issue. At the current time, Shasta 

 Dam's yield and reservoir storage is 

 committed by law to some other use. 

 We have contracts signed; we have 

 water that is being diluted; we have 

 an economy that is based on that 

 water; we have farmers that need 

 water, etc. Now, if the problems 

 that face our estuary are going to be 

 solved, they are not going to be 

 solved with Shasta Dam, because the 

 water from Shasta is already 

 committed. 



That brings us to problem number 

 four, which is the policy of this 

 agency and the policy of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior in terms of what 

 ought to be accomplished in solving 

 the problems of the estuaries. 

 However, that policy is subject to 

 interpretation based on the needs at 

 the time, So, we plan to mitigate for 

 all the project damages but, if a 

 problem arises, the Secretary may 

 decide on one course of action. In 

 so doing, his office may look at the 

 very same policy and decide on a 

 whole new direction. That is some- 

 thing that we need to recognize and 

 deal with at staff level, even though 

 we have little to do with the de- 

 cision. I promised to present some 

 solutions to these kinds of dilemmas 

 and I think it was done in the proper 

 manner in the State of California. We 

 have formed a four agency group which 

 consists of the Water and Power Re- 

 sources Service, California Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game, California 

 Department of Water Resources, and 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service. To- 

 gether, we formulate local policies 

 that address issues we need to deal 

 with. We recognize that there is a 



general policy for all agencies, but 

 working together we can offer solu- 

 tions to the problems that confront 

 us. In conclusion, I would like to 

 say that nature forever changes for 

 its own reasons. Now, some changes 

 we understand and some we do not, and 

 the approach to the management of 

 nature has been to keep it static. 

 That my friends , is the paradox of 

 our biggest problem. 



Something I think is quite im- 

 portant for us to recognize and a 

 very, very simple precept is that 

 there are some people around this 

 room who minimize or question the 

 need for freshwater inflow to estu- 

 aries. There are many people who are 

 fully convinced that we need the 

 total amount of water going to these 

 estuaries that we have discussed. The 

 size of an estuary is a very import- 

 ant function of its total ability to 

 put out products, to supply the needs 

 that we are here to talk about. Now, 

 in many estuarine basins, if not 

 most, the effective size of an 

 estuary is directly proportional to 

 the amount of fresh water going in. 

 Here is how that works, if you use, 

 for instance, five to fifteen parts 

 per thousand of salinity as the 

 essential part of the richest segment 

 of the estuarine basin? You can have 

 an average of four acre-feet of this 

 prime estuary for every one-acre-foot 

 of dilution. So, if you put in ten 

 acre-feet of dilution, you have forty 

 acre-feet of estuary and so on, it is 

 directly proportional. I think it is 

 very important to think that it is 

 not only the quality of the estuary 

 that relates to the amount of fresh- 

 water inflow, but its size. 



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