LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday put off a decision on whether to adopt a proclamation declaring a local emergency regarding the rapid decline of the Clear Lake hitch.

On Tuesday evening, following several hours of presentations, testimony and public input about the native fish’s increasingly desperate situation, the board — appearing exhausted individually and as a group — reached consensus to consider the information and bring the proclamation back for a decision at its Feb. 7 meeting.

The meeting highlighted the disagreements over the causes of the fish’s decline as well as what measures might help save it.

The tribes want to see fewer diversions from creeks and wells, especially when it comes to frost protection practices which take place earlier in the year and overlap with the spawning season.

In response, members of the agriculture community raised issue with not having been invited to the table during the discussions with state and federal officials and tribes, disputed the idea that pumping less groundwater would impact surface water, and said if frost protection isn’t available, some crops — pears and winegrapes in particular — would no longer be viable.

The proclamation the board considered Tuesday, which was brought forward by supervisors EJ Crandell and Michael Green, can be seen below.

It includes nine proposed actions, ranging from asking the governor to declare a state of emergency due to persistent drought and habitat loss, to requests for emergency action from several local, state and federal agencies — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake, the State Water Resources Control Board, California Fish and Game Commission, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management and the Lake County Water Resources Department.

Much is at stake in the case of the hitch, the population of which is believed to be so dangerously low that state officials said it could become the first species in California to become extinct in 50 years.

“This is not a situation that any one entity can resolve,” said Erika Zavalete, vice president of the California Fish and Game Commission, one of the many state officials who spoke on Tuesday and who offered her support for the board’s emergency proclamation.

Adding to the urgency is that the hitch has great cultural significance for Lake County’s tribes, members of which recalled fishing for them and using them for sustenance.

The Clear Lake hitch is one of three hitch subspecies in California. The other two are the Monterey hitch and the Sacramento hitch.

Another native fish to Clear Lake, the Clear Lake splittail, is believed to be extinct as it hasn’t been seen since the 1970s and was preyed upon by bass and catfish, with competition by silversides that were introduced into the lake.

The hitch is a moderate-sized minnow that has a six year lifespan, with females having just four years to contribute to the population.

It is a potamodromous fish, meaning it mostly matures in the lake. The juveniles rear near shore and in Clear Lake’s tributaries, while the adults occupy deeper water, feeding on aquatic invertebrates during daylight hours.

The hitch spawns from February through May or June, spawning over shallow, clean gravel, primarily in tributaries, although some spawning occurs in the lake.

The United States Geological Survey has been conducting summer gill net surveys since 2017, the last year that they found a significant population of juvenile hitch. Since then, the juveniles have declined precipitously, to the point where over the past few years few, if any, have been found.

A number of factors have contributed to their decline, which began to be recorded in the 1950s. There are water quality and contamination issues and climate impacts, including dry periods that result in low water, which makes it difficult for the hitch to move past barriers and get to the lake.

Physical barriers alone — which include roads and other forms of development — have had a major impact on the hitch. It’s estimated that there has been a loss of 92% of the hitch’s historically available habitat due to physical barriers, according to Felipe La Luz, environmental biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Plus, there is predation by invasive species, such as the common carp, which eat hitch eggs and also burrow deep into the lakebed, as well as competition from threadfin shad and silversides, also species introduced from the outside.

In 2014, the hitch was listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act, but the federal government hasn’t done the same. The Center for Biological Diversity challenged that decision in federal court, but while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reconsidering listing the hitch, a decision won’t be made until 2025.

By then, tribes and state and local officials are concerned it will be too late.

On Nov. 3, the California Fish and Game Commission wrote to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to request emergency listing of the hitch under the Endangered Species Act, with the Center for Biological Diversity and several Lake County tribes joining the effort to advocate for that action in December.

The tribes and state and local officials also held a summit on the situation in December.

La Luz, one of a number of state officials who spoke to the supervisors on Tuesday afternoon, said the situation with the hitch is moving much faster than CDFW is used to moving as a state agency. He said the hitch’s issues don’t fall under any one agency and it’s necessary to work together to keep them on the landscape.



Deep disagreements over causes

“We don’t want to have the Clear Lake hitch go extinct,” said Sarah Ryan, the environmental director and emergency management director for the Big Valley Pomo, who was one of the presenters during the Tuesday afternoon meeting.

