"Only Connect"

Epigraph, E. M. Forster, Howard's End

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. "

Margaret Mead

US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978)

SARSAS has a need for volunteer Grant Writers to help SARSAS Grant Writer Pat Thomas submit application for grants for small amounts of money.

We urge high schools, college students and retired folks to get involved and help us. Student can ask your teachers if you might get credit for grant writing.

Call Pat at 916 261 0905 or email her at iforpat@sbcglobal.net if you are interested in helping. You work in your own home at your own pace and fill a real need for SARSAS.

What you really need is some writing ability and a lot of patience to go with your computer skills. You do NOT need experience in grant writing and students who need hours for graduation and retired people wanting to connect are welcome.

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November 4, 2011 "Progress in Returning Salmon and Steelhead to Auburn Ravine"

A fish screen has been installed on the Scheiber Ranch paid for by Rancher Albert Scheiber. ISI designed, built and installed the fish screen. The Schreiber Ranch was crossed by the new Highway 65 Bypass over the Auburn Ravine. The new screen is located immediately downstream of the new bridge. Albert Schreiber conducted a tour for several SARSAS members last week. The fish screen is a self-cleaning single cone electric powered cleaner. The screen keeps fish in the Auburn Ravine and allows the rancher to take water through the screen without the screen clogging with debris.

Any rancher/farmer living on the Auburn Ravine is encouraged to contain SARSAS (530 888 0281 jlsanchez39@gmail.com) or Family Water Alliance ( 530 844 2310 or aindrieri@frontiernet.net) to inquire about securing funding to install a fish screen on his canal or pump.

NID is currently installing a fish ladder on the Lincoln Gauging Station which will allow salmon and steelhead to pass over the dam this year. The projected date of completion is the end of November this year. Many salmon died trying to get over this dam last year. Any fish that arrive before the fish ladder is finished will be trucked above the dam so all this year’s run has the potential to survive and reach spawning grounds below the Hemphill Dam which is another NID barrier.

NID is currently planning the retrofit of Hemphill Dam upstream of Lincoln near Turkey Creek Golf Course. When the Hemphill Dam is retrofitted for fish passage, salmon and steelhead with then be able to reach the NID Gold Hill Dam two miles upstream from Gold Hill Road. Plans for the retrofit of the Gold Hill Dam have not yet been addressed by NID.

Now all eight dams below Lincoln are in compliance with NOAA regulations, thanks to NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner (who just received the SARSAS King Salmon Award for his work on AR). That means all dams are taken down NLT Oct 15 and stay down until April 15 each year to allow salmonids to reach spawning grounds on the upper Auburn Ravine.

The LGS Fish Ladder currently being installed by NID will be complemented by the Fish Screen, spearheaded by Brad Arnold of South Sutter Water District, to be installed on the Pleasant Grove Canal to prevent fish returning to the Pacific Ocean from being entrained in agricultural fields. The Family Water Alliance secured funding for this fish screen, which has a target date on installation the beginning of 2012.

Ron Ott, SARSAS Fish Passage Specialist, says that the screen on the Pleasant Grove Canal has the potential to keep huge numbers of the anadromous fish returning to the Pacific Ocean in the Auburn Ravine avoiding entrainment.

Much is happening and with each addition, salmon and steelhead can swim and spawn farther up Auburn Ravine, getting ever closer to the SARSAS mission of returning salmon and steelhead to the entire thirty-three mile length of the Auburn Ravine.

The Auburn Ravine is not connected to the American River; it is a tributary of the Sacramento River. It starts in Auburn, flows through Ophir and Lincoln, through miles of fields into the Eastside Canal, the Natomas Cross Canal and enters the Sacramento River at Verona, just downstream of the mouth of the Feather River.

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Auburn Ravine Improvements

City of Lincoln Newsletter

IMPROVEMENTS MADE TO FISH PASSAGE SECTION OF AUBURN RAVINE Water is again flowing in a stretch of Auburn Ravine in the City of Lincoln after completion of a Placer County project to remove an impediment to fish traveling to upstream spawning areas. The project, nearly 10 years in the works, was finished this month. On Tues., Dec. 13, 2011, the Placer County Board of Supervisors authorized payment of $363,645 to the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) for work on the fish passage project. The funding will come from grant funds through the CalFed Watershed Program, the Granite Bay Flycasters, and the Open Space Trust Fund. No general fund monies will be used for the project. As early as 2002, the CalFed-funded Auburn Ravine/Coon Creek Ecosystem Restoration Plan recognized fish passage as a limiting factor for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout in Auburn Ravine. The NID Gaging Station in Lincoln was singled out as a priority. In 2006, a California Department of Fish Game study declared that Auburn Ravine is one the of best trout streams in the entire western Sierra region. Built in 1981, the Gaging Station, created a six-foot drop that prevented salmon and steelhead from accessing the spawning beds in the 12 miles of upstream habitat. A 2004 survey found that Among western Placer County streams, Auburn Ravine contained more potential spawning habitat than all other surveyed stream reaches combined. The Gaging Station was installed to manage downstream water transfers with South Sutter Water District and to provide accurate flow measurements for the City of Lincoln's wastewater treatment plant dilution requirements. Construction of the project to remove the barrier began in October. The fish passage improvements include a new roughened channel with rock chutes and pools. The constructed chute-and-pool feature occupies about 6,392 square feet within the stream channel, covering an area of 34 feet by 188 feet. The area that was disturbed to build the project is almost an acre. In addition to the contribution by Placer County, funding partners to the $865,645 total project cost include: Nevada Irrigation District;CalFed;Granite Bay Flycasters; andThe Dry Creek Conservancy. The use of engineered streambed materials will ensure that the rock will remain in place up to the 100-year storm flow. Auburn Ravine has the potential for significant fall-run and late fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. The gravel-bedded stream reaches above this project are suitable for salmonid spawning. Questions? Contact the Placer County Public Information Office at 530-889-4080 or 530-886-4515.

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SARSAS General Meetings

175 Fulweiler Avenue, Auburn, CA 95603 (The Domes)

Contact: Jack at 530-888-0281

Meetings are Fourth Monday of each month at 10-11 a.m.

I. Self- introductions and sign-ins.

II. SARSAS Philosophy–We believe by working together with many individuals and agencies at the same table, we can achieve the mission of SARSAS which is to return salmon and steelhead to the entire 33 mile length of the Auburn Ravine.

