Endangered Fish Sparks Confrontation

Representatives from a dozen Inland Empire water agencies at odds with the Obama administration over its decision to expand habitat for an endangered fish at the risk of dramatically reducing the region's water supplies will be taking their complaints to members of Congress
next week.

The Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, Riverside Public Utilities and 10 other agencies are threatening to file a lawsuit to stop the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from enlarging protected space for the Santa Ana Sucker.

According to the plaintiffs, a December ruling by federal officials would effectively shut off 125,800-acre-feet of water, depriving the region of one-third of its current fresh water stocks.

A meeting is planned Monday in Washington, D.C., between representatives from the water agencies and members of the California congressional delegation.

According to the agencies, efforts to preserve the Sucker have been successful, and the federal ruling threatens to destabilize the region.

Calls to the wildlife service for comment were not immediately returned.

Federal officials issued findings in 2005 that concluded state and local conservation efforts to protect the Sucker were paying off. However, last year, USFWS representatives reversed course.

Citing a 2004 study, they declared gravel and cobble substrate required for the endangered fish's survival had been drastically reduced since construction of the Seven Oaks Dam a few miles northeast of Redlands.

Doug Headrick, director of the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, and the heads of other local water agencies contend the study
contained "no factual basis'' to support claims that the dam or urbanization posed a threat to the Sucker.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a "Final Rule'' designating headwaters of the Santa Ana in the San Bernardino Mountains part of the "expanded critical habitat'' necessary to protect the fish. Federal officials want higher volumes of water released from the dam to uncover substrate, which promotes algae growth and spawning grounds.

Local water agencies argue that the amount of water to be restricted for the benefit of the amphibian could be used to replenish regional water stocks and help reduce the region's dependence on water imports from the San Joaquin Delta, which is already under a federal pumping limit to protect the endangered Delta Smelt.

Last month, a fact-finding committee composed of local and federal officials determined that stronger flows produced by releasing dam water often had the opposite effect of what was intended, creating high levels of sediment and murky underwater conditions -- negatives for the fish, according to the water agencies.

"These findings are significant,'' said Kevin Milligan, assistant general manager for Riverside Public Utilities. "They show some of the benefits of lower, controlled water flows from Seven Oaks Dam in creating suitable habitat for Sucker.''

The committee's findings will be submitted to the congressional representatives.--City News Service