Working Partnerships = Success

Partnerships are the key to success. Since the inception of the Family Water Alliance (FWA) Fish Screen Program, FWA has worked hard to develop working partnerships that share the same goals. Specifically, the ultimate purpose of the program is the screening of diversions which will ultimately and cumulatively assist in the increase of certain Chinook salmon and steelhead stocks, as well as Delta smelt. Currently, the winter-run Chinook is listed as endangered; the spring-run Chinook, steelhead, Sacramento splittail, and Delta smelt are listed as threatened under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.

Again this year, FWA is teaming up with project principals who are specialists in their field. The CVPIA Anadromous Fish Screen Program Technical Team, with representatives from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, California Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Department of Water Resources, will provide project oversight, and engineering reviews. Their oversight will assure the project offers the best possible protection for the fishery resources. Other key partners in the program include Natural Resource Scientists, Intake Screens, Inc. and MBK Engineers.

In early June, Ashley Indrieri and Debbi Lemburg of FWA, Darryl Hayes of Intake Screens, Inc. and Doug Maxfield of Big Valley Divers, Inc., toured the Sacramento River. The boat tour provides a different perspective of the river, where throughout the years we have only been able to view sites from the river levees. . The purpose of the tour is not only to identify river diversions, but to also view previous screen projects from the river side. The tour also gave us an up close waterside view.

We are currently looking for landowners who utilize river diversions for possible inclusion into Year 2 of the fish screen program. If you operate a Sacramento or Delta diversion and would like to apply for the program, please contact Family Water Alliance at (530) 438-2026, or fwa@frontiernet.net.