Many of you may have seen American Rivers' designation of the Kern in Bakersfield as one of America's most endangered rivers. While the North Fork Kern may not be dry, we believe it is also endangered. More than half the time, there is more water in Edison's KR3 hydroproject than there is in the dewatered riverbed. The current fish flow regime does not come close to meeting any environmental standard: whether CDFW's old "Tennant" metric, the 1991 IFIM habitat model, or the more modern California Environmental Flow Framework designed by scientists at UC Davis. The dewatered stretch routinely fails to meet state water quality standards, including those for dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, and arsenic. And Fairview Dam kills the fish below it: according to the last monitoring study, the trout population above the dam declined by about half due to drought, but below the dam the decline was 97% -- almost all were dead. We understand that American Rivers targets rivers where policy decisions are imminent, and we expect them to take a close look at the North Fork Kern in 2024, when Edison submits its final license application for another 40 years of KR3. In the meantime, help us request the studies needed to capture the full negative environmental effects of KR3 on our beloved river; we will be rolling out calls to action on studies next month. Find out more at kernriverboaters.com/kr3
