Office of the Secretary

Embargoed for Release: October 6, 2000, 10 a.m. PST

Contact: Joan Moody 202/208-6416
Jeffrey S. McCracken 916/978-5100

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR BABBITT
HOSTS CALIFORNIA DAM REMOVAL EVENTS

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, joined by California Secretary of Resources Mary Nichols, today struck the first blow to the 90-year-old Saeltzer Dam on Clear Creek near Redding, California, which is being removed as part of the CALFED agreement. Next Thursday, October 12, Secretary Babbitt will continue his dam-busting tour by sitting in the crane that begins the dismantling of the Matilija Dam in Ventura County, southern California - the largest dam to come down anywhere in the world to date.

"The Saeltzer and Matilija Dams are among those structures that are crying out to come down because not only are they no longer needed to supply water, they pose major threats to steelhead and other fish and wildlife," says Babbitt, who has previously participated in the removal of other dams. "Destruction of these dams will lead to the creation of newly restored watersheds. Restoration is a very American kind of idea because it expresses our optimism that the future can be better for both people and wildlife. Today we celebrate not only the environmental improvements that will result from removing these dams, but also the public-private partnerships that made it possible."

Removal of the Saeltzer Dam is among the restoration actions included in the CALFED Bay-Delta Program Framework for Action released on June 9, 2000. The Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA), the authority under which the project was implemented, directed Interior to install a fish ladder on Saeltzer Dam to allow for fish passage into the upper section of Clear Creek below Whiskeytown Dam. While investigating alternatives, it became apparent that removal of the dam would be a more beneficial and cost-effective means of reducing impediments to fish passage.

"This project is one more example that when it comes to CALFED, the big winners are both salmon and local communities," said Mary Nichols, California Secretary for Resources. "By investing in locally based partnerships, CALFED is able to provide additional water and spawning grounds for fish, new recreation opportunities for the public, and maintain water supplies for local communities."

The Saeltzer Dam has diverted water from the creek into the 7-mile-long Townsend Flat Ditch for 93 years. It is being removed as part of the Saeltzer Dam Fish Passage and Flow Protection Project intended to improve spring-run salmon and steelhead passage in the middle reach of Clear Creek, protect instream flows, and maintain the water supply to the shareholders of the Townsend Flat Water Ditch Company.

Funding for the project was substantially provided by the Federal Government through the CVPIA and by the State of California through Proposition 204. Additional funding was donated by the Packard Foundation through The Nature Conservancy and by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California through the California Urban Water Agencies. The project is being implemented in coordination with the Clear Creek Coordinated Resource Management Planning Group. The Western Shasta Resource Conservation District and the Bureau of Land Management have made valuable field assistance contributions to the project.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a philanthropic organization created in 1964, provided a grant of $1 million to The Nature Conservancy to be used to remove the dam and implement a long-term adaptive management program to restore native fish populations to Clear Creek. The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest private conservation organization, is partnering with CALFED in implementing river restoration projects throughout the Central Valley.

"These small tributaries are key to a healthy Sacramento River and a healthy Central Valley, so we're grateful that the CALFED process is focusing energies on them," said Jeanne Sedgwick, Conservation Programs Director at the Packard Foundation. "And this agreement shows how effectively and quickly we can move when government agencies and philanthropic interests work together."

"The Saeltzer Dam project translates promise into progress," said Leslie Friedman Johnson, Director of The Nature Conservancy's Water Program, "now is the time to move from plans to projects and CALFED is demonstrating that it can deliver."

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U.S. Department of the Interior