The SARSAS Plan for Saving Anadromous Fishes

in California and in the Pacific Marine Fishery

Effective: July 1, 2009

Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS)

PO Box 4269

Auburn, CA 95604

530 888 0281

The salmon of California are nearing extinction for many possible reasons: global warming, pollution, upwelling of ocean currents, lack of fish passage and spawning areas. Whatever the reasons, a clear, simple plan is necessary to save them. The SARSAS Plan, formulated for the Auburn Ravine, is the simplest way to save the fish and should be implemented on all streams in California. What is the SARSAS Plan?

SARSAS believes if every stream in California has a volunteer group working to do what SARSAS is doing with the Auburn Ravine, that is, to return salmon and steelhead to its entire length and secure fish passage, adequate water and spawning grounds, then salmon will not go extinct. The line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you built it, they will come” can be applied to anadromous fish with a slight twist: “If you clear it, they will come”; that is, SARSAS with the cooperation of Governor Schwarzenegger can encourage other groups to do with other streams, what SARSAS (www.sarsas.org) is doing with the Auburn Ravine. By providing fish passage on all the tributaries to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the anadromous fishes will have many spawning grounds currently denied them. Will the Governor help? SARSAS is working with his staff urging him to help. Only the Governor with his sweeping influence over California agencies can coordinate this program and create an incentive program to encourage other organizations to take ownership of particular streams and retrofit them completely to create fish passage so that citizens become the instruments of the salmon salvation. Only the Governor can fast track the 501C3 process, necessary for fundraising, and connect each group to the right agencies quickly and efficiently.

An All-Volunteer Oversight Group (A-VOG) for each stream needs to have a lead person at all California agencies but especially with DFG, CVWQCB, DWR, EPA and each group must have an active Special Agent from NOAA, a federal agency, to provide access to problem areas on each stream. The Governor and citizens of California working together CAN save the salmon. Most of the work of saving the salmon will be performed by volunteers, but they must have the coordination from the Governor to network with California government agencies to provide advice and services.

Let’s look at the SARSAS Plan for the Auburn Ravine, which has thirteen diversion dams on its length. SARSAS has put ten flashboard diversion dam in compliance with fish passage, two NID dams are currently being retrofitted, which leaves one dam, the Gold Hill Dam to be retrofitted. When that dam is completed, 32 of the 33 miles will be open to salmon. If we can get 2,500 egg-laying female Chinooks (Butte Creek near Chico had 6,000 in 2008) into this 33 mile long Ravine, each laying up to 8,000 eggs, the Auburn Ravine will contribute up to 20,000,000 (2,500 times 8,000) fry just in one stream, the Auburn Ravine. If only three percent of those salmon return to the Auburn Ravine after maturing in the Pacific, that is 600,000 Chinook salmon, which is almost 10 times the total number of salmon (66, 237) that returned to the entire Sacramento River this year (2008) with fewer than 12,000 Fall Run Chinook making it to Coleman National Fish Hatchery near Anderson on the Sacramento River. Remember that the Auburn Ravine is just one stream in California; there are hundreds of tributary streams.

When SARSAS became an All Volunteer, 501c3, public benefit corporation with officers and a nine-person Board of Directors, it began seriously to work on the Auburn Ravine by identifying all thirteen man-made barriers. SARSAS then set about creating a network of state and federal governmental agencies, county supervisors, city councilmen, other NGO’s, landowners and individuals, all meeting once a month under the auspices of Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt. The group worked collaboratively, cooperatively, to reach its respective goals as smoothly and as quickly as possible. SARSAS recently acquired the volunteer services of a grant writer and is now applying for much needed funding. Having all principals at the same table working in a non-confrontational atmosphere facilitated accomplishing much in a short time. Much progress has been made but much yet needs to be done.

Working with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Special Agent, SARSAS contacted all private owners of diversion dams on the AR. Many owners simply needed to be reminded of their specific water rights and by not observing those rights doing harm to fishes. All ten flashboard dams with the cooperation of the landowners were quickly brought into compliance to make them passable for fish. The remaining three dams are owned by a water agency, Nevada Irrigation District (NID). Working with Placer Legacy, NID was able to fund and begin constructing a fish ladder and a fish channel to create fish passage over the Lincoln Gaging Station and the Hemphill Dam scheduled to be completed by the end of summer 2009.

The remaining dam is the Gold Hill Diversion Dam, which will be addressed after the other two dams are retrofitted. When the GHDD is retrofitted for fish passage, 32 of the 33 miles length of the Auburn Ravine will be ready for fish passage and much of it opened to spawning.

Is the task completed? Far from it, but the tasks completed to date will allow anadromous fishes to spawn in most of the Auburn Ravine.

The Auburn Ravine is but one stream. A total of 738 creeks run into California’s two great rivers so 738 times 20,000,000 (2,500 females laying 8,000 eggs each), the potential number of salmon returning to the ocean is 14,760,000,000,000 spawned fishes. If only 3 percent, the standard for most salmon runs, of this total number survive in the ocean to return to spawn in California streams, then 44,280,000 salmon will return to spawn in California streams, up from 66,000 in 2008, and the salmon crisis is no longer a crisis and salmon will no longer be going extinct. If more than that number return to spawn, then salmon will be with us for a long time. The numbers of salmon spawning will be influenced by whether the stream is above or below a dam on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.

Are there problems with the SARSAS Plan? Definitely? Is this explanation of it a possible over-simplification of a very complex problem? Probably. Even if the SARSAS Plan is only partially successful, salmon will still survive.

Will Governor Schwarzenegger provide the leadership and support to coordinate the activities needed? Will enough volunteer groups take charge of each of the 738 creeks to restore salmon? Will the SARSAS Plan be implemented in time to prevent the salmon from going extinct? The SARSAS Plan has a possible successful outcome for anadromous fishes that will cost only thousands not billions of dollars. The SARSAS Plan is a simple inexpensive plan that may go a long way toward alleviating the salmon march to extinction especially when it is effected in conjunction with the federal plan.

By rescuing one stream, the Auburn Ravine, the people of California may be rescuing the entire Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery and, in addition, providing food for the endangered orca population that usually lives in the Puget Sound region but has come to within one hundred miles of SF looking for salmon, their only food. This orca pod, which currently numbers 84, must reach 125 animals in order to survive.

Since most tributaries to the Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers are blocked by diversion dams for irrigation, the salmon cannot currently spawn in numbers large enough to prevent extinction. Using the SARSAS model for saving salmon in the Auburn Ravine may be enough to save the entire Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery and put thousands of unemployed fishermen back into their boats, free sports fisherman to follow their passion, and help Californians feel good about themselves because they did something to help themselves, the fishes and nature.

SARSAS needs help, political will and public support, and, if you want to help, contact us at www.sarsas.org. Only citizens focusing together can work quickly enough to revive our salmon population to health and well-being.