It's fish vs. grapes in battle over water

<p>SACRAMENTO — Using water in sprinklers is the most effective way to protect the multimillion dollar grape crops in Sonoma and Mendocino counties from frost. But growers turning on their pumps can also cause a rapid drop in the Russian River that can strand and kill endangered and threatened salmon, state water regulators were told Tuesday.</p><p>The state Water Resources Control Board held a workshop to discuss the use of water for frost protection, acting on a request from National Marine Fisheries Services following the frequent and deadly frosts that occurred a year ago.</p><p>The fisheries service is asking the water board to enact an immediate ban on all diversions from the Russian River for frost protection.</p><p>“Coho population has collapsed and they are practically extinct,” said David Hines, of the national service. “Chinook and steelhead are doing better, but they are low and at risk for extinction.</p><p>Growers and North Bay water officials, however, said that frost protection was necessary. </p><p>“You have to frost protect or you lose your crop, or a substantial part of it,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Grape Commission.</p><p>They asked instead for the chance to work together to better forecast when frost is expected to help with releases from Lake Mendocino, while looking ahead to putting more gauges in the river to better monitor levels. Also, to put telemetry on growers pumps to tell when and how much is pumped and eventually build off-stream reservoirs.</p><p>“We don’t need a prohibition, we don’t need a water master, we need better tools, we need more information,” said Sean White, general manager of the Mendocino County Flood Control and Irrigation District.</p><p>There were two kills of fish on the Russian River caused by rapid drops in river level last April because of water being pumped out for frost protection, spurring the need to come up with different ways to handle frost protection, said Derek Roy, a special agent for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.</p><p>“I don’t know the total number, but due to the life cycle of fish, we know that the numbers were large and significant,” Roy said.</p><p>He acknowledged that frost protection is an integral part of grape growing, but “it’s our job to protect the fish,” Roy said.</p><p>One of the kills was on the Russian River in Mendocino and involved coho salmon, which are listed as endangered. The second was in Sonoma County and involved Chinook, which are listed as threatened.</p><p>Whatever action the water board takes would affect the Russian River watershed, which covers 40,000 acres of grapes in the Alexander, Dry Creek, Knights and Russian River valleys, which is two-thirds of Sonoma County’s grape-growing area.</p><p>In Mendocino County, if would affect an industry that has a $70 million crop, employs 1,000 people and generates $220 million for the economy, said Glenn McGourty of the UC Cooperative Extension.</p><p>McGourty said the April 20, 2008 frost that caused so much damage saw temperatures drop to 23 degrees, for which there is no protection that would have been effective in preventing damage.</p><p>He also said that in Mendocino County, there are now grape crops planted in areas that are susceptible to frost, areas which would not have been planted 50 years ago.</p><p>Using sprinklers for frost protection can take 400 acre-feet of water, but that one was so severe it took 800 acre-feet.</p><p>McGourty also said that forecasting is so accurate now they can predict a frost two to three days ahead of time, allowing time for the Sonoma County Water Agency to release extra water from Lake Mendocino.</p><p> “We knew a freeze was coming in. We didn’t know how bad it would  be,” McGourty said.</p><p>McGourty also said it is apparent that Lake Mendocino is critically low and water is a scarce commodity.</p><p>“We would have a really tough time if we can’t frost protect, the game would be over before it begins,” McGourty said. “We’d rather struggle later in the year with irrigation.”</p>