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Bulletin Board

Out-of-Work Fisherfolk

Out-of-work fisherfolk are getting jobs restoring upstream salmon habitat under a federal emergency economic assistance program addressing the near elimination of commercial salmon fishing off the Pacific Coast. Experts say degraded river systems and spawning streams are primary causes of the dramatic decline in ocean salmon stocks. Under the assistance program, 40 displaced fishermen and women have conducted 21 watershed assessment and habitat restoration projects in four designated salmon disaster counties in Northern California to date, and more are expected to be hired soon. The assistance program is being carried out by U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Resource Conservation Districts in coastal counties, some of which are still seeking suitable restoration projects for funding. Contact your local RCD; Sonoma RCD (707)836-0585

Estuarine Complexities

Computer modeling experts are taking a cooperative look at estuarine complexities, not to mention their own methodologies and assumptions, as part of the increasingly successful Bay-Delta Modeling Forum. The forum brings both public and private sector modelers together to work on ways to improve the usefulness of computer models for analyzing Bay-Delta hydrodynamics, fisheries and water policy issues. In the two years since its inception, the forum has already reached agreement on several aspects of one of the thorniest Bay-Delta modeling problems - how to predict the quantity of upstream water releases necessary to maintain Delta water quality standards during water exports. (510)231-9539

Restored S.F. Bay Tidal

A RESEARCHER WRITING ABOUT THE VALUE OF RESTORED S.F. BAY TIDAL WETLANDS TO FISH needs fish survey data from any of the Estuary's marshes or bays. Contact Jim Forsberg, National Biological Service, at (916)756-1946.

The Category III Program

The category III program was formalized this summer when state and federal agencies (ClubFed and CalFed) and various urban, environmental and agricultural Bay-Delta stakeholders signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding). Though the Category III commitment to fund non flow-related environmental restoration projects was set up as part of the December 1994 Bay-Delta Accord, the program has lacked a formal, credible process for how the money will be spent, according to the Natural Heritage Institute's Cynthia Koehler. The MOU establishes a steering committee of six agency reps and 12 stakeholder reps (including Koehler) and gives it the authority to come up with an institutional design for Category III, which the committee hopes to complete by December 15. (415)744-1024

The California Clapper Rail

Rails are on the rebound since wildlife managers identified the primary cause of their recent precipitous decline as the red fox and began trapping and removing these and other predators from South Bay marshes. The South Bay's endangered California clapper rail population dropped from 1,000 in 1981 to about 240 a decade later, but grew to 600 this year as a result of the aggressive fox-removal program. The rail population's long-term health, however, also revolves around the health and extent of the Bay's last remaining tidal marsh habitats. (916)979-2752

CALFED Seeking Input

CALFED is seeking input from Joan Q Public this fall by holding a series of five public meetings up, down and around the Estuary. These meetings invite the general public to hear about and comment on the CalFed effort to develop a long-term solution to Bay-Delta water conflicts early on in the planning process. "We're not coming to the public with a done deal and asking them to respond," says meeting coordinator Jean Auer. The process - which also involves parallel meetings among key government agencies, water users and environmental watchdogs - is currently focused on defining "the problem" and researching diverse alternative approaches to solving it. (916)657-2666

Nixing the Costly Cotton Subsidy

A GAO report says congress should consider nixing the costly cotton subsidy program because it benefits only a few wealthy growers and because the economic conditions that inspired its creation in the 1930s no longer exist. The report adds economic ammo to the steady assault on cotton by environmentalists, who say the crop is too pesticide- and water-intensive and that the hydric (once water-covered) soils cotton is usually grown on would be better used for wetlands or more waterfowl-friendly crops like rice. With the 1995 harvest of the Sacramento Valley crop just getting underway, the price of cotton was 88 cents per pound, well above the subsidy level of 77 cents. The General Accounting Office report also says subsidies may no longer be needed due to the removal of global trade barriers and the creation of reliable free- market price supports. (202)512-5138 re: GAO report ##RCED-95- 107

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