Interagency Fish Passage Steering Committee 2014 Annual Report Focusing on the Shasta Dam Fish Passage Evaluation

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | July 1st, 2014

Issue Paper for the San Joaquin River spring-run Chinook experimental population – Delta impacts

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) | July 23rd, 2013

Juvenile Production Estimate (JPE) Calculation and Use/Application of Survival Data from Acoustically-tagged Chinook Salmon Releases Report

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | February 21st, 2014

Each year, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) estimates the number of juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon expected to enter the Delta. NMFS’ June 4, 2009

Each year, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) estimates the number of juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon expected to enter the Delta. NMFS’ June 4, 2009, biological and conference opinion on the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project provides an incidental take limit on natural juvenile winter-run based on the juvenile production estimate.

Kern Water Bank Status Report No. 3

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 1st, 1990

Kern Water Bank: Myth and Reality

Kern Water Bank Authority | September 21st, 2010

A recent lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the Kern Water Bank was a “ripoff’ that benefited a few large farms in the Central Valley, t

A recent lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the Kern Water Bank was a “ripoff’ that benefited a few large farms in the Central Valley, to the detriment of the state of California. Numerous media outlets have reported on this lawsuit, reciting almost word for word from the CBD’s press release, despite the fact that the lawsuit has yet to be heard and none of the claims in the lawsuit have been substantiated by a court. The following is the response by the Kern Water Bank Authority to the misinformation and erroneous reporting surrounding the Kern Water Bank and the lawsuit filed by CBD.

Letter in support of the Temporary Urgency Change Petition (TUCP)

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | February 19th, 2023

Local hydraulics influence habitat selection and swimming behavior in adult California Central Valley Chinook salmon at a large river confluence

Fisheries Research (Elsevier) | February 2nd, 2023

Long-Term Operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | July 26th, 2024

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) prepared this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 2021 Endangered Species Act Reinitiation of Section 7 Consultation on t

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) prepared this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 2021 Endangered Species Act Reinitiation of Section 7 Consultation on the Long-Term Operation of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP). This EIS is meant to inform the public and decision-makers on potential federal actions by examining a range of reasonable alternatives and the potential effect on the environment. Reclamation manages the Central Valley Project (CVP). The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) manages the State Water Project (SWP). Collectively, the operation of the CVP and SWP provides flood control and navigation, delivers water to 30 million people, supports 4 million acres of agriculture, maintains 19 wildlife refuges on the Pacific Flyway, protects numerous iconic and endemic species such as Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and smelt, generates 4.5 million megawatt hours of electricity, maintains water quality for beneficial uses in the California Bay-Delta, and supports recreation throughout Northern California. This summary provides a succinct overview of the development of alternatives in coordination with other agencies and the public, major conclusions for key environmental resource areas, the identification of avoidance and mitigation measures to address potential impacts, and issues that have been in dispute as raised by the public and other interested parties. This summary provides the material required by the Council on Environmental Quality’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations regarding the contents of an EIS summary. Click here to read Maven's Notebook background article to the new DEIS.

Losses of Sacramento River Chinook Salmon and Delta Smelt to Entrainment in Water Diversions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | June 30th, 2008

Pumping at the water export facilities in the southern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta kills fish at and near the associated fish-salvage facilities. Correlative analyses of

Pumping at the water export facilities in the southern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta kills fish at and near the associated fish-salvage facilities. Correlative analyses of salvage counts with population indices have failed to provide quantitative estimates of the magnitude of this mortality. I estimated the proportional losses of Sacramento River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) to place these losses in a population context. The estimate for salmon was based on recoveries of tagged smolts released in the upper Sacramento River basin, and recovered at the fish-salvage facilities in the south Delta and in a trawling program in the western Delta. The proportion of fish salvaged increased with export flow, with a mean value around 10% at the highest export flows recorded. Mortality was around 10% if pre-salvage losses were about 80%, but this value is nearly unconstrained. Losses of adult delta smelt in winter and young delta smelt in spring were estimated from salvage data (adults) corrected for estimated pre-salvage survival, or from trawl data in the southern Delta (young). These losses were divided by population size and accumulated over the respective seasons. Losses of adult delta smelt were 1–50% (median 15%) although the highest value may have been biased upward. Daily losses of larvae and juveniles were 0–8%, and seasonal losses accumulated were 0–25% (median 13%). The effect of these losses on population abundance was obscured by subsequent 50-fold variability in survival from summer to fall.

Managing Freshwater Discharge to the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary―The Scientific Basis for an Estuarine Standard

San Francisco Estuary Project | October 26th, 1992

Aquatic resources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upper portions of San Francisco Bay have undergone significant declines over the past several decades. Species c

Aquatic resources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upper portions of San Francisco Bay have undergone significant declines over the past several decades. Species characteristic of the Delta and rivers, such as striped bass and salmon, began to decline during the late 1970s. Prolonged drought, large diversions of fresh water, and dramatic increases in populations of introduced aquatic species during the 1980s and 1990s brought a number of indigenous aquatic species to extremely low levels. Species that spend more of their lives downstream of the Delta, including Delta smelt, longfin smelt, and many zooplankton, maintained large populations through the 1970s, but declined sharply after the mid-1980s. Declines in aquatic resources have led to curtailed fishing seasons, to petitions for endangered species status, and general concern about the health of the estuarine ecosystem.