Biological Opinions - Bureau of Reclamation

eview comments shall be formally provided to the USFWS for approval before August
1, 2013. This expedited schedule is necessary so that FES monitoring will begin August
1, 2013.
1b. Flow Monitoring at the A Canal, and Link River, Clear Lake, and Gerber Dams as
a Surrogate for Larval Sucker Entrainment Monitoring
Entrainment monitoring of larval suckers at the A Canal, and dams at Link River, Clear
Lake, and Gerber Reservoir is impracticable because of difficulty in identifying sucker
larvae, expense, limited and sometime difficult or dangerous access at Clear Lake and
Gerber Reservoir, and human safety concerns associated with night sampling at Gerber
and Clear Lake Dams. Therefore, Reclamation shall monitor flows at each dam during
the larval period: Link River Dam - April 1 to July 15; Clear Lake Dam - April 1 to June
1, and Gerber Dam - April 1 to June 1. Monitoring shall begin June 15, 2013. The use of
flow as a surrogate for larval entrainment is reasonable and appropriate because
entrainment of suckers has been determined to be proportional to flow at two of these
facilities (additional information on the flow and entrainment is found in both the
Environmental Baseline (section 7) and Effects of the Action (section 8) of this BiOp;
Gutermuth et al. 2000a, b). The studies that Gutermuth et al. (2000a, b) conducted at the
A-Canal and Link River Dam found that the numbers of larval suckers entrained was a
function of flow and that entrainment increased with increasing flow, and thus was
proportional. Therefore, measurement of flow is a reasonable and appropriate surrogate
for monitoring larval entrainment. The flow data, reported as acre-feet per day, shall be
included in the March 1 Annual Monitoring Report described below, and presented as
total flow through the A Canal, and the Link River, Clear Lake, and Gerber Dams.
Reclamation shall know if they have exceeded authorized take of LRS and SNS larvae at
these facilities when the discretionary monthly flow volumes, in acre-feet, exceeds those
that occurred during the POR analyzed in this BiOp. We recognize that there are likely
to be uncontrolled flow releases (“spills”) at these dams, or emergency releases, due to
high lake levels and concerns for large inflow events resulting from storms. Because
these events are outside of Reclamation’s discretion, any entrainment occurring during
those events would not result in unauthorized take.
2. Adult LRS and SNS Monitoring in Project Reservoirs
The USFWS anticipates that the requirements of T&C1g will serve a dual purpose of providing
critical data that can be used to assess the status of the LRS and SNS and information that is
needed to monitor the effects of the proposed action on sucker populations. Therefore,
additional adult monitoring in Project reservoirs is unnecessary.
3. Klamath Project Implementation and Hydrologic Monitoring
Reclamation shall undertake appropriate hydrologic monitoring in Project reservoirs and canals
because accurate monitoring of water levels in Project reservoirs and flows through Project
facilities is fundamental to our understanding of the effects of the proposed action and amount of
take of LRS and SNS.
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