More News

have you written YOUR letter yet?

A letter from Felix Smith supporting the Salmon BiOp

Felix Smith, a retired wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was a "whistleblower" that brought to national attention the consequences of the farming of selenium-laced land on the San Joaquin's west side in 1983. Smith documented the horror movie-style deformation of ducks and other birds resulting from selenium pollution in the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge caused by the drainage of toxic water from the Westlands Water District. Smith is a member of Save the American River Association and has been honored numerous times by the environmental community. Ed.

August 4, 2009

Dear Dr. Lubchenco:
 
I endorse and in fact applaud the efforts of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), in the preparation of the recent biological opinion that concluded that the State and Federal water project operations jeopardize the continued existence and recovery of listed Chinook salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, and killer whales in California.
 
I spent about 35 years working on fish and water issues in several western states including California.  I have seen and felt real political pressure.  The administrators of our Federal conservations agencies must stand for and endorse the best science.   They are the last protective stop.  NMFS and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are trustees for the Nation’s fish and wildlife resources and the habitat upon which they depend.  They must not be sheepish about what they do. 
 
The biological opinion reflects this Administration’s commitment to sound science.  It went through two separate peer reviews to ensure that it was based on the best available science.   I do not see any evidence that the science in the opinion was politically manipulated, unlike the prior opinion.  The support of the NMFS Biological Opinion has given a boost to the morale of the biologists who have worked so hard to make it a strong meaningful document.   NMFS’ opinion is also consistent with the Federal district court’s 2008 opinion and orders, which found that the prior biological opinion failed to adequately protect the species or comply with the law, and also found that current operations were jeopardizing the species, necessitating the operational changes required by the biological opinion.
 
The implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act was supposed to be a boost to Chinook salmon and steelhead of the Central Valley.  However water exports from the Delta increased to record levels in more recent years.  The recent collapse of the salmon populations in California has taken its toll on coastal fisheries from the south central California Coast north to communities along the Oregon and Washington coast. 
 
The poor health of our rivers and the Bay-Delta estuary played a critical role in the collapse of the fishery and of our naturally spawning salmon populations, and restoring these listed runs is critical to the long-term health of the fishery.
 
California’s salmon runs are an integral part of our great State’s natural resources, and they contribute significant economic, ecological, and recreational benefits to our State.  To that end, the stream flow regimen (stream flow and temperature requirements), habitat restoration, and other measures in the Biological Opinion will help protect and restore these listed species, but will help to sustain the human communities and economies throughout California that depend on healthy rivers and abundant salmon populations.
 
I understand that to implement the Biological Opinion there will be water supply impacts. The farming communities that are presently crying about their water supply have in all too many cases over pumped/mined their ground water in the hopes that Uncle Sam would bail them out with cheap and subsidized water.  The idea that we can now mine our rivers for all their water is out of the question. 
 
The past three years have been drier than normal.  There has been some fallowing of land especially in the semi – desert part of the Central Valley.  We have also seen lost salmon fisheries.  The failing fisheries and our endangered fish populations, are symptoms of California’s failed water policies.
 
I want to thank the Administration for its recent defense of this Biological Opinion against legislative efforts to use politics and political pressure to overturn sound science.
 
Sincerely,
 
Felix E. Smith