We are getting lots of inquiries about whether Caples Lake is open for recreation and fishing. The answer is YES! Only the area around the Dam Construction is closed. Come on up and visit us at Caples Lake Resort.
CAPLES LAKE FISHING AND LAUNCHING STATUS 9/5/08
BY RICHARD HAURLAN, MGR
About 6000 trout were rescued the week of 8/25/08 from Caples Lake and relocated to Silver and Red Lakes by the Department of Fish and Game. There are still plenty of catchable as well as trophy German Brown and Mackinaw trout in the lake.
Here’s a 3 pound German brown caught 9/1/08 on a broken-back Rapala trolling in the lake.
Here’s where the anglers launched their 12′ boat on the beach.
We still have 12 foot rental fishing boats on a dock in the water with rental canoes and kayaks on the beach and will continue rentals as long as possible through October after the lake is drawn down to 11 feet on 9/20.
The fishing should be incredible after 9/20 since the lake will have been drawn down from a volume of 19,000 acre feet the first of July to less than 1000 acre feet.
All cabin and lodge room lodging is available. Store hours are 8-5 daily and marina and beach launching hours are 8-6 daily. Call 209-258-8888 for info and reservations.
2008 Fall Specials / Reservations booked after 9/5/08
WEEKEND
Book Friday and Saturday – Get Sunday free
Complimentary 2 hour kayak rental per day 2 hour complimentary fishing boat rental (with paid 2 hour minimum) 4 hours for the price of 2
MIDWEEK
Reserve 2 or 3 nights – receive extra midweek night free (2 night paid minimum required)
August 22, 2008
When we started this blog a month ago, our hope was to bring public attention to the drawdown and find a solution to the impending fish kill that is predicted during the 2009 winter freeze. We had hoped for some kind of temporary bladder dam to be built that would have kept the lake level high enough for the fish to survive, but that plan is looking less and less likely.
Instead, the fish rescue the California Dept of Fish and Game is going forward with next week will be our best shot at saving the tens of thousands of fish in the lake. We thank California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Trout Unlimited for stepping forward and organizing volunteers.
Our goal to get the word out is accomplished. Local and national news has picked up the the story and we expect several media organizations to be present next week during the rescue. Thanks to all for helping spread the word.
Associated Press Article in San Francisco Chronicle
AUGUST 20, 2008
FISH RESCUE GOING FORWARD
VISIT CSPA FOR UPDATES
EXCELLENT CSPA ARTICLE: Caples Lake, Why the Repairs? Why Now?
Caples Lake Resort will be housing California Department of Fish and Game during the rescue operation. We will be posting video and photos each day of the progress. It’s going to be a very busy and exciting week.
Recent Water Level Photos
AUGUST 15, 2008
VOLUNTEER TO HELP SAVE FISH
Application deadline, midnight, Tuesday, August 19
CSPA and Trout Unlimited to assist DFG with fish rescue at Caples Lake: Over 100 Volunteers Needed! YOU can help!
- CLICK TO GO TO LINK
UPDATE: AUGUST 13, 2008
To parties interested in the Caples Lake Dam Repairs:
Please see the attached memorandum.
From: Brad Pearson
Kit Carson Lodge
League to Save Sierra Lakes
caples-lake-dam-repairs-8-13-08
August 12, 2008
SHORT VIDEO UPDATE ON FISH RESCUE
Last Thursday El Dorado Irrigation District (EID), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), United States Forest Service (USFS), Department of Fish and Game (DFG), State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Alpine County, Amador County, Kirkwood Public Utilities District, and the Ecological Resources Committee (An independent advisory committee composed of some of the above and other interested parties) met to discuss the Caples Lake Drawdown. At this time there are no plans to create a bladder dam high enough to save the fish from the winter freeze. Below are the alternative plans discussed:
-A 10 year restocking draft fishery management plan was proposed by EID with input from DFG based on the Lake Davis restocking plan. LAKE DAVIS LINK
-DFG has proposed a fish rescue plan (two weeks ago this was determined not feasible) that may start the week of August 25th and is funded by EID. That plan will net and relocate fish to Silver Lake. The fish rescue plan must be completed as soon as possible due to the impending mud issues along the shoreline.
