Annual Aleutian Goose Fly-off and Family Fun Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4.

The refuge will open early at 6 am both days and refuge staff will guide visitors to observe over 30,000 Aleutian Cackling Geese leaving their night time roost at sunrise. Fun, educational, family activities include making recycled bird feeders, painting bird silhouettes and stamp making. Bring a mug for coffee or cocoa. Meet at the Richard J. Guadagno Headquarters and Visitor Center, in Loleta (Hookton Road exit, off Hwy 101). Rain or shine. Info: 733-5406.

2/28/12

PacifiCorp says its ongoing conservation efforts reflect the energy company's dedication to the Klamath dams removal project. The recent approval of its coho salmon habitation conservation plan may highlight these efforts.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service issued an incidental take permit Friday, putting into place a conservation strategy that will be in effect until the dams are removed. Coho salmon are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the permit regulates any potential harm to coho with habitat conversation measures.

Irma Lagomarsino, NOAA fisheries service supervisor for Northern California, said measures include projects that improve the complexity of the coho habitat by adding woody debris to streams to improve their survival rates in swift-moving waters.

PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely said Monday that the plan does not directly relate to the dam removal but allows the company to have a permanent plan in place. The plan was an interim measure required by the Klamath dams removal agreements, which were agreed upon by multiple parties in 2008.

”This is great news for us,” Gravely said. “It settles this issue for the interim period.”

Lagomarsino said the permit is for 10 years, but if the dams come down, the permit would be moot. The plan was developed over the last two years and has been subject to environmental review and public comment through the fisheries service, according to NOAA.

”We're really excited that PacifiCorp is providing species conservation for the coho in the Klamath,” Lagomarsino said Monday. “A lot of hard work went into working with them, and we applaud them for stepping up and doing this.”

Under the terms of the permit, PacifiCorp will work with the fisheries service, the California Department of Fish and Game and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to identify, select, and implement conservation projects. PacifiCorp will contribute $510,000 annually to fund projects to enhance coho conservation in the Klamath River below Iron Gate dam -- the lowest dam on the river.

According to NOAA, the company has already contributed $2.5 million in funding to benefit the coho since 2009.

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2/28/12

The parties to the Klamath dams removal agreements are optimistic that plans are still on track despite the lack of action in Congress on essential legislation.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Monday that he will not make a decision on the removal by March 31, as originally planned.

Craig Tucker -- a spokesman for the Karuk Tribe, one of the parties to the agreement -- said this will not deter the parties or delay the dam removal, which is scheduled for 2020.

Congress has not enacted the legislation necessary to authorize a secretarial determination under the terms of Klamath dam agreements. Salazar was expected to decide whether the removal of four dams -- owned by energy company PacifiCorp -- on the Klamath River would be in the public's interest and advance the restoration of salmon and steelhead fisheries in the Klamath Basin.

”The Department of the Interior, working with our partners at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the U.S. Forest Service, has upheld our commitments in these agreements that are so important to strengthening the health and prosperity of those that depend on the Klamath River for their way of life,” Salazar said in a press release. “I am proud of the work of our team of experts who have completed more than 50 new studies and reports that are providing significant new information on the potential effects of Klamath River dam removal as part of a transparent, science-based process.”

The U.S. Department of the Interior has been completing peer-reviewed scientific and technical studies and an environmental analysis during the past year to inform Salazar for the determination -- a condition of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, or KHSA, and the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, or KBRA. The legislation, the Klamath Basin Economic Restoration Act, was introduced in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

In addition to the determination, the agreement requires California and Oregon to identify a funding source, and the secretary's office must conduct additional studies on the costs, benefits and liabilities associated with dam removal. The final version of the study is expected to be released this spring.

According to a release, the parties to the agreements met on Friday with Salazar's staff and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor in San Francisco to discuss the next steps.

Tucker said the parties agreed that the delay wouldn't violate the agreement.

”We urge Congress to hold hearings as soon as possible so we can educate people and get all the facts on the table and keep moving this forward,” he said.

Tucker added that the need for the agreements is underscored by the looming drought this year.

”If we had implemented these agreements, we would have had a game plan for this year,” he said.

Patrick Higgins -- a fisheries consultant for the Resighini Rancheria, a tribe located in Del Norte County that is not a party to the agreements -- said the delay does not surprise him. A vocal opponent of the agreements, Higgins said he doesn't see the current Congress passing the key legislation, considering the political pressure from some irrigators to stop the act.

”The possibility of passing this in future congresses is equally bleak,” he said.

Higgins said that without the legislation, the KHSA is in trouble, and it would be best to allow the PacifiCorp relicensing process to move forward through the California State Water Resources Control Board. The board delayed a clean water certification process in light of the agreements.

Tucker said the delay does not change the KHSA's terms.

”We tried to build an agreement with some flexibility with some hurdles just like this,” he said.

Under the terms of the KHSA, the secretary agreed to use “best efforts” to make a decision by March 31.

PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely said the company is hopeful that the water board will continue to delay the clean water certification process. The company is expected to go before the board this spring for its yearly review.

”We're disappointed that Congress hasn't acted, but March 31 has also been a target date rather than a fixed deadline,” Gravely said. “So from our point of view, nothing really changes for this. We're still committed to the settlement.”

The company has continued to collect a dam removal surcharge from its customers in Oregon and California to help pay for the project. Nearly $30 million has been collected so far, Gravely said. While the bulk of its customers are in Oregon, PacifiCorp began charging its California customers in January. Most of PacifiCorp's California customers are in Siskiyou County, but it also serves Crescent City and other areas closer to the coast, he said.

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2/28/12

Tsunamis generated by the magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan last March dragged 3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean after tearing up Japanese harbours and homes.

Scientists believe ocean currents are carrying some of the lumber, refrigerators, fishing boats and other objects across the Pacific toward the United States.

One to 5 per cent of the 1 million to 2 million tons of debris still in the ocean may reach Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington and British Columbia, said University of Hawaii senior researcher and ocean current expert Nikolai Maximenko.

That's only a portion of the 20 million to 25 million tons of debris the tsunamis generated altogether, including what was left on land.

Maximenko plans to discuss Tuesday at a news conference his latest estimates for where the debris is and when it may wash ashore. Last year, his team estimated debris could arrive in Hawaii in early 2013.

Some debris appears to have already arrived in the U.S., like a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms found in Alaska late last year.

Nicholas Mallos, conservation biologist and marine debris specialist for the Ocean Conservancy, said many of the objects are expected to be from Japan's fishing industry. The conservancy is hosting the news conference.

Fishing gear could harm wildlife, such as endangered Hawaiian monk seals, if it washes up on coral reefs or beaches.

"The major question is how much of that material has sank since last year, and how much of that remains afloat or still in the water column," Mallos said.

It's unclear whether items like refrigerators will make it across because there's little precedent for such things in the ocean.

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