07-17-2018, 02:46 PM
Doing a little reading on the subject of rotenone/Strawberry/Scofield last night… quite interesting stuff. In addition to the cost (which is substantial), cleanup, permitting, etc. one of the things wildlife agencies must show in order to secure funding and permits is that actions will be taken to ensure that the current conditions being eradicated will not simply regenerate themselves.
In the case of Strawberry this meant that beyond the treatment, massive efforts were undertaken to improve tributary streams to make them more attractive for trout and salmon versus suckers and chubs. Reckless use of herbicides, stream diversions, cattle grazing, development, etc. degraded stream banks and they silted in quickly… basically creating sucker factories our of otherwise would-be trout farms.
Sounds like Scofield has similar issues, but additional complications due to much more private land (and landowners) to deal with and resulting poor water quality (compared to Strawberry). If the water quality issue cannot be turned around the DWR will likely never receive proper permitting to poison the lake as the results will simply revert back to the same in relatively short order.
I can’t help but wonder if the introduction of tiger muskies and wipers (and discussions of walleye) is an attempt to establish predatory fish that are not only more aggressive, but also more tolerant of poor water quality versus coldwater gamefish.
Just my $0.02
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In the case of Strawberry this meant that beyond the treatment, massive efforts were undertaken to improve tributary streams to make them more attractive for trout and salmon versus suckers and chubs. Reckless use of herbicides, stream diversions, cattle grazing, development, etc. degraded stream banks and they silted in quickly… basically creating sucker factories our of otherwise would-be trout farms.
Sounds like Scofield has similar issues, but additional complications due to much more private land (and landowners) to deal with and resulting poor water quality (compared to Strawberry). If the water quality issue cannot be turned around the DWR will likely never receive proper permitting to poison the lake as the results will simply revert back to the same in relatively short order.
I can’t help but wonder if the introduction of tiger muskies and wipers (and discussions of walleye) is an attempt to establish predatory fish that are not only more aggressive, but also more tolerant of poor water quality versus coldwater gamefish.
Just my $0.02
[signature]