LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Fish and Game Commission on Wednesday voted to move forward with the process of evaluating whether to give state endangered species status to the Clear Lake hitch.
The commission, in a 2-1 vote, decided that listing the hitch as endangered may be warranted. That, in turn, begins a yearlong process to study the hitch’s situation.
Wednesday’s hearing on the hitch was held in Mt. Shasta. The commissioners had been set to fly in to the meeting, but due to inclement weather – about 5 inches of snow was reported to have fallen in the area – they instead had to call into the hearing, which was televised.
Several Lake County residents traveled to the hearing to give testimony, including Tom Smythe, a county water engineer; Peter Windrem of the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch; Lake County Farm Bureau Executive Director Claudia Street and Mark Hooper, board president; Paula Britton, environmental director for the Habematolel Pomo; and Sarah Ryan, environmental director for the Big Valley Rancheria.
Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity, who submitted the petition last September, also was on hand to speak on behalf of the petition moving forward.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors had voted unanimously to send a letter to the commission, asking it to defer the decision and allow the county to work with local partners to conduct its own study on the matter, as Lake County News has reported.
Smythe delivered the letter to the commission staff and also communicated that wish to the commission in his statements. Nevertheless, the commission chose to start the review process, which will include additional protection for the for the fish.
After the meeting, Smythe told Lake County News that the work will now begin to gather the best science on the hitch. While the fish’s life is well documented in creeks, the portion of its lifecycle spent in Clear Lake is not as well understood.
The goal, as was pointed out at the meeting, is not to have an endangered species, but to protect a species and have it recover, Smythe said.
Just how the process is carried out from this point forward, and how the public can participate, will be the subject of the next Chi Council meeting on March 27, Windrem said.
“We need to learn more about that,” Windrem said. “That’s going to be a primary activity of the Chi Council.”
The meeting will take place beginning at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, at the Lake County Agricultural Center, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport.
Windrem said the hitch also are preparing to spawn, an activity the Chi Council actively monitors.
Due to the dry weather, flows in the creeks have been very low. However, thanks to the last few days’ worth of rain, conditions for the migration runs may be better now; Windrem said council members will be checking the creeks to determine conditions.
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