Smith River Action Alert!!!!!

Started by Woolly Bugger, September 12, 2016, 14:25:12 PM

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Woolly Bugger

Quote from: Dougfish on September 12, 2016, 10:28:55 AM
Dear friends of the Smith,

I'm writing you because you probably fish the Smith River in Virginia. The Smith has a lot of challenges. It is a 30 mile trout tailwater that has existed for over 60 years. This is Henry County's only stocked trout water and has been managed by the state from the onset.  Currently, decisions are being made concerning generation on the Smith. Decisions concerning the waterway affect us all and public input is critical to ensuring our natural resources and outdoor recreational assets are protected.

Last year, there was an announcement that the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) brokered an agreement with the Corps of Engineers (dam owner) and Dominion Power (hydropower operator) to have four hour generation with one turbine on both Saturdays and Sundays. The generation occurred from 10 am to 2 pm and sent a slug of water downstream at 650 cfs and greater. The goal was to increase paddling recreation on the Smith and thus economic growth. See the linked news release: http://www.henrycountyva.gov/news/details/id/67

If you will notice the list of stakeholders involved in the 2015 discussions did not include any representatives of the fishing community or the state's fish and game (VDGIF) biologists. Nor did they consider the negative economic impact of the loss of anglers. They do mention the flows will provide cold water that will benefit the fishery downstream. We and VDGIF have been asking for a 1-2 hour pulse of cold water on summer Sundays for 10-15 years and have always been told that was impossible. Now we get releases for 4 hours in the middle of the day, both weekend days, in every month? It is the biologists' contention that the fall, winter and spring releases are detrimental to the fishery as well as the length of the proposed summer releases. Many of us are paddlers, too. We think the best solution is a compromise that benefits all, including the high-value tailwater fishery..
As you may know, the powerhouse suffered a serious fire earlier this year and regular generation has not yet resumed. When repairs are complete, we need to do everything in our power to ensure the weekend releases do not resume as they were before.

We are asking you today to send your comments to the stakeholders and let them know how much you value the fishery and that you would like:

    To see one day of generation, preferably Sunday.
    To see it reduced to 3 hours.
    To see it for June - September only.
    To have a fishing representative and VDGIF included in all flow-related discussions.

Please add a personal touch to the letter.

We will pool these letters and share them with appropriate stakeholders and decision-makers. 

Sincerely,
Doug Jessie , President, Smith River Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Adam Irving Jr., President, Nat Greene Fly Fishers
David Holladay, President, Roanoke Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited

http://www.tu.org/action-center?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f47724%2frespond
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

natureboy

Quote from: Woolly Bugger on September 12, 2016, 14:25:12 PM
Quote from: Dougfish on September 12, 2016, 10:28:55 AM
Dear friends of the Smith,

I'm writing you because you probably fish the Smith River in Virginia. The Smith has a lot of challenges. It is a 30 mile trout tailwater that has existed for over 60 years. This is Henry County's only stocked trout water and has been managed by the state from the onset.  Currently, decisions are being made concerning generation on the Smith. Decisions concerning the waterway affect us all and public input is critical to ensuring our natural resources and outdoor recreational assets are protected.

Last year, there was an announcement that the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) brokered an agreement with the Corps of Engineers (dam owner) and Dominion Power (hydropower operator) to have four hour generation with one turbine on both Saturdays and Sundays. The generation occurred from 10 am to 2 pm and sent a slug of water downstream at 650 cfs and greater. The goal was to increase paddling recreation on the Smith and thus economic growth. See the linked news release: http://www.henrycountyva.gov/news/details/id/67

If you will notice the list of stakeholders involved in the 2015 discussions did not include any representatives of the fishing community or the state's fish and game (VDGIF) biologists. Nor did they consider the negative economic impact of the loss of anglers. They do mention the flows will provide cold water that will benefit the fishery downstream. We and VDGIF have been asking for a 1-2 hour pulse of cold water on summer Sundays for 10-15 years and have always been told that was impossible. Now we get releases for 4 hours in the middle of the day, both weekend days, in every month? It is the biologists' contention that the fall, winter and spring releases are detrimental to the fishery as well as the length of the proposed summer releases. Many of us are paddlers, too. We think the best solution is a compromise that benefits all, including the high-value tailwater fishery..
As you may know, the powerhouse suffered a serious fire earlier this year and regular generation has not yet resumed. When repairs are complete, we need to do everything in our power to ensure the weekend releases do not resume as they were before.

