Canales News Briefs

July 1, 2009

To All,

This is for my "homies" in Fresno, and for all of La Raza that are out of work right now because the gringoes in Frisco like a little fish, or a pet vulture, more than hungry kids:

Fool Me Once, Shame On You...:

My friend Jim called me the other day. "What was that you said about them being able to grow Delta Smelt? You know, that's a hot topic up here".

Jim lives in Fresno near CA-99, but I had also seen the other day what had seemed like a couple hundred miles of signs blasting the "drought caused by Congress" along I-5 headed north to the Sacramento area. Water has been cut to California's farmers because some say The Powers That Be need to dilute ammonia runoff from the expanded population in the Sacramento area. Others blame some pumps in a water project as being something like a "Smelt-O-Matic" whenever they are turned on. Still more say that the smelt's food has dropped off due to waterweed invasions, or invasive species supplanting their normal food sources.

"Uh, yeah, I ran into it doing research on UC Davis," I said. "They at least had fish tanks and everything, and potentially a capacity to grow up to, I think, 600,000 Delta smelt a year. At least they did about a year ago or so.".

"Well," he said, "some folks just can't believe it and I wonder if you can get me that information again?".

"Sure, no problem, I think I have it here," I said. Like somewhere between files labeled "Johnson study revised" and "tail number of a certain Cessna 210 tied down in the Carmel Valley" (FAA ID omitted here because "chin music" is not called for in this occasion). But after fumbling for a couple of cell phone minutes worth of extra charges trying to type with 1 finger, I told him "Let me call you back, it won't be long".

Once freed of the chore of holding a Verizon cell phone to my ear, I ran some strings through a search engine and once again found the information that continues to amaze me to this day.

As noted at a California Department of Water Resources website, this "smelt farm" (which seems to have plenty of water, no?) in the state photo provides Delta smelt to researchers trying figure out how to save a species that, among other things, striped bass probably would find very tasty (Another Hint- try no bag limits on striped bass fishing. Either that, or figure out how to breed a smelt that tastes like an habanero to every predator in the Delta.).

Inside, one sees tanks arranged in rows, like so many washing machines from a "Leave It To Beaver" July 4 Marathon on TVLand.

Well, further digging found that the 600,000 smelt a year number was way off. Combined between two facilities, the UC Davis Fish Culture and Conservation Lab and the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery, they say that some 75,000-80,000 delta smelt could be raised per year under laboratory conditions. It would have to probably take finding one down-on-his-luck-domestic-catfish-farmer, who had been aced out of a living by Southeast Asian catfish imports, to probably have the capacity and the experience in handling turbid water fish to zap this into the previously thought 600,000 per year.

Still, when one is used to condor breeding rates of one per pair every other year, starting at age 6 or so, Delta smelt look like comparative bunny rabbits from the proliferation standpoint. It's clear that Delta smelt are not near extinction when one combines the captive breeding effort with the more scattered, and potentially thinner, wild populations still likely to be floating around in the Delta.

Yet for some strange reason, despite these precautions a decade in the making, water is being held back from the Central Valley over this issue. It sort of makes one wonder what the kangaroo rats of Bakersfield tractor fame (or deer, or elk, or quail, or pheasant, or dove, or ducks, or...) are going to do for the wet stuff. Or, that matter, what condors are going to do for "wild" cattle to eat if the water table is drawn down to the point that the ranchers close up shop and move to the Midwest (I had previously thought that Dr. Loft's "biomass" model was fairly accurate, despite the current disagreement over the availability of raw data on condor blood lead levels to the public at large.).

It will take more then political effort to change this situation, perhaps even outrage the likes we have not seen since Federal Law Enforcement hauled off a combine to jail for running over that famous jerboa so long ago. But until the city swells of California's urban jungles start figuring out that they cannot eat food that's not being grown, we might continue to see the Birkenstock Tyranny at it's worst over the coming months. Until regulations are made more rational, and bureaucrats given the leeway to both preserve and be given authority to allow for folks to make a living, we are going to be in a common sense drought for years to come. Stay tuned.

Links at:

http://www.water.ca.gov/newsroom/photo/smelt.cfm

http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jul/07/hatchery-program-breeds-delta-smelt/

http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentVersionID=12504


http://www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/extension/update/articles/v10n4_1.pdf

http://caba.ucdavis.edu/docs/Bridges-Lindberg__DSrefuge.pdf

http://www.fws.gov/stockton/jfmp/docs/Delta_Smelt_CSC_2008.pps

http://rtc.sfsu.edu/documents/SmeltstudiesJune22.pdf

http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=10287004&clienttype=mobile

http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/tech_services/tracy_research/studyplan/StudyPlan

2008-012.html

http://www.metroactive.com/bohemian/04.22.09/news-0916.html

http://resources.ca.gov/bdcp/docs/2.8.08_HO_Briefing_Paper_

New_Facility_Planning.pdf

Fool Me Twice, ...Never:

     So, what did happen up in Woodland during the Fish & Game hearings

on June 24 and June 25? Folks who knew I was going there to present the

first set of documents from PRAR's and FOIA's in progress on the condor issue

for up to 5 months say they were interested in learning what happened.

