Bitts states the main cause can all too neatly be attributed to ocean conditions that cannot be measured or controlled and no one or no one condition can be held accountable for the impending extinction so nothing logically can be done about it because no one agrees on the cause. Not knowing the cause is much too neat and too easy an attribution.
Salmon have evolved over eons to survive the vagaries of ocean conditions and have successfully done so. What salmon have not evolved to survive is the damming of their rivers, the diversion of the river water and the seasonal shutoffs of water flow by irrigation districts to maintain canals.
When streams are blocked and water is taken away from the creeks during the fall, when agricultural usage is lowest, that is specifically the time when Fall Run Chinook Salmon are coming up the stream to spawn, then the mystery of the impending salmon extinction is obvious and easily explainable: salmon are deprived of stream passage, water quality and, finally, of water, the world they live in.
If salmon do not have water to spawn in, the salmon cycle is doomed. Not having adequate water when they need it is a death sentence for salmon. Blocking stream passage with barriers is another death sentence.
Everyone wants to help but no one individual or person is starting the process to help.
Man has put salmon on life support; man must now start supporting the life of salmon. Job is telling us to start now to save the salmon.
Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS) is a good organization to contact alcamus39@hotmail.com to start helping the salmon on one small ravine in the Sacramento River Drainage. SARSAS’s goal is to provide a navigable passage for anadromous fishes on the entire fifty mile length of the Auburn Ravine so salmon may spawn in the center of Auburn.
SOURCES FOR ABOVE ARTICLE
View: Oregon, California salmon
LC
April 1, 2008
The (Eugene) Register-Guard, March 26, 2008
Times are hard for industries all across America, but they may be toughest for salmon fishermen on the Oregon and California coasts.
For three consecutive years, dismal salmon returns on the Klamath River have resulted in disastrous seasons for West Coast fishermen and the communities that rely on the business they create for small ports.
The coming year could be the worst of all — the first complete shutdown of both the commercial and sport seasons ever on the West Coast.
A closure order could come as early as this weekend, when the Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in Sacramento. The council is weighing three options, ranging from a bare-bones season to a total ban. Fishermen are expecting the worst and for good reason.
While the Klamath River runs have improved, returns on the Sacramento River have collapsed. Only 90,000 Chinook returned to spawn last year, a 90 percent decline from just five years ago.
Projections for 2008 are abysmal — so low that any fishing, even for scientific research, will require an emergency order from U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who oversees the National Marine Fisheries Service.
That’s bad news on any river, but the Sacramento has by far the most important salmon run on the West Coast. By some estimates, the Sacramento supports 90 percent of the ocean fishery off the California coast and 50 percent off the Oregon and Washington coasts.
If the council announces a ban or even a repeat of the severe cutbacks ordered in 2006 the federal government must begin immediately the process of issuing the disaster declaration needed before Congress can approve emergency assistance for the fishing industry.
The governors of California, Oregon and Washington have asked Gutierrez to declare a fishery disaster, as have Sen. Ron Wyden and other members of Oregon’s congressional delegation.
The message should be clear to Gutierrez that there must be no repeat of the 2006 debacle in which the Bush administration took months to declare the salmon season a failure. As a result of that needless delay, some fishing families and businesses are just now getting some of the $60 million in aid that finally was authorized in the summer of 2007.
Gutierrez should pay a visit to ports in Oregon to get a firsthand feel for the extent of the problem. Without assistance, fishermen who barely have managed to hang on by turning to other species, such as tuna and crab, won’t be able to make it through another year.
With no income from salmon, they’ll be unable to cover boat mortgage payments and moorage fees. Businesses that rely on income from fishermen may fail, as will an Oregon Coast where the economy is built on a foundation of salmon.
It’s frustratingly unclear why the traditionally robust run of Sacramento Chinook has fallen to such perilously low levels. The most widely held theory is that a shift in ocean conditions has wiped out the salmon’s food supply.
But fish biologists rightly point out that a long chain of interlinked factors are also to blame, including overfishing, pollution, excessive water diversions to farms and cities, an overreliance on hatchery-produced fish, and, perhaps most importantly, the debilitating impact of dams. It’s revealing that the fishery management council plans to review 46 possible causes of the collapse of the Sacramento runs.
The solution to restoring runs on the Sacramento won’t be any less challenging than it is on the Klamath. It will require the combined effort of the fishing industry, farmers, Indian tribes, water-control agencies, utilities and environmentalists to rescue the Sacramento’s dwindling salmon runs.
But the first step must be to help the people who catch salmon for a living and the coastal communities where they live and work.
-- The Associated Press
Delaying Critical Habitat
The Bush Administration often asserts that critical habitat designations are being rushed, and that it quite
reasonably wants to delay them until after recovery plans are complete. Yet only 17% (=33) of the 195 critical
habitats it has been forced to designate occurred prior to a recovery plan. And in 25 of those 33 cases, it was
the Bush administration that was at fault for violating federal guidelines to issue recovery plans within three
years of listing. The Bush Administration is playing a cynical and deadly game by asking to delay critical
habitat until after recovery plans are complete, then refusing to complete the recovery plans.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A Fisherman’s View of the Salmon Crisis
By Dave Bitts
I wanted to become a salmon fisherman the first time I saw boats trolling around Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg as a kid. I have always approached this business with the attitude that we must leave the salmon fishery in good shape for the next generation.
Now, I worry whether we will leave our children and grandchildren any salmon at all. We've abused our rivers to the point that the fish are on the verge of permanently vanishing. Commercial and recreational fishermen, ice houses, fuel docks, boat yards, gear stores and other businesses could disappear along with the salmon.
Faced with a predicted salmon run in the Sacramento River of only half the minimum needed number of spawners, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council closed all commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California and Oregon and imposed significant restrictions in Washington. It's probably the right thing to do in these circumstances, but they took away my livelihood in one fell swoop. I had hoped I would add to my retirement this summer, not deplete it.
California trollers make most of our income from salmon. This is the third dismal salmon season in a row, coming on the heels of two mediocre crab seasons that would normally help offset the loss of salmon income. Many of us won't survive this disaster without significant help – and big changes in the way we treat rivers.
It's easy to fault ocean conditions for the salmon crisis, since we can't control the marine environment and no single entity can be held accountable.
This isn't just about ocean conditions. It's about our poor stewardship of our watersheds. Salmon evolved to deal with fluctuating ocean conditions. They didn't evolve to survive dams and unmitigated water diversions. Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon had been recovering until 2004, but after the federal government diverted more than half of the river's natural flow in 2005, Sacramento's salmon population began collapsing. Look north to Alaska, which has robust salmon runs and robust commercial, recreational and subsistence fishing. The difference is Alaska's free-flowing rivers aren't overcommitted to quench the insatiable and often wasteful thirst of cities, cotton crops, swimming pools and golf courses.
The Sacramento River system once yielded 2 million Chinook salmon a year. This year, with no fishing, 60,000 adults are expected to return. Wild salmon populations likewise are in dire straits in the Klamath and the Columbia-Snake river systems. The West Coast was once home to the most productive watersheds in the world, with these three river systems producing between 13 million and 19 million salmon a year.
All now suffer from too many dams, unsustainable water diversions and the suppression or politicization of science. Federal judges now are refereeing salmon recovery plans because the Bush administration refuses to follow the law and do the minimum necessary for salmon survival. The result is a West Coast disaster that will cost California's salmon industry $150 million.
Like most fishermen, I'm willing to forgo fishing this season. But for decades, the government's main fish recovery strategy has been to force more restrictions on fishermen, while ignoring flow and water quality issues. This is true in spite of the hundreds of millions that have been spent on restoration projects. The result is fewer salmon and fewer fishermen. We're not addressing the real cause.
We need Congress to immediately investigate the West Coast salmon crisis. Tell your senators and representatives to make sure federal agencies stop suppressing science and start following the law. In addition, West Coast fishermen and the broader economic community that depends upon salmon for its livelihood need immediate disaster relief.
Most of all, tell our leaders: We owe it to our coastal communities, to the hard-working families who have depended upon fishing for 150 years and to everyone who enjoys salmon for dinner, or even just knowing salmon are around, to make our rivers safe for salmon so we all have a future. If we can't learn to coexist with salmon, are any wild creatures safe from us?
About the writer:
Dave Bitts is both board member and secretary of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Humboldt Fishermen's Marketing Association. A lifelong Californian, he is a salmon troller and crabber in Eureka.
I wanted to become a salmon fisherman the first time I saw boats trolling around Bodega Bay and Fort Bragg as a kid. I have always approached this business with the attitude that we must leave the salmon fishery in good shape for the next generation.
Now, I worry whether we will leave our children and grandchildren any salmon at all. We've abused our rivers to the point that the fish are on the verge of permanently vanishing. Commercial and recreational fishermen, ice houses, fuel docks, boat yards, gear stores and other businesses could disappear along with the salmon.
Faced with a predicted salmon run in the Sacramento River of only half the minimum needed number of spawners, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council closed all commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California and Oregon and imposed significant restrictions in Washington. It's probably the right thing to do in these circumstances, but they took away my livelihood in one fell swoop. I had hoped I would add to my retirement this summer, not deplete it.
California trollers make most of our income from salmon. This is the third dismal salmon season in a row, coming on the heels of two mediocre crab seasons that would normally help offset the loss of salmon income. Many of us won't survive this disaster without significant help – and big changes in the way we treat rivers.
It's easy to fault ocean conditions for the salmon crisis, since we can't control the marine environment and no single entity can be held accountable.
This isn't just about ocean conditions. It's about our poor stewardship of our watersheds. Salmon evolved to deal with fluctuating ocean conditions. They didn't evolve to survive dams and unmitigated water diversions. Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon had been recovering until 2004, but after the federal government diverted more than half of the river's natural flow in 2005, Sacramento's salmon population began collapsing. Look north to Alaska, which has robust salmon runs and robust commercial, recreational and subsistence fishing. The difference is Alaska's free-flowing rivers aren't overcommitted to quench the insatiable and often wasteful thirst of cities, cotton crops, swimming pools and golf courses.
The Sacramento River system once yielded 2 million Chinook salmon a year. This year, with no fishing, 60,000 adults are expected to return. Wild salmon populations likewise are in dire straits in the Klamath and the Columbia-Snake river systems. The West Coast was once home to the most productive watersheds in the world, with these three river systems producing between 13 million and 19 million salmon a year.
All now suffer from too many dams, unsustainable water diversions and the suppression or politicization of science. Federal judges now are refereeing salmon recovery plans because the Bush administration refuses to follow the law and do the minimum necessary for salmon survival. The result is a West Coast disaster that will cost California's salmon industry $150 million.
Like most fishermen, I'm willing to forgo fishing this season. But for decades, the government's main fish recovery strategy has been to force more restrictions on fishermen, while ignoring flow and water quality issues. This is true in spite of the hundreds of millions that have been spent on restoration projects. The result is fewer salmon and fewer fishermen. We're not addressing the real cause.
We need Congress to immediately investigate the West Coast salmon crisis. Tell your senators and representatives to make sure federal agencies stop suppressing science and start following the law. In addition, West Coast fishermen and the broader economic community that depends upon salmon for its livelihood need immediate disaster relief.
Most of all, tell our leaders: We owe it to our coastal communities, to the hard-working families who have depended upon fishing for 150 years and to everyone who enjoys salmon for dinner, or even just knowing salmon are around, to make our rivers safe for salmon so we all have a future. If we can't learn to coexist with salmon, are any wild creatures safe from us?
About the writer:
Dave Bitts is both board member and secretary of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Humboldt Fishermen's Marketing Association. A lifelong Californian, he is a salmon troller and crabber in Eureka.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Bringing Home the Salmon
Bringing Home the Salmon
SARSAS (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead) has been hard at work making the dream become a reality. Many activities have been accomplished and many more are planned.
First, Dry Creek Conservancy of Roseville decided SARSAS was not a good fit so SARSAS is now in the process of becoming its own 501C3, tax exempt non-profit organization so money and in-kind donation will be tax deductible. The process with take some time, but eventually SARSAS will be an independent non-profit. SARSAS is now licensed to do business in Placer County.
