We has a nice rain storm last week. The Hawaiian express dumped tons of water on Northern california. The corporate media calls it an atmospheric river these days for dramatic effect. And while most lakes in the area of the rainfall rose as much as 20 feet, one lake didn’t. Shasta only rose a couple of feet because they released the water into the Sacramento river for the Salmon. It’s not like we are short of Salmon in Cal, but we are very short of water.

"The level of rain over the weekend has had an effect on the water levels at Whiskeytown, Shasta, and Oroville lakes. At Oroville Lake, the water level rose 20-ft. in three days.

But in the last 24 hours, Shasta Lake only rose 1.63-ft., according to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). Shasta Lake, unlike Whiskeytown Lake, has water diverted from it and sent to the Sacramento River in order to create ideal temperatures for salmon to swim."

Gosh how did the salmon survive drought before man showed up?

Pretty soon the salmon will demand it and be incapable of spawning without human government help. “Salmon Lives Matter” will soon spawn protests and a “fish caucus” will be the next big thing in Congress. And don’t even mentioned “blackened salmon” there. No no no. That’s sure to cause a row.

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I don’t really understand either, because the salmon are going to ascend anyway because they have their breeding grounds upstream and it is breeding season for them (which takes place from Sept.-Dec. for most species).

I mean, we already have that for the sea turtles. Sad part is, sea turtle eggs are more protected than human offspring at the same developmental stage.

You got a point there. I was even at a beach in Southern Turkey where the laws are strict regarding that. There are several in the area. This was one… and the one I spent most time on.

God I love Turkey. (Personal note. When I arrived at Patera Beach, it was empty. I ran down to the Mediterranean and shouted “I’m here. I’m here!” to all the Greek souls, some ancient ancestors, who might have sailed those waters centuries ago…before the Turks took the coasts. The Apostle Paul also stopped at Patera.)

But … to stay on target… this kind of protection doesn’t take away from man … unlike taking water away from people.

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But if they share that water with the people, how will Nestlé turn a profit?

We put a dam in the way of their spawning. They used to travel further north to spawn.

The last drought killed around 90% of Salmon spawn. This drought Fish and Wildlife are expecting closer to 100% of spawn to die.

The water temperatures are just too warm.

Since the whole area was receiving heavy rain, one would think that run off below the damn would have raised the level of the river during and for a couple of days after the rain. Run off above the damn should have been captured for use later.

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Not enough. And it’s not about the level of the river, but the temperature of the water.

Cold water needs to be diverted to the river. Salmon are a cold water fish, and when the water gets too warm, they die by the thousands.

Still, some of them wouldn’t even be in the river- they would also be in the lake, given their breeding grounds are upstream, and do include lakes and estuaries.

Well, unfortunately there’s a large impediment in the way, preventing salmon from going upstream into the lake.

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I see.

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We built dams in the way. They haven’t been able to make it further upstream since before the 40s.

We nearly killed them all. Which is why we started taking measures, and moving cold water from Shasta Lake further down.

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My next question would be why water falling from the sky would have a different temperature below the damn than above the damn. Storms drop the temperature and the run off would have been colder, so I don’t see it shocking and killing the fish. And if it did it would have raised the temperature of the water coming from the lake also.

No this is a good thing. We want colder temperatures. The Salmon need cold temperatures to survive. In order to cool off the river, we have been using Shasta Lake, which we have been using as a cold water reservoir. We take water from deep down in the lake, where it’s colder, too the warmer river, cooling the river down.

The drought has been bad though. This is what many parts of the lake have looked like this past summer:

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These past heavy rains haven’t helped much.

It’s not just about the rain fall. It’s also about snow melt and runoff. Plus, smaller bodies of water warm at a faster rate.

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You’re kidding right??