     Well, it's safe to say that DFG and Commission staff seemed surprised,

to say the least, to see the legal binders full of "Bates-Stamped" documents

being handed in. (For those not addicted to the television law shows,

"Bates-Stamping" is the way lawyers identify pages of documents when they

are prepared for a legal action).

     It's also not often one sees the Condor Studbook, December 2008 revision, put

into the public record for all to see (The Studbook is supposedly a record of all

movements, releases, recaptures, and end result dates of all California Condors since

the recovery program started capturing them for study). And if Dale Steele and

Dr. Eric Loft had not gotten the latest copy from the San Diego Wild Animal Park,

well, suffice it to say they now have access to up to eight of them (5 for the

Commissioners, 3 for staff).

     But perhaps what may be peaking bureaucrat interest up at 1416 9th Street, or

for that matter among any sextuagenerian lap dogs at their beck and call, is that

a number of fairly interesting emails have also been placed in the public record for

reference purposes.

     As mentioned in the June 27 News Briefs linked Here, a communication from Dr.

Robert Risebrough dated August 5, 2008 to the entire Condor Recovery Team deserves

"special" consideration when one tries to take the whole condor mess into account:

"...Open Letter to the Members of the Blue Ribbon Panel:

I must respectfully but strongly disagree with some of the scientific rationale

used in the preparation of your report. This rationale lacks the rigor expected from

a committee of scientists. As a result your report loses credibility.

You conclude 'that condors suffer lead poisoning from ingestion of spent

ammunition in carcasses and gut piles upon which they feed sufficiently frequently

to raise mortality rates well above those required for sustainability', that rate assumed

to be 10%. Furthermore 'The evidence on this point is overwhelming'. This is what

we believe happened in the 1980's and what would happen if the supplemental

feeding program were to end, but it is not an accurate description of the present

situations. For the birds released in California the evidence in support of this is

somewhat less than 'overwhelming'. In fact there is no support at all; over the past

four years mortalities from all causes have been less than 10%...

...Ratios of 207Pb/206Pb in the kidney and liver of condor 132 were 0.8048 and

0.8058, marginally below 97.5% of the ammunition sampled, and significantly

lower than the ratio of 0.8207 recorded in the bone. More than one source of

lead is therefore indicated; I would find it very difficult to state on a witness stand

that ammunition was the source of lead that killed the bird, although I believe

that this is almost certainly the case...

...The death of Condor 175 was originally attributed to an attack by a golden eagle

that was feeding on the carcass. A remaining portion of the liver was not analyzed

at the time. Later analysis of a bone sample at UCSC recorded a concentration of

6.3 ppm, equivalent to that in the bone of Condor 165 which died from lead

poisoning in Arizona with about 16 lead pellets in it's gizzard. The isotope ratio

was 0.886, very different from that in the ammunition measured so far. These

findings prompted analysis of the liver, which had a lead concentration indicating

a lethal exposure. At the present time, pending analysis of more ammunition

samples, we can not conclude or even assume that this lead had an ammunition

source. The hypothesis that it came from microtrash can not be excluded...

...Three condors, 170, 245, and 238 died at the Los Angeles Zoo after field tests

indicated lead concentrations in the blood exceeding the capacity of the instrument

and after the initiation of chelation therapy. There were no clinical symptoms other

than the high blood concentrations. Very low lead concentrations were later recorded

in the livers, indicating low body burdens. The most recent death, of 238, is

attributed to renal failure associated with the kind of chelation therapy used. Until

now the deaths of 245 and 170 have been attributed to lead poisoning, with

complications associated with the chelation therapy...

...Granted, some of the disappearances with unknown causes of death could have

been caused by lead poisoning. Debilitation from effects of lead could have

contributed to deaths. But we must distinguish between Science and Speculation.

So far the scientific evidence limits the number of California deaths attributed to

lead poisoning to the range of 2-4, depending on the interpretation...

...But even the highest estimate of lead-induced mortalities would not bring the

annual mortality to 10%. Beginning in 2000 total mortalities in California have

been 17, 13, 8, 22, 0, 2, 4 and 6% of the wild population including birds fledged

in the wild but not including chicks in the nest, with two mortalities so far this

year, a flying population of 82, and 8 chicks hatched in the wild.

Yes, this is an artificial situation, with supplemental feeding and treatments for

lead and microtrash, but by your definition the population would be considered

self-sustaining since 2003..."

