Opinion ID: 2763492
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Threatened and Endangered Species in the Delta

Text: Although the Projects provide substantial benefits to people and to state agriculture, they arguably harm species native to the Delta by modifying those species’ natural habitats. Five such species are at issue in this case: (1) the endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon (“winter-run Chinook”); (2) the threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon (“spring-run Chinook”); (3) the threatened Central Valley steelhead (“CV steelhead”); (4) the threatened Southern Distinct Population Segment of North American green sturgeon (“green sturgeon”); and the endangered Southern Resident orca whale (“Southern Resident orca”). See 2009 Salmonid BiOp at 30. SAN LUIS V. LOCKE 29 The four Salmonid species (the first four listed) are anadromous fish, and Southern Resident orca are marine mammals. Anadromous fish live most of their lives in salt water.6 Nevertheless, they are born, mature, lay eggs, and often die in inland freshwater lakes and rivers. After they grow from fry (baby fish) to smolts (juvenile fish) in fresh water, anadromous salmon outmigrate through rivers and deltas into the oceans and seas where they will spend most of their adult lives. When it is time to reproduce, these salmon migrate back through the deltas to the rivers and lakes in which they were born to lay eggs. During this migration, salmon must pass impediments in inland rivers such as locks, dams, channels, and pumps. The San Francisco Bay-Delta is an essential conduit for anadromous fish that return to California’s inland rivers and lakes to reproduce. Nevertheless, human interactions with the Delta and California’s inland rivers over the past century have significantly altered them, threatening their ability to serve as salmonid habitats. SWP and CVP operations increase pollution, encourage the growth of non-native species, and create water shortages in the Delta that harm salmon by exposing them to unnatural stressors. See 2009 Salmonid BiOp at 374–82. Migrating salmon can also be caught in, and killed by, the large water pumps that serve the Projects. Finally, CVP/SWP operations that limit cold water releases from dams upstream of traditional spawning sites potentially impact critical spawning habitat by making the rivers less conducive to reproduction. 6 See, e.g., Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ pr/species/fish/chinooksalmon.htm (last updated May 15, 2014). 30 SAN LUIS V. LOCKE