Number: 1988-09
WHEREAS, the Central Valley of California provides some 60% of the Pacific Flyway’s waterfowl wintering habitat; and
WHEREAS, this habitat is provided by less than 300,000 acres of wetlands which remain today–down from over four million acres of wetlands that historically existed in the Central Valley; and
WHEREAS, the majority of this acreage is served by water supplies that are deficient in quantity, quality, dependability and/or timeliness; and
WHEREAS, some species dependent on the California wetlands, including the severely depressed cackling Canada goose and Pacific white-fronted goose populations, have suffered aggravated population losses from disease, lead poisoning and habitat destruction and degradation; and
WHEREAS, San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, which have been nominated as a National Estuary, maintain a salt water to fresh water gradient that is important to the annual migration of significant commercial and sport fish stocks; and
WHEREAS, the stocks of many anadromous fish species, such as chinook salmon, steelhead, and striped bass, and wildlife populations have suffered severe depletion from water resources development and associated agricultural activity, such as the Anderson-Cottonwood Dam, resulting in economic losses of several hundred million dollars annually; and
WHEREAS, the California State Water Resources Control Board is presently conducting a series of hearings to revise current water quality standards for the Bay and Delta, standards that will affect water management decisions throughout the state; and
WHEREAS, the United States Bureau of Reclamation is currently attempting to sell additional water from the Central Valley Project (CVP) at prices below actual cost; and
WHEREAS, the pricing of water from Reclamation projects at artificially low rates promotes excess use of water and depletion of flows necessary to maintain water quality and support fish and wildlife populations; and
WHEREAS, 45% of the irrigated acreage served by the CVP produces crops that are chronically in surplus; and
WHEREAS, the Bureau of Reclamation regulations recently adopted to implement the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 allow continued sales of subsidized water to large farms, a policy that is contrary to Congressional intent and without a valid public purpose;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 17-20, 1988, in New Orleans, Louisiana urges the Bureau of Reclamation and the State of California to manage Federal and State water projects to protect, mitigate, and enhance the nationally important habitat of the San Francisco Bay and Delta and the rivers and wetlands of the Central Valley of California; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the California State Water Resources Control Board should establish standards of water quality for the Bay and Delta that will support historic survival rates of fish and wildlife populations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bureau of Reclamation should act in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act to implement a new rate-setting policy that will remove unwarranted water subsidies and encourage water conservation at every opportunity; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bureau of Reclamation should enforce vigorously the 1982 Reclamation Reform Act, including its water conservation planning requirements and limitations on deliveries of subsidized water and, in the absence of such enforcement, that the Congress should take such further action as may be necessary to ensure compliance with the intent of the Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Congress should enact legislation to strengthen and clarify the Bureau’s authority to mitigate damages to fish and wildlife habitat resulting from the construction and operation of the Central Valley Project, with the cost of fish and wildlife protection along with mitigation features needed for individual facilities to be borne by the water users benefiting from such facilities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of California and other states in similar circumstances should require full financial responsibility for fish and wildlife mitigation measures to be borne by water users, whether the dam or diversion facility requiring mitigation is publicly or privately built and regardless of the type or seniority of water right under which the facility is operated.