State Again Threatens Scott Valley’s Ag Wells Despite Coho Salmon Success
—Water curtailment re-adoption not supported by State’s own data on Scott River salmon
Contact: Theodora Johnson – theo@scottvalleyagwa.org - (530) 598-3081
Etna and Fort Jones, CA – All ag well use in Scott Valley is being threatened again for 2022-2023 as the State Water Board considers re-adopting its current “emergency” regulations. The Scott Valley is the only place in the state where all ag wells are being threatened, an unprecedented action by the Board. The Board has announced it will be taking public comments on a zoom call May 4th (2 pm - 4 pm) as it considers the re-adoption of curtailments for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds. Scott Valley Agriculture Water Alliance will be participating, pointing out that the State is not using its own fish data, which are very positive in the Scott River and do not justify curtailments.
“Re-adoption of the regulations for the Scott River is unfair, unreasonable, and unneeded,” says Theodora Johnson, spokesman for the Alliance.
The Alliance cites the following reasons:
Salmon data from California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) does not support the regs:
Coho salmon were surviving and thriving without the minimum flows and irrigation reductions required in the 2021 curtailment.
Adult coho spawners in 2020-21 were the 2nd highest on record, at 1,766 adults, and all were able to reach their preferred spawning habitat in the upper watershed—despite statements by CDFW that irrigation curtailments were needed due to the low-flow conditions in 2020.
Coho juveniles from that run reared successfully in the drought summer of 2021—before the curtailment went into effect—as evidenced by record number of outmigrants in Spring 2022: over 42,000 emigrating out of the Scott River to date.
This high survival rate of young coho is evidence of Scott River's freshwater production and improving in-river conditions—without the need for major curtailments.
Coho salmon trends are positive since adult data collection by CDFW began in 2007. Run size now averages about 800 coho, similar to CDFW’s estimates from the early 1960s.
Only in the Scott Valley is the State requiring that all ag wells be curtailed, despite the aquifer in the Scott Valley (like the Shasta Valley) not being in overdrafted condition. Meanwhile, those groundwater basins in California that are critically overdrafted are not having their ag wells curtailed under State emergency regulations. But if the Water Board is using Scott Valley as a test for this new expansion of its authority, groundwater pumping in other basins could soon be in jeopardy, too.
It should be noted that, even though our aquifer is stable, locally-driven aquifer recharge projects and other water storage projects are a high priority in the Scott River basin as a win-win option for fish and farms.
Farmers are expected to cut back the use of their wells by 100% if minimum fish flows are not met throughout the summer, unless they can document a 30% reduction plan to the State Water Board. The economic impact of this significant decrease in irrigation during the valleys' short growing season for alfalfa hay and pasture is harmful to the family farmers, ranchers, and dairies as well as to the local communities and food consumers.
“If agriculture can’t survive here in Scott Valley, where fish numbers are strong and our aquifer is stable,” Johnson says, “then how can it survive anywhere in California?”
Scott Valley Agriculture Water Alliance (AgWA) is a unified voice communicating on behalf of local farmers and ranchers, spreading accurate information about Scott Valley’s ag producers, the Scott River, and its fish.
