In a move that could signal more irrigation restrictions for Siskiyou County's farmers and ranchers, the Department of Fish and Game has backed away from appealing a judge's ruling that said wardens were being too lenient on those pulling water from two chronically dry coho salmon streams.

Last week the department's lawyers told a state appellate court they were dropping an appeal over San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith's ruling from last year.

Goldsmith had ruled in favor of some Klamath River Indian tribes and fishing and environmental organizations that had sued the state's fisheries regulators contesting a permitting system that allowed farmers on the Scott and Shasta rivers watersheds to take irrigation water from the streams.

Goldsmith's ruling suspended the DFG's irrigation water permitting system, while the agency re-evaluated the extent irrigation is harming fish to comply with the state's environmental laws.

In their suit, environmental groups argued that the Shasta and Scott are key habitat for Klamath-run coho, which are at 2 percent of their historic numbers.

The fish have been listed as threatened by federal and state fisheries regulators.

The permitting system allowed farmers to continue to drain the streams during dry months, harming fish in the streams, the suit alleged.

The DFG appealed, arguing the permitting system, though hugely unpopular with ranchers, was a solution that struck a balance between enforcing the state's fisheries-protection laws while allowing farmers to continue to earn a living.

It's unclear what the DFG may do now.

"As far as the future, we're reviewing our options on what's next, but we look forward to improved communications with local communities, local government, tribes and conservation organizations," DFG spokeswoman Jordan Traverso said in a statement.

Traverso didn't address why the DFG backed away from the appeal.

The appeal reversal is hardly the end of the court fight over the permitting issue on Scott and Shasta.

A separate case the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau filed last year challenging whether the DFG has legal authority to issue the permits has a hearing scheduled for next week in Siskiyou County.

The farmers contend the permitting system infringes on their water rights. They argue the law the DFG was suddenly enforcing has been on the books for decades, and it's never been used to limit irrigation before.

The Department of Fish and Game's attorneys have asked that a Siskiyou County judge make a ruling. The agency's and the farm bureau's attorneys will present arguments at Tuesday's hearing in Yreka.