Dr William Lewis Jr excerpts on Klamath Suckers 020304

Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.

Excerpts:
2/3/04: National Research Council Chairman Dr William Lewis Jr., University of Colorado, spoke regarding the NRC conclusions on suckers....Lewis explained that the suckers were listed since 1988 because of over harvest. They stopped fishing in '87 but they did not recover. The lake has gone from 3' range under natural conditions to experiencing 6' deep in current dry years.

With charts and graphs he showed the habitat and water quality, algae and chlorophyll. He said that the committee looked extensively at water levels, and they find 'no hint of a relationship'. He also said that there was no relationship between lower water levels and extreme ph levels. And "the committee cannot support the idea that water levels effect algae growth.' "It can not be achieved by lake levels." '92 was the lowest water year, and they expected it to be the least favorable for fish. 'The lowest water year produced the same amount of larvae as other years."...

He said that fish kill information does not support that fish are dying by changing water level...

He cautioned how much faith we should put into wetlands regarding the suppression of algae...

He added that we should not count on retiring agricultural land land for saving suckers...

Lewis responded that the water is always ph loaded, "the increase doesn't matter if it's always been saturated."...

When asked if it would work to control the significant part of the ph load, Lewis responded that the lake is 140 square miles...that is not feasible to change....

Tribal biologist Larry Dunsmuir felt like lake level management was necessary for emergent vegetation, and Lewis responded that Clear Lake has no emergent vegetation yet production of larvae is not shut off in Clear Lake.

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