We are asking you today to send your comments to the stakeholders and let them know how much you value the fishery and that you would like:

    To see one day of generation, preferably Sunday.
    To see it reduced to 3 hours.
    To see it for June - September only.
    To have a fishing representative and VDGIF included in all flow-related discussions.

Please add a personal touch to the letter.

We will pool these letters and share them with appropriate stakeholders and decision-makers. 

Sincerely,
Doug Jessie , President, Smith River Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Adam Irving Jr., President, Nat Greene Fly Fishers
David Holladay, President, Roanoke Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited

http://www.tu.org/action-center?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f47724%2frespond
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H2C66FK

DRBA survey of anyone wants to tell them how you feel...  whatever happened with this anyhow ?

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Woolly Bugger

Then there was the fire at the dam, then one wheel broke, then there was no rain  :banana072:

No weekend releases in sight
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Al

#3
DougFish may be able to address the specifics of what happened with the survey

I personally have not heard anything more about flows specifically for paddlers as originally suggested by some. Things went by the wayside when they had the fire at the dam which put things way out of whack.  The recently appointed operations manager for Philpott told us there were no plans for weekend generation. They are aware of the adverse publicity that a fish kill would bring and said they would monitor downstream temperatures during the summer months and if water was available would revisit the weekend generation issue at that time. He also said the COE wants to be "good neighbors" and good stewards of the resource. He pointed out that Philpott is what is known as a "peaking facility" which means the water is used to send power to the grid during peak hours. The current vendor, Dominion Power, views each gallon of water as potential revenue and weekend generation is not the best use of the water.

Unless we hear different this issue may fall under the category of "remain vigilant but let sleeping dogs lie"


Dougfish

Al covered it. Fire and shot turbine makes everything moot.
And low reservoir, too.
I would not look for weekend releases except for special events. At least not until turbines are upgraded in 2-3 years. Stuck with one turbine until then.
Our efforts probably made no effect. Except they know we were paying very close attention from now on.
Dominion does not care about anything except the dollar and avoiding any more bad publicity.

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"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

Big J

So what you are saying is, we won?  And that there aren't many kayaks and canoes being rented out?  And the conflict of interest isn't relevant for certain people at this time?

troutfanatic

BW believes he represents the fishing community because he runs "guides" on the river.

At the same time, he wants to harass the biologists for taking fish for dissecting and analysis to determine the overall health of the river and S. trutta population.

Everything I read (2' high stack of journal articles) to write that research project tells me excessive generation is just as detrimental as none at all.

I think I recall the lower river sampling otolith analysis being indicative that mean lifespan is decreasing. Temps getting too high in summer will do this but so will getting blown out 7 days a week.

ryguy

So with generation twice as long and half as strong, will that provide regulated temps necessary to keep fish healthy?


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Woolly Bugger

Quote from: ryguy on January 23, 2018, 14:29:50 PMSo with generation twice as long and half as strong, will that provide regulated temps necessary to keep fish healthy?



With he lack of water we have not seen longer periods of generation. That won't happen until we get a lot more rain !