Second, Ron Nelson, General Manager of Nevada Irrigation District (NID) and five of his department heads and NID Board member John Drew, Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy, and I traveled to the Lincoln Gaging Station (LGS), the Hemphill Dam (HD) and the biggest dam on the Auburn Ravine, the Gold Hill Diversion Dam (GDD), which is sixty feet wide, fifteen feet high and extends completely across the Ravine. NID and Placer Legacy are currently working, with the funding already in place, to make the Gaging Station and the Hemphill Dam passable for fishes. We discussed how each barrier can be retrofitted. The focus on retrofitting will currently be on the LGS and HD; the Gold Hill Dam will be retrofitted after these two are finished because of the magnitude of the project.
Most of the barriers on the Auburn Ravine are under the jurisdiction of NID, and Ron Nelson shares the dream of making the Ravine passable for fishes. His primary concern is supplying water for commercial and residential consumers, but he also shares our mutual passion to make the Ravine passable for fishes. Without Ron’s support, our task would be an impossibility.
Science teacher Greg Robinson of Placer High with members of the Placer Fly Fishing Club painted Do Not Dump signs on several of the street drains in Auburn to make people aware that what goes into their sewers eventually ends in the Auburn Ravine. Mr. Robinson and his students took part in Mike Holmes and the Auburn City Council’s Healthy Waterways Program. Making people aware of the connection of what they dump into drains and the health of fishes is a very important step in getting fish to Auburn.
Third, Linda Lareau, the Earth Mother of the Auburn Ravine, of Courthouse Coffee has joined with SARSAS in sponsoring a Wine Tasting Gala at Courthouse Coffee, Lincoln Way, from 6 pm to 9 pm on Friday, May 23. Wine tasting is $10 for the evening. Attending is a way everyone can support SARSAS and ask questions and volunteer.
Linda is daily taking volunteer signups at Courthouse Coffee and accepting donations to SARSAS.
Fourth, on May 8, 2008, SARSAS is scheduled for its regular meeting with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Placer Legacy to work on collaborative ways to work with other agencies and non-profits to bring the salmon into Auburn School Park Preserve, where, the plan is, to have them spawn. When that dream is realized, the City of Auburn will be the only city in the state of California to have salmon spawning in the heart of the city.
Last, SARSAS is working with PUHSD Senior Project teachers Anne Duda at Del Oro, Greg Robinson at Placer, Jennifer Scarborough/Susan Teasly at Foresthill High and Kay Fegette at Chana to get the word out to next year’s seniors to possibly do their Senior Projects on a topic related to returning salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine.
First the dream, then comes the strategy.
Questions may be directed to Jack and Valerie Sanchez at alcamus39@hotmail.com or 530 888 0281
SARSAS (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead) has been hard at work making the dream become a reality. Many activities have been accomplished and many more are planned.
First, Dry Creek Conservancy of Roseville decided SARSAS was not a good fit so SARSAS is now in the process of becoming its own 501C3, tax exempt non-profit organization so money and in-kind donation will be tax deductible. The process with take some time, but eventually SARSAS will be an independent non-profit. SARSAS is now licensed to do business in Placer County.
Second, Ron Nelson, General Manager of Nevada Irrigation District (NID) and five of his department heads and NID Board member John Drew, Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy, and I traveled to the Lincoln Gaging Station (LGS), the Hemphill Dam (HD) and the biggest dam on the Auburn Ravine, the Gold Hill Diversion Dam (GDD), which is sixty feet wide, fifteen feet high and extends completely across the Ravine. NID and Placer Legacy are currently working, with the funding already in place, to make the Gaging Station and the Hemphill Dam passable for fishes. We discussed how each barrier can be retrofitted. The focus on retrofitting will currently be on the LGS and HD; the Gold Hill Dam will be retrofitted after these two are finished because of the magnitude of the project.
Most of the barriers on the Auburn Ravine are under the jurisdiction of NID, and Ron Nelson shares the dream of making the Ravine passable for fishes. His primary concern is supplying water for commercial and residential consumers, but he also shares our mutual passion to make the Ravine passable for fishes. Without Ron’s support, our task would be an impossibility.
Science teacher Greg Robinson of Placer High with members of the Placer Fly Fishing Club painted Do Not Dump signs on several of the street drains in Auburn to make people aware that what goes into their sewers eventually ends in the Auburn Ravine. Mr. Robinson and his students took part in Mike Holmes and the Auburn City Council’s Healthy Waterways Program. Making people aware of the connection of what they dump into drains and the health of fishes is a very important step in getting fish to Auburn.
Third, Linda Lareau, the Earth Mother of the Auburn Ravine, of Courthouse Coffee has joined with SARSAS in sponsoring a Wine Tasting Gala at Courthouse Coffee, Lincoln Way, from 6 pm to 9 pm on Friday, May 23. Wine tasting is $10 for the evening. Attending is a way everyone can support SARSAS and ask questions and volunteer.
Linda is daily taking volunteer signups at Courthouse Coffee and accepting donations to SARSAS.
Fourth, on May 8, 2008, SARSAS is scheduled for its regular meeting with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Placer Legacy to work on collaborative ways to work with other agencies and non-profits to bring the salmon into Auburn School Park Preserve, where, the plan is, to have them spawn. When that dream is realized, the City of Auburn will be the only city in the state of California to have salmon spawning in the heart of the city.
Last, SARSAS is working with PUHSD Senior Project teachers Anne Duda at Del Oro, Greg Robinson at Placer, Jennifer Scarborough/Susan Teasly at Foresthill High and Kay Fegette at Chana to get the word out to next year’s seniors to possibly do their Senior Projects on a topic related to returning salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine.
First the dream, then comes the strategy.
Questions may be directed to Jack and Valerie Sanchez at alcamus39@hotmail.com or 530 888 0281
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Environmental Restoration Plan Excerpt
Fisheries Resources
Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary
goals of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP. Six objectives have been identified in
support of this goal (Table 5). Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek, and Doty Ravine provide
habitat of varying quality for Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), which are both special status species. The Draft ERP
identified a number of potential opportunities to enhance the aquatic habitat for these
species. However, additional information about how the species are currently using the
existing habitat, such as extent of migration and the location of active spawning and
rearing areas, is needed to focus habitat enhancement efforts.
This focus is desirable for several reasons. Restoration funds are limited and it is
important that projects undertaken provide a meaningful benefit to the species.
Implementing spawning area enhancements when adults cannot bypass the barriers to
reach spawning areas is probably not the most productive use of resources. In addition,
the complexities of private property ownership and the use of the channels for
conveyance and flood control must also be considered. Private property owners, the
water purveyors, and the local jurisdictions responsible for flood management have
expressed their willingness to participate in aquatic habitat enhancement efforts provided
the proposed projects are executed in a manner that reasonably reflects an understanding
of the actual uses and needs of the species in the local watersheds. For example, prior to
considering redesign of a diversion structure to provide passage, the operator would want
to know that there was a reasonable potential for the adults to even reach the structure.
Therefore, development of this comprehensive strategy has been identified as a first-tier
priority (FR6).
Another first-priority objective to enhance fisheries resources is to better manage the
import and transport of sediment in the creek corridor (FR7). This is considered a first
tier-priority because excess sediment is known to compromise aquatic habitat for many
species, and because some of the mechanisms of sedimentation, such as erosion,
backwatering, and flooding are creating significant other problems in the watersheds.
Four additional objectives have been defined for fisheries resources. These address
removal of barriers to adult migration (FR3), juvenile emigration (FR4) and enhancement
of spawning and rearing habitat (FR1 and FR5). Each of these objectives is important,
and is to some degree dependent on the comprehensive strategy described above for
focus. In reaches where salmonid presence and meaningful habitat restoration
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP Projects 13 Foothill Associates © 2004
opportunities are already known to exist, such as Coon Creek, the assessment and
removal of adult migration barriers should proceed concurrently with development of the
comprehensive strategy. This objective is thus assigned a first-tier priority. The
remaining three objectives are assigned to the second tier since efforts aimed at the
improvement of spawning and rearing habitat and juvenile emigration are most
meaningful only if barriers to adult migration are addressed.
Table 5 - Fisheries Resources Objectives
ID Objective Priority
FR6 Develop a comprehensive strategy to guide implementation of measures
to enhance salmonid habitat in the watersheds that identifies current and
historical migration timing and extent, determines locations of existing
and potential spawning and rearing habitat, and establishes habitat
restoration/enhancement priorities. Incorporate information developed
for the PCCP in this process.
1
FR7 Implement measures throughout watersheds to reduce excess sediment
and sediment imports. Coordinate with assessment, remediation, and
restoration activities under Water Quality and Plant Community tasks.
1
FR3 Based on the priorities established in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, identify barriers for adult chinook salmon and steelhead trout
migration to spawning areas, such as diversion structures or gauging
stations, in all watersheds excluding Markham Ravine. This assessment
of barriers is already underway on Coon Creek. Develop a
comprehensive strategy for improving passage that considers priority,
flow, infrastructure needs, alternative structures, and ownership by 2009.
1
FR4 Based on the priorities established in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, identify barriers for juvenile chinook salmon and steelhead trout
to the Sacramento River during emigration in all watersheds excluding
Markham Ravine, and develop a comprehensive strategy for improving
passage that considers priority, flow, infrastructure needs, alternative
structures, and ownership by 2009.
2
FR1 Based on the priorities identified in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, select areas in the upper watersheds (excluding Markham
Ravine) that are determined to have good potential for spawning habitat
but where stream channel sediment concentration is excessive. Reduce to
target condition (particles < 6.35 mm in diameter to less than 20% of the
gravel/cobble substrate composition, and particles <0.833 mm in
diameter to less than 10% of the gravel/cobble substrate).
2
FR5 Optimize juvenile salmonid rearing habitat in the upper watersheds where
the potential for fish presence is high as determined by the salmonid
habitat enhancement strategy. Optimal habitat should have approximately
60 percent pool habitat and 40 percent riffle habitat.
2
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP Projects 14 Foothill Associates © 2004
4.0 TASKS
For each objective, a set of tasks has been identified to support implementation of the
objective. The suggested sequencing for the individual tasks reflects the order in which
the interdependent activities should be implemented. Tasks that are not interdependent
are may be implemented concurrently. Not all objectives and tasks are relevant to each
of the four watersheds considered by the Draft ERP (Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek, Doty
Ravine and Markham Ravine). The AR/CC ERP database identifies which tasks pertain
to which watersheds.
4.1 Public Outreach
PO1
Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary
goals of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP. Six objectives have been identified in
support of this goal (Table 5). Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek, and Doty Ravine provide
habitat of varying quality for Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), which are both special status species. The Draft ERP
identified a number of potential opportunities to enhance the aquatic habitat for these
species. However, additional information about how the species are currently using the
existing habitat, such as extent of migration and the location of active spawning and
rearing areas, is needed to focus habitat enhancement efforts.
This focus is desirable for several reasons. Restoration funds are limited and it is
important that projects undertaken provide a meaningful benefit to the species.
Implementing spawning area enhancements when adults cannot bypass the barriers to
reach spawning areas is probably not the most productive use of resources. In addition,
the complexities of private property ownership and the use of the channels for
conveyance and flood control must also be considered. Private property owners, the
water purveyors, and the local jurisdictions responsible for flood management have
expressed their willingness to participate in aquatic habitat enhancement efforts provided
the proposed projects are executed in a manner that reasonably reflects an understanding
of the actual uses and needs of the species in the local watersheds. For example, prior to
considering redesign of a diversion structure to provide passage, the operator would want
to know that there was a reasonable potential for the adults to even reach the structure.
Therefore, development of this comprehensive strategy has been identified as a first-tier
priority (FR6).
Another first-priority objective to enhance fisheries resources is to better manage the
import and transport of sediment in the creek corridor (FR7). This is considered a first
tier-priority because excess sediment is known to compromise aquatic habitat for many
species, and because some of the mechanisms of sedimentation, such as erosion,
backwatering, and flooding are creating significant other problems in the watersheds.
Four additional objectives have been defined for fisheries resources. These address
removal of barriers to adult migration (FR3), juvenile emigration (FR4) and enhancement
of spawning and rearing habitat (FR1 and FR5). Each of these objectives is important,
and is to some degree dependent on the comprehensive strategy described above for
focus. In reaches where salmonid presence and meaningful habitat restoration
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP Projects 13 Foothill Associates © 2004
opportunities are already known to exist, such as Coon Creek, the assessment and
removal of adult migration barriers should proceed concurrently with development of the
comprehensive strategy. This objective is thus assigned a first-tier priority. The
remaining three objectives are assigned to the second tier since efforts aimed at the
improvement of spawning and rearing habitat and juvenile emigration are most
meaningful only if barriers to adult migration are addressed.
