SACRAMENTO, California, August 18, 2008 (ENS) – Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Davis, are exploring a new style of farming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that produces not crops but soils that store carbon dioxide.

The research team has won a three-year, $12.3 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources to test the concept on 400 acres in the Delta beginning next spring.

Called carbon farming, the project involves building wetlands, which is what nature originally grew in the Delta. Following the Gold Rush, developers “reclaimed” the land for agriculture by constructing levees to drain swamplands and contain the rivers that form the estuary.

Over the past 150 years, conventional farming practices have exposed fragile peat soils to wind, rain and oxygen, liberating carbon from the soil and causing subsidence, or sinking, of Delta lands. According to the USGS, most of the islands farmed in the Delta are more than 20 feet below the surface of the water. They are kept dry and intact only because of the levees.

Farmers’ fields adjoin the channels of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
(Photo by Phillip Capper)

The carbon farming project aims to rebuild the rich peat soils by re-establishing wetlands. A pilot project by the USGS and state Department of Water Resources has already shown that it can work.

On an island called Twitchell in the western Delta, researchers planted two seven acre test plots with cattails, tule grass and other wetlands vegetation. As the plants grew, died and decomposed, they left roots and other parts that gradually compacted into a material similar to the original peat. From 1997 to 2005, the USGS measured 10 inches of new soil.

The pilot also showed that the process could sequester up to 25 metric tons of carbon dioxide per acre per year and eliminate the CO2 emissions produced by current farming practices, which cause peat to oxidize, virtually evaporating and blowing away, the USGS reported in a briefing paper.

If California converted into carbon farms an area the size of all subsided lands in the Delta, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided each year would be equivalent to trading all SUVs in the state for small hybrids, the agency estimated.

The state is under a self-imposed deadline to scale back its greenhouse gas output by 2020 to the level emitted in 1990.

As more governments tackle greenhouse gases, the concept of carbon farming is catching on. Usually, the term refers to paying farmers to plant trees and other vegetation that stores carbon for longer periods than crops; or to less frequently till the land, a practice that delivers carbon in the soil into the atmosphere.

The Delta brand of carbon farming specifically involves rebuilding wetlands. The project is not without potential risks. As the USGS briefing paper notes, “Large scale efforts to manage the environment have a decidedly mixed record of success.”

One possibility is that the wetlands will emit methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases more potent than carbon dioxide, potentially canceling the benefit of sequestering the carbon. The USGS said measurements of methane varied widely in the pilot. The scientists did not attempt to measure nitrous oxide.

Another possible drawback is that certain conditions under which carbon is captured may produce methylmercury, a neurotoxin that accumulates in the food chain, concentrating in fish.

Methylmercury is highly toxic to mammals, including people, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Eating fish high in methylmercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus. Effects on brain functioning may result in irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, and memory problems. If the benefits of wetlands restoration outweigh problems, the project could accomplish three big goals: it would sequester carbon, reverse subsidence and provide a means of making a living from land in a sustainable manner, said Roger Fujii, Bay-Delta program chief for the USGS California Water Science Center.

In a statement, Fujii said, “This project is an investment in California’s future that could reap multiple benefits over several decades – for California, the nation and the world.”

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PORTLAND, Oregon, January 29, 2008 (ENS) – California Central Valley fall Chinook salmon stocks appear to be undergoing a “significant decline,” said Pacific Fishery Management Council Director Donald McIsaac today.

Dr. McIsaac warned that if the low abundance is confirmed, all marine and freshwater fisheries that target these salmon stocks could be affected.

“The low returns are particularly distressing since this stock has consistently been the healthy work horse for salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon,” he said.

The Pacific Council is a federal advisory panel responsible for managing fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Chinook salmon in a freshwater
stream (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Chinook salmon are also called king, spring, or tyee salmon, and are the largest of the Pacific salmon. Chinook salmon are highly prized by commercial, sport, and subsistence fishers. Like all Pacific salmon, chinook are anadromous, which means they hatch in freshwater streams and rivers, migrate to the ocean for feeding and growth, and return to their natal waters to spawn.

California Central Valley fall run Chinook salmon spawn in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins and their tributaries.

California Central Valley fall Chinook salmon are not on the federal endangered species list, but they were classified as a Species of Concern on April 15, 2004.

Last week, the Council’s Salmon Technical Team met to tabulate salmon returns and catches. Two areas of bad news emerged.

First, in 2007 the adult spawning escapement for Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon failed to meet the escapement goal of 122,000 to 180,000 adults for the first time in 15 years.

Sacramento River fall Chinook is the largest component of Central Valley Chinook.

The escapement goal, or conservation objective, is the optimal number of adult fish returning to spawn in order to maximize the production of the stock.

Second, the count of “jacks” in the Central Valley fall Chinook return this past fall was at a record low. Only 2,000 jacks returned, compared to a long-term average of about 40,000 and the previous record low of 10,000.

Jacks are immature fish that return to the rivers at age two, unlike adult fish, which return at age three or four. Their numbers are used to forecast future returns. This suggests that 2008 abundance will probably also be weak.

Last week, scientists questioned whether returns in 2008 could meet the conservation objective even without any commercial or recreational salmon fishing.

If returns do not meet the conservation objective, an emergency rule from National Marine Fisheries Service may be required to allow any fisheries at all, Dr. McIsaac said.

The reason for the decline is unclear, he said. Both hatchery and naturally produced fish have been negatively affected, and returns of coastal stocks in Oregon, in the Columbia River, and in British Columbia were all low in 2007.

“The decline seems to be a coastwide phenomenon, probably related to ocean conditions,” he said.

The implications of a precipitous decline could be substantial for both commercial and recreational fisheries coastwide. In 2006, a similar decline in Klamath stocks led to major cutbacks in salmon fishing opportunities.

Sacramento River salmon have a greater range than Klamath River stocks, and are caught in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. They are considered the “driver” of commercial fisheries in Oregon and California, explained Dr. McIsaac.

The Council will consider these numbers and set harvest levels this spring. In three to four weeks, the Council will release estimates of salmon abundance for 2008.

Then, at its March 8-14 meeting in Sacramento, California, the Council will develop a range of management options. Salmon management discussions begin on Tuesday, March 11, when the Council will review 2007 salmon fisheries, discuss stock abundance estimates, and tentatively adopt salmon management measures for analysis by Council technical teams and scientists.

Friday, the Council is scheduled to adopt management options for public review. These options will probably range from status quo harvest levels to significant closures.

Public hearings to receive input on the options are scheduled for March 31 in Westport, Washington and Coos Bay, Oregon, and for April 1 in Eureka, California. The Council will consult with scientists, hear public comment, and revise preliminary decisions until it chooses a final option at its meeting during the week of April 7 in Seattle.

All Council meetings are open to the public. Based on previous experience with Klamath fisheries, the Council expects there to be a large public turnout at both the March and April meetings and the public hearings.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 for the purpose of managing fisheries three to 200 miles offshore of the U.S. coastline.

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