Plan would help threatened fish blocked by dam since 1905

Scott Sonner

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000 | 9:12 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A federal agency established a century ago to siphon off river water to irrigate arid Western lands with little or no regard for fish and wildlife is making a move to change all that in Nevada.

Bureau of Reclamation officials outlined plans Wednesday night to build a fish passage system that would allow threatened fish in Pyramid Lake to migrate up the Truckee River toward Lake Tahoe for the first time since the Derby Dam was built 20 miles east of Reno in 1905.

"This is the Bureau of Reclamation's attempt to correct a problem that has been in place for about a century," said Steve Alcorn, the bureau's deputy area manager in Nevada.

The bureau is considering fish ladders or a bypass channel to get the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and the cui-ui past the 30-foot-high concrete structure that diverts water into the high desert around Fallon, Nev.

A formal environmental assessment is scheduled to be completed and issued for public comment in mid-April, with construction of the $2 million to $2.5 million project expected to begin as soon as early 2001.

Cutthroats as large as 30 pounds once made the 100-mile trek from Pyramid Lake - a remnant of the ancient inland sea Lake Lahontan that once covered the Great Basin - up the 2,000-foot climb in altitude to spawn in the alpine waters of Lake Tahoe.

"The angling and conservation community has been calling for this for decades," said Dave Bobzien, president of Trout Unlimited's Reno-based Sagebrush Chapter.

Area farmers and ranchers have said they are concerned the new attention to fish could end up restricting their access to the precious water.

Alcorn said that was not the intention.

"We're not seeking to change the operation of Derby Dam in any way, shape or form," he said Wednesday evening.

The Derby Dam, part of the Newlands Irrigation Project, is nearly as old as the Bureau of Reclamation itself - known as the U.S. Reclamation Service when it was established in 1902.

In dry years, water is diverted from the Truckee River to the Lahontan Reservoir in the Carson River basin.

Some of the 15 people expressing opinions at a public hearing in Reno on Wednesday night said the whole dam should be removed.

Even if it were removed, other dams and diversions would remain in place upstream, continuing to prevent fish from making it to Lake Tahoe.

Matt Holford, executive director of Nevada Trout Unlimited based in Elko, said the fish passage system was an important first step to restoring the native fishery.

"This is the oldest diversion in the West - the birthplace of the Bureau of Reclamation," Holford said. "It's the mother of all dams in the Western United States and they are talking about trying to get fish around it. (Building fish ladders or a bypass channel) is something we can do now. Discussing taking the dam out will take years and years."