County, Department of Facility Services, “Water

III. Next Meetings Scheduled:

January 23, 2012, Confirmed speaker is John Williams, Eco-Urban Designs, “Stream Bank Stabilization the Natural Way”

February 27, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Steve Bennett, PGE Central Area Manager, Hydro Generation, “Drum-Spaulding Water Delivery System and Options for SARSAS Acquiring Additional Water for Auburn Ravine to Get Salmon to Auburn”

March 26, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Richard Rivas, Wildlife Biologist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, “Topic TBA”

April 23, 2012, Confirmed Speaker is Elizabeth Campbell, PhD, Fish Biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service,

“Fish Passages Issues and Solutions in Central Valley Streams”

May 21, 2012, Confirmed Speaker is Chris Shutes, California Sport Fishing Alliance (CSPA), FERC Project Director, “Update of the FERC Negotiations”

June 25, 2012, Confirmed Speaker, Darryl Hayes, ISI, Inc., “Details of the Scheiber Ranch Fish Screen Installation on Auburn Ravine”

July 23, 2012. Confirmed Speaker, Brad Arnold, General Manager, South Sutter Water District, “Progress on the Installation of Fish Screen on the Pleasant Grove Canal”

August 27, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Einar Maisch, PCWA, Director of Strategic Affairs, “Northern California Water”

September 24, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Placer County Sheriff Edward N. Bonner, “Fishing Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Loomis”

October 25, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Mary Tappel, Beaver Expert, "Beaver Management of Valley Streams"

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October 9, 2011

Progress in Returning Salmon and Steelhead to Auburn Ravine

A fish ladder has been installed on the Sheiber Dam using mitigations funds from Cal Trans for issues created by the new highway bypass going through the Scheiber Ranch, which helps assure fish reaching the Lincoln Gauging Station.

Next, NID just received the NOAA permit, which allows them to start work on the Lincoln Gauging Station which prevented many salmon from reach spawning grounds last year.

Ron Nelson, General Manager of NID, called me last Monday and say the permits were all in place and much prep work had already been done. He said NID would try to stay with the original schedule and have the fish ladder installed by the end of this month in time for the arrival of the salmon.

So now all eight dams below Lincoln are in compliance with NOAA regulations, thanks to NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner (who just received the SARSAS King Salmon Award for his work on AR). That means all dams are taken down NLT Oct 15 and stay down until April 15 each year to allow the Fall Run Chinook to reach spawning grounds on the upper Auburn Ravine.

The LGS Fish Ladder currently being installed by NID will be complemented by the Fish Screen, spearheaded by Brad Arnold of South Sutter Water District, to be installed on the Pleasant Grove Canal to prevent fish returning to the Pacific Ocean to mature from being entrained in agricultural fields. The Family Water Alliance secured funding for this fish screen.

NID is currently planning the retrofit of Hemphill Dam upstream of Lincoln near Turkey Creek Golf Course. When the Hemphill Dam is retrofitted for fish passage, salmon and steelhead with then be able to reach the NID Gold Hill Dam two miles upstream from Gold Hill Road.

Much is happening and with each addition, salmon and steelhead can swim and spawn farther up Auburn Ravine.

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SARSAS King Salmon (SKSA) for OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT in returning anadromous fishes to the Auburn Ravine Goes to NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner

The SKSA is given to a person whose collaborative efforts have resulted in a significant and distinguished advancement toward the goal of SARSAS, which is to return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the AR.

NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner, using gracious and collaborative law enforcement methods, was able to work amiably with the eight dam owners on the Auburn Ravine downstream of the City of Lincoln and with their wholehearted assistance open the Auburn Ravine to fish passage from October 15 to April 15 of each year to allow Fall Run Chinook to migrate upstream toward spawning gravels.

For the first time in decades, his efforts resulted in a significant number of salmon reaching Auburn Ravine Park in Lincoln, where their upstream migration was stopped by the NID Lincoln Gauging Station. Seeing Agent Tanner’s success with salmon, Nevada Irrigation District, contributed $250k of their own money toward the $850K cost, and will install a fish ladder on the LGS this Sept./Oct. to allow salmon to reach spawning gravels upstream of Lincoln. NID is currently planning and designing fish passage over their Hemphill Dam, which will allow fish to migrate many miles upstream to the NID Gold Hill Dam, which hopefully will be retrofitted for fish passage in the near future.

Agent Tanner’s achievement is vital to the success of returning salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the AR and he continues to constantly monitor the Ravine and works toward making his agency realize the infinite possibility of the AR as a significant tributary to the Sacramento River for salmon and steelhead spawning, thereby helping to keep the threatened steelhead population robust and the salmon population from extinction.

Agent Tanner’s efforts working with the South Sutter Water District resulted in SSWD securing funds from Family Water Alliance to install a Fish Screen at the opening of the Pleasant Grove Canal “to prevent”, to quote SARSAS Fish Passage Expert Ron Ott, “up to 90 % of anadromous fishes returning to the Pacific Ocean to mature from being entrained and die in agriculture fields”.

Agent Tanner’s achievement is exceptional, unique and distinguished and shows how one person, who accepts his responsibility and works ethically and collaboratively to achieve a goal can succeed to a monumental degree, inspiring another entities and individuals to contribute to the SARSAS goal.

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Please check our website at www.sarsas.org

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Salmon Spawning in Secret Ravine on March Property in Loomis, CA, October 2011

httpwww.youtube.comwatchv=nL9-rW5fWOo

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SARSAS IS TRYING TO DO WITH ONE STREAM, THE AUBURN RAVINE, WHAT MUST BE DONE TO ALL STREAMS AND RIVERS ON THE ENTIRE WEST COAST AND THAT IS TO MAKE THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE RAVINE NAVIGABLE FOR ANADROMOUS FISHES.

THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SALMON IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO THAT OF PEOPLE. IF WE IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SALMON, WE IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF MANKIND AND THEREFORE OURSELVES.

SALMON ARE AS RESILIENT AND ADAPTIVE AS HUMANS; WHEN THEY CAN NO LONGER ADAPT, NEITHER CAN MANKIND. THEY NEED OUR HELP ... NOW.

DONATIONS MAY BE MAILED TO SARSAS,

PO BOX 4269,

AUBURN, CA95604 OR BY USING PAYPAL ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.SARSAS.ORG

JACK AND VALERIE SANCHEZ,

VOLUNTEER SARSAS COORDINATORS

_______________________________________________________"THE RIVER WAS CUT BY THE WORLD'S GREAT FLOOD AND FLOWS OVER ROCKS FROM THE BASEMENT OF TIME. ON SOME OF THE ROCKS ARE TIMELESS RAINDROPS, AND UNDER THE ROCKS ARE THE WORDS AND SOME OF THE WORDS ARE THEIRS. I AM HAUNTED BY WATER."

--NORMAN MACLEAN, "A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT"

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"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

- Samuel Adams

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SARSAS Monthly Meetings Hosted by Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt are hosted the fourth Monday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Domes, 175 Fulweiler in Auburn. Meetings are open to the public; meetings are ONE HOUR in length.

