Comments on Felice Pace's "Death of a Lady - the history of the Scott River's destruction"

Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor

October 11, 2009

(1) Alfalfa is a perennial crop. It grows for about seven years before it is replanted. A cutting is like a hair cut. For cuttings are four cuttings, not four crops. It is not a replanting like lettuce.

(2) In the winter time, water troughs tend to freeze. Having flowing water flowing in a ditch prevents freezing of the water and ensures that cattle have water to drink. The water use rights in the Scott are at point of use - not point of diversion. Some of the ditch "waste" provides groundwater recharge. It is likely that some domestic residential wells are fed by leaky ditches.

(3) "Public Trust" in the Mono Lake decision applies to water use rights that are permitted by the state. Most water use rights in Scott Valley are old - dating back to the first settlers in the 1850s-70s. They are what is called pre-1914 water use rights and are considered privately owned property to which the 5th amendment applies. Public Trust does not apply to pre-1914 water use rights. In 1914, the People of the State of California claimed ownership of the use of all water that had not already been claimed as riparian or appropraitive water use rights. The court ruled that this could not apply to water use rights that had already been claimed. After 1914, one has had to apply to the state water board for permitted water use rights. It is to these rights that Public Trust attaches.

(4) The Forest Service rights date back to the date that the forests were reserved as national forests - likely 1904. (Winter's Doctrine) These rights are very junior to most water use rights in Scott Valley. (CA "dual system" of water use rights ranks priority of use on first in time, first in right - the appropraitive right is from the date of diversion and beneficial use, the riparian from date of land aptent or forest/native American reserve.) Under the adjudication, the Scott River system is segmented into different "reaches." Each reach is considered separate and unrelated to the others. The reach that the Forest Service is in is from Fort Jones down. There are other priority one users in this reach other than the Forest Service. Generally all priority ones would have correlative or equal use of available water.

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