this year than it was last year at this time, but the low water level
affects tourism and the fishery itself. The Bureau of Land Management
may close the valve in the Bly Tunnel that Lassen County District 3
Supervisor Larry Wosick claims drains 1.5 million gallons a day from
the lake, but no decision has been made yet. Photo by Sam Williams
Jan. 17, 2011 — After years of debate at the Lassen County Board of
Supervisors, public hearings and study sessions, a pairof letters from
the State Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) and the California
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) requesting the closure of the valve
on the pipe running through the Bly Tunnel may cause a resolution of
the issue.
District 5 Supervisor Jack Hanson, whose family owns property
downstream on Willow Creek and has an adjudicated water right, recused
himself and left the chambers during the discussion.
Bureau of Land Management Eagle Lake Field Office Manager Ken Collum
acknowledged the agency had received the letters from the two state
agencies requesting the closure of the valve on an eight-inch pipe
that runs through the Bly Tunnel. He said both agencies apparently
have reversed their opinions regarding the flow of water through the
Bly Tunnel.
District 1 Supervisor Bob Pyle asked Collum who at the BLM would make
the final decision.
"That will be a field office manager's decision," Collum said. "The
BLM pushes the decision-making capacity down to the line officer, and
that's me."
"When do you think you'd be able to give an answer to the public?"
asked District 3 Supervisor Larry Wosick. He said a lot of people were
banking on the tunnel being closed.
"I'd say in a short, bureaucratic time frame," Collum responded. "And
I just have to say BLM will not make a decision based on emotion.
We're going to base it onwhat we have now and what we've had in the
past. In order to analyze,we do need a little bit of time. I don't
anticipate a lot of time."
Collum also wanted to set the record straight about the facts included
in the letter from the WRCB.
"We talk about facts and skimmingfacts," Collum told the Lassen County
Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday, Jan. 10 meeting.
According to Collum, the pipe in the Bly Tunnel cannot and never has
run a flow at 10-cubic-feet persecond. He said the highest measurement
ever taken at the pipe was when the lake was near its highest level
and the flow was only 3-cubic-feet per second.
"Any time you see data that says anything above 3-cubic-feet per
second, you're talking preplug, andthat's when the tunnel was
completely open," Collum said. "Skimming data is one thing, but really
knowing the facts is another."
Collum said he did not attend the board meeting to take apart the data
contained in the WRCB letter.
He noted the WRCB has called the water "percolating ground water, and
the state board has no jurisdiction over percolating ground water. I
notice they didn't refute that at all."
Collum said in the past there were two opinions from two state
agencies regarding the water flowing out of the Bly Tunnel.
He said WRCB issued an opinion when the tunnel was plugged (1968) and
DFG also issued an opinion that closing the tunnel would possibly
degrade the downstream fishery and wildlife preserve on Willow Creek.
"So, (we have) two opinions from two state agencies," Collum said.
"Now we're back to two new opinions of two state agencies. Right now
we just got this (letter) the end of December, so we have,really, the
foundations of an opinion from two state agencies that they reversed
themselves on. We have to determine how that impacts where we go in
the future, and that's where we are right now. We're looking into it,
and we're seeing how these two state agencies and the reversal of
their opinions might possibly influence what we do in the future with
that pipe."
District 4 Supervisor Brian Dahle said he visited the tunnel last
spring and estimated the flow from the pipe was about one- or
two-cubic-feet per second. He saidhe supported closing the valve
because it would stop all the controversy surrounding the pipe and
determine how much water flows through the cracks or as seepage.
"The problem with the whole issue is we have no power here," Dahle said.
He also said he believed part of the problem was all the vegetation
that uses water from the Pine Creek watershed and the areas
surrounding the lake. The excessivevegetation absorbs water that never
reaches the lake.
District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman said another part of the problem
might be the 300 to 400 wells that have been drilled around Eagle Lake
as the area was developed for commercial and residential uses
He also said Eagle Lake water could not be flowing into the tunnel
because the lake level is about 30 feet lower than the tunnel's inlet.
He said God provides water for the Earth through rainfall, and the
Eagle Lake Basin frequently does not receive enough rainfall many year
to recharge the lake.
Wosick continued to press for the closure of the valve.
"Until that valve is closed," Wosick said, "Eagle Lake won't seriously
begin to heal itself."
The board unanimously approved writing a short letter to BLM
encouraging the agency to close the valve
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