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SARSAS General Meeting Agenda

Monday, September 26, 2011

175 Fulweiler Avenue, Auburn, CA 95603 (The Domes)

Contact: Jack at 530-888-0281

Meetings are Fourth Monday of each month at 10-11 a.m.

I. Self- introductions and sign-ins.

II. SARSAS Philosophy–We believe by working together with many individuals and agencies

at the same table, we can achieve the mission of SARSAS which is to return salmon and

steelhead to the entire 33 mile length of the Auburn Ravine.

III. Main speaker is Ron Nelson, General Manager, Nevada Irrigation District -- “Update of Fish Ladder Installation of Lincoln Gauging Station”.

IV. Ron Ott, SARSAS, “Update of SARSAS Book on Types of Fish Ladders and Screens

Needed on Auburn Ravine”

V. Greg Nelson, Update Fundraising Dinners: Pescatore Winery Dinners, August 19 and 20,

2011, Friday and Saturday

V1. Stan Nader, SARSAS Board Member Chairperson of Calling Back the Salmon Celebration

-- “Update on CBTSC

VII. Next Meetings Scheduled:

Monday, October 24, Confirmed speaker are Loren Clark and Edmund Sullivan, Placer Legacy, “Mission of Placer Legacy, Its Accomplishments and How It Has and Can Work Collaboratively with SARSAS”

November 28, Confirmed speaker is Jim Durfee, Director, Placer County, Department of Facility Services, “Water Quality in Placer County”

December 26, Confirmed speaker is NOAA Special Agent, Don Tanner, “Collaborative Law Enforcement and the Auburn Ravine”

January 23, 2012, Confirmed speaker is John Williams, Eco-Urban Designs, “Stream Bank Stabilization the Natural Way”

February 27, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Steve Bennett, PGE Central Area Manager, Hydro Generation, “Drum-Spaulding Water Delivery System and Options for SARSAS Acquiring Additional Water for Auburn Ravine to Get Salmon to Auburn”

March 26, 2012, Confirmed speaker is Richard Rivas, Wildlife Biologist, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA, Topic TBA

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WHAT HAS SARSAS ACCOMPLISHED AS OF AUGUST 2011 TOWARD ITS GOAL OF RETURNING ANADROMOUS FISHES TO THE ENTIRE 33 MILE LENGTH OF AUBURN RAVINE?

Working with many individuals, agencies and groups, SARSAS has overseen Salmon reaching Turkey Creek Golf Course where another NID dam is in the planning for a fish ladder and screen over the canal or complete removal.

Getting salmon some twenty-two miles up the Auburn Ravine started with NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner working with SARSAS personnel to meet with dam owners to remind them dams must be removed no later than September 15 each year and stay down until April 15 so the Fall salmon run would have access to spawning grounds.

South Sutter Water District was able to raise funds to install a fish screen over the Pleasant Grove Canal, about six miles downstream from Lincoln. This screen should be installed by the beginning of 2013 and, when installed, should prevent up to 90% of anadromous fishes returning to the Pacific from being entrained in the Canal. That means a very large percentage of Auburn Ravine smolt will be able to successfully reach the Sacramento River and swim to the Pacific.

NOAA Agent Tanner and SARSAS personnel met with the owners of the following dams and the owners agreed to comply to the September 15-April 15 dam removal: the Coppin, Davis, Tom Glenn, Lincoln Ranch Duck Club, Aitken Ranch, Moore, Nelson Lane and the Lincoln Gauging Station. The Scheiber Dam was removed.

Nevada Irrigation District is currently installing a fish ladder over the Lincoln Gauging Station, located a quarter mile downstream from Highway 65, making it possible for salmon to swim two miles above Lincoln where they will encounter NID's Hemphill Dam, which is currently in the planning stage of being addressed. The Lincoln Gauging Station fish ladder construction will begin September of 2011 and be completed in October.

Before salmon can reach Wise Powerhouse, located one mile downstream from Auburn, NID must complete work on the Hemphill Dam and the largest dam on the Auburn Ravine, the Gold Diversion Dam and its Canal.

Once these two dams are addressed, salmon can then reach the richest spawning grounds on the Auburn Ravine. Auburn Ravine, according to a fish count done by California Department of Fish and Game in 2005, has an average of 7,000 salmonids per mile, making it one of the richest streams in

Northern California.

Once SARSAS finishes getting salmon to Auburn, it will focus its attention of Coon Creek and get the salmon at least to Hidden Falls Regional Park near Auburn.

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Friday, December 17, 2010

Auburn Ravine Salmon Have Reached the City of Lincoln, Califronia, Some 22 Miles Upstream from the Mouth at Verona on Sacramento River

In October of this year, Salmon reached Auburn Ravine Park in Lincoln, California, and started banging themselves to death trying to negotiate the Nevada Irrigation District's Lincoln Gauging Station, a quarter mile downstream from Highway 65 that passes through the heart of Lincoln. They are still dying as we write. Ron Nelson, General Manager of NID, assures critics that the LGS will be retrofitted for fish passage with a fish ladder by Fall of 2011, which does little to pacify the angry many who cannot understand why fish who have swum thousands of miles in the Pacific Ocean, grown to maturity over three to five years and then returned to Auburn Ravine to complete their Salmon Life Cycle are being treated to the ignoble death of dying trying to get over this manmade barrier,the Lincoln Gauging Station Dam and concrete apron, after completing their miraculous journey.

SARSAS has worked with NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner, to see that all flashboard dams downstream of the City of Lincoln are in compliance with NOAA regs; that is, the dams are removed from October 15 through April 15 to accommodate returning salmon returning to spawn. As a result salmon have clear passage to the city of Lincoln.

Why is NID surprised that their three barriers, the Lincoln Gauging Station, the Hemphill Dam, and the Gold Hill Diversion Dams are the only unretrofitted barriers left on the Auburn Ravine preventing fish from reaching Wise Powerhouse --- one mile downstream from the City of Auburn ... why is NID surprised when public outrage and anger are directed at them. They knew the salmon were coming since at least 2008, and yet the barriers still exist and still kill salmon. So the salmon run in Auburn Ravine is forced to die while NID slowly works to provide passage for fish over its three remaining barriers in the Auburn Ravine.

Auburn Ravine will become a major spawning tributary for Fall Run Chinook when NID provides fish passage over its three remaining barriers.

In the interim, salmon are dying ignobly at the NID's Lincoln Gauging Station in Auburn Ravine Park in Lincoln, California.

