The federal government on Thursday recommended that all four aging hydroelectric dams be removed from the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California to help struggling wild salmon runs, and nearly $1 billion should be spent on environmental restoration.

The final environmental impact statement making those recommendations was posted on a U.S. Department of Interior website.

“The Environment Impact Statement confirms the Klamath agreements are the best, fastest and safest route to a restored
river,” said Yurok Chairman Thomas O’Rourke Sr.

 The Yurok Tribe is one of the 42 signatories of the Klamath agreements and active proponents of their implementation.

“The Klamath agreements will restore our river, enhance ocean and river fishing opportunities, and preserve family farming operations. It’s a win, win, win.”

However, whether that will ever happen remains in doubt. Legislation authorizing the Secretary of Interior to approve dam removal and appropriating $800 million for restoration work has not gained any traction in Congress.

As one of his last acts before leaving office, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called on Congress to take action, saying that removing the dams and implementing the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement are important components of finding a solution to the basin’s water problems.

More options for backcountry camping in Redwood National and State Parks will be available this year, as the park agency announced Thursday the reopening of camping in Lower Redwood Creek.

Dispersed camping on the gravel bars between MacArthur Creek and Tall Trees Grove will now be permitted after being closed to camping since 2010 in an effort to decrease predation of the eggs of marbled murrelets, a species listed as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to a parks press release.

Backcountry camping permits are required for overnight use on Redwood Creek and may be obtained at the Kuchel Visitor Center in Orick, or the Crescent City Information Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. 

$500 reward for information

National parks officials are investigating the illegal chopping down of a 300-year-old redwood in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park last month.

Sometime during the night and early morning of March 16–17, someone cut the old-growth tree down to get to a burl that was 50 feet off the ground, according to a press release from Redwood National and State Parks. Once the tree was down, the burl was cut off and hauled away.

Officials are offering a $500 reward for information that leads directly to the arrest of the offenders, according to the press release.

Of the roughly 2.5 million acres of old-growth redwood forest that existed in the last few centuries, only 4 percent remains, half of which is in Redwood National and State Parks, the release states.

Free reggae event could have been here

U.K. Music Hall of Famer and prominent reggae artist Pato Banton performed in Brookings on Thursday night, causing many fans to ask, “Why?”

Before starting to play at the 101 Bar and Grill, Banton told the crowd that he had many longtime fans approach him before the show to ask:

“Why? Why are you playing a show in Brookings? And how are we getting a free show?” Banton said, echoing fans’ statements.

“We really wanted to stop in the smaller towns because a lot of the fans out here don’t get the music,” Banton told me after the show. “It wasn’t about the money or even about stopping; it was really about coming to see the people in smaller cities.”

Banton played in Medford on Friday, with dates ahead in Port Angeles, Wash., and Sandpoint, Idaho.

He told the 135-person-capacity audience that he actually tried to play a show in Crescent City, but when he called the owner of Shooters Billiards and introduced himself, the owner responded: “Pato who?” and said she would think about his request to perform.

“But the way she said, ‘maybe, let me think about it,’ made it sound like ‘maybe next year,’” Banton told the crowd.

“As I was just about to give up playing in this region, (keyboardist) Antoinette went on Facebook and she found (Brookings-based reggae artist) Sequoyah,” Banton said. He called Sequoyah, aka Evan Dunn, and said:

“Hey Sequoyah, I’m Pato,” when Dunn excitedly interjected, “Pato Banton?” 

Dunn connected Banton and his band, the Now Generation, with the 101 Bar and Grill, and it was on. Dunn was even called onstage to freestyle reggae-rap with Banton.

Some visitors get way too close to the burgeoning sea lion population at Crescent City Harbor on Wednesday. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Officials thought it was OK to shoot at them with paintball gun during construction  

Miscommunication between Crescent City Harbor officials and federal regulators may have caused a harbor subcontractor to inappropriately fire a paintball gun at sea lions.

After receiving several 911 phone calls about a man in a rowboat shooting sea lions with a paintball gun in Crescent City Harbor last week, a sheriff’s commander paid a visit to the harbor office.

Richard Young, the harbor’s CEO and harbormaster, told the Del Norte County sheriff’s commander that there was nothing to worry about. In fact, the paintball gunner was hired by the harbor district to deter seals and sea lions from occupying the inner boat basin during steel pile drilling, since that noisy operation could harm the animals, Young told the commander.

Using a paintball gun was just one of several approved deterrence methods that Young understood to be legal after finding a list on the National Marine Fisheries Service’s website.

“The paintball gun is news to me,” said Ann Garrett, North Coast branch supervisor in the NMFS Arcata office, on Wednesday. “Our approval was that they were to shut down operation if they saw a marine mammal entering the harbor.”

On Wednesday, Young said he knew that drilling must stop if seals or sea lions enter the inner boat basin, but “I thought we had the ability to keep them out of there using legal methods,” he said. If that’s not the case, “I’m surprised,” he said.

