The salmon that BDCP is supposed to protect are increasingly dependent on Trinity River flows. The Trinity is the only out-of-basin water supply diverted into the Central Valley. It is the largest tributary to the Klamath River, and it flows though the Hoopa Valley Reservation and Humboldt County.
In 1964, the Bureau of Reclamation began delivering Trinity River water to the Central Valley through tunnels. Federal and state law limited those deliveries by setting aside water for fisheries and making available an additional 50,000 acre-feet supply for economic development by Humboldt County and other users. Thus far, the Bureau has failed to honor this water right, and it only recently began to honor fisheries commitments through implementation of the 2000 Trinity River Record of Decision.
Humboldt County and the Hoopa Valley Tribe have repeatedly warned the Governor and BDCP planners that it is a mistake to assume that 50,000 acre-feet of Humboldt’s Trinity water is available for use outside the North Coast region.