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HOW YOU CAN HELP WITH SARSAS ACTIVITIES AND BECOME PART OF THE SARSAS MOVEMENT

Dear Members of SARSAS and Our Mailing List Members,

The SARSAS organization (Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead) has just completed an ambitious and very successful year and a half. We have made significant enough progress that there is a high likelihood of salmon and steelhead returning in numbers that will bring back a positive spawn in the Auburn Ravine. That's great news, but with success comes additional work. If we were a business we would be at that point where the business would now begin hiring employees in larger numbers. SARSAS is an all-volunteer organization; therefore, it is time for us to reach out and call for you to volunteer. Your skill, knowledge and motivation to work on behalf of salmon restoration will move SARSAS forward and at a faster pace.

There is a niche just right for you. You may have lots of time to provide or you may have a very limited amount but all assistance is welcome and will be appreciated. How can you help? Well, take a look at some of the needs and see if you might be just the right person for the job. Don't see the right job? Just contact us and let us know what you see as your skill or desire and we will work with you to find a way for you to succeed and at the same time make a valuable contribution to SARSAS. Here is a partial list of some needs we currently have:

1. clerical; 2. various computer skills such as word processing, building graphs and charts using excel, power point projects, development of data bases, web site marketing using twitter, Facebook and other online uses, or other services you can provide with technology; 3. fisheries expertise; 4. marketing skills; 5.sales skills; 6. engineering/ especially those related to hydrology or civil; 7. expertise in stream bed and bank restoration; 8. labor of all sorts; 8. und raising skills; 9. grant writing skills or assistance in application writing;. 10. education expertise especially developing curriculum and lessons related to k-12 programs about salmon and restoration of salmon; 11. telephoning 12 artistic skills; 13. how about wandering up the middle of the Auburn Ravine counting salmon and other in stream activities? 14. assisting SARSAS in the development of a salmon festival in Lincoln in October of 2010; 15. have another idea or role you would like to volunteer in? Just let us know. There are many other ways you can provide help so just contact us and we will find the right fit for you. Please contact me or Scott Johnson at scott@johnsonpianoservice.com.

We at SARSAS look forward to working with you as we all work to bring salmon and steelhead back to the Auburn Ravine.

Sincerely,

Jack Sanchez

Founder and Board President

SARSAS

jlsanchez39@gmail.com

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What SARSAS is Doing on the Auburn Ravine

By Jack Sanchez 8 2010

Now that the flashboard dams between Eastside Canal and Lincoln are down during the fall salmon run, fish can now reach some rudimentary spawning grounds in Lincoln area. SARSAS is working with SSWD to put screens on the three diversions, Pleasant Grove, Moore and RD1001 (Coppin) Canals so fish can return to Pacific without being entrained and die in agricultural fields.

SSWD has applied to Family Water Alliance for funding to screen the PG and M Canals. SARSAS has also applied for a $300k grant to screen PGC.

SARSAS is working with SSWD to gain access to the owners of nine pumps to encourage owners to apply for screen funding.

PGE has pledged $5k matching fund on each of the nine pump screens.

SARSAS is holding the Calling Back the Salmon Celebration on Saturday, October 22, 2010.

SARSAS is holding two fundraising dinners at the Pescatori Winery in Newcastle, Friday and Saturday, Sept 24 and 25, 2010.

Ron Ott is compiling a book on the Auburn Ravine with the location of all canals and pumps, the size and cost of needed screen and the GPS locations.

When NID installs the fish ladder and screen at the Hemphill Dam, SARSAS is raising funds for a Fish Monitoring Camera to be mounted on the fish ladder.

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SARSAS UPDATE NOVEMBER 7, 2009

Many accomplishments have been made recently. The Healthy Auburn Ravine Workshop in Lincoln was a success with many local attendees learning what to do to help return salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine. We had a documented sighting of a salmon in the Auburn Ravine on Monday, March 23, 2009, by three reliable people, Richard Harris and Lisa Thompson, UCBerkeley and Edmund Sullivan, Placer Legacy, looking for sites on the Auburn Ravine to take attendees to during our May 2 workshop in Lincoln. They spotted a Chinook salmon from the Fowler Bridge a few miles upstream from Lincoln. This sighting is a defining moment for SARSAS because no salmon has recently been spotted above Lincoln. Two fishermen reported to Board Member John Rabe they sighted two large salmon below the Hemphill Dam upstream from Lincoln. If one salmon is sighted, how many more were not seen … ten, fifty or a hundred?

All flashboard dams downstream from Lincoln are now in compliance with NOAA regulations for upstream fish passage. What the next great push will be is getting screens installed on all diversions canals that takes water our of the Ravine for irrigation. Unless screens are installed, salmon smolt and steelhead returning to the ocean to grow up will be entrained into rice fields and pastures and die without ever returning even to the ocean. So SARSAS is now working with landowners and especially with General Manager Brad Arnold of the South Sutter Water District which operates five diversion dams to get screening in place. Once the diversions are screened, then the Ravine will be guaranteed a viable anadromous fish run.

To get fish above the city of Lincoln, SARSAS is working with Placer Legacy and NID to create fish passage around the Lincoln Gaging Station, half mile downstream of Highway 65 in the center of Lincoln, the Hemphill Dam, adjacent to the Turkey Creek Gold Course two miles upstream from Lincoln and finally the Gold Hill Diversion Dam, a mile upstream from Gold Hill Road in Newcastle. Once fish can pass these barriers, they can swim to Wise Powerhouse, one mile from the city of Auburn and then the real work begins to get the salmon to Auburn School Park Preserve, behind Auburn City Hall to spawn.

NOAA Special Agent Don Tanner continues his low key, collaborative approach to working with landowner to secure fish passage by compliance with regulations that provide passage for the fishes to get to spawning gravels and are able to return to the Pacific form up to five years on maturing before they return to the Ravine to spawn, die and start the cycle all over again.

Board member Stan Nader has been methodically connecting us with the local fathers in Lincoln and plans are underway for a SARSAS-Lincoln Salmon Festival to be held in Lincoln on October 23, 2010, at McBean Park on the Auburn Ravine. We have made countless beneficial connections and have talked with many groups in the Lincoln area, all of whom are supportive of SARSAS. Plans are in the germinal stage for a Salmon Festival in Auburn. Both will include the Native American sacred and religious ceremony Calling Back the Salmon conducted by Bill Jacobson, who was taught the ceremony by Pacific Northwest tribes.

SARSAS has finalized an Alliance with the Washoe Tribes of Nevada and California to mutually work to return anadromous fish to the Auburn Ravine. SARSAS is pleased that Darrel Cruz and the Washoes, headquartered in Gardnerville, NV, have joined us in our work on the Auburn Ravine.

Unfortunately, there has been another sewage spill into the Auburn Ravine in the city of Auburn on November 3. The city of Auburn responded quickly to stop the leak and clean up the sewage.

