east walker, wild and scenic status??

Not sure if I got the terminology correctly, but this has always been a
trophy trout stream that has had its trophy fish killed off by the
farmers. Is anyone trying to get it this status, or are the farmers too
big of a obstacle?

Steve, I don't know where you get your information, but you had better check
before making such statements. Where are you going to make it Wild and
Scenic? Except for about 15 miles, the river is privately owned. Half of
the publicly owned has deteriotrated because of lack of management by the
Forest Service. they won't do anything without an EIR! If you want to help
out this river, pass some laws that give fishermen access to privately owned
land (tough), and install some rules where privately owned reservoirs have
to supply water in the winter time to keep the fish healthy (again tough).
Actually the latter is probably not needed since they already release what
the State requests of them.
Probably the biggest problem for the East Walker is the lack of snow in the
watershed the past few years. Although most watersheds in the Sierra have
received "normal" snow fall, the Walker Basin has only received about 70% of
normal. The rainbows have not been reproducing with the lower waterflows.
Maybe you you can get some planes to fly around a seed the clouds!!


"steve" wrote in message
...
Not sure if I got the terminology correctly, but this has always been a
trophy trout stream that has had its trophy fish killed off by the
farmers. Is anyone trying to get it this status, or are the farmers too
big of a obstacle?


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steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I was up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so mad he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Not sure if I got the terminology correctly, but this has always been a
trophy trout stream that has had its trophy fish killed off by the
farmers. Is anyone trying to get it this status, or are the farmers too
big of a obstacle?

I was up there in early Oct.. Bridgeport Res., and the East Walker were
a muddy shade of green. They have a real problem with algae. The
combination of little runoff and high temps have put a hurt on the fishery.

brians

Ernie wrote:

steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I was up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so mad he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.

"steve" wrote in message
...

Not sure if I got the terminology correctly, but this has always been a
trophy trout stream that has had its trophy fish killed off by the
farmers. Is anyone trying to get it this status, or are the farmers too
big of a obstacle?

Some years ago CA Fish and Game came up with the idea that all of the algae
from Bridgeport reservoir was clogging the CA section below the reservoir,
and prohibiting any fish reproduction. They tried to flush out the algae
with the highwater flows but it did not help fish reprodution. It's hard to
sya whether they caused any damage. Another year during a time of drought,
The East Walker Water District decided that a third crop of alfalfa was
worth draining the Bridgeport reservoir. They drained the reservoir over
everyone's objections and doomed the fish downstream during the winter. As
you mention, Cal Trout took them to court and there are now regulations
concerning the amount of water that can be released. During the winter
when the temperatures are warm, this can be as low as 15 cfps. However
there have been times when the Nevada Division of Wildlife was concerned
about the health of the fish and requested that the flows be increased, I
believe to 50 cfps. The Water District has happy to accommodate them.
However we're talking about ancient history.

During most of the 90's there was an abundance of snowfall and water in the
Walker basin. With the higher waterflows, natural reproduction took off and
fishing in the East Walker was "trophy fishing". However recently there has
not been much snow and the fishing has really fallen off. Also, the
publication of several articles about the East Walker increased fishing
pressue and didn't help. Natural reproduction is necessary since little of
this river below the reservoir is stocked.
Now there may be some controls over fishing during the winter months when
the flows are low and the fish lethargic. Hopefully we'll get enough snow
in the future so that we can get back to type of fishing that occured in the
90'3


"Ernie" wrote in message
m...
steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I was
up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so mad
he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it
again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.

"steve" wrote in message
...
Not sure if I got the terminology correctly, but this has always been a
trophy trout stream that has had its trophy fish killed off by the
farmers. Is anyone trying to get it this status, or are the farmers too
big of a obstacle?




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In article ,
"Ernie" wrote:

steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I was up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so mad he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.

Are you sure they wont do it again? When I was a kid, in the 1980's,
they had a big fish kill. It stank like hell. Trophy trout all over
the banks. It created quite a stir. I figured that was the last time
it would happen. Apparently it happened a couple of years ago. So it
did happen again.

There has not been another big kill of fish in recent years. Fishing has
gradually declined with the amount of snowfall, and the increase in fishing
pressure. Only God can increase the snowfall, but there may be some
temporary, or even permanent, regulations to decrease pressure at least in
the winter time.

A few years ago, a truck driver fell asleep and dumped a load of of very
tarry oil in the East Walker. This occured about the same time as the
decline in fishing. However, the oil was very thick, and was relativley
easily cleaned up. I know of no one who blame the oil spill for the decline


"steve" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ernie" wrote:

steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I
was up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so
mad he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it
again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.

Are you sure they wont do it again? When I was a kid, in the 1980's,
they had a big fish kill. It stank like hell. Trophy trout all over
the banks. It created quite a stir. I figured that was the last time
it would happen. Apparently it happened a couple of years ago. So it
did happen again.


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steve wrote:

In article ,
"Ernie" wrote:


steve,
It wasn't the farmers it was the Nevada water board, which strange as it
seems, controlled the flow even though the water is in California. I was up
there the year it happened and the fellow who owned the Marina was so mad he
was spitting nails. It was just a sea of mud. I drove down below for a
mile or so and the stream was also a river of mud. They won't do it again.
Cal Trout and other groups took them to court and put limits on how much
they could draw.


Are you sure they wont do it again? When I was a kid, in the 1980's,
they had a big fish kill. It stank like hell. Trophy trout all over
the banks. It created quite a stir. I figured that was the last time
it would happen. Apparently it happened a couple of years ago. So it
did happen again.

I was told(Ken's in Bridgeport)that they had a significant die off a
couple years ago. He said it was due to low water conditions. I remember
reading something about it when it happened. I don't think it had
anything to do with farmers, and had more to do with little or no snow pack.

brians