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| California officials will soon cordon off Lake Davis, in the northern Sierra Nevadas, and use poison to kill invasive northern
pike to prevent them from eating endangered fish such as salmon. Ben Arnoldy |
California aims to save fish, via poison
The state's latest plan to rid Lake Davis of northern pike – and protect species downstream – raises concern.
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the August 30, 2007 edition
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Portola, Calif. - Sport fishermen used to flock to this small city in California's Sierra Nevadas for a chance to catch trophy trout from Lake Davis. These days, silence reigns over the forest-lined lake, and in a few weeks, everything with gills here will be floating upside down.
California officials are set to dump chemicals – including trace amounts of carcinogens – into a future drinking-water supply in a well-publicized effort to protect endangered fish downstream.
The Department of Fish and Game will apply the fish poison in an effort to stamp out the northern pike. Conservationists fear that the invasive predator could spread to the Sacramento River Delta and feast on the delicate populations of native salmon, steelhead, and delta smelt.
A long, open process – including sign-off from the state Department of Health Services – has won over many local leaders and residents, some of whom protested when Fish and Game unsuccessfully treated the waters once before in 1997.
However, a few local activists and other residents say the purported threat of the pike in no way justifies putting chemicals into the lake, a planned source of drinking water for nearby Portola.
Across the US, concerns are rising about invasive species and pesticides, making the relatively common practice of poisoning waterways much more contentious, say experts.
"There is a growing clash between, on the one hand, increasing efforts to save dwindling native fish populations, ... and on the other hand, a growing concern about the potential impacts on the environment and people of pesticides," says Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs at Trout Unlimited, a conservation group based in Arlington, Va.
The poisoning of Lake Davis 10 years ago touched off more robust resistance nationally to the practice, notes Mr. Moyer. Lake Davis stood out because it had served as a direct drinking- water supply.
At the time, local opposition was fierce. Bill Powers and several others chained themselves to a buoy in the frigid lake. This time around, Mr. Powers – now a county supervisor – supports the poisoning.
"In '97 there were secrets; there were unknowns. The more the local government people like myself asked questions, the more we were stonewalled," says Powers. This time, he says, "every question we asked has been answered."
Fish and Game officials say they have learned from past mistakes. Within two years, pike were spotted in the lake. Working with locals, the agency battled the pike without poison, trying everything from electric shocks to explosives.
But Lake Davis, a man-made lake, suits the pike – a fish that has spread across the West into this northeastern corner of California.
Standing over the lake's dam, two local opponents of the poisoning, Larry Douglas and Dan Wilson, argue that the filters set up below effectively prevent the pike from spreading downstream.
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