OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

Contact: TimAhern 202/208-6291

For Release: November 20, 1997

The Department of the Interior today issued its final administrative policy to implement the section of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act dedicating CVP water for fish, wildlife and habitat restoration.

“This policy will help both the fish and wildlife in the Central Valley, along with people who use the water, both on farms and in the cities and suburbs,” said Deputy Interior Secretary John Garamendi, who announced the new policy.

“This policy meets the requirements for protecting our environment and our wildlife, and also insures that we will provide the water required for farmers and cities so the California economy can continue to grow,” said Garamendi. “It is based on good science and sound economics.”

The policy released today is part of the implementation of the CVPIA, which was signed into law in 1992. That law mandated changes in the way water was distruted from the Central Valley Project, a 60-year-old system of nearly twenty dams and reservoirs and hundreds of miles of canals and other water conveyance facilities located in California’s Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. The CVP delivers about 5.8 million acre-feet of water a year, which irrigates more than 2.6 million acres of farmland and provides drinking water for nearly one million people.

Last Saturday, at the Yolo Wetlands dedication near Sacramento, President Clinton said choosing between economic growth and environmental protection is “a false choice.” The President said, “we understand that over the long run if we want to preserve our ability to increase the standard of living, we have to preserve our national environmental and all the things that go with it.”

Garamendi noted the new Interior policy meets both goals. “We don’t have to make that choice. We can do both. We can provide economic growth and environmental protection through this policy in a sound and reasonable way,” he said at a news conference.

“With this policy in place, we can now move on to the implementation of the critical Bay-Delta/CALFED program,” Garamendi added.

The policy outlined by Garamendi calls for a package of actions that provide the water necessary to restore fish and riparian habitat. The actions are directed primarily at spring-time releases of water on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to protect migrating salmon, striped bass and other fish in the system. The actions will help the fish bypass Delta pumps on their way to the ocean. Biologists will track the fish and adjust water requirements to meet theneeds for the fishery restoration effort.

This new policy is the result of involving all stakeholders and interested parties, including agriculture, urban and suburban users, environmentalists, scientists and recreational interests,” Garamendi said. “It has been a two-year-long process with all of the stakeholders participating to achieve a win-win solution. Ultimately, we have succeeded by working with all sides to develop a workable consensus.”

At the Yolo dedication, the President said, “we have learned we do not get very far when we just stand off and shout at each other and fight and argue all the time. But we can do anything if we roll up our sleeves and get down to work and honestly listen to people who have different experiences, different perspectives, and different genuine issues.”

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