June 6, 2022 - Thank you for publishing the news of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada (see article link below) and multiple Federal/State Fisheries agencies fish planting in Lake Tahoe to reintroduce the Lahontan Cutthroat trout to the Tahoe Basin. This is an important step in restoration of an iconic species, which inhabited Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River, and Lake Tahoe watershed, prior to the arrival of European explorers and miners of the mid-1800’s.
Unfortunately, our own Merced River watershed salmon and trout fishery has met the same demise as the Tahoe-Truckee-Pyramid Lake watershed, because of mining, followed by agricultural damming and diversions. Only a very small population of the Yosemite Steelhead Trout remains in the South Fork of the Merced River in Yosemite National Park. Geneticists from the National Marine Fisheries Service reported this amazing discovery in 2017. The plight of the indigenous Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, and the impact of mining dams is recorded in the Mariposa Gazette in 1856, 1857, 1877-1880, and 1886. The District Attorney of Mariposa and the California Fish Commission recognized the damage caused by dams and tried to pursue allowing fish passage, so that the salmon and trout to return to their natal waters. They failed in their mission, and the plight of the Yosemite Steelhead Trout was sealed by the construction of the Exchequer Dam in 1926 without providing for fish passage. The construction of New Exchequer and McSwain Dams in 1956 further limited fish passage in the lower Merced River.
In spite of all these injuries and damages to the Yosemite Steelhead Trout, they have survived, albeit only a miniscule remnant of the pre-European population, that the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation recognized and depended upon as a primary food source. The loss of that food source arguably ignited the mid-1800 conflicts between the Miwuks and gold rush miners, culminating in the Mariposa Battalion, and later the US government treaties (M, N, and E). But, not all has been lost. Conservation Groups, Federal/State fisheries agencies, and the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation have been consulting and exchanging information regarding a concept and plan to reintroduce both Spring-run Chinook salmon, and Central Valley Steelhead Trout (aka. Yosemite Steelhead Trout) into formerly occupied habitats of the Merced (and Tuolumne) River watersheds. Developing a restoration plan and collaborating with interest public parties is envisioned by agencies and NGOs to return this special fish to the Merced River watershed, including Yosemite National Park.
I urge any person or group with an interest in restoring the Merced River watershed to its previous healthy, self-sustaining condition to reach out to those agencies and NGOs who are working toward recovering the trout and salmon populations, and the subsequent fishing improvements, by expressing your concern, and supporting these efforts.
Sincerely,
Michael Martin, Ph.D.
Director,
Merced River Conservation Committee
Mariposa, CA