Table 5 - Fisheries Resources Objectives
ID Objective Priority
FR6 Develop a comprehensive strategy to guide implementation of measures
to enhance salmonid habitat in the watersheds that identifies current and
historical migration timing and extent, determines locations of existing
and potential spawning and rearing habitat, and establishes habitat
restoration/enhancement priorities. Incorporate information developed
for the PCCP in this process.
1
FR7 Implement measures throughout watersheds to reduce excess sediment
and sediment imports. Coordinate with assessment, remediation, and
restoration activities under Water Quality and Plant Community tasks.
1
FR3 Based on the priorities established in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, identify barriers for adult chinook salmon and steelhead trout
migration to spawning areas, such as diversion structures or gauging
stations, in all watersheds excluding Markham Ravine. This assessment
of barriers is already underway on Coon Creek. Develop a
comprehensive strategy for improving passage that considers priority,
flow, infrastructure needs, alternative structures, and ownership by 2009.
1
FR4 Based on the priorities established in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, identify barriers for juvenile chinook salmon and steelhead trout
to the Sacramento River during emigration in all watersheds excluding
Markham Ravine, and develop a comprehensive strategy for improving
passage that considers priority, flow, infrastructure needs, alternative
structures, and ownership by 2009.
2
FR1 Based on the priorities identified in the salmonid habitat enhancement
strategy, select areas in the upper watersheds (excluding Markham
Ravine) that are determined to have good potential for spawning habitat
but where stream channel sediment concentration is excessive. Reduce to
target condition (particles < 6.35 mm in diameter to less than 20% of the
gravel/cobble substrate composition, and particles <0.833 mm in
diameter to less than 10% of the gravel/cobble substrate).
2
FR5 Optimize juvenile salmonid rearing habitat in the upper watersheds where
the potential for fish presence is high as determined by the salmonid
habitat enhancement strategy. Optimal habitat should have approximately
60 percent pool habitat and 40 percent riffle habitat.
2
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP Projects 14 Foothill Associates © 2004
4.0 TASKS
For each objective, a set of tasks has been identified to support implementation of the
objective. The suggested sequencing for the individual tasks reflects the order in which
the interdependent activities should be implemented. Tasks that are not interdependent
are may be implemented concurrently. Not all objectives and tasks are relevant to each
of the four watersheds considered by the Draft ERP (Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek, Doty
Ravine and Markham Ravine). The AR/CC ERP database identifies which tasks pertain
to which watersheds.
4.1 Public Outreach
PO1
SARSAS in Auburn Journal 2-20-2008
Resident has large-scale plans for fish habitat
By Jenna Nielsen, Journal Staff Writer
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail/77753.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=sarsas&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=&town_id=6
Though no salmon can be spotted in the Auburn Ravine right now, signs announcing the ravine�s �salmon habitat� can be seen at various locations along the ravine. Auburn resident Jack Sanchez wants to restore salmon to the creek.
Salmon could swim through Auburn Ravine.
And one Auburn resident wants to make sure it happens — in his lifetime.
Jack Sanchez is working with a handful of different organizations throughout the county to launch what he is calling SARSAS — Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead — to modify several man-made barriers currently inhibiting water flow in the creek, and stopping fish.
“This is something that is very doable,” Sanchez said. “There is less than a mile of the ravine that would need to be restored.”
Sanchez’s goal is to get fish to the Wise Powerhouse off Ophir Road to the recently daylight Lincoln Creek at Auburn’s School Park Preserve behind City Hall. But the current water flow is not adequate to support salmon.
“We have the opportunity to create something no other town in California has,” Sanchez said. “An anadromous (swimming upward) fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.”
Sanchez has a plan to modify the existing dams to support adequate water flow.
“I am in no way arguing for the removal of any dams,” Sanchez said. “We could simply retrofit them and modify them so that fish can get over it.”
The plan is in the very early, conceptual stages, he said. Sanchez has been talking to officials with Placer County, the City of Auburn, the Nevada Irrigation District, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the Placer County Water Agency.
Though no salmon can be spotted right now, signs announcing the ravine’s “salmon habitat” can be seen at various locations along the ravine.
Jeanie Esajian, public information officer for the California Bay-Delta Authority, whose name can be found on the signs, said the signs are probably the result of a grant Placer County received in 1997, for its Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem Resources Plan, which aims to improve habitat for anadromous fish including steelhead, spring-run Chinook salmon, fall-run Chinook salmon as well as other native fish species.
Esajian said a large decline in the number of salmon could potentially affect restoration.
“We have recently seen a huge decline in the number of salmon coming from the ocean to spawn,” Esajian said. “No one knows why. It could be conditions in the ocean it could be conditions in the environment, it could be conditions in the Delta. Whatever it is, it could be an uphill battle considering this is a global problem.”
But Sanchez intends to look to the county’s restoration plan as a guideline.
The idea came about when Sanchez and his wife, Valerie, were on a cruise in Alaska three years ago, he said.
“We were on a day trip in Juneau,” Sanchez said. “During a hike, we walked over this bridge and looked down at Juneau creek and it was loaded with salmon, knee deep, swimming on each other’s backs.”
He said he knew at that moment, something like it could be reproduced in Auburn.
“Fish in water just mesmerizes people,” he said. “I saw the staggering beauty and saw how much people like that experience. I know there is potential for that beauty and attraction in Auburn.”
Auburn City Councilman Mike Holmes said he supports Sanchez’s plan, but he isn’t sure yet how the city fits into it.
Restoring fish to the Auburn Ravine would be a good thing not only for the community, but for the fish as well, he said.
“I am not certain what the City of Auburn can do directly,” Holmes said. “I think we need to have some of our staff take a look to see how we are able to help. I’m prepared to lend support for the plan to get fish back into the Auburn Ravine and possibly into the School Park Preserve, but it is going to take a lot of coordination with other agencies to get that done.”
Sanchez said he isn’t sure himself how exactly the city will fit into his plan, but hopes by talking to officials, the details could be worked out.
“I am just soliciting help at this point,” Sanchez said. “I am working on getting all this valuable information.”
Sanchez said he believes residents could see progress on the fish restoration plan in the next couple of years.
“It depends on how organized we get,” he said. “But the time for this has come. And no power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”
The Journal’s Jenna Nielsen can be reached at jennan@goldcountrymedia.com or comment on this story at auburnjournal.com.
By Jenna Nielsen, Journal Staff Writer
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail/77753.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=sarsas&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=&town_id=6
Though no salmon can be spotted in the Auburn Ravine right now, signs announcing the ravine�s �salmon habitat� can be seen at various locations along the ravine. Auburn resident Jack Sanchez wants to restore salmon to the creek.
Salmon could swim through Auburn Ravine.
And one Auburn resident wants to make sure it happens — in his lifetime.
Jack Sanchez is working with a handful of different organizations throughout the county to launch what he is calling SARSAS — Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead — to modify several man-made barriers currently inhibiting water flow in the creek, and stopping fish.
“This is something that is very doable,” Sanchez said. “There is less than a mile of the ravine that would need to be restored.”
Sanchez’s goal is to get fish to the Wise Powerhouse off Ophir Road to the recently daylight Lincoln Creek at Auburn’s School Park Preserve behind City Hall. But the current water flow is not adequate to support salmon.
“We have the opportunity to create something no other town in California has,” Sanchez said. “An anadromous (swimming upward) fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.”
Sanchez has a plan to modify the existing dams to support adequate water flow.
“I am in no way arguing for the removal of any dams,” Sanchez said. “We could simply retrofit them and modify them so that fish can get over it.”
The plan is in the very early, conceptual stages, he said. Sanchez has been talking to officials with Placer County, the City of Auburn, the Nevada Irrigation District, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the Placer County Water Agency.
Though no salmon can be spotted right now, signs announcing the ravine’s “salmon habitat” can be seen at various locations along the ravine.
Jeanie Esajian, public information officer for the California Bay-Delta Authority, whose name can be found on the signs, said the signs are probably the result of a grant Placer County received in 1997, for its Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem Resources Plan, which aims to improve habitat for anadromous fish including steelhead, spring-run Chinook salmon, fall-run Chinook salmon as well as other native fish species.
Esajian said a large decline in the number of salmon could potentially affect restoration.
“We have recently seen a huge decline in the number of salmon coming from the ocean to spawn,” Esajian said. “No one knows why. It could be conditions in the ocean it could be conditions in the environment, it could be conditions in the Delta. Whatever it is, it could be an uphill battle considering this is a global problem.”
But Sanchez intends to look to the county’s restoration plan as a guideline.
The idea came about when Sanchez and his wife, Valerie, were on a cruise in Alaska three years ago, he said.
“We were on a day trip in Juneau,” Sanchez said. “During a hike, we walked over this bridge and looked down at Juneau creek and it was loaded with salmon, knee deep, swimming on each other’s backs.”
He said he knew at that moment, something like it could be reproduced in Auburn.
“Fish in water just mesmerizes people,” he said. “I saw the staggering beauty and saw how much people like that experience. I know there is potential for that beauty and attraction in Auburn.”
Auburn City Councilman Mike Holmes said he supports Sanchez’s plan, but he isn’t sure yet how the city fits into it.
Restoring fish to the Auburn Ravine would be a good thing not only for the community, but for the fish as well, he said.
“I am not certain what the City of Auburn can do directly,” Holmes said. “I think we need to have some of our staff take a look to see how we are able to help. I’m prepared to lend support for the plan to get fish back into the Auburn Ravine and possibly into the School Park Preserve, but it is going to take a lot of coordination with other agencies to get that done.”
Sanchez said he isn’t sure himself how exactly the city will fit into his plan, but hopes by talking to officials, the details could be worked out.
“I am just soliciting help at this point,” Sanchez said. “I am working on getting all this valuable information.”
Sanchez said he believes residents could see progress on the fish restoration plan in the next couple of years.
“It depends on how organized we get,” he said. “But the time for this has come. And no power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”
The Journal’s Jenna Nielsen can be reached at jennan@goldcountrymedia.com or comment on this story at auburnjournal.com.
SARSAS Presentation to Auburn City Council
SARSAS Presentation to Auburn City Council
February 11, 2008
Mayor Nesbitt and Members of the Council:
We applaud all of you for your current Healthy Waterways Campaign. We want to assist in that campaign. We have started an organization called SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD) we want to describe for you. We are here to provide information on SARSAS but are not here to ask you for anything other than your time and verbal support for SARSAS. We will return at another time to ask for help. This talk is strictly informative.
SARSAS’ goal is to return Salmon and Steelhead to the entire course of the Auburn Ravine (AR). SARSAS is a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, and our goal is to modify the twelve man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes. This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of our lives in this area. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Since I was born in Ophir and spent my childhood exploring the AR, I have an intimate knowledge of the AR. My personal goal is to bring salmon to the center of Auburn so they can spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve, providing another attractive facet to our aleady beautiful town for residents, tourists and sightseers. I first saw the incredible beauty of a city with a salmon stream flowing through its center in Juneau, Alaska, and got the idea to reproduce that beauty in Auburn.
Here are some of our qualifications for this job. For twenty-seven summers I coordinated all Interpretive Programs for the Sierra District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation as a State Park Ranger. At Del Oro High School we won twelve Cross Country and Track and Field Championships in six years of coaching and, as an aside, I coached Sheriff Ed Bonner to the California State Track and Field Championships twice. Valerie and I coached the Del Oro Academic Decathlon Team to three consecutive California Academic Decathlon State Championships, the only competitive high school team in the history of our area to do so. We raised thousands of dollars to support our Academic Decathlon Team and to arrange for American and foreign exchange students to study here and abroad while we were advisors for the international American Field Service. We have had extensive/intensive consensus building experience while Valerie was President and I was a negotiator for our local chapter of the California Teachers Association. We have wide experience fundraising and consensus building.
