Fifty-five years after Congress pledged billions of gallons of water to Humboldt County as part of the effort to dam the Trinity River, the region may be the closest it's been to actually getting it.
In the most recent push to see the water released into the river, Humboldt County has taken up offers of assistance from the Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes, both long-engaged in river battles themselves. The group is scheduled to meet with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Conner on Sept. 16, and is hopeful that a decision will be made on the matter.
In the past, the county argued that it should be able to annually use the 50,000 acre feet of water to improve conditions for fish downstream -- especially when the Klamath River is in drought. Now, the group will add to its argument that development and agricultural use along the Trinity has been growing.
During the Bush administration, the county's request for the water was snubbed, with government lawyers saying more water would already be coming down the river as part of a plan to restore the Trinity's fisheries.
It's long been the county's position that the 50,000 acre feet of water is above and beyond that set aside for fish in the restoration plan, and needed if fisheries managers saw the Klamath becoming too warm and low, threatening a repeat of the 2002 fish kill that wiped out 68,000 salmon. Indeed, a reading of the 1955 Trinity River Diversion Act appears to unequivocally promise the water to the county.
In recent years, however, Reclamation has bought water from irrigators in the Central Valley, where the diverted Trinity River water goes, for environmental purposes. This year, Reclamation considered buying 35,000 acre feet of Trinity water to send down the Klamath, after an additional 35,000 acre feet of Klamath water was allocated to farms in the Upper Klamath Basin.
”Humboldt County has this water -- it's been 60 years and they've never been given the water they're entitled to,” said Hoopa Tribe fisheries communications coordinator Allie Hostler.
The tribe has recently become a force behind Humboldt County's request. Hostler said that new blood in Reclamation has been working with the tribe and the county to try to resolve the issues -- and that the tribe currently has the resources to help the county.
Reclamation spokesman Pete Lucero wrote in an e-mail that the issue is being discussed internally, and that the bureau and its commissioner are looking forward to the mid-September meeting.
”At this point we will wait until after those meetings to determine next steps,” Lucero wrote.
Humboldt County 1st District Supervisor Jimmy Smith said that the time may be ripe to secure the water that the county was promised.
”Chances may never be better,” Smith said. “Everybody's trying to touch bases and head in the same direction.”
Smith said that the county is examining the growth that's occurred in eastern Humboldt County over the past decade, and what can be expected in the coming years. Wineries, farms that produce for farmer's markets and some development in Willow Creek and Hoopa are all increasing use of water in the valley, Smith said.
John Driscoll covers natural resources/industry. He can be reached at 441-0504 or jdriscoll@times-standard.com