California tries to save salmon in Wine Country creeks

Jim Doerksen navigates Mark West Creek, which flows through his property, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, near Santa Rosa, Calif. Doerksen has never seen the water so low. State water regulators want vineyards in Northern California’s Wine Country to start reporting how much groundwater they are pumping up, saying excessive withdrawals to irrigate grapes are draining creeks that host an endangered population of coho salmon. The requirements would be some of the state’s first controls to go in effect for wells that draw on diminishing groundwater reserves. (Kent Porter/Santa Rosa Press Democrat via AP) Jim Doerksen navigates Mark West Creek, which flows through his property, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, near Santa Rosa, Calif. Doerksen has never seen the water so low. State water regulators want vineyards in Northern California’s Wine Country to start reporting how much groundwater they are pumping up, saying excessive withdrawals to irrigate grapes are draining creeks that host an endangered population of coho salmon. The requirements would be some of the state’s first controls to go in effect for wells that draw on diminishing groundwater reserves. (Kent Porter/Santa Rosa Press Democrat via AP)

By Associated Press June 11, 2015 3 min read

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) – California is taking desperate steps to save the last endangered salmon in Wine Country creeks that are going dry because of over-pumping and the drought, officials said Thursday.

Water has run so low in the four tributaries of the Russian River in Sonoma County that state workers have been dispatched with nets and buckets to rescue the last surviving coho salmon.

Threatened steelhead trout are also being pulled from drying stretches of the waterways.

In addition, the state Water Resources Control Board next week will consider ordering world-class wineries and thousands of other landowners along those creeks to stop all watering of lawns and to start monitoring how much water they are using.

“Fish rescue is an emergency-room action. It’s not a solution,” said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “The solution is water in the creek.”