-EID has completed a survey of the bottom of the lake and will be using this information to design the 6′ coffer/bladder dam and to better determine the resultant lake volume when the coffer/bladder dam is installed. EID plans to draw the lake down to 1000 – 2000 acre feet (11 feet deep) from it’s normal 22,000 acre feet (62 feet deep). Currently the lake is at about 12,000 acre feet (43 feet deep).
-caples-project-description- — Plans for the dam outlet repairs are scheduled to be presented to the ERC this Friday and if approved EID will submit to FERC for approval. EID will will then be allowed to drawdown below the 10,000 minimum acre feet for emergency repairs of the dam slide gates and construction of the boat ramp.
-USFS has accepted bids for the new boat ramp construction and expect to award a contract by next week. Construction is expected to begin this fall for the concrete ramp. Further construction on the day use area will start next spring.
UPDATE: 08-08-08
THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION HAS ISSUED A LETTER TELLING EL DORADO IRRIGATION DISTRICT (EID) NOT TO GO BELOW 10,000 ACRE FEET UNTIL PLANS ARE DEVISED AND AGREED UPON
THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME IS WORKING ON A FISH RESCUE PROPOSAL
EID IS PROPOSING A FISH RESTOCKING PLAN THAT IS TWICE THE SIZE OF THE LAKE DAVISPLAN
AUGUST 4, 2008 UPDATE
MONDAY JULY 28, 2008 MESSAGE FROM JOHN VOSS
SUMMARY
WILL EL DORADO IRRIGATION DISTRICT (EID) AND THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME BE GUILTY OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME AT CAPLES LAKE?
EID’s “Emergency Declaration” and the plan to drawdown Caples Lake dooms the lakes thriving fishery and recreational opportunities.
In June 2008 EID underwater inspections of the Caples Lake dam slide gates, which were originally constructed in the 1920’s, showed they had deteriorated. In order to repair the slide gates, the Lake must be lowered, so crews can have access to them. The slide gates are 64 feet below water at the base of the dam.
The drawdown was started on July 20, 2008 and is to be completed by September 20.
Trophy size Mackinaw Trout, German Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Cutthroat Trout now existing in the present 17,000 acre feet of water at a depth of 54 feet will only have a 1200-acre feet lake and 11 feet of water to in which to survive in the fall and, if they survive, through the following winter.
According to the preliminary analysis by EID and the Department of Fish and Game presented during the July 25, 2008 Ecological Resources Committee (ERC) meeting, with the resultant deoxygenation from the crowded fish population, the usual 3 feet of ice on a much bigger Caples Lake, and the water needed to meet stream fish flow requirements, the Caples Lake fishery may be destroyed. During the ERC meeting it was stated that oxygenation, such as is practiced in the state’s fisheries, would be prohibitive cost-wise.
At this time, neither the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), nor EID, nor the Department of Fish and Game, nor the ERC has presented a plan for saving even one fish by netting and transporting, or other means from this well-established fishery or for re-establishing the fishery. According to a statement in EID “Update No. 1: Caples Lake drawdown and slide gate replacement project (Caples Lake drawdown affects recreational pursuits)” released July 24th:
“We are doing our best to balance and lessen impacts to the many resources that will be affected,” said the District’s environmental review manager Dan Corcoran. “As an example, for fisheries we are examining a number of alternatives, including construction of a temporary ‘bladder’ dam to hold water to sustain the lake and downstream fisheries during construction and throughout the winter. At this time, we don’t know if that can be done.”