We are currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize SARSAS’ goal. Locally, we are working with Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy to get started. We met with Janice Forbes who is now supporting SARSAS. We have spoken with property owners along the AR such as Alex Ferreira, Julie Briones, David Bergquist, and John Rabe, who has given us access to his property for students to do fish studies. We have contacted Placer Union High School District Superintendent Bart O'Brien, who is helping us establish contacts with teachers to include units in the science curriculum at our local high schools on Aquatic Life and Stream Restoration.
Placer Legacy is working with NID to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gauging stations.
We plan to create a SARSAS Foundation to collect monies to help make the Auburn Ravine passable, but CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and other organizations such as AmericanRivers.org already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers. Placer Legacy has compiled the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx). We are currently working on a plan to systematically make each barrier in the AR navigable for fish.
The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. Everyone worked together. We want to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California. Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" We have heard much about sharing the dream. We are asking you folks to share the dream. Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH. We love state championships.
Our plan will get fishes to the Wise Powerhouse although currently the water flow/habitation in the Auburn Ravine between the Powerhouse and Auburn Park Preserve is not adequate to support salmon. We would like the City Council to think about addressing at some future date the lack of water flow/habitat and consider contacting NID to possibly secure additional water from the Drum-Spaulding waterway, and also the improvement of water quality in that section of the Auburn Ravine, which you are already probably doing with your Healthy Waterways Campaign. I urge you to think of ways to help us get salmon and steelhead from the Wise Powerhouse to the center of Auburn.
We have the knowledge, expertise and financial ability to make this dream a reality if we work collaboratively. We just must commit ourselves to returning salmon and steelhead runs all the way to Auburn. With your Healthy Waterways Campaign, we can improve water quality and water flow to get fishes up the Auburn Ravine. Now is the time to act, and SARSAS is volunteering to lead that action.
Thank you for your time and courtesy. We will be delighted to answer your questions now.
Jack L. Sanchez
SARSAS
3675 Larkin Lane
Auburn, CA 95602
530 888 0281
February 11, 2008
Mayor Nesbitt and Members of the Council:
We applaud all of you for your current Healthy Waterways Campaign. We want to assist in that campaign. We have started an organization called SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD) we want to describe for you. We are here to provide information on SARSAS but are not here to ask you for anything other than your time and verbal support for SARSAS. We will return at another time to ask for help. This talk is strictly informative.
SARSAS’ goal is to return Salmon and Steelhead to the entire course of the Auburn Ravine (AR). SARSAS is a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, and our goal is to modify the twelve man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes. This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of our lives in this area. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Since I was born in Ophir and spent my childhood exploring the AR, I have an intimate knowledge of the AR. My personal goal is to bring salmon to the center of Auburn so they can spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve, providing another attractive facet to our aleady beautiful town for residents, tourists and sightseers. I first saw the incredible beauty of a city with a salmon stream flowing through its center in Juneau, Alaska, and got the idea to reproduce that beauty in Auburn.
Here are some of our qualifications for this job. For twenty-seven summers I coordinated all Interpretive Programs for the Sierra District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation as a State Park Ranger. At Del Oro High School we won twelve Cross Country and Track and Field Championships in six years of coaching and, as an aside, I coached Sheriff Ed Bonner to the California State Track and Field Championships twice. Valerie and I coached the Del Oro Academic Decathlon Team to three consecutive California Academic Decathlon State Championships, the only competitive high school team in the history of our area to do so. We raised thousands of dollars to support our Academic Decathlon Team and to arrange for American and foreign exchange students to study here and abroad while we were advisors for the international American Field Service. We have had extensive/intensive consensus building experience while Valerie was President and I was a negotiator for our local chapter of the California Teachers Association. We have wide experience fundraising and consensus building.
We are currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize SARSAS’ goal. Locally, we are working with Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy to get started. We met with Janice Forbes who is now supporting SARSAS. We have spoken with property owners along the AR such as Alex Ferreira, Julie Briones, David Bergquist, and John Rabe, who has given us access to his property for students to do fish studies. We have contacted Placer Union High School District Superintendent Bart O'Brien, who is helping us establish contacts with teachers to include units in the science curriculum at our local high schools on Aquatic Life and Stream Restoration.
Placer Legacy is working with NID to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gauging stations.
We plan to create a SARSAS Foundation to collect monies to help make the Auburn Ravine passable, but CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and other organizations such as AmericanRivers.org already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers. Placer Legacy has compiled the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx). We are currently working on a plan to systematically make each barrier in the AR navigable for fish.
The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. Everyone worked together. We want to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California. Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" We have heard much about sharing the dream. We are asking you folks to share the dream. Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH. We love state championships.
Our plan will get fishes to the Wise Powerhouse although currently the water flow/habitation in the Auburn Ravine between the Powerhouse and Auburn Park Preserve is not adequate to support salmon. We would like the City Council to think about addressing at some future date the lack of water flow/habitat and consider contacting NID to possibly secure additional water from the Drum-Spaulding waterway, and also the improvement of water quality in that section of the Auburn Ravine, which you are already probably doing with your Healthy Waterways Campaign. I urge you to think of ways to help us get salmon and steelhead from the Wise Powerhouse to the center of Auburn.
We have the knowledge, expertise and financial ability to make this dream a reality if we work collaboratively. We just must commit ourselves to returning salmon and steelhead runs all the way to Auburn. With your Healthy Waterways Campaign, we can improve water quality and water flow to get fishes up the Auburn Ravine. Now is the time to act, and SARSAS is volunteering to lead that action.
Thank you for your time and courtesy. We will be delighted to answer your questions now.
Jack L. Sanchez
SARSAS
3675 Larkin Lane
Auburn, CA 95602
530 888 0281
Scouting the Auburn Ravine with Nephew Greg and His Daughter Madalyn
Auburn Ravine Salmon Update 1/29/2007
My nephew Greg Nelson and his daughter Madalyn and I drove to Verona on the Sacramento River today and saw where the Cross Canal (CC) empties into the Sacramento River. We talked to a workman who said at least four streams empty into the CC, Auburn Ravine (AR), Pleasant Grove Creek, Coon Creek and Markham Creek. We drove east of Sankey Road to Highway 99 and headed north to East Catlett Road but did not immediately see the Auburn Ravine which should have been obvious. We turned around and drove south on 99 to the off ramp to CC and walked down it for about half a mile along the south levee. CC is bordered by a levee on each side. The water is deep and fast flowing with much bird life including the largest blue heron I have ever seen, quail, and many egrets.
It appears as though the Auburn Ravine flows into a canal or pipe/culvert west of Pleasant Grove Road. This is speculation at this point, and we will check out this area on our next trip. We could not discern how the AR connected to CC.
Next trip we will take bikes and ride the levee on CC from 99 to the mouth at Verona. The roads are posted and close to motorized vehicles with sign indicating permission from Bureaus of Reclamation, Section 1000 is needed to enter. We will take fishing poles and see what fish currently live in CC. Also, we will try to determine the course of the AR into the CC.
Much fun especially since we stopped for an ice cream treat at Cold Stone Creamery on the way home. M had chocolate with MM’s immersed, Greg had plain cake dough and I had vanilla bean with pecans. What a great way to end a beautiful outing.
Jack
My nephew Greg Nelson and his daughter Madalyn and I drove to Verona on the Sacramento River today and saw where the Cross Canal (CC) empties into the Sacramento River. We talked to a workman who said at least four streams empty into the CC, Auburn Ravine (AR), Pleasant Grove Creek, Coon Creek and Markham Creek. We drove east of Sankey Road to Highway 99 and headed north to East Catlett Road but did not immediately see the Auburn Ravine which should have been obvious. We turned around and drove south on 99 to the off ramp to CC and walked down it for about half a mile along the south levee. CC is bordered by a levee on each side. The water is deep and fast flowing with much bird life including the largest blue heron I have ever seen, quail, and many egrets.
It appears as though the Auburn Ravine flows into a canal or pipe/culvert west of Pleasant Grove Road. This is speculation at this point, and we will check out this area on our next trip. We could not discern how the AR connected to CC.
Next trip we will take bikes and ride the levee on CC from 99 to the mouth at Verona. The roads are posted and close to motorized vehicles with sign indicating permission from Bureaus of Reclamation, Section 1000 is needed to enter. We will take fishing poles and see what fish currently live in CC. Also, we will try to determine the course of the AR into the CC.
Much fun especially since we stopped for an ice cream treat at Cold Stone Creamery on the way home. M had chocolate with MM’s immersed, Greg had plain cake dough and I had vanilla bean with pecans. What a great way to end a beautiful outing.
Jack
Talk to the Placer Union High School Teachers on March 14, 2008
SARSAS PRESENTATION TO PUHSD TEACHERS
I would like to thank Kathy Myers for all her help and insights in arranging for SARSAS to attend this in-service, to Bart O’Brien for his courtesy and direction, to Tom and Debra Weistar from Synergia Learning Ventures, Auburn City Councilman Mike Holmes for his constant support, all the SARSAS members in attendance today, and especially my lovely wife Valerie who is my partner in all our adventures.
PERSONAL INTRODUCTION: (Pass around clipboard.)
For those of you who may not know us Del Oro Old Timers, Jack and I have 67 years of combined teaching and coaching experience at Del Oro High School. During our teaching careers we taught English and German. As a coach Jack and his staff won twelve Cross Country and Track and Field Championships in six years of coaching and, as an aside, he coached Sheriff Ed Bonner to the California State Track and Field Championships twice. (Ed wasn’t as heavy then.) Jack and I coached the Del Oro Academic Decathlon Team to three consecutive California Academic Decathlon State Championships, the only competitive high school team in the history of our area to do so. We raised thousands of dollars to support our Academic Decathlon Team and to arrange for American and foreign exchange students to study here and abroad while we were advisors for the international American Field Service. For five years I was the drama director, working with many staff members and disparate student personalities, and continued to teach drama until I retired at which time the new stage and auditorium were built. We have had extensive/intensive consensus building experience while I was President and Jack was a negotiator for ATP, our local chapter of the California Teachers Association. For twenty-seven summers Jack coordinated all Interpretive Programs for the Sierra District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation as a State Park Ranger. We have wide experience in fundraising and consensus building.
Let me give you an overview of today’s presentation and please feel free to ask questions at any time. (Highlight Agenda)
BACKGROUND and MISSION STATEMENT:
SARSAS is an acronym for SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD, whose mission is to restore, protect, and improve the habitat and runs of salmon and steelhead in the Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn.
SARSAS is a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, and our goal is to modify the ten man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes. This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of our lives in this area. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has an anadromous (migrating up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh waters) fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Since I was born in Ophir and spent my childhood exploring the AR, I have an intimate knowledge of the AR. My personal goal is to bring salmon to the center of Auburn so they can spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve, providing another attractive facet to our already beautiful town for residents, tourists and sightseers. I first saw the incredible beauty of a city with a salmon stream flowing through its center in Juneau, Alaska, and got the idea to reproduce that beauty in Auburn.
IN THE FLOW:
We are currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize SARSAS’ goal. Locally, we are working with Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy to get started. We have the support of Janice Forbes, who spearheaded the daylighting of the South Fork of the AR and the creation of the Auburn School Park Preserve. We have spoken with property owners along the AR such as Alex Ferreira, Julie Briones, David Bergquist, as well as John Rabe (HE IS HERE TODAY), who has given us access to his property for students to do fish studies.
Placer Legacy is working with NID to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill, which is only one of the ten man-made barriers that must be dealt with to provide fish passage on the Auburn Ravine. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gauging stations. Our task is no less intimidating that Sisyphus’ task of rolling his rock up the hill for eternity.
Our plan will get fishes to the Wise Powerhouse although currently the water flow/habitation in the Auburn Ravine between the Powerhouse and Auburn Park Preserve is not adequate to support salmon. We have asked the City Council of Auburn and the Auburn Park Preserve Committee to address at some future date the lack of water flow/habitat and to consider contacting PCWA to possibly secure additional water from the Drum-Spaulding waterway, and also to improve the water quality in that section of the Auburn Ravine.
We have the knowledge, expertise and financial ability to make this dream a reality if we work collaboratively. We just must commit ourselves to returning salmon and steelhead runs all the way to Auburn.
We plan to create a SARSAS Foundation to collect monies to help make the Auburn Ravine passable, but CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and other organizations such as AmericanRivers.org already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers. Placer Legacy has compiled the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx). We are currently working on a plan to systematically make each barrier in the AR navigable for fish.
