In spite of a relatively wet winter, late rains, and high reservoir levels—conditions that generally benefit aquatic ecosystems—California’s ailing chinook salmon are facing unexpected peril in the main river system where they spawn. State officials and environmental groups have warned that an aggressive water delivery plan by federal reservoir managers has temperatures in Lake Shasta and the Sacramento River on track to kill vast numbers of salmon this fall.
The bleak outlook comes as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation rapidly spills water from Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir and the infrastructural headwaters of the federal Central Valley Project. This system of canals, dams, reservoirs, and pumps supplies water for about 1 million households and 3 million acres of farmland.
Read MoreSource: Maven's Notebook