18 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



CURRENT PROBLEMS. 



A Commission Avhose function it is to conserve wild life resources is 

 confronted with a never ending series of difficult problems, as can be 

 seen by the following discussions of the more important ones of the past 

 two years. They usually have a bearing on law enforcement or upon 

 obstacles to the natural increase of a game species. 



EXTINCTION OF SALMON THREATENED BY POWER DAMS. 



Conservation of the salmon was the first important problem faced bj' 

 the Fish and Game Commission when it was first formed in 1870, and it 

 still continues an important problem. A reduction of the catch to pro- 

 vide for a sufficient number of breeders to reach the spawning grounds 

 was long. the important consideration. Now the increasing number of 

 large power dams threatens the extinction of the salmon run by pre- 

 venting the fish from reaching their natural spawning grouudh'. As an 

 example of the present problem the dam of the Anderson -Cottonwood 

 Irrigation District at Redding, Shasta County, may be cited. The lack 

 of a suitable fishway at this dam during the past few years has etfect- 

 Uidly prevented salmon from reaching their spa\\Tiing grounds .m the 

 jVIcCloud River. Investigation by experts showeJ. that very few salmon 

 succeeded in leaping the dam and the shutting down ol! the salmon 

 spawning station of the United States Bureau of Pisijerie.': at Baird con- 

 clusively proved that salmon were effectively blockeii at the Redding 

 Uam. Attempts made by the Commission to force the building of! a 

 fishway were unavailing until an in.innction suit was instituted. The 

 situation was finally cleared up in the spring of 1922 when the matter 

 was amically settled. Cou-iitioiisjU the d.^m are no^s" impioved rind tJie 

 spawning station at Bah'd has dLi' tin been opened. 



The successful outcome here, however, does not mitigate the equally, 

 if not greater problem involved in the proposed dam of the Electro- 

 INIetals Company on the lower Klamath River which threatens the exter- 

 mination of the important run on the Klamath River. At hearings 

 held at Yreka on May 5, 1921, the Fish and Game Commission took the 

 stand that the proposed dam would (1) entirely obstruct the annual 

 migration of the salmon; (2) that a suitable fishway could not be con- 

 structed around so high a dam; and, (3) that a hatchery erected at the 

 dam would not solve the problem since the salmon arriving at the dam 

 would not be ready for spawning. For these reasons, and others also, 

 the Commission opposed the granting of a preliminary permit by the 

 Federal Power Commission. It may be that at some distant time in tha 

 future power development will be more important than the saving of a 

 valuable run of salmon, but at present there is power development 

 enough to care for all needs of the immediate future and there are 

 plenty of streams, where there is no run of salmon, that can be utilized 

 for power purposes. If the fight to save the salmon run on the Klamath 

 is not successful the end of the vast salmon fisheries with which the 

 state was originally blessed will be at hand. 