SARSAS Action Plan
Derived from “Fisheries Resources”,
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem
Restoration Plan Projects
Foothill Associates 2004
December 2007
“Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary goals of the AR/CC ERP.” Fisheries Resources
The primary goal of SARSAS is to return Salmon and Steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine in the most efficient manner and in the shortest time possible.
Phase I is to create a plan to streamline the tasks so that progress can be made rapidly. Its focus is to clear a navigable waterway for fish to reach the headwaters of the Ravine.
Secondary issues such as plant communities, public outreach, water quality, and wildlife resources (as outlined in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP) will be dealt with in Phase II and only as they impact the implementation of Phase I and will receive primary attention after the navigable waterway is effected.
Phase I Tasks:
1. work with appropriate agencies to clear or modify man-made barriers, create fish
ladders or channels (FR3, 4) to provide a navigable waterway for fish;
2. determine how far up the ravine fish currently travel and begin the initial clearing of barriers at that point (FR6);
3. restore stream beds where anadromous fish spawn (FR6, 7);
4. implement a functional beaver management program to expedite fish passage;
5. conduct fish count and spawning survey (FR1, 4, 5);
6. address obvious water pollution (FR5); and
7. address mixing of water of different temperatures, Penstock to Wise Powerhouse/ American River/Newcastle Canal, into Auburn Ravine as it impacts fish;
8. create a collaborative coalition of agencies and non-governmental agencies, students and volunteers to do the needed work.
Initial Organizational Steps:
1. Affiliate with American Basin Council of Watersheds (completed January 2007);
2. Affiliate with Dry Creek Conservancy and work under its auspices (completed on November 14, 2007 – See Dry Creek Conservancy Minutes, Modified Meeting);
3. Meet with various organizations to solicit support and funding i.e. PUHSD, Richard Gresham, Placer CRCD (completed), Ron Nelson of NID, James Navicky of DFG, Katie Burdick of CABY, Elizabeth Soderstrom of American Rivers, Edmund Sullivan and Loren Clark, Placer Legacy, Janice Forbes.
Continuing and Already Completed Steps:
1. Continue planning meetings with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt asking for support and direction (completed November 26, 2007 with additional meetings scheduled for December 17, 2007 and March 4, 2008 and May 11, 2008, with Mr. Weygandt, Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy);
2. Met on November 27, 2007, with Auburn City Councilman asking for and receiving his support;
3. Met with Janice Forbes, Sierra Business Council on January 8, 2008.
4. Addressed the Auburn City Council on February 11, 2008, asking for support;
5. Met with PlacerUHSD teachers on March 14, 2008, to connect teachers and students to the Auburn Ravine.
Some of the Projects Currently Underway:
Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy is working with NID and other shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. Ron Nelson, the General Manager of NID, and I are working to modify one of the most prominent barriers, the Gold Hill Diversion Dam #1 near Chili Hill in Ophir. Other major barriers are the Ophir Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gauging Station downstream from Hwy 65 and the Lincoln Ranch Duck Club Dam.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity (possible Senior Project). Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists (good Senior Project). Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. Everyone worked together. We want to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California. Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" We have heard much about sharing the dream. We are asking you teachers and your students to share the dream. Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH. We love state championships.
HOW TEACHERS MIGHT CONNECT STUDENTS WITH SARSAS AND REALLY, REALLY HAVE FUN
Science Teachers can include units on the life of salmonids, stream restoration, anadromous fishes' life cycle and instincts, and stream alteration. Units on aquatic habitat and predation and stream ecology can be included in the curriculum. Fish tanks can be placed in classrooms and fish eggs can be hatched, reared and placed into the Auburn Ravine with scientific and writing assignments attached to the observations. Surveys can be conducted on the size, weight and release date and the return of the salmon. Students can perform stream modification to enable fish to navigate barriers or do water quality and temperature studies related to aquatic life.
Senior Project Advisors can encourage students to undertake a project related to the Auburn Ravine and learn along with the students as they conclude their Senior Projects.
English teachers might assign the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7) and use it as a vehicle to connect students to projects on the Auburn Ravine, or assign Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler. Students can be assigned research papers on anadromous fishes, the health of streams, the importance of pure water for aquatic life, the effect of contaminated waters on aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine. Journals or extra credit assignments can be based on observations of nuances such as water level, aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine through the four seasons, or countless other topics.
Teachers might like to take advantage of a program the Granite Bay Fly Casters have which provides fish tanks and salmon eggs for classroom aquariums. (Kay Fegette, now retired, was in the program at Chana for many years.) The Fly Casters have an in-service twice a year, one usually in September and one in January. Interested teachers must attend an in-service to be involved with the program. Fly Casters provides them with the curriculum and the aquarium. They deliver the eggs to the classroom and the teacher takes it from there. If anyone is interested in this program, contact Rick Radoff (4120 Pine Street, Rocklin, CA 95677; 916-624-2107) to attend the next in-service. Include a home phone number, address, and the school you teach at. Rick deals with the teachers directly, not the schools. All of his calling is in the evening.
Students working in the elementary schools or those who wish to create a Senior Project for elementary students might use Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0) to teach the younger students how to connect with the Auburn Ravine or any stream.
These are a fraction of the possible assignments, and teachers of the caliber of those in the Placer Union High School District will immediately think of many others.
IDEAS FOR SENIOR PROJECTS RELATING TO THE AUBURN RAVINE
SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD) works with Placer Legacy of Placer County government, Dry Creek Conservancy, CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR, YUBA rivers), Ducks Unlimited, Nevada Irrigation District and Granite Bay Fly Casters.
Students who choose to do environmental Senior Projects on the Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek or a related waterway in Western Placer County may work with the support and guidance of these groups.
SARSAS Senior Projects will connect students to the community and allow them to work with one or more of these agencies in a collaborative manner and develop public outreach skills by working with landowners along the Auburn Ravine.
Senior Projects may focus on
1. assessment and analysis of existing environmental issues on the Auburn Ravine such as bank erosion, habitat degradation, excessive sedimentation that prevents spawning, poor water quality affecting aquatic life, and modifying existing man-made barriers to create fish passage;
2. habitat restoration such as planting trees, shrubs and native grasses to create shade to keep water temperature in the range for fish to flourish and prevent stream bank
erosion;
3. conception and hypothetical design of fish passages, fish screens, sump pumps,
stream rerouting, stream aeration, ways to improve water quality and water flow;
4. implementation of projects to improve any part of the Auburn Ravine to make it
more conducive for anadromous fishes to use its entire length to reach spawning
gravel, procreate and reach a stage of development (smolt) in order to return to
the ocean to grow to maturity and start the cycle again;
5. any project that teachers, students and outside advisors can envision to enhance the
probability of fishes flourishing.
The best ideas of course will come from students themselves with input from teachers.
Senior Project Scholarship: SARSAS is in the process of creating a scholarship and raising up to $5,000.00 to be awarded to the district wide student whose project best fulfills the mission of SARSAS which is to restore, protect, and improve the habitat and runs of salmon and steelhead in the Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn.
If any of you would like to help with SARSAS or would like to be on an e-mail list, or if you would like us to email you a copy of our entire talk, please sign the clipboard.
Thank you for your time and courtesy. We will be delighted to answer any other questions now. (Introduce Tom and Debra Weistar of Synergia Learning Ventures from Grass Valley who will tell you how they connected students to streams and show you a video they made of students called Awakening the Bear River.)
Information to put on board:
SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD)
CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR, YUBA rivers)
anadromous (migrating up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh waters) fish
Granite Bay Fly Casters: Rick Radoff (4120 Pine Street, Rocklin, CA 95677; 916-624-2107); radoffcnst@jps.net
Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7)
Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler
I would like to thank Kathy Myers for all her help and insights in arranging for SARSAS to attend this in-service, to Bart O’Brien for his courtesy and direction, to Tom and Debra Weistar from Synergia Learning Ventures, Auburn City Councilman Mike Holmes for his constant support, all the SARSAS members in attendance today, and especially my lovely wife Valerie who is my partner in all our adventures.
PERSONAL INTRODUCTION: (Pass around clipboard.)
For those of you who may not know us Del Oro Old Timers, Jack and I have 67 years of combined teaching and coaching experience at Del Oro High School. During our teaching careers we taught English and German. As a coach Jack and his staff won twelve Cross Country and Track and Field Championships in six years of coaching and, as an aside, he coached Sheriff Ed Bonner to the California State Track and Field Championships twice. (Ed wasn’t as heavy then.) Jack and I coached the Del Oro Academic Decathlon Team to three consecutive California Academic Decathlon State Championships, the only competitive high school team in the history of our area to do so. We raised thousands of dollars to support our Academic Decathlon Team and to arrange for American and foreign exchange students to study here and abroad while we were advisors for the international American Field Service. For five years I was the drama director, working with many staff members and disparate student personalities, and continued to teach drama until I retired at which time the new stage and auditorium were built. We have had extensive/intensive consensus building experience while I was President and Jack was a negotiator for ATP, our local chapter of the California Teachers Association. For twenty-seven summers Jack coordinated all Interpretive Programs for the Sierra District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation as a State Park Ranger. We have wide experience in fundraising and consensus building.
Let me give you an overview of today’s presentation and please feel free to ask questions at any time. (Highlight Agenda)
BACKGROUND and MISSION STATEMENT:
SARSAS is an acronym for SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD, whose mission is to restore, protect, and improve the habitat and runs of salmon and steelhead in the Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn.
SARSAS is a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, and our goal is to modify the ten man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the six or more beaver dams, making them passable for fishes. This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of our lives in this area. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has an anadromous (migrating up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh waters) fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Since I was born in Ophir and spent my childhood exploring the AR, I have an intimate knowledge of the AR. My personal goal is to bring salmon to the center of Auburn so they can spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve, providing another attractive facet to our already beautiful town for residents, tourists and sightseers. I first saw the incredible beauty of a city with a salmon stream flowing through its center in Juneau, Alaska, and got the idea to reproduce that beauty in Auburn.
IN THE FLOW:
We are currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize SARSAS’ goal. Locally, we are working with Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy to get started. We have the support of Janice Forbes, who spearheaded the daylighting of the South Fork of the AR and the creation of the Auburn School Park Preserve. We have spoken with property owners along the AR such as Alex Ferreira, Julie Briones, David Bergquist, as well as John Rabe (HE IS HERE TODAY), who has given us access to his property for students to do fish studies.
Placer Legacy is working with NID to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill, which is only one of the ten man-made barriers that must be dealt with to provide fish passage on the Auburn Ravine. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gauging stations. Our task is no less intimidating that Sisyphus’ task of rolling his rock up the hill for eternity.
Our plan will get fishes to the Wise Powerhouse although currently the water flow/habitation in the Auburn Ravine between the Powerhouse and Auburn Park Preserve is not adequate to support salmon. We have asked the City Council of Auburn and the Auburn Park Preserve Committee to address at some future date the lack of water flow/habitat and to consider contacting PCWA to possibly secure additional water from the Drum-Spaulding waterway, and also to improve the water quality in that section of the Auburn Ravine.
We have the knowledge, expertise and financial ability to make this dream a reality if we work collaboratively. We just must commit ourselves to returning salmon and steelhead runs all the way to Auburn.
We plan to create a SARSAS Foundation to collect monies to help make the Auburn Ravine passable, but CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and other organizations such as AmericanRivers.org already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers. Placer Legacy has compiled the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx). We are currently working on a plan to systematically make each barrier in the AR navigable for fish.
SARSAS Action Plan
Derived from “Fisheries Resources”,
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem
Restoration Plan Projects
Foothill Associates 2004
December 2007
“Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary goals of the AR/CC ERP.” Fisheries Resources
The primary goal of SARSAS is to return Salmon and Steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine in the most efficient manner and in the shortest time possible.
Phase I is to create a plan to streamline the tasks so that progress can be made rapidly. Its focus is to clear a navigable waterway for fish to reach the headwaters of the Ravine.
Secondary issues such as plant communities, public outreach, water quality, and wildlife resources (as outlined in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP) will be dealt with in Phase II and only as they impact the implementation of Phase I and will receive primary attention after the navigable waterway is effected.