SARSAS Grant Writer Cathie DuChene has secured a five thousand dollar grant from the Tides Foundation to help return salmon and steelhead to the entire length of the Auburn Ravine, the SARSAS mission. Scott Johnson, SARSAS Event Coordinator, has secured grants of about fifteen hundred dollars for educational outreach.

This weekend the Pescatore Winery and Vineyards on Ridge Road in Newcastle is hosting a Wild Salmon and Tri-tip Fundraising Dinner on Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7, 2009. The tickets are all sold.

The outpouring of community support such as Ken Clark offering the equipment of his excavating company is solidifying the realization of the SARSAS mission. If the entire communities of Lincoln and Auburn support SARSAS’ effort, the salmon in the Ravine will quickly become a reality.

On October 23, 2010, the SARSAS Lincoln Salmon Festival will take place in beautiful McBean Park on the Auburn Ravine in Lincoln. The Festival will include a Calling Back the Salmon Ceremony organized and conducted by Bill Jacobsen and Ty Gorre. SARSAS Lincoln Outreach Coordinator Stan Nader is the Festival Chairman.

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You can help return salmon and steelhead to the Auburn Ravine by sending donations to SARSAS, PO Box 4269, Auburn, California, or by volunteering to write grants, operate a SARSAS booth at local festivals, represent SARSAS at other functions, coordinate an activity, monitor a section of the Auburn Ravine, perform water quality tests, speak to service and other clubs on behalf of SARSAS, do clerical work or research on fishes, find a way to contribute what you do best, write for SARSAS, all by calling 530 888 0281.Many accomplishments have been made recently. The Healthy Auburn Ravine Workshop in Lincoln was a success with many local attendees learning what to do to help return salmon ___________________________________________________

The Next Step

November 8, 2009

Now that salmon can pretty much get to Lincoln, the next step is to get them back to the Pacific if and when they spawn. Between the Sac River and Lincoln, starting at the lower end moving upstream, the Auburn Ravine contains eight diversion dams: 1)Coppin, 2)Davis, 3)Tom Glenn, 4)Lincoln Ranch Duck Club, 5)Aitken Ranch, 6)Moore, 7)Nelson Dams and the 8)Lincoln Gaging Station. Please memorize these eight names.

In order for the fish returning to the Pacific to spend 3-5 years maturing, they must not be entrained into rice fields, pastures and other ag fields through the canals that divert water. Without screens on these diversions, the fish will end up in fields and die. These diversion canals must be screened so that the fish can stay in the Auburn Ravine to reach the Sac River and continue their odyssey to SF Bay and the open waters of the Pacific.

I am asking for your thinking and input on this plan. We are working with Brad Arnold of South Sutter Water District to get his Board’s commitment to begin screening the Coppin, Tom Glenn, and Aitken Ranch dams. We are working with Rich Arruda on the Lincoln Ranch Duck Club Dam. I will work with Don Tanner to gain access to the Moore and Nelson dams to contact the owners. Most of the eight dams have one diversion canal with the Davis Dam having three. So we are probably talking about at least ten screens needed and there may be multiple diversions on the Moore and Nelson Dams.

What I am thinking about is creating a community outreach program that secures one business in Auburn and/or Lincoln to adopt a diversion canal and raise money to pay for one screen. SARSAS will not ask the business to contribute any money itself but to find a way to raise money. The average cost Tim Buller told me would be $3k per screen, but Ron Ott believes many would cost much less. We would need at least ten businesses, each adopting a screen to make the plan work. How can businesses raise funds?

Ron Ott will be giving his presentation on Friday, November 13, at 9a.m. at John Rabe’s home, 980 Stonewood, Newcastle, CA 95658, to help us decide what type of screen is best for each diversion canal and what each screen costs. Please try to attend because our next major task is to become knowledgeable about screens and their costs. Then we can implement this plan.

What we need now is a name for the plan, i.e. Invite a Salmon to the Pacific, Send a Salmon Home, This is My Salmon … some name we all agree on. Then how do we do outreach to the communities to secure business sponsors, and what will SARSAS’ role be? Board Member Kathleen Harris of Harris Industrial Gasses likes the idea and is already working on some details.

No idea is too outlandish. We are brainstorming now so send me all your ideas.

Please contact us at P O Bx 4269, Auburn CA95604, jlsanchez39@gmail.com or 530 888 0281.

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"Salmon at the Heart of Nature"

Placer Nature Center’s 4th Friday Lecture - September 25, 2009

Get tickets Now! Season Passes available!

Sweeping changes are coming for endangered populations of winter and spring run Salmon. Dams built decades ago without fish ladders and creating still waters that block access to hundreds of miles of historic spawning grounds must be adapted to ensure species survival under a ruling by the National Marine Fisheries Service. At the State level – Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation banning dredge mining in California rivers. Have these rulings come too late? Is the situation for Salmon so dire that we’ve passed the tipping point?

We’ll find out on Friday, September 25th at Placer Nature Center’s 4th Friday Lecture Series. The 5th season of the popular Lecture series makes a splashing opening with Dr. Tim Horner, Internationally recognized expert on the salmon species, fish ecology and habitat issues. While Dr. Horner will discuss broader issues of fish populations globally, he will concentrate his comments on our local fisheries and the American River.

“Best news of all.” According to Leslie Warren, Executive Director of Placer Nature Center, “is that two of Auburn’s finest restaurants are creating special meals for 4th Friday Lecture goers and 20% of the meal proceeds will be donated to Placer Nature Center to support environmental learning projects.” “Dine at 5:00 PM at Tsuda’s or Latitudes – enjoying a special themed menu and delight in science learning at 7:00 P.M.! What a great night out! It is an easy walk between the restaurants and our venue at 1212 High Street too,” Warren said.

“It is kind of ironic that our restaurants cannot serve local wild salmon because our species are so depleted. We’ll see what creative menu is offered even as we bemoan the disappearance of our favorite entre!”

“Salmon have long been considered a key indicator species. It is almost as if the salmon swims at the heart of the web of life on earth. Orca whales’ survival, maintenance of nutrient rich soils in the northwest, sustaining Native American and Inuit culture – the salmon is critical to these and so much more,” Warren explained. “We are so very pleased to kick off our Lecture series with such an esteemed scientist and educator!”

The American river has changed significantly in the past 150 years, and salmon and steelhead populations have decreased and whole seasonal runs have disappeared. This decrease could be related to ocean conditions, global warming, commercial or recreational fishing, delta water demands, mining, sediment input, water diversions, water quality, dams and water releases, water temperature, hatchery practices or habitat reduction. All of these issues will be reviewed to help put the problem in context for the American River, and identify the stressors that are responsible for the population decline.

