Valley water
users want DFG’s answers
Siskiyou Daily News
October 28, 2010
Scott Valley, Calif. — Landowners and agricultural water
users in the Scott Valley are looking for answers, and
have sent a letter across the north state to find them.
The letter, signed by Preston Harris, Jim Harris and
Jeff Fowle, all water diverters in the Scott Valley,
argues that the California Department of Fish and Game
(DFG) removed fish screens and closed the headgates at
two diversions – identified as 43 and 47A – without
contacting the landowners who would be affected by the
actions.
According to Harris, the letter has been sent to DFG
offices in Sacramento and Redding, the California Farm
Bureau, a number of newspapers and the Protect Our
Waters association.
The letter states that no one has yet come forward
regarding the closure of the headgates, which affect two
landowners with year-round stockwater adjudications.
The problem, according to the letter, is that one
landowner had three herds of cattle that broke through a
fence looking for water, as well as a number of horses.
“Lack of communication by the DFG put several landowners
and water users on these two diversions at serious
liability,” the letter reads, “What would happen if
these head gates [were] opened up without the screens in
place?”
The letter argues that if that were to happen, fish
could have made their way into the irrigation ditches
and onto land, resulting in a “take” under DFG codes.
“Also, the Department’s actions could have been
disastrous for livestock if the situation was not
reversed in a timely fashion,” the letter states.
While the letter states that the DFG does not have the
right to remove the screens, DFG code 6027 reads, “This
article does not prevent the department from removing or
permitting an owner to remove a screen or close a bypass
during any part of the year when the department finds
that such action will not endanger fish life.”
The letter writers allege that the actions could have
endangered fish life, and were conducted without
adhering to multiple requests from landowners to be
notified any time their screens are taken out and
headgates closed.
The DFG could not be contacted by press time Thursday.
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