Phase I Tasks:
1. work with appropriate agencies to clear or modify man-made barriers, create fish
ladders or channels (FR3, 4) to provide a navigable waterway for fish;
2. determine how far up the ravine fish currently travel and begin the initial clearing of barriers at that point (FR6);
3. restore stream beds where anadromous fish spawn (FR6, 7);
4. implement a functional beaver management program to expedite fish passage;
5. conduct fish count and spawning survey (FR1, 4, 5);
6. address obvious water pollution (FR5); and
7. address mixing of water of different temperatures, Penstock to Wise Powerhouse/ American River/Newcastle Canal, into Auburn Ravine as it impacts fish;
8. create a collaborative coalition of agencies and non-governmental agencies, students and volunteers to do the needed work.
Initial Organizational Steps:
1. Affiliate with American Basin Council of Watersheds (completed January 2007);
2. Affiliate with Dry Creek Conservancy and work under its auspices (completed on November 14, 2007 – See Dry Creek Conservancy Minutes, Modified Meeting);
3. Meet with various organizations to solicit support and funding i.e. PUHSD, Richard Gresham, Placer CRCD (completed), Ron Nelson of NID, James Navicky of DFG, Katie Burdick of CABY, Elizabeth Soderstrom of American Rivers, Edmund Sullivan and Loren Clark, Placer Legacy, Janice Forbes.
Continuing and Already Completed Steps:
1. Continue planning meetings with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt asking for support and direction (completed November 26, 2007 with additional meetings scheduled for December 17, 2007 and March 4, 2008 and May 11, 2008, with Mr. Weygandt, Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy);
2. Met on November 27, 2007, with Auburn City Councilman asking for and receiving his support;
3. Met with Janice Forbes, Sierra Business Council on January 8, 2008.
4. Addressed the Auburn City Council on February 11, 2008, asking for support;
5. Met with PlacerUHSD teachers on March 14, 2008, to connect teachers and students to the Auburn Ravine.
Some of the Projects Currently Underway:
Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy is working with NID and other shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. Ron Nelson, the General Manager of NID, and I are working to modify one of the most prominent barriers, the Gold Hill Diversion Dam #1 near Chili Hill in Ophir. Other major barriers are the Ophir Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gauging Station downstream from Hwy 65 and the Lincoln Ranch Duck Club Dam.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity (possible Senior Project). Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists (good Senior Project). Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. Everyone worked together. We want to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California. Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" We have heard much about sharing the dream. We are asking you teachers and your students to share the dream. Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH. We love state championships.
HOW TEACHERS MIGHT CONNECT STUDENTS WITH SARSAS AND REALLY, REALLY HAVE FUN
Science Teachers can include units on the life of salmonids, stream restoration, anadromous fishes' life cycle and instincts, and stream alteration. Units on aquatic habitat and predation and stream ecology can be included in the curriculum. Fish tanks can be placed in classrooms and fish eggs can be hatched, reared and placed into the Auburn Ravine with scientific and writing assignments attached to the observations. Surveys can be conducted on the size, weight and release date and the return of the salmon. Students can perform stream modification to enable fish to navigate barriers or do water quality and temperature studies related to aquatic life.
Senior Project Advisors can encourage students to undertake a project related to the Auburn Ravine and learn along with the students as they conclude their Senior Projects.
English teachers might assign the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7) and use it as a vehicle to connect students to projects on the Auburn Ravine, or assign Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler. Students can be assigned research papers on anadromous fishes, the health of streams, the importance of pure water for aquatic life, the effect of contaminated waters on aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine. Journals or extra credit assignments can be based on observations of nuances such as water level, aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine through the four seasons, or countless other topics.
Teachers might like to take advantage of a program the Granite Bay Fly Casters have which provides fish tanks and salmon eggs for classroom aquariums. (Kay Fegette, now retired, was in the program at Chana for many years.) The Fly Casters have an in-service twice a year, one usually in September and one in January. Interested teachers must attend an in-service to be involved with the program. Fly Casters provides them with the curriculum and the aquarium. They deliver the eggs to the classroom and the teacher takes it from there. If anyone is interested in this program, contact Rick Radoff (4120 Pine Street, Rocklin, CA 95677; 916-624-2107) to attend the next in-service. Include a home phone number, address, and the school you teach at. Rick deals with the teachers directly, not the schools. All of his calling is in the evening.
Students working in the elementary schools or those who wish to create a Senior Project for elementary students might use Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0) to teach the younger students how to connect with the Auburn Ravine or any stream.
These are a fraction of the possible assignments, and teachers of the caliber of those in the Placer Union High School District will immediately think of many others.
IDEAS FOR SENIOR PROJECTS RELATING TO THE AUBURN RAVINE
SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD) works with Placer Legacy of Placer County government, Dry Creek Conservancy, CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR, YUBA rivers), Ducks Unlimited, Nevada Irrigation District and Granite Bay Fly Casters.
Students who choose to do environmental Senior Projects on the Auburn Ravine, Coon Creek or a related waterway in Western Placer County may work with the support and guidance of these groups.
SARSAS Senior Projects will connect students to the community and allow them to work with one or more of these agencies in a collaborative manner and develop public outreach skills by working with landowners along the Auburn Ravine.
Senior Projects may focus on
1. assessment and analysis of existing environmental issues on the Auburn Ravine such as bank erosion, habitat degradation, excessive sedimentation that prevents spawning, poor water quality affecting aquatic life, and modifying existing man-made barriers to create fish passage;
2. habitat restoration such as planting trees, shrubs and native grasses to create shade to keep water temperature in the range for fish to flourish and prevent stream bank
erosion;
3. conception and hypothetical design of fish passages, fish screens, sump pumps,
stream rerouting, stream aeration, ways to improve water quality and water flow;
4. implementation of projects to improve any part of the Auburn Ravine to make it
more conducive for anadromous fishes to use its entire length to reach spawning
gravel, procreate and reach a stage of development (smolt) in order to return to
the ocean to grow to maturity and start the cycle again;
5. any project that teachers, students and outside advisors can envision to enhance the
probability of fishes flourishing.
The best ideas of course will come from students themselves with input from teachers.
Senior Project Scholarship: SARSAS is in the process of creating a scholarship and raising up to $5,000.00 to be awarded to the district wide student whose project best fulfills the mission of SARSAS which is to restore, protect, and improve the habitat and runs of salmon and steelhead in the Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn.
If any of you would like to help with SARSAS or would like to be on an e-mail list, or if you would like us to email you a copy of our entire talk, please sign the clipboard.
Thank you for your time and courtesy. We will be delighted to answer any other questions now. (Introduce Tom and Debra Weistar of Synergia Learning Ventures from Grass Valley who will tell you how they connected students to streams and show you a video they made of students called Awakening the Bear River.)
Information to put on board:
SARSAS (SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD)
CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR, YUBA rivers)
anadromous (migrating up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh waters) fish
Granite Bay Fly Casters: Rick Radoff (4120 Pine Street, Rocklin, CA 95677; 916-624-2107); radoffcnst@jps.net
Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7)
Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler
SARSAS Wine Tasting Fund Raiser Friday, May 23, 2008
SARSAS WINE TASTING
AT COURTHOUSE COFFEE
LOCATED AT 1425 LINCOLN WAY, AUBURN
(NEAR COURTHOUSE AND AUBURN/FOLSOM RD.)
DATE: Friday, May 23, 2008
TIME: 6-9pm
OPEN TO PUBLIC: Bring family and friends and enjoy tasting a variety of local wines. The price is $10 per person for the entire evening.
Proceeds with go to the SARSAS Senior Project Scholarship Fund to the senior in the Placer Union High School District whose project best supports the goal of SARSAS of returning Salmon and Steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and ultimately getting Salmon to spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of the city of Auburn.
For more information, please contact Linda at CC at 530 889 1373.
AT COURTHOUSE COFFEE
LOCATED AT 1425 LINCOLN WAY, AUBURN
(NEAR COURTHOUSE AND AUBURN/FOLSOM RD.)
DATE: Friday, May 23, 2008
TIME: 6-9pm
OPEN TO PUBLIC: Bring family and friends and enjoy tasting a variety of local wines. The price is $10 per person for the entire evening.
Proceeds with go to the SARSAS Senior Project Scholarship Fund to the senior in the Placer Union High School District whose project best supports the goal of SARSAS of returning Salmon and Steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and ultimately getting Salmon to spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of the city of Auburn.
For more information, please contact Linda at CC at 530 889 1373.
SARSAS Wine Tasting Fund Raiser Friday, May 23, 2008
SARSAS WINE TASTING
AT COURTHOUSE COFFEE
LOCATED AT 1425 LINCOLN WAY, AUBURN, Ca 95603
(NEAR COURTHOUSE AND AUBURN/FOLSOM RD.)
DATE: Friday, May 23, 2008
TIME: 6-9pm
OPEN TO PUBLIC: Bring family and friends and enjoy tasting a variety of local wines. The price is $10 per person for the entire evening.
Proceeds with go to the SARSAS Senior Project Scholarship Fund to the senior in the Placer Union High School District whose project best supports the goal of SARSAS of returning Salmon and Steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and ultimately getting Salmon to spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of the city of Auburn.
For more information, please contact Linda at CC at 530 889 1373.
AT COURTHOUSE COFFEE
LOCATED AT 1425 LINCOLN WAY, AUBURN, Ca 95603
(NEAR COURTHOUSE AND AUBURN/FOLSOM RD.)
DATE: Friday, May 23, 2008
TIME: 6-9pm
OPEN TO PUBLIC: Bring family and friends and enjoy tasting a variety of local wines. The price is $10 per person for the entire evening.
Proceeds with go to the SARSAS Senior Project Scholarship Fund to the senior in the Placer Union High School District whose project best supports the goal of SARSAS of returning Salmon and Steelhead to the Auburn Ravine and ultimately getting Salmon to spawn in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of the city of Auburn.
For more information, please contact Linda at CC at 530 889 1373.
SARSAS Overview and How Teachers Can Connect to SARSAS
SARSAS (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead)
Mission Statement: to return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine
Organization: SARSAS is a 501c3m public benefit corporation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, whose goal is to work collaboratively to modify the thirteen man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the countless beaver dams, making them passable for fishes.
Vision: This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of the lives of those in this area and on the participants who will achieve something unique. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Collaborative Technique: SARSAS is working with volunteers, students, local businesses, government agencies and other Non-Government Organizations and donations of money, time and in-kind services to achieve its goal of returning salmon and steelhead with them ultimately spawning in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of Auburn. SARSAS is currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize its goal.
Locally, we are working with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy and the California Department of Fish and Game, Auburn City Council. We have been given stream access by property owners along the AR for volunteers to do fish studies. Placer Legacy is working with Nevada Irrigation District to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gaging stations. Granite Bay Fly Casters places fish tanks in schools.
Operations: SARSAS plans to accept donations of cash and work and professional expertise and to work outside the usual channels of large financial grants. SARSAS has the ability to accept grant money as well as apply for grants through such non- profits as CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and AmericanRivers.org, which already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers describe in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan. (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx).
Model: The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. All facets of the community worked together. SARSAS intends to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California.
Philosophy: Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE TRIUMPH AND THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH.
Comments and questions as well as donations made out to SARSAS can be directed to: Jack L. Sanchez, 3675 Larkin Lane, Auburn, CA 95602,530 888 0281,alcamus39@hotmail.com
Page 2
How Teacher Might Connect Students with SARSAS and Really, Really Have Fun
Science Teachers can include units on the life of salmonids, stream restoration, anadromous fishes' life cycle and instincts, and stream alteration. Units on aquatic habitat and predation and stream ecology can be included in the curriculum. Fish tanks can be placed in classrooms and fish eggs can be hatched, reared and placed into the Auburn Ravine with scientific and writing assignments attached to the observations. Surveys can be conducted on the size, weight and release date and the return of the salmon. Students can perform stream modification to enable fish to navigate barriers or do water quality and temperature studies related to aquatic life.
Senior Project Advisors can encourage students to undertake a project related to the Auburn Ravine and learn along with the students as they conclude their Senior Projects.
English teachers might assign the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7 and use it as a vehicle to connect students to project s on the Auburn Ravine. Or assign Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler. Students can be assigned research papers on anadromous fishes, the health of streams, the importance of pure water for aquatic life, the effect of contaminated waters on aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine. Journals or extra credits assignments can be based on observations of nuances such as water level, aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine through the four seasons, or countless other topics.
