Huge Legal Victory for the San Joaquin River

Federal Court Judge Says: Let The San Joaquin Flow!

by Dan Bacher

After 15 years of litigation, fish advocates and environmental groups won a
huge legal victory on August 27 when a federal judge ruled that the Bureau
of Reclamation illegally dried up the San Joaquin River when Friant Dam was
built in the 1940's.

The ruling means that the bureau will have to release water from Friant Dam
near Fresno for the first time in 55 years, according to the NRDC (Natural
Resources Defense Council), the lead plaintiff in a broad coalition of
fishing and environmental groups.

"There can be no genuine dispute that many miles of the San Joaquin River
are now entirely dry, except during extremely wet periods, and that the
historic fish populations have been destroyed," said Judge Lawrence Karlton
of the Ninth Circuit Court in his opinion.

Writing of the dam's damaging effects, the judge noted, "In the words of the

Department of Interior, Friant Dam's operations have been a 'disaster' for
Chinook salmon."

"This is a tremendous victory for the people of California," said Barry
Nelson, senior policy analyst of NRDC. "The Bureau operated the Friant
Project in violation of California law for 55 years. The court says that the

solution is to restore the historical salmon fishery of the San Joaquin. It
is a very, very strong ruling."

The 13 other plaintiffs in the suit are Trout Unlimited, California Striped
Bass Association, National Audubon Society, Stanislaus Audubon Society,
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, United Anglers of California,
CalTrout, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Sierra Club,

Bay Institute, San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center, Friends of the River, and
Nor-Cal Fishing Guides and Sportsmen's Association.

Jim Crenshaw, President of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance,
said that this decision may well be one of the greatest victories for fish
in the state's history.

"For more than a decade, our coalition has fought the federal government
over the destruction of San Joaquin River due to the way the Bureau of
Reclamation operated Friant Dam," he stated. "The federal bureaucracy
destroyed one of the greatest rivers in the state and one of the state's
most important salmon fisheries. This historic decision vindicates our
efforts and sends a long overdue message to our government that destroying
rivers and fisheries is not legal, is not in the best public interest and
will not be condoned."

Commercial fishing groups were also jubilant about the decision. ""This has
been a long time coming, but Judge Karlton has finally righted this wrong,"
said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations.

The Bureau of Reclamation was not able to comment on the decision at press
time. "The Department of Justice is in the process of reviewing the decision

and deciding whether or not to appeal the case," said Jeff McCracken,
spokesman for the Bureau.

The 41-page ruling is extremely well written, documenting the vibrant spring

and fall salmon runs that ascended the San Joaquin before the dam was built.

The Friant Project was constructed in a time of manic dam building
throughout the state when environmental awareness was very low. Only a local

sportsmen's club and a brave Unitarian minister publicly opposed the
project.

The river's spring run, estimated at several hundred thousand fish, was one
of the largest chinook runs anywhere on the Pacific Coast. The historical
fall run is conservatively estimated to have numbered 50,000 to 100,000
fish, according to Karlton.

"So many salmon migrated up the San Joaquin River during the spawning season

that some people who lived near the present site of Friant Dam compared the
noise to a waterfall," said Karlton. "Some residents even said that they
were kept awake nights by the myriad salmon heard nightly splashing over the

sand bars in the River."

The San Joaquin River is the second longest river in the state. It is the
southernmost chinook salmon fishery on the Pacific coast and historically
sustained a significant percentage of the ocean salmon fishery. Steelhead
also spawned in the San Joaquin and its tributaries before Friant and other
dams were built.

NRDC led the coalition of 13 conservation and fishing groups in suing the
bureau over its operation of the dam and the renewal of water supply
contracts for the Friant Water Users Authority, which represents irrigation
districts on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.

The suit, first filed in 1988, charged the bureau with violating Section
5937 of the California Fish and Game Code. This section requires that "the
owner of any dam shall allow sufficient water to pass over, around or
through the dam, to keep in good condition any fish that may be planted or
exist below the dam."

"Restoring the river will benefit everyone," said NRDC senior attorney Hal
Candee. "It will benefit downstream farmers who will get cleaner, more
reliable irrigation water. It will benefit the 20 million people in the Bay
Area and Southern California who rely on the delta for clean drinking water.

And restoring the river's once thriving salmon fishery will help bring back
more fishing jobs to our state."

Restoring the San Joaquin could be one of the largest environmental
restoration projects in California history - and the plaintiffs say it can
be done without harming valley farmers. In fact, restoring the river will
benefit downstream farmers in the Delta near Stockton who have suffered from

low flows and poor water quality.

"The plight of the San Joaquin River is a national disgrace that must be
remedied," said Dante Nomellini of the Central Delta Water Agency, an
irrigation district that supported the suit with an amicus brief. "This
decision is a good first step."

This legal victory promises to bring a long-dead river back to life. The
coalition that formed to achieve this victory shows the crucial need for
environmental groups and fishing organizations to work together on fishery
restoration efforts. Hopefully, the Bureau will not appeal this decision and will finally obey the law and let the river flow!