Upper Reaches of Shasta River Dewatered!!
By Pauli Robinson

On August 14th, 2003 the upper reaches of the Shasta River were dewatered at the North Old Stage Road crossing where the diversion ditch belonging to the Edson Foulke Yreka Company is located.

Nine days later, on August 23rd it was restored after having left a brutal impact on the river and its aquatic life. Though this was a step in the right direction and we applauded it, it wasn't long lived.

As of Labor Day the river once again was dewatered. Angry calls to the Department of Fish and game Cal Tip hot line after the first dewatering in early August initiated an investigation on the part of the Department prompting the brief re-watering. The investigation continues. Unfortunately, the current dewatering has been and continues to be the norm. This has been occurring for at least the past two decades.

The dewatering issue is part of a court case now pending between the Robinson family vs. Fish and Game and the Edson Foulke Yreka Ditch Company which started two years ago when the Robinsons bought a piece of property bordering the Shasta River near Weed, California.

In June of the following year, the ditch company using a backhoe diverted the whole river. Its waters, which originate from nearby Mount Eddy and other high sources, were now all flowing down the Edson Foulke Diversion Ditch (also known as the China Ditch) and no longer down the Shasta River. There was a massive fish kill and fish were left to die in what soon became isolated pools, defenseless against predators, rising temperatures, and loss of oxygen. The damage extended from the North Old Stage Bridge on downstream for a least a mile at which point minimal seepage from the introduction of minor tributaries added only a pittance to the river as far downstream as Dwinnel Dam. Citizens complained. Citations were made by the Department of Fish and Game to the Edson Foulke Yreka Ditch Company, and repeatedly no action was taken.

It was brought to the Robinson's attention that Fish and Game Codes 5901 and 5937 were being violated. Fish and Game code 5937 states that it is mandatory to allow enough water to remain in a stream to keep the fish in good condition. In this case a major ecosystem is devastated every summer and fall from the dewatering of the Shasta River. Fish and Game Code 5901 states it is unlawful to not allow for fish passage. This dam is a complete barrier to fish passage of any kind. It was rebuilt twenty years ago, a monolithic concrete impediment eight feet tall and one hundred ten feet long. The design was no more than a scribble on a piece of paper, which at that time was acceptable to Fish and Game.

The Robinsons decided to take action by not allowing the ditch users access to their property until the users would agree to rectify the situation. In response the ditch users sued them for loss of access based on a prescriptive easement. The Robinsons counter sued on the basis of these Fish and Game Code Violations. Three times their attorney called upon the Fish and Game to revoke the permit allowing the ditch users to do maintenance work because of these violations. Fish and Game refused. At this point the Robinsons brought the suit against the Fish and Game as well.

Today only fifteen miles of The China Ditch remain of the ninety five original miles, carrying water for irrigation purposes. Five water users in the Shasta Valley receive their allocation of twenty-nine cubic feet per second based on a 1934 adjudication. This is approximately thirteen thousand gallons a minute, all coming out of the Shasta River. When summer arrives along with higher temperatures and lower flows, the ditch users are allowed by the Department of Water Resources to fully open up their head gate. Because the 150-year-old China Ditch loses considerable amounts of water due to disrepair, the users take more water to make up for this. "More water" becomes the full flow of the Shasta River, sometimes in early June, some-times a bit later depending on the yearly rainfall.

Unfortunately, in Siskiyou County politics and policies tend to heavily favor agriculture over the public trust resources. Yet now with an antiquated ditch system in need of repairs, the farmers' needs for water and the river's water needs, the question remains: Will the Department of Fish and Game rise to the occasion, enforce their own laws to protect the public trust, and ensure that a proper solution be implemented that addresses all these needs, or will this go to trial sometime later this year, costing us all more money, more politics, and just more of the same old story?