The Trinity Management Council (TMC) met on December 8th and 9th. On Dec. 9th the TMC Director Mike Dixon called for a Closed Session to discuss “Channel Rehabilitation Scope of Work”. What was discussed and what was decided? The public was NOT privy to this information nor were they able to join the discussion for Channel Rehabilitation. The Record of Decision (ROD 2000) stated that the public was to be involved in any recommendations for River Restoration through the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG) but here the TMC has a Closed Session at a public meeting. No TAMWG recommendations as the TAMWG was defunded and at a Closed Session NO public input therefore the public was totally removed from any type of input for Channel Rehabilitation Scoping. Is this what the ROD stated about Restoration of the Trinity River. I don’t think so! Here again the Restoration Projects for the Trinity River the public is removed from discussions or decisions. When is the Secretary of Interior going to stop the spending of public monies without public input? ($10 to $15 million per year) To date have you seen where the fish have benefitted from this. I haven’t nor have the guides or fishermen seen any benefit from the Restoration of the Trinity River. What I have witnessed is failed restoration project after project. Of the supposed 28 projects to be done how many are done? At least 1/3rd have failed with very little improvement in the reproduction of Chinook salmon, Coho salmon or steelhead, which the ROD requires. In fact, the Trinity River fishery has declined and fishermen are going to other rivers for their fishing experience.
Junction City Weir summary: Julian week 47 ending on Nov. 25, 2021 for Fall Run Chinook; 1-jack, 9- adult, total 10, season total 1,859; Coho, 0-jacks, 35-adi;ts, total 35, season total 296; steelhead,0-1/2-pounders, 1-adult, total 1,season total 196, Brown Trout 0, season total 11.
Trinity River Hatchery summary: Spring Run Chinook salmon totals; 452-jacks, 1,553 adults; totals 2,005; Fall Run Chinook Salmon Julian Week 46 ending on Nov. 18, 2021; 47-jacks, 1,937-adults, total 1,984, season total 4,825. It looks like the hatchery will finally have enough eggs to supply the for the release of next year’s fish.
Fishing: The Lower Trinity is really clear and has been dropping in flows for the last several days. The good part is this next storm should help to get the influx of more steelhead. As of this last week the fishing has been fair to good for hooking ½-pounder and small adults. Salyer and Hawkins Bar has been slow fishing except for some ½-pounder action. Up river has been slow and the river stuffed with fishing guides trying to get their client’s fish. The salmon are on their redds and pretty much done for. The hatchery is receiving good numbers of Chinook salmon but the Coho numbers are a bit low for right now.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 3,147cfs. This is a decrease of 154cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,003cfs, with the temperatures in the 40s to 50s and the river in the high 40s. Right now, the Klamath is fishable from Weitchpec up to Iron Gate. Orleans fishing has slowed down some but Happy Camp are is still hot of r trout fishing. I didn’t get any fish info this week about I-5 to Iron gate but I would expect the fishing was good. This coming storm will shut down fishing for the next week but after it passes fishing should bust out.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 237cfs and releasing 276cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 25% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 3,328cfs and releasing 2,437cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 82% (a decrease of 10%) with inflows of 2,791cfs and releasing 3,313cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 30% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 1,509cfs with releases of 753cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 38% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 1ft) with inflows of 1,239cfs with releases of 547cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 152ft below the overflow (a decrease of 0ft) and 29% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 306cfs and releasing 441cfs into Lewiston Lake with 150cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 3,313cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and water releases are 291cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 51.6 degrees, as of 11:00am today Saturday December 11, 2021. Limekiln Gulch is 4.63ft at 281cfs. Douglas City is 6.28ft with flows of 318cfs with water temperatures of 44.3 degrees. Junction City is 1.68ft at 316cfs. Helena is 8.13ft at 388cfs with water temps of 43.1 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.56ft at 470cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.71ft at 223cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 693cfs and air is 42 degrees and water at 43.7 degrees and the river is gin clear and dropping. Hopefully this storm will bring enough rain that will help bring in more fish. Hoopa is 11.81ft at 997cfs and water is 44.8 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 3,147cfs a decrease of 1554cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,003cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.23ft at 1,259cfs. Indian Creek is 3.74ft at 149cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,408cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,773cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.92ft at 337cfs. Orleans is 2.72ft at 2,150cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.98ft at 3,835cfs and water temps are 46.4 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 5.76ft with flows of 813cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 12.55 ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 53 and a low of 33 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.68in with a water year total to date of 18.45 inches and 0.0in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted weather for next week is high of 50 and a low of 31. The predicted weather for next week is rain and possibly snow Wednesday then cloudy for the weekend. The weatherman forecasted snow in the higher elevations above 3,000ft so I would expect that the passes from Redding and Eureka will have snow.