After the tribe heard from a state biologist who said that unless big things change, the hitch will become extinct, “It really threw us into high gear,” said Ryan.

Ryan pointed to challenges such as people diverting water and damming up creeks, low water levels in creeks, and a need to better monitor and document ag water use.

Her recommendations included surface water curtailments on all Clear Lake creeks for declared dry years during hitch spawning season; installing live reading gauges in the creeks where hitch spawn, including Adobe and Kelsey creeks; a water release from reservoirs during the hitch’s historic spawning run period; aquifer recharge; and groundwater pumping curtailments within one mile of Clear Lake creeks for declared dry years during the spawning season.

Peter Windrem, a farmer and retired lawyer who has lived on Kelsey Creek his entire life, co-founded the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch. He and other volunteers who spent years monitoring the hitch have seen their numbers decline starting in the 1970s.

Windrem questioned the conclusions about the impacts of frost protection on hitch spawning and said winegrapes and pears can’t be raised in Big Valley without frost protection.

He said that, since 2004, Adobe Creek has never failed to have a hitch spawning run, unlike other tributaries to Clear Lake.

Windrem said farmers and ag need to be part of this discussion. “They have not been asked to participate in any of these discussions going on between the tries and the governmental agencies or anyone else and we’re the folks who know.”

Testimony from more tribal and agricultural interests, along with state officials, as well as board discussion continued until after 7 p.m.

The board reached consensus to bring the matter back, citing the amount of information to consider.

That continuation is anticipated to take place at the board’s next regular meeting on Feb. 7. The board normally does not have meetings on the fifth Tuesday of the month.

Proposed actions from the draft proclamation:

1. That the Governor proclaim a State of Emergency in Lake County due to persistent drought and habitat loss such that the potential extinction of the Clear Lake hitch appears to be imminent unless immediate and direct action is taken, and local resources are inadequate to cope with the emergency.

2. That the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) provide emergency funding and resources adequate to protect the Clear Lake hitch while its court-ordered review process is under way, and to promptly disclose any legal or financial constraints which would limit such emergency support.

3. That USFWS, among its other emergency actions, prioritize and expedite completion of the draft Clear Lake Hitch Strategy in coordination and cooperation with other government agencies and native sovereign nations and timely circulate the strategy for signatures and implementation.

4. That the chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake convene a meeting as soon as practical to consider the status of the Clear Lake hitch and threats to its 2023 spawning run, accept public testimony, and prioritize and approve hitch-beneficial projects, activities and funding.

5. That the State Water Resources Control Board immediately order and direct enhanced compliance and enforcement activities to stop illegal water diversions affecting Clear Lake and its tributaries; and to enforce the adopted orders of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program and Cannabis Cultivation Waste Discharge Regulatory Program to ensure they are protective of Clear Lake hitch habitats as applied.

6. That the State Water Resources Control Board consider whether to develop emergency regulations and/or information order, as may be appropriate, to help to establish and monitor interim and restorative instream flow levels and/or seasonal curtailment of surface stream diversions from Lake County watercourses in order to assure the continued viability of the Clear Lake hitch and other aquatic species, pursuant to Water Code §§ 1058.5 and 1259.4(a)(2) and Public Resources Code § 10000, et seq.

7. That the California Fish and Game Commission and/or California Department of Fish and Wildlife, as may be appropriate, take reasonable steps to consider whether emergency regulations or amendments to sport fishing regulations are needed to reduce predation of Clear Lake hitch by carp and other non-native predatory fish; to consider whether establishment of one or more chi fish hatcheries or refuges within the County of Lake is feasible and warranted; to review and recommend shoreline habitat improvement strategies and projects; and for the Fish and Game Commission to schedule and conduct at least one meeting within the County of Lake to accept public testimony regarding any chi-related actions.

8. That the Ukiah field office manager of the Bureau of Land Management take reasonable and prudent steps to identify and mitigate erosion and sediment transport attributed to fire, flood, off-highway vehicle use, abandoned mines in and near stream channels, and any other conditions that may adversely affect Clear Lake hitch migration and survival within and downstream of BLM-managed lands and waterways, including Cache Creek Wilderness and North and South Cow Mountain Recreation areas.

9. That the Lake County Water Resources Department submit a mid-year budget request authorizing reimbursement for unanticipated costs for chi-related projects and programs, the amount and source(s) of such funding being contingent upon review and approval by the Board of Supervisors.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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