The list of methods on the NMFS website includes electric fencing, some pyrotechnics, water hoses, cattle prods, mace, sling shots, toy water guns, and yes, paintball guns.

Effect of new agreements is a 3 percent decrease in pay

Many city employees and department managers have agreed to new contract terms that amount to a 3 percent pay cut.

Under updated agreements with both employee associations, the workers will begin paying the member contribution for the Public Employees Retirement System — something the city had traditionally paid — starting July 1, said Crescent City Manager Eugene Palazzo. 

A 5 percent cost of living adjustment will also take effect on July 1, but the member contribution to PERS amounts to 8 percent of employees’ pay, Palazzo said.

“They’re going to pick up the 8 percent PERS and be getting a 5 percent (cost of living adjustment), but they’ll be bringing home 3 percent less,” Palazzo said. “This will assist the city in balancing the budget.”

The City Council unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Crescent City Employees Association on Monday as part of the consent agenda. The Council had approved a similar agreement with the Crescent City Management Employees Association on March 18.

The current MOU between the city and both associations expired June 30, 2012. Officials estimate that the city will save about $60,000 during the term of both new MOUs, which end June 30, 2014.

Up until July 1, the city had paid a total equal to 23 percent of each employees’ salary into PERS, Palazzo said. This included the 8 percent employees’ contribution and the 15.32 percent employers’ contribution, he said. But changes to the retirement system at the state level will have all public employees paying their contribution by 2018, Palazzo said.

A Crescent City man was convicted in a jury trial last week after authorities found him with a knife.

Brian H. Martinez, 36, faces the possibility of multiple years in prison for possession of a dagger.

But before state voters changed the Three Strikes Law last year, he could have faced life in prison, said District Attorney Jon Alexander.

“Mr. Martinez has a history of brutal and violent behavior,” said Alexander.

Martinez had two prior felony convictions against him that were counted as “strikes.”

He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2010 and making criminal threats in 2000, according to court documents.

His latest conviction would have qualified as a third strike if the criteria hadn’t changed with voter approval of Proposition 36 last year, Alexander said.

The case stems from a Jan. 4 incident, in which a sheriff’s deputy was called to a fight on the 200 block of Grand Avenue, court documents state.

As the deputy was approaching the area, a truck flashed its lights at his vehicle. The truck was pulled over and Martinez was found in the back, documents state.

Redwood National and State Parks is looking for volunteers for the sixth annual Broom Bash in the Bald Hills on Saturday.

Volunteers who help remove the invasive Scotch broom from the Bald Hills will be able to hear an illustrated talk detailing the rich cultural history of the area and enjoy some spring colors.

Using historic photographs of the area, Park Ranger Jim Wheeler will describe the way the region has been used by Native Americans and Euro-American settlers, including a family that dominated sheep ranching in the Bald Hills from the 1860s to 1960s. 

Native Americans used to keep the hills “bald” using fire in order to create hunting grounds for elk and deer as well as create oak woodlands for acorns and plant materials for basket weaving, Wheeler said.

“The prairies of the Bald Hills are flush with a new carpet of green grasses in early spring, providing an emerald backdrop to the redwood high country for our efforts,” a parks press release said. 

Volunteers should meet at 9 a.m. at the Kuchel Visitor Center 1 mile south of Orick on Highway 101, where they will share a snack, get organized, and caravan up into the Bald Hills. 

A specialized drill bit for installing piles in Crescent City Harbor was delivered and attached Thursday after a bit failed last week. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Mechanical failures continue to plague work

After state regulators loosened restrictions on in-water construction in Crescent City Harbor, the last week of March became a full bore operation of installing new steel piles for docks and rock slope protection walls — even throughout the Easter holiday weekend.

The holiday haste was necessary since construction is behind schedule and the California Coastal Commission only permitted steel pile installation to continue through the end of March, after which the agency deemed that loud drilling could harm out-migrating salmon smolts, including coho, which are listed under the Endangered Species Act, from nearby Elk Creek.

Much like last fall, however, drilling for steel piles did not go as planned, as a specialized underreamer drill bit malfunctioned last Monday after only two new piles on H dock were installed, harbor officials said. 

The drill bit that failed last week was made by the same Eugene-based manufacturer that provided Dutra with a bit that failed after installing 11 steel piles in November. 

Last November’s mechanical failure prompted Dutra to employ a vibratory hammer to install as many piles as possible through Dec. 15, the last date when the Coastal Commission allowed drilling until March. Last week’s drill bit breakdown encouraged Dutra to accelerate the delivery of a new drill bit made by a South Korea-based manufacturer, according to harbor officials.

The new drill bit from across the Pacific is a different design than the previous failure-prone part from Oregon, but it is also an underreamer expansion bit, according to harbor lead engineer Ward Stover of Stover Engineering.