The lake's thermocline isn'tike it used to be and now releases are actually warmer the the normal passthroig
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Onslow

#9
Quote from: ryguy on January 23, 2018, 14:29:50 PM
So with generation twice as long and half as strong, will that provide regulated temps necessary to keep fish healthy?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I may be wrong regarding Philpott, but the hydro facilities I'm familiar with, key word being hydro, and not flood control, have a fixed flow per turbine.  To the best of my knowledge, both Philpott, and Bridgewater (Lake James tailwaters) have two turbines, and Pinnacle hydro has three turbines.  The amount of turbines can be adjusted, but not the rate of flow per turbine.

Now for the numbers:

Dan River at Pinnacle Hydro:  40 sq. mile watershed, average flow is around ~2 cfs per square mile, or about 80 cfs.  Each turbine represents 55 cfs, so natural flows can be duplicated somewhat, even during dry spells.

Catawba at Bridgewater: 386 sq. mile watershed, average flow is around 1.9 cfs per sq. mile, or around 740 cfs.  One turbine represents about 1600 cfs which is more than twice the average flow.  Two are cranked up frequently when water is available.

Smith River at Philpott:   216 sq. mile watershed, average flow is 273 cfs.  One turbine appears to be 690 cfs which is obviously more than twice the average flow.  If my memory serves me correctly, there are two turbines at this outfit.

Dan River, good.  The other two, no bueno.  It appears efficiency/cost pressures are dictating design, who knows.

I'll research the Soho and Watauga when time avails itself.

troutfanatic

everything I read on the tailwater effect suggests these rivers have a productivity curve that starts initially low after establishment, but rapidly climbs after a few years. I'd suggest this is the case with the Smith. We can add the former supplemental feeding of Alewife. The fish grew exponentially because the carrying capacity was there. My guess is it peaked in the 80s or 90s and the downward side of the curve began to plummet. Water temps are not the only consideration here. Rapidly changing depths and velocities, sedimentation, didymo, lack of aquatic plants way up. It all suggests that macroinvertebrate productivity sucks. The Newcomb study determined this 14+ years ago. When I was watching insects I noticed they exist in pockets. Consider the location of the desirable sulfur hatch. The substrate and leaf litter supports them. Unfortunately the trout breed like rats in that area, so still not enough to eat. Go check out the river down by Doe Run Ramp. A giant mud hole of sediment accumulation. The Orth study said, take down MV dam, flush out the sediment, expand the cooler water flow and expand the fishery.

I did a lot of paraphrasing here. Stephen or Grayson could probably say this a lot more accurately. That project was a one time thing that satisfied a personal curiosity and helped me graduate. I am not even close to a fisheries guy or insect guy, but George taught me a lot. I also picked Stephen's brain via email.

Bottom line, I believe all tailwaters have a life cycle of rise and fall, and if things don't change positively, I'd say the Smith will continue to decline.

I hope George decides to sample the upper river before I move north. I'd love to see the data.

streamereater_101691

I'd bet my last dollar weekend generation will be back may-sept..canoe/kayak revenue and tourism is continuing to rise and people want to use the resource

We all know DRBA will have something up their sleeves..

I'm not complaining if it saves the lower big girls from high temps and stress like last summer

Al

Quote from: streamereater_101691 on January 24, 2018, 00:45:15 AM
I'd bet my last dollar weekend generation will be back may-sept..canoe/kayak revenue and tourism is continuing to rise and people want to use the resource

We all know DRBA will have something up their sleeves..

I'm not complaining if it saves the lower big girls from high temps and stress like last summer

I hope you are right. If DRBA wants to call that a victory that's fine. It is what DGIF and SRTU have been in favor of for several years. Be nice if they only did it one day (we favor Sunday or alternate Saturdays and Sundays).

Dougfish

Quote from: streamereater_101691 on January 24, 2018, 00:45:15 AM
I'd bet my last dollar weekend generation will be back may-sept..canoe/kayak revenue and tourism is continuing to rise and people want to use the resource

We all know DRBA will have something up their sleeves..

I'm not complaining if it saves the lower big girls from high temps and stress like last summer
One w/e generation July - September is when the fish need it. Roto mold that.

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"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006