Tickets are available securely on line at www.placernaturecenter.org, by calling 530-878-6053 or at the following businesses Tsuda’s Café, Latitudes Restaurant and Newcastle Produce. Tickets are $10 general, $8 for members and $5 for full time students. Season tickets are only $55 for the general public and $45 for members – making one Lecture in the 6 Lecture Series FREE!

About the Speaker:

Dr. Tim Horner graduated from The Ohio State University in 1992, and joined the Geology Department at CSU Sacramento in Fall 1993. He specializes in groundwater/surface water interaction, and teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in sedimentology, field geology and hydrogeology.

He received the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008. Much of Tim's time is devoted to habitat assessment and in-stream monitoring work on local rivers, with special emphasis on salmon and steelhead spawning gravels.

Tim and his students are frequent partners on local stream restoration projects, and have collected information about the health and habitat suitability of the American River system. CSUS faculty and students have helped to characterize the physical conditions that are ideal for salmon and steelhead spawning. This set of physical conditions can then be used as a target to guide restoration projects. Several restoration projects have addressed the problem by creating more habitat or restoring degraded parts of the river.

Leslie Warren

Executive Director, Placer Nature Center

Leslie@placernaturecenter.org

Placer Nature Center

530-878-6053

www.placernaturecenter.org

_______________________________________________________

The SARSAS PLAN FOR SAVING SALMON IN CALIFORNIA AND IN THE PACIFIC MARINE FISHERY:

the Urgency of Saving the Salmon WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM GOVERNMENT AND CALIFORNIANS!

Jack L.Sanchez

Volunteer Coordinator/President/Founder

530 888 0281/jlsanchez39@gmail.com

The people of California are overwhelmingly frustrated because they have justifiably lost confidence in government and large corporations because they are self-serving at the expense of the people, the environment, other living things and the planet. We must now rely almost exclusively upon individuals and group initiative in order to take charge of our own destiny. What does this dilemma mean for the people of California? What it means really is a New Manifest Destiny for Californians. Therefore let’s focus on one piece of the big puzzle: the restoration of salmon in California.

When salmon can no longer survive on this planet, can

humanity be far behind?

But a solution is possible. Yes, the people of California, volunteering together can save salmon and steelhead. People must ask themselves whether or not salmon and steelhead have any time left on the planet without the help of the people.

The Golden Age of Salmon and Steelhead is likely long past, but the people working together can ensure at least their continued existence. California salmon were thought to be extinct as early as 1865 as a result of sediment that choked the streams from hydraulic mining and clear cut logging. The salmon of California are now once again in danger for many reasons:

global warming, pollution, poisons, man-made drugs,

lack of fish passage and an overall degradation of spawning

beds.

Part of the solution is not to argue for years but to open up California streams as soon as possible for salmon spawning. The SARSAS Plan (see www.sarsas.org), formulated for the Auburn Ravine, is the simplest way to save salmon and should be implemented on all streams within our state immediately. If every stream were to have a volunteer group working to do what SARSAS is doing with the Auburn Ravine, that is, to return salmon and steelhead to its entire length and secure fish passage, adequate water and spawning beds, then salmon can once again thrive in significant numbers.

The line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it,

they will come” can be paraphrased and applied to all

salmon: “If you clear it, they will come.” SARSAS and other volunteer groups with the assistance of the governor, legislators and the federal Water Czar can encourage and help other groups do with other streams what SARSAS is accomplishing with the Auburn Ravine.

Will the governor and the legislators help? SARSAS

urges the Governor’s staff, both houses of California government and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as well as his water Czar, David Hayes, to help. The governor and legislators can provide incentives to encourage other organizations to take ownership of particular streams and make them suitable for salmon passage. They could help streamline the 501c3 process and perhaps add small incentives to volunteer groups once they have a strong strategic plan in place. Salmon are at considerable risk and the governor and legislators have the ability to connect each group to the right agencies in a quick and efficient manner to fast track volunteer groups’ efforts toward salmon restoration.

The SARSAS Plan for the Auburn Ravine can serve as a model for other organizations to work on other streams. It is a simple but effective plan easily adaptable by any group. Additionally, some SARSAS board members are available to assist other groups in implementing the SARSAS plan. Imagine the impact of a thousand salmon in the Auburn Ravine and then multiply that by several hundred streams or perhaps all 738 streams that enter the San Joaquin, Sacramento and American River watersheds. Salmon and steelhead numbers certainly will and can thrive in this environment. If only three percent of the smolt return to each of these streams, the

result will be tremendous. “Clear it (stream) and they will come.”

PART II

When SARSAS became an all-volunteer 501c3, public benefit corporation with officers and a nine-person Board of Directors, it was able to more seriously work on the Auburn Ravine to identify the barriers to salmon and work collaboratively to retrofit them. SARSAS then set about creating a working network of state, local and federal agencies, county supervisors, city councilmen, other non-governmental organizations, landowners and individuals, all meeting once a month under the auspices of Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt. The group works collaboratively, cooperatively, to reach its goals as smoothly and as quickly as possible. Additionally, SARSAS recently acquired the volunteer services of a grant writer and is now applying for funding.

Is the task completed? Of course not, but, in a short period of time with many individuals and groups on board, SARSAS will reach its goals, missions and ultimately, the restoration of salmon and steelhead at a very low cost. Are there problems with the SARSAS Plan? Perhaps, and if there are, they are very minor. Is this explanation an over-simplification of a very complex problem? Not at all. Even if the SARSAS Plan is partially successful, salmon and steelhead will have one more river to spawn within, and new life will abound. An alternate plan to truck salmon above and around dams is feasible and SARSAS wholeheartedly supports it, but it is very expensive. Our plan costs thousands of dollars, the alternative, billions of dollars. Both can help the salmon, but at what cost in

time and real dollars?

What can you do to assist SARSAS? First and foremost, you can contact the governor, legislators, federal

officials and local entities and ask them to grasp and support the SARSAS Plan. Then, please contact Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Water Czar David Hayes and ask them to work with SARSAS.

Let them know that the SARSAS Plan will provide successful outcomes for salmon and steelhead and, if adopted for a significant number of streams in central and northern California, the plan can

assist in the restoration of the Pacific commercial fishery.

Wouldn’t that be a wonderful outcome … being both a benefit to mankind and to the fish at the same time? Since many tributaries to the

Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers are blocked by minor diversion

dams, salmon cannot currently spawn in numbers large enough

to prevent a decrease in their number.

Using the SARSAS Plan as a model for saving salmon in the Auburn Ravine may be enough to begin the restoration of the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery and put thousands of unemployed fisherman back into their boats, free sport fisherman to follow their passion and help Californians feel good about themselves because they did something to help themselves, their children, and the fishes

SARSAS needs your help, political will and public support to finish its work on the Auburn Ravine and to provide assistance to others who may wish to develop their streams.