While I personally do not grow tired reading these excerpts, perhaps one needs to put these in context for the non-"condor-obsessed" out there.

One needs to remember that AB 821, the lead ammunition "ban" while hunting certain kinds of game in "Condor Country" (Deer zones D-7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, and South A), was predicated upon claims of certainty that lead ammunition was the primary source of mortality in California condors in the modern time. Not lead from any other sources, just lead ammunition.

Now, these claims were not only being made despite the Condor Recovery Team knowing internally that condors are garbage hounds with a habit of eating just about any junk lying around in the environment (That's what comes from reading emails received through a public act request). These claims were also being made despite RKBA activists calling peer reviewed studies to the attention of such authorities as the California Fish & Game Commission in public meetings in August 2007 (barely a year before the above screed was written and secretly distributed to the Condor Elite), and being ignored by some appointees too "certain" to read the documents presented, or listen to the one experienced appointee sharing the same dais with them.

As such, the state of the science, in Dr. Risebrough's mind and in his own writing, in 2008, was that the American Ornithological Union/California Audubon's "hand-picked" panel could not substantiate a number of statements made as part of an "independent blue ribbon panel". (Drs. Fry and Haig were either previously involved, or actively involved at the time of the writing of the AOU/CA Audubon, in the California Condor Recovery effort. Dr. Fry had done previous work, a 2003 report with a 2004 follow-up on lead threats in the condor environment. Dr. Haig was, at least at the time of the AOU/CA Audubon report, actively involved in site evaluation studies for possible condor release sites in Oregon.).

He starts with the general denial of lack of rigor, and then points out the key fact that all condor mortalities combined in California after re-releases were initiated did not even add up to 10% mortality. That means power line collisions (as many as 11), West Nile, predation (it seems that Wile E. Coyote can catch condors, if not Road Runners...), all heavy metal poisonings from all types of environmental metals (copper, zinc, and lead are reported in a number of unsigned reports released to the public...), and even pesticide poisonings (Some squirrels previously reported as shot with shotgun shot were also apparently contaminated with rodenticide. Add this to DDE residues, and the Condor Recovery Program has a BIG problem out there.).

If all mortalities combined do not add up to 10%, he is effectively pointing out that the AOU folks cannot be right in claiming that ammunition lead alone would exceed that very number.

Another revelation is that there were different isotopic ratios of lead found in different parts measured from Condor # 132. For those out there with better things to do than read the Final Environmental Document Final Document, # 132 was the one condor noted by DFG staff to have known to have died from lead poisoning as of December 2007. He notes that with more isotopic ratios of lead were found in the bird, he would have a hard time "...on the witness stand..." saying it twas lead ammo that killed the beast (Subsequent emails from Dr. Bruce Rideout to Dr. Risebrough submitted at Woodland would describe the potential source of lead that killed # 132 as a wood-grey object, and not describable as something made of metal.).

Likewise in the case of Condor # 175, where once again ammunition as a source of lead is not certain, and that "microtrash" (wheel weights, or foils, or paints or other environmental detritus) cannot be eliminated from consideration as the "culprit" from the CRT's "armchair" forensic quarterbacking.

   As for Condors 175, 245, and 238, the revelation of chelation-related injuries in the California

flock was more than interesting given that reports so far have led one to believe that only

veterinarians (specially qualified ones declared on the Memorandum of Understanding signed

with the State, to be exact) have performed medical treatments on condors. Given that chelation

has lead to mortalities in human children when mis-applied, it perhaps was to be expected

given the differences in protocols (Humans get it by intravenous injection, generally, but

condors get it through intra-muscular injection in the chest muscle.). Whether these chelation

events turn out to be simple veterinary error with an Endangered Species, or something more

problematic, remains to be determined.

   Risebrough continues with his estimates regarding lead mortalities, noting that depending

upon definitions, at the most 2-4 condors can be attributed to have died due to lead. That

does not mean, given the findings for Condor # 132 or #175 (at least half of his estimate), that

these birds died due to lead from ammunition from any source. The case against lead ammunition,

thought instinctual even in Dr. Risebrough's case, cannot be distinguished better than speculation

unless one decides to suspend scientific rigor in a program involving $ 40 million in taxpayer dollars,

and an unknown amount in charitable contribution-cum-tax-deductions to recovery "partners" with

a strange reluctance to have their work released to the public (We are still waiting, Ms. Flick...).

   Remember, the Risebrough "Open Letter" is but one of a number of documents available to

the public through a request to the DFG and the Commission through normal channels. As the

days progress and additional submissions are discussed in this blog, interested parties can

contact the Commission or the DFG staff and respectfully request copies from the public record

for the documents as labeled in the June 27 posting. After all, seeing is believing. Though, in

this case of the Condor Recovery Program, you won't believe it when you see it.

Stay tuned.

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA

except as noted.