Students working in the elementary schools or those who wish to create a Senior Project for elementary students might use Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0) to teach the younger students how to connect with the Auburn Ravine or any stream.
These are a fraction of the possible assignments and teachers of the caliber of those in the Placer Union High School District will immediately think of many others.
Mission Statement: to return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine
Organization: SARSAS is a 501c3m public benefit corporation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, whose goal is to work collaboratively to modify the thirteen man-made barriers on the Auburn Ravine and the countless beaver dams, making them passable for fishes.
Vision: This undertaking will take much time, effort, coordination and money, but it will have a permanent, lasting effect on the quality of the lives of those in this area and on the participants who will achieve something unique. We have an opportunity to create something no other town in California has: an anadromous fish run with salmon spawning in the center of the city.
Collaborative Technique: SARSAS is working with volunteers, students, local businesses, government agencies and other Non-Government Organizations and donations of money, time and in-kind services to achieve its goal of returning salmon and steelhead with them ultimately spawning in Auburn School Park Preserve in the center of Auburn. SARSAS is currently working with several individuals and agencies to realize its goal.
Locally, we are working with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt and Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan from Placer Legacy and the California Department of Fish and Game, Auburn City Council. We have been given stream access by property owners along the AR for volunteers to do fish studies. Placer Legacy is working with Nevada Irrigation District to modify the Hemphill Dam below Gold Hill. Ron Nelson, NID General Manager, plans to continue working with SARSAS to modify other dams and gaging stations. Granite Bay Fly Casters places fish tanks in schools.
Operations: SARSAS plans to accept donations of cash and work and professional expertise and to work outside the usual channels of large financial grants. SARSAS has the ability to accept grant money as well as apply for grants through such non- profits as CABY (COSUMNES, AMERICAN, BEAR AND YUBA) and AmericanRivers.org, which already have monies available for grants to work on several of the barriers describe in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Eco-System Resources Plan. (http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/Planning/PlacerLegacy/AuburnRavine.aspx).
Model: The greatest stream/fish restoration ever is Fossil Creek in Arizona. All facets of the community worked together. SARSAS intends to make the Restoration of the Auburn Ravine the model for the State of California.
Philosophy: Actions achieve goals but actions are preceded by a dream: Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say ‘Why not?’" Together we can make SARSAS the model fish restoration IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ENJOY ALL THE TRIUMPH AND THE ACCLAIM ATTENDANT THEREWITH.
Comments and questions as well as donations made out to SARSAS can be directed to: Jack L. Sanchez, 3675 Larkin Lane, Auburn, CA 95602,530 888 0281,alcamus39@hotmail.com
Page 2
How Teacher Might Connect Students with SARSAS and Really, Really Have Fun
Science Teachers can include units on the life of salmonids, stream restoration, anadromous fishes' life cycle and instincts, and stream alteration. Units on aquatic habitat and predation and stream ecology can be included in the curriculum. Fish tanks can be placed in classrooms and fish eggs can be hatched, reared and placed into the Auburn Ravine with scientific and writing assignments attached to the observations. Surveys can be conducted on the size, weight and release date and the return of the salmon. Students can perform stream modification to enable fish to navigate barriers or do water quality and temperature studies related to aquatic life.
Senior Project Advisors can encourage students to undertake a project related to the Auburn Ravine and learn along with the students as they conclude their Senior Projects.
English teachers might assign the novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday ISBN 978-0-7538-2178-7 and use it as a vehicle to connect students to project s on the Auburn Ravine. Or assign Isaac Walton’s classic 1653 work The Compleat Angler. Students can be assigned research papers on anadromous fishes, the health of streams, the importance of pure water for aquatic life, the effect of contaminated waters on aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine. Journals or extra credits assignments can be based on observations of nuances such as water level, aquatic life in the Auburn Ravine through the four seasons, or countless other topics.
Students working in the elementary schools or those who wish to create a Senior Project for elementary students might use Come Back, Salmon: How a Group of Dedicated Kids Adopted Pigeon Creek and Brought it Back to Life by Molly Cone (ISBN 0-87156-489-0) to teach the younger students how to connect with the Auburn Ravine or any stream.
These are a fraction of the possible assignments and teachers of the caliber of those in the Placer Union High School District will immediately think of many others.
SARSAS Action Plan -How to Make Auburn Ravine Navigable for Salmon and Steelhead
SARSAS Action Plan
Derived from “Fisheries Resources”,
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem
Restoration Plan Projects
Foothill Associates 2004
December 2007
“Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary goals of the AR/CC ERP.” Fisheries Resources
The primary goal of SARSAS is to return Salmon and Steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine in the most efficient manner and in the shortest time possible.
Phase I is to create a plan to streamline the tasks so that progress can be made rapidly. Its focus is to clear a navigable waterway for fish to reach the headwaters of the Ravine.
Secondary issues such as plant communities, public outreach, water quality, and wildlife resources (as outlined in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP) will be dealt with in Phase II and only as they impact the implementation of Phase I and will receive primary attention after the navigable waterway is effected.
The task in Phase I will be as follows:
1) work with appropriate agencies to clear or modify man-made barriers, create fish ladders or channel (FR3,4) to provide a navigable waterway for fish;
2) determine how far up ravine fish currently travel and begin initial clearing of barriers at that point (FR6);
3) restore stream beds where anadromous fish spawn (FR6,7);
4) implement a functional beaver management program to expedite fish passage;
5) conduct fish count and spawning survey (FR1,4,5);
6) address obvious water pollution (FR5); and
7) address mixing of water of different temperature, Penstock to Wise Powerhouse/American River/Newcastle Canal, into Auburn Ravine as it impacts fish
8) create a collaborative coalition of agencies and non-governmental agencies, students and volunteers to do the needed work.
Initial Organizational Steps:
Affiliate with American Basin Council of Watersheds (completed January 2007);
Affiliate with Dry Creek Conservancy and work under its auspices (completed on November 14, 2007 – See Dry Creek Conservancy Minutes, Modified Meeting);
Meet with various organizations to solicit support and funding i.e.
Placer Union High School District, Richard Gresham, Placer CRCD (completed), Ron Nelson of NID, James Navicky of DFG, Katie Burdick of CABY, Elizabeth Soderstrom of American Rivers, Edmund Sullivan and Loren Clark, Placer Legacy, Janice Forbes,
Continuing planning meetings with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt asking for support and direction (completed November 26, 2007 and additional meeting scheduled for December 17, 2007 and March 4, 2008 and May 11, 2008, with Mr. Weygandt, Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy);
Conversation on November 27, 2007, with Auburn City Councilman asking for and receiving his support;
Meeting with Janice Forbes, Sierra Business Council for January 8, 2008.
Addressing Auburn City Council, February 11, 2008, asking for support.
Meeting with PlacerUHSD teachers on March 14, 2008, to connect teachers and students to the Auburn Ravine
Derived from “Fisheries Resources”,
Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem
Restoration Plan Projects
Foothill Associates 2004
December 2007
“Protection and restoration of aquatic habitat for anadromous species is one of the primary goals of the AR/CC ERP.” Fisheries Resources
The primary goal of SARSAS is to return Salmon and Steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine in the most efficient manner and in the shortest time possible.
Phase I is to create a plan to streamline the tasks so that progress can be made rapidly. Its focus is to clear a navigable waterway for fish to reach the headwaters of the Ravine.
Secondary issues such as plant communities, public outreach, water quality, and wildlife resources (as outlined in Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek ERP) will be dealt with in Phase II and only as they impact the implementation of Phase I and will receive primary attention after the navigable waterway is effected.
The task in Phase I will be as follows:
1) work with appropriate agencies to clear or modify man-made barriers, create fish ladders or channel (FR3,4) to provide a navigable waterway for fish;
2) determine how far up ravine fish currently travel and begin initial clearing of barriers at that point (FR6);
3) restore stream beds where anadromous fish spawn (FR6,7);
4) implement a functional beaver management program to expedite fish passage;
5) conduct fish count and spawning survey (FR1,4,5);
6) address obvious water pollution (FR5); and
7) address mixing of water of different temperature, Penstock to Wise Powerhouse/American River/Newcastle Canal, into Auburn Ravine as it impacts fish
8) create a collaborative coalition of agencies and non-governmental agencies, students and volunteers to do the needed work.
Initial Organizational Steps:
Affiliate with American Basin Council of Watersheds (completed January 2007);
Affiliate with Dry Creek Conservancy and work under its auspices (completed on November 14, 2007 – See Dry Creek Conservancy Minutes, Modified Meeting);
Meet with various organizations to solicit support and funding i.e.
Placer Union High School District, Richard Gresham, Placer CRCD (completed), Ron Nelson of NID, James Navicky of DFG, Katie Burdick of CABY, Elizabeth Soderstrom of American Rivers, Edmund Sullivan and Loren Clark, Placer Legacy, Janice Forbes,
Continuing planning meetings with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt asking for support and direction (completed November 26, 2007 and additional meeting scheduled for December 17, 2007 and March 4, 2008 and May 11, 2008, with Mr. Weygandt, Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan of Placer Legacy);
Conversation on November 27, 2007, with Auburn City Councilman asking for and receiving his support;
Meeting with Janice Forbes, Sierra Business Council for January 8, 2008.
Addressing Auburn City Council, February 11, 2008, asking for support.
Meeting with PlacerUHSD teachers on March 14, 2008, to connect teachers and students to the Auburn Ravine
The Beginning of SARSAS November 2007
DCC Membership Request November, 2007
Members of the Dry Creek Conservancy,
I am delighted to once again talk to this group and share an idea I have about returning the runs of salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine. I spoke to this group last January and then family responsibilities took up much of my time, but I am now ready to proceed and to provide you with a very general overview of my Plan. I wish to establish a group which will be called SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS), whose general goal will be to work toward returning the Auburn Ravine to a navigable stream for salmon and steelhead so they can spawn along its headwaters.
One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen is the salmon spawning run in Juneau, Alaska, with salmon filling Juneau Creek from bank to bank, swimming on each other's back to get up stream to spawn. This Juneau run goes through the heart of the town. And a personal goal is to return salmon and steelhead to the city of Auburn to spawn in the newly daylighted Lincoln Creek, which is really the South Fork of the Auburn Ravine. Auburn School Park Preserve is located in the center of Auburn, and Lincoln Creek flows through this park. The creek bed is landscaped to accommodate spawning.
Mission of SARSAS: to restore and protect Salmon and Steelhead Runs in Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn and to improve their habitat so they can spawn. Much work has already been done and set forth in the Auburn Ravine/ Coon Creek Ecosystem Restoration Plan Projects (2004).
I would request that SARSAS become a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy to raise funds donated to DCC and have these funds used by SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. I have met with several people, Dave Antonucci from Lake Tahoe, former Manager of the Tahoe Municipal Water District, Edmund Sullivan of the Placer County Planning Department, and Rich Gresham of Placer County Resource Conservation District. I have talked with and emailed Greg Bates, Heath Wakeley and Bill Templin and Einar Maisch. I have an appointment to talk with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, who like me is a creek side landowner, and with Alex Ferreira, PCWA Board Member, with David Breninger, Director of PCWA. Edmund is here today to answer your questions, but Rich unfortunately is attending a forestry forum in Placerville. They have all suggested I request working under the auspices of the DCC. Edmund has supplied a video of a helicopter flight over the AR from the town of Verona on the Sacramento River, the mouth of the Auburn Ravine, to the Wise Powerhouse near Auburn, which details the barriers including beaver dams. Rich Gresham has provided a copy of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Restoration Plan.
In Appendix D – “Fishery Resources” is an outline of the barriers and impediments on the Auburn Ravine. I flew over the course of the Auburn Ravine with a friend and counted at least six beaver dams as well as the ten barriers outlined in Appendix D. Edmund Sullivan is working with shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. One of the most prominent barrier, the NID Auburn Ravine Dam #1 near Chili Hill needs attention. Another major barrier is the Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gaging Station downstream from Hwy 65. Identification of these barriers with priorities listed for dealing with each is already completed. The general objective and priorities for restoration are outlined under Objectives (page 5). My focus will be under Fisheries Resources and specifically on the Auburn Ravine but Public Outreach, Water Quality, Plant Communities and Wildlife Resources are all part of the general plan for stream restoration.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity. Securing funds to monitor the current migration runs of salmon and steelhead to determine the location where our stream work should begin is another essential step.
Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists. Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
Our goal for SARSAS is to do all necessary work to return salmon and steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine. So doing will take a long time but to achieve our goal, we must get started.
I am asking that the Dry Creek Conservancy accept us as a part of the organization so we can use the expertise of this group to achieve our goal, and so we can raise funds and direct them to SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. Several of you already volunteered to help with this group, but we ask for anyone who would like to help us achieve our goal to volunteer now to help. I don’t know if we have to be voted into DCC or what the procedure is.
I look forward to working with you all on this useful and enjoyable project.
SARSAS was accepted as a sub-committee of DCC in November of 2007 and has non-profit status.
Jack Sanchez 530 888 0281
alcamus39@hotmail.com
Members of the Dry Creek Conservancy,
I am delighted to once again talk to this group and share an idea I have about returning the runs of salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine. I spoke to this group last January and then family responsibilities took up much of my time, but I am now ready to proceed and to provide you with a very general overview of my Plan. I wish to establish a group which will be called SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS), whose general goal will be to work toward returning the Auburn Ravine to a navigable stream for salmon and steelhead so they can spawn along its headwaters.
One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen is the salmon spawning run in Juneau, Alaska, with salmon filling Juneau Creek from bank to bank, swimming on each other's back to get up stream to spawn. This Juneau run goes through the heart of the town. And a personal goal is to return salmon and steelhead to the city of Auburn to spawn in the newly daylighted Lincoln Creek, which is really the South Fork of the Auburn Ravine. Auburn School Park Preserve is located in the center of Auburn, and Lincoln Creek flows through this park. The creek bed is landscaped to accommodate spawning.
Mission of SARSAS: to restore and protect Salmon and Steelhead Runs in Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn and to improve their habitat so they can spawn. Much work has already been done and set forth in the Auburn Ravine/ Coon Creek Ecosystem Restoration Plan Projects (2004).
I would request that SARSAS become a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy to raise funds donated to DCC and have these funds used by SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. I have met with several people, Dave Antonucci from Lake Tahoe, former Manager of the Tahoe Municipal Water District, Edmund Sullivan of the Placer County Planning Department, and Rich Gresham of Placer County Resource Conservation District. I have talked with and emailed Greg Bates, Heath Wakeley and Bill Templin and Einar Maisch. I have an appointment to talk with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, who like me is a creek side landowner, and with Alex Ferreira, PCWA Board Member, with David Breninger, Director of PCWA. Edmund is here today to answer your questions, but Rich unfortunately is attending a forestry forum in Placerville. They have all suggested I request working under the auspices of the DCC. Edmund has supplied a video of a helicopter flight over the AR from the town of Verona on the Sacramento River, the mouth of the Auburn Ravine, to the Wise Powerhouse near Auburn, which details the barriers including beaver dams. Rich Gresham has provided a copy of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Restoration Plan.
In Appendix D – “Fishery Resources” is an outline of the barriers and impediments on the Auburn Ravine. I flew over the course of the Auburn Ravine with a friend and counted at least six beaver dams as well as the ten barriers outlined in Appendix D. Edmund Sullivan is working with shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. One of the most prominent barrier, the NID Auburn Ravine Dam #1 near Chili Hill needs attention. Another major barrier is the Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gaging Station downstream from Hwy 65. Identification of these barriers with priorities listed for dealing with each is already completed. The general objective and priorities for restoration are outlined under Objectives (page 5). My focus will be under Fisheries Resources and specifically on the Auburn Ravine but Public Outreach, Water Quality, Plant Communities and Wildlife Resources are all part of the general plan for stream restoration.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity. Securing funds to monitor the current migration runs of salmon and steelhead to determine the location where our stream work should begin is another essential step.
Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists. Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
Our goal for SARSAS is to do all necessary work to return salmon and steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine. So doing will take a long time but to achieve our goal, we must get started.
I am asking that the Dry Creek Conservancy accept us as a part of the organization so we can use the expertise of this group to achieve our goal, and so we can raise funds and direct them to SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. Several of you already volunteered to help with this group, but we ask for anyone who would like to help us achieve our goal to volunteer now to help. I don’t know if we have to be voted into DCC or what the procedure is.
I look forward to working with you all on this useful and enjoyable project.
SARSAS was accepted as a sub-committee of DCC in November of 2007 and has non-profit status.
Jack Sanchez 530 888 0281
alcamus39@hotmail.com
SARSAS - Its Beginnings in Dry Creek Conservancy
DCC Membership Request November, 2007
Members of the Dry Creek Conservancy,
I am delighted to once again talk to this group and share an idea I have about returning the runs of salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine. I spoke to this group last January and then family responsibilities took up much of my time, but I am now ready to proceed and to provide you with a very general overview of my Plan. I wish to establish a group which will be called SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS), whose general goal will be to work toward returning the Auburn Ravine to a navigable stream for salmon and steelhead so they can spawn along its headwaters.
One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen is the salmon spawning run in Juneau, Alaska, with salmon filling Juneau Creek from bank to bank, swimming on each other's back to get up stream to spawn. This Juneau run goes through the heart of the town. And a personal goal is to return salmon and steelhead to the city of Auburn to spawn in the newly daylighted Lincoln Creek, which is really the South Fork of the Auburn Ravine. Auburn School Park Preserve is located in the center of Auburn, and Lincoln Creek flows through this park. The creek bed is landscaped to accommodate spawning.
Mission of SARSAS: to restore and protect Salmon and Steelhead Runs in Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn and to improve their habitat so they can spawn. Much work has already been done and set forth in the Auburn Ravine/ Coon Creek Ecosystem Restoration Plan Projects (2004).
I would request that SARSAS become a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy to raise funds donated to DCC and have these funds used by SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. I have met with several people, Dave Antonucci from Lake Tahoe, former Manager of the Tahoe Municipal Water District, Edmund Sullivan of the Placer County Planning Department, and Rich Gresham of Placer County Resource Conservation District. I have talked with and emailed Greg Bates, Heath Wakeley and Bill Templin and Einar Maisch. I have an appointment to talk with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, who like me is a creek side landowner, and with Alex Ferreira, PCWA Board Member, with David Breninger, Director of PCWA. Edmund is here today to answer your questions, but Rich unfortunately is attending a forestry forum in Placerville. They have all suggested I request working under the auspices of the DCC. Edmund has supplied a video of a helicopter flight over the AR from the town of Verona on the Sacramento River, the mouth of the Auburn Ravine, to the Wise Powerhouse near Auburn, which details the barriers including beaver dams. Rich Gresham has provided a copy of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Restoration Plan.
In Appendix D – “Fishery Resources” is an outline of the barriers and impediments on the Auburn Ravine. I flew over the course of the Auburn Ravine with a friend and counted at least six beaver dams as well as the ten barriers outlined in Appendix D. Edmund Sullivan is working with shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. One of the most prominent barrier, the NID Auburn Ravine Dam #1 near Chili Hill needs attention. Another major barrier is the Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gaging Station downstream from Hwy 65. Identification of these barriers with priorities listed for dealing with each is already completed. The general objective and priorities for restoration are outlined under Objectives (page 5). My focus will be under Fisheries Resources and specifically on the Auburn Ravine but Public Outreach, Water Quality, Plant Communities and Wildlife Resources are all part of the general plan for stream restoration.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity. Securing funds to monitor the current migration runs of salmon and steelhead to determine the location where our stream work should begin is another essential step.
Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists. Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
Our goal for SARSAS is to do all necessary work to return salmon and steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine. So doing will take a long time but to achieve our goal, we must get started.
I am asking that the Dry Creek Conservancy accept us as a part of the organization so we can use the expertise of this group to achieve our goal, and so we can raise funds and direct them to SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. Several of you already volunteered to help with this group, but we ask for anyone who would like to help us achieve our goal to volunteer now to help. I don’t know if we have to be voted into DCC or what the procedure is.
I look forward to working with you all on this useful and enjoyable project.
SARSAS was accepted as a sub-committee of DCC in November of 2007 and has non-profit status.
Jack Sanchez 530 888 0281
alcamus39@hotmail.com
Members of the Dry Creek Conservancy,
I am delighted to once again talk to this group and share an idea I have about returning the runs of salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine. I spoke to this group last January and then family responsibilities took up much of my time, but I am now ready to proceed and to provide you with a very general overview of my Plan. I wish to establish a group which will be called SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS), whose general goal will be to work toward returning the Auburn Ravine to a navigable stream for salmon and steelhead so they can spawn along its headwaters.
One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen is the salmon spawning run in Juneau, Alaska, with salmon filling Juneau Creek from bank to bank, swimming on each other's back to get up stream to spawn. This Juneau run goes through the heart of the town. And a personal goal is to return salmon and steelhead to the city of Auburn to spawn in the newly daylighted Lincoln Creek, which is really the South Fork of the Auburn Ravine. Auburn School Park Preserve is located in the center of Auburn, and Lincoln Creek flows through this park. The creek bed is landscaped to accommodate spawning.
Mission of SARSAS: to restore and protect Salmon and Steelhead Runs in Auburn Ravine by providing a navigable waterway from the Sacramento River to the city of Auburn and to improve their habitat so they can spawn. Much work has already been done and set forth in the Auburn Ravine/ Coon Creek Ecosystem Restoration Plan Projects (2004).
I would request that SARSAS become a part of the Dry Creek Conservancy to raise funds donated to DCC and have these funds used by SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. I have met with several people, Dave Antonucci from Lake Tahoe, former Manager of the Tahoe Municipal Water District, Edmund Sullivan of the Placer County Planning Department, and Rich Gresham of Placer County Resource Conservation District. I have talked with and emailed Greg Bates, Heath Wakeley and Bill Templin and Einar Maisch. I have an appointment to talk with Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, who like me is a creek side landowner, and with Alex Ferreira, PCWA Board Member, with David Breninger, Director of PCWA. Edmund is here today to answer your questions, but Rich unfortunately is attending a forestry forum in Placerville. They have all suggested I request working under the auspices of the DCC. Edmund has supplied a video of a helicopter flight over the AR from the town of Verona on the Sacramento River, the mouth of the Auburn Ravine, to the Wise Powerhouse near Auburn, which details the barriers including beaver dams. Rich Gresham has provided a copy of the Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Restoration Plan.
In Appendix D – “Fishery Resources” is an outline of the barriers and impediments on the Auburn Ravine. I flew over the course of the Auburn Ravine with a friend and counted at least six beaver dams as well as the ten barriers outlined in Appendix D. Edmund Sullivan is working with shareholders on the Hemphill Dam near Turkey Creek Golf Course. One of the most prominent barrier, the NID Auburn Ravine Dam #1 near Chili Hill needs attention. Another major barrier is the Cataract on the AR adjacent to Ophir Tunnel and the NID Gaging Station downstream from Hwy 65. Identification of these barriers with priorities listed for dealing with each is already completed. The general objective and priorities for restoration are outlined under Objectives (page 5). My focus will be under Fisheries Resources and specifically on the Auburn Ravine but Public Outreach, Water Quality, Plant Communities and Wildlife Resources are all part of the general plan for stream restoration.
Since the barriers have all been identified and recommendations have been made and prioritized for dealing with them, public outreach to meet and work with landowners to implement these recommendations is a primary activity. Securing funds to monitor the current migration runs of salmon and steelhead to determine the location where our stream work should begin is another essential step.
Another initial step for SARSAS is the collection of data on fish migration as it currently exists. Enough work exists for all who wish to help return the Auburn Ravine to a stream friendly to anadromous fishes.
Our goal for SARSAS is to do all necessary work to return salmon and steelhead runs to the Auburn Ravine. So doing will take a long time but to achieve our goal, we must get started.
I am asking that the Dry Creek Conservancy accept us as a part of the organization so we can use the expertise of this group to achieve our goal, and so we can raise funds and direct them to SARSAS to fund the projects necessary to achieve our goal. Several of you already volunteered to help with this group, but we ask for anyone who would like to help us achieve our goal to volunteer now to help. I don’t know if we have to be voted into DCC or what the procedure is.
I look forward to working with you all on this useful and enjoyable project.
SARSAS was accepted as a sub-committee of DCC in November of 2007 and has non-profit status.
Jack Sanchez 530 888 0281
alcamus39@hotmail.com
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