Please contact us at www.sarsas.org. Volunteers, concentrating and uniting their efforts, can work quickly enough to revive our salmon population toward health and well being.

In the final analysis, “all things merge into one and a river runs through it. We are ALL HAUNTED BY WATER”(and the salmon in it). The SARSAS Plan allows people to do something about the destiny of salmon, and thereby do something about their own destinies.

Again, when salmon can’t make it in our world, neither can

people.

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Dr. Stacy Li’s Sac-Joaquin Delta Plan Prepared for SARSAS

September 13, 2009

Aquatic Systems Research

National Marine Fisheries Service - retired

I provide the following list of components that should be included in any Delta water solution:

1) Outflow to San Francisco Bay has been reduced by 50% of historical levels. Not only should Delta outflow not be reduced any further, it should be increased. This is a key design control consideration.

2) The design functions of the two rivers should be switched. The original fundamental design of the CVP (Central Valley Project) was to use San Joaquin River as water supply and the Sacramento River for water quality. The Sacramento River should be used as water supply because it is more than three times more abundant than the San Joaquin River. The Sacramento River should also provide flows to resist salt intrusion into the Delta, add to Delta outflow and be used to dilute pesticide and fertilizer residues in the agriculture return water in the San Joaquin River. I can’t think of another way to get water from the Sacramento River to the California Aqueduct other than a Peripheral Canal.

3) San Joaquin River should be switched from water supply to being used primarily to resist salt intrusion into the Delta. None of this water should be used as water export. If this action is adopted, there will be no flow reversals in either the Sacramento River or the San Joaquin River. Sacramento River salmonids would be unaffected because the river’s momentum and inertia would prevent flow reversals by pumping. San Joaquin salmon and steelhead smolt would finally be able to find their way to the ocean and returning adults would finally be able to find their natal streams. The San Joaquin Delta would become more of a backwater habitat as it was historically. That would benefit Delta smelt and longfin smelt. Water residence time in the Delta would also be longer, allowing plankton communities to develop that would benefit threadfin shad and young-of-the-year striped bass populations. Finally, importation of 1 million tons of salt into the San Joaquin Valley would stop by not exporting San Joaquin River water.

4) The Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River do not mix downstream of Sherman Island because of differences in many physical and water quality parameters. Therefore, through Delta water conveyance is impossible. The SWP (State Water Project) assumes through Delta conveyance. Refurbishing the present water export facilities would be a big waste of money because not only are they extremely susceptible to levee failure, but water supply capacity of the San Joaquin River is near exhaustion.

5) Present fish protection and fish salvage facilities are woefully inadequate. The present fish louvers do not work. Fish screens are needed because they are state of the art.

6) More dams are not needed at this time. Besides flows from the proposed Temperance Flat Dam would not flow north to the Delta to restore Delta health, but be exported at Friant Dam and sent south to Kern County via the Friant-Kern Canal.

7) Remember that California is a major world economy, estimates ranging from 4th to 9th largest in the world. This important world economy is dependent upon a secure water supply. Without it there will be severe economic disruptions. This is would be a consequence if political inertia continues.

8) Remember that two-thirds of the California population depends upon CVP/SWP water. If the water system fails, it will cause a negative economic ripple throughout the world. So even if you live in a California community not dependent upon CVP/SWP water, you will be adversely affected. The world will be affected.

9) Remember that the California population is still growing at a rate of about 1 million new residents a year. The State water system must account for this increase.

10) Water Rights in California need to be revised. State Water Resources Control Board has identified about 300 million acre-feet per annum of authorized consumptive water rights of different types (pre-1914, appropriative, riparian, federal reserve and pueblo). California receives only about 73 million acre-feet of runoff each year.

11) The new water system must not only function to provide water supply, improve habitat and ecological conditions, control salt intrusion, and account for climate change, it must also be compatible and integrated within the state’s flood control system.

12) Let us justify repair of Delta levees based upon public safety concerns rather than defending the state's water supply. There are 1100 miles of Delta Levee. There are 5280 feet in a mile. Current levee construction is running around $8,000/foot. Operations and maintenance budgets for levees should be 3% of the initial construction cost each year. Levees are not assets. They are liabilities.

13) Those who use the water system must pay for its use. They are the ones that should provide the revenue stream for construction, and operations and maintenance costs. No more freeloaders!

A warning: Now is the time for action. We can’t wait for the system to fail or to build something that doesn’t work. The time needed to recover from those mistakes will be too long to avoid worldwide depression caused by lack of water availability in California. Now is the time for decision based upon physics, biology, hydrology, ecology and plans that benefit the entire state not just parts of it.

A final aside: Since the vast majority of water used as water supply originates from the San Joaquin River, Southern California has not stolen water from Northern California. If they have been stealing water, they have been stealing it from themselves. The vast majority of Sacramento River water ends up in the Pacific Ocean.

______________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SARSAS Article in Placer Sentinel

A New Manifest Destiny for Californians

When Salmon Can No Longer Survive on This

Planet, Can Humanity Be Far Behind?

by Jack L. Sanchez

The people of California, volunteering together, can save

salmon and steelhead. People mustask themselves whether or not salmon and steelhead have any time left on the planet without the help of the people.The Golden Age of Salmon and Steelhead is likely long past, but people working together can ensure at least their continued existence. California salmon were thought to be extinct as early as1865 as a result of sediment that choked the streams from hydraulic mining and clear-cut logging. The

salmon of California are now once again in danger for many

reasons: global warming, pollution, poisons, man-made drugs, lack of fish passage and an overall degradation

of spawning beds.

Part of the solution is not to argue for years but to open up

California streams as soon as possible for salmon spawning. The SARSAS Plan (see www.sarsas.org), formulated for the Auburn Ravine, is the simplest

way to save salmon and should be implemented on all streams within our state immediately. If every stream were to have a volunteer group working to do what SARSAS is doing with the Auburn Ravine, (that is, to return salmon and steelhead to its entire length and secure fish passage,

adequate water and spawning beds) then salmon could once again thrive in significant numbers. The line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come,” can be paraphrased and applied to all salmon: “If you clear

it, they will come.”

SARSAS urges the Governor’s staff, both houses of California government and Interior Secretary

Ken Salazar as well as his water Czar, David Hayes, to help. The governor and legislators can provide incentives to encourage other organizations to take ownership of particular streams and make them suitable for salmon

passage. They could help streamline the 501c3 process and perhaps add small incentives to volunteer groups once they have a strong strategic plan in place. Salmon are at considerable risk, and the governor and legislators have the

ability to connect each group to the right agencies in a quick and efficient manner to fast track volunteer groups’ efforts towardsalmon restoration.