Even if the fishery is quickly restocked following the slide gate repairs it will take 7-10 years for the trout population to return to its current healthy and robust condition, and 40 years for the Mackinaw to reach the 26 pound 39 inch size. If this DESTRUCTION OF THE MACKINAWS is allowed to proceed, this will indeed be an ENVIRONMENTAL and ECOLOGICAL CRIME!
LAKE HISTORY
In 1999, FERC (Federal Energy Regulation Commission) allowed EID (El Dorado Irrigation District) to take over the FERC Project 184 license to operate Caples Lake from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). FERC licensed EID to operate the Caples Lake reservoir and dam to provide recreational opportunities at the lake and water for consumers in El Dorado County. At the same time EID took over the operation of Silver Lake and Kays Resort (which they have now closed), and Aloha and Echo Lakes.
Part of the FERC license dealing with recreation included a requirement that EID and the United States Forest Service (USFS) establish a new day use and boat launch facility at Caples Lake. For several years, plans have been underway to construct this new public facility on the north shore of Caples Lake, separate from the existing Caples Lake Resort concrete boat launch which is not useable at low water levels. The construction project will be undertaken by EID and the USFS with a grant from the California Boating and Waterway Department. In order to construct the new launch, Caples Lake was to be drawn down from a full depth of 62 feet to about 32 feet by October 1. Caples Lake Resort has been in favor of a new Caples Lake boat launch for 25 years and has endorsed the new facility. While the reduction of the lake’s level to 32 feet would curtail some of Caples Lake Resort’s operations, it was anticipated that most recreational activities could be maintained, at least during the “high season.”
In June 2008 EID did an underwater inspection of the two 36 inch gate valves in the Caples Lake dam which control releases from Caples Lake, one at a depth of about 30 feet and one at about 60 feet. The inspection showed that the slide gate valves, which were installed when the dam was originally constructed in the 1920s, had deteriorated. (See EID press releases for additional background.) On July 1, in response to the underwater investigation, the EID Board of Directors declared an emergency and subsequently developed a plan to replace the gate valves either this year or in 2009. However, based on a public safety issue and the ability to procure the replacement gate valves, EID decided to proceed with an immediate plan to procure replacement gate valves and have them installed this fall at the same time as the boat ramp construction so that the draw down for both the ramp project and dam repairs could be completed in the same year. Since the valves must be installed in a dry dam, Caples Lake must be drained to 6 feet, the level of the historical Twin Lakes at the bottom of the present 62 foot deep Caples Lake. If a cofferdam can be used to protect installation workers, the lake can be drained to a level of 11 feet instead. Obviously either level of draw down is vastly different from the anticipated 32 feet needed for the launch construction.
The draw down was started on July 20, 2008 and is to be completed by September 20. The lake will be reduced from its maximum storage of 22,000 acre feet at a depth of 62 feet to an active storage of 584 acre feet at 11 feet depth (plus an approximate 600 acre feet from the original Twin Lakes). See the attached “Preliminary Caples Lake Drawn Down Schedule” which was distributed during the July 25th ERC meeting. (ERC, the Ecological Resources Committee, is an advisory group made up of representatives of Amador and Alpine counties, EID, the Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, the League to Save Sierra Lakes, other agencies, and concerned citizens.) So where will this water go? According to EID’s “Update No. 1: Caples Lake drawdown and slide gate replacement project (Caples Lake drawdown affects recreational pursuits)” released July 24th:
“We are also doing everything we can to ensure that water from the lake is not wasted during this dry year,” said Steve Setoodeh, the District’s department head for facilities management. “We’re diverting some of the water to our powerhouse to generate state-certified ‘clean’ hydroelectric power, and we hope to divert another portion to Jenkinson Lake to help guard against a potentially dry year in 2009.”
Notably absent from EID’s update is any discussion of how the revenues generated from these uses will be used to re-establish the water level at Caples Lake needed to preserve recreation and the monies to re-establish the fisheries.