The SARSAS Plan for the Auburn Ravine can serve as a

model for other organizations to work on other streams. It is a simple but effective plan easily adaptable by any group. Additionally, SARSAS board members are available to assist other groups in implementing the SARSAS plan.

Imagine the impact of a thousand salmon in the Auburn Ravine and then multiply that by several hundred streams or perhaps all 738 streams that enter the San Joaquin,

Sacramento and American River watersheds. Salmon and steelhead numbers certainly can and will thrive in this environment. If only three percent of the smolt return

to each of these streams, the result will be tremendous.

“Clear it(stream) and they will come.”In a short period of time withmany individuals and groups on

board, SARSAS will reach its goals,missions and ultimately, the restoration of salmon and steelhead at a very low cost. Even if theSARSAS Plan is partially successful, salmon and steelhead will have one more river to spawn within,

and new life will abound.

An alternate plan of trucking salmon above and around dams is feasible, and SARSAS wholeheartedly supports it, but it is very expensive. Our plan costs thousands of dollars, the alternative, billions of dollars. Both can help the salmon, but at what cost in time and real dollars?

Want to help? Contact the governor, legislators, federal

officials and local entities and ask them to grasp and support the SARSAS Plan. Then, contact Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Water Czar David Hayes and ask them to work with SARSAS. Let them know that the

SARSAS Plan will provide successful outcomes for salmon

and steelhead and, if adopted for a significant number of

streams in central and northern California, the plan can assist in the restoration of the Pacific commercial fishery

Since many tributaries to the Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers are blocked by minor diversion dams, salmon

cannot currently spawn in numbers large enough to prevent

a decrease in their number. Using the SARSAS Plan as a

model for saving salmon in the Auburn Ravine may be enough to begin the restoration of the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery and put thousands of unemployed fisherman

back into their boats, free sport fisherman to follow their

passion and help Californians feel good about themselves because they did something to help themselves, their children, and the fishes. Volunteers, concentrating and

uniting their efforts, can workquickly enough to revive our

salmon population toward healthand well-being. SARSAS needs your help, political will and public support to finish its work on the Auburn Ravine and to provide assistance to others who may wish to develop their streams.

In the final analysis, “All things merge into one and a river runs through it. We are all haunted by

water” (and the salmon in it). The SARSAS Plan allows people to do something about the destiny of salmon, and thereby do something about their own destinies. Again,when salmon can’t make it in our

world, neither can people.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SARSAS Plan for Saving Salmon

in California and in the Pacific Marine Fishery

Effective: July 11, 2009

by

Jack L. Sanchez,

Volunteer Coordinator/President/Founder

501C3 EIN 80-0291680

Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS)

www.sarsas.org

P. O. Box 4269

Auburn, CA 95604

530 888 0281

Yes, the people of California, volunteering together, can save the salmon. The people must spearhead the saving of the salmon because time is critical. The salmon has little time left on the planet without the help of the people.

Salmon expert Peter B Moyle, Professor of Fish Biology, University of California Davis, in

“Multiple Causes of Central Valley Chinook Salmon Decline,” Mar 31, 2008, wrote,

Ever since Euro-Americans arrived in the Central Valley, Chinook salmon populations have been in decline. Historic populations probably averaged 1.5-2.0 million (or more) adult fish per year. The high populations resulted from four distinct runs of Chinook salmon (fall, late-fall, winter, and spring runs) taking advantage of the diverse and productive freshwater habitats created by the cold rivers flowing from the Sierra Nevada. When the juveniles moved seaward, they found abundant food and good growing conditions in the wide valley floodplains and complex San Francisco Estuary, including the Delta. The sleek salmon smolt then reached the ocean, where the southward flowing, cold, California Current and coastal upwelling together created one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world, full of the small shrimp and fish that salmon require to grow rapidly to large size. In the past, salmon populations no doubt varied as droughts reduced stream habitats and as the ocean varied in its productivity, but it is highly unlikely the numbers ever even approached the low numbers we are seeing now.

This Golden Age of Salmon is long past but the people can insure at least their continued existence. California salmon were thought to be extinct as early as1865 because of the sediment that choked off the streams from hydraulic mining and strip logging. Salmon are miraculously resilient and they survived. The salmon of California are now once again nearing extinction for many reasons: global warming, pollution, upwelling of ocean currents, lack of fish passage and spawning areas. The main fix we can do quickly is not to argue about the root cause but to quickly open California streams as soon as possible for salmon spawning. Whatever the reasons, a clear, simple plan is necessary to save them. The SARSAS Plan, formulated for the Auburn Ravine, is the simplest way to save salmon from certain extinction and should be implemented on all streams in California immediately. What is the SARSAS Plan?

If every stream in California has a volunteer group working to do what SARSAS is doing with the Auburn Ravine, that is, to return salmon and steelhead to its entire length and secure fish passage, adequate water and spawning grounds, then salmon will not go extinct. The line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you built it, they will come” can be paraphrased to be applied to anadromous fish:: “If you clear it, they will come”; that is, SARSAS with the cooperation of Governor Schwarzenegger or a federal Salmon Czar (see Sacbee editorial, “We Might need Salmon Czar, Too,” July 8 09) can encourage other groups to do with other streams, what SARSAS (www.sarsas.org) is doing with the Auburn Ravine. By providing fish passage on all the tributaries to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, salmon will have many spawning grounds currently denied them.

Will the Governor help? SARSAS is urging his staff and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his Water Czar David Hayes to help. President Obama must appoint a Salmon Czar to keep the salmon from going extinct. Only the Governor with his sweeping influence over California agencies and the Obama Administration can coordinate this program and create an incentive program to encourage other organizations to take ownership of particular streams and retrofit them completely for salmon passage so that citizens become the instruments of the salmon salvation. Salmon are moving closer to extinct while we do nothing. Acting now is imperative. Only the Governor can fast track the California 501C3 process, necessary for fundraising, and connect each group to the right agencies quickly and efficiently.

An All-Volunteer Oversight Group (A-VOG) for each stream needs to have a lead person who can be connected directly to all California environmental agencies but especially with DFG, CVWQCB, DWR, and EPA. Each group must have an active Special Agent from NOAA, a federal agency, to provide access to problem areas on each stream over which only the federal government has jurisdiction. The Governor and citizens of California working together with NOAA will save the salmon. Most of the work of saving the salmon will be performed by volunteers, but they must have the coordination from the Governor to network with California government agencies to provide advice and services.

Let’s look at the SARSAS Plan for the Auburn Ravine that can serve as a model for other organizations to work on other streams. To start with, the Auburn Ravine has thirteen diversion dams on its length. S