The battle for fish control dams in the migrant desert
Over the past three decades, the Emigrant Wilderness, located north of Yosemite National Park, has been the scene of a dispute over 18 small stone “check dams” built during the first half of the 20th century. On one side in favor of the dams have been fishermen, wild campers and advocates seeking to preserve local history. Environmentalists have argued against them that they believe a wilderness area should not contain any man-made structures, except perhaps footpaths and an occasional trail sign.
Emigrant Wilderness, part of the Stanislaus National Forest, encompasses 100 named lakes and around 500 smaller, unnamed lakes. It contains miles and miles of streams, the headwaters of the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers. But it wasn’t always the fishing paradise that it is today.
Shortly after the last migrant carts left the mountains near Sonora Pass in the 1850s, ranchers and sheepherders began grazing their animals on the high grasslands that are now part of the Migrant Wilderness Area. Finding fish shortages in the lakes that dot the region, ranchers began hauling buckets of native fish from lower-lying lakes and streams and dumping them into alpine lakes.
In the late 1800s, great lakes like Kennedy Lake and Emigrant Lake became popular fishing destinations, attracting sportsmen from golden towns like Sonora and Columbia and from valley cities like Modesto and Stockton. The only significant reservoir at the time was Strawberry Lake, today Pinecrest Lake. Most river and stream fishing is done at low elevations along the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers. Because high-altitude streams and some lakes tended to dry up in late summer and fall, they did not provide adequate habitat to support fish populations.
Construction of control dams
Around 1900, a local young man named Fred Leighton began making his way into the highlands near Sonora Pass. He soon realized that if only some of the lakes could be regulated with what he would call “check dams,” more water could be stored in the lakes and then released at a slower rate in early summer during the thaw. As a result, there would still be a reservoir of water in the lakes when late summer and rainless fall came, so adequate current flow could be maintained to provide habitat for native trout. They would also serve as an early method of flood control.
Beginning in the 1920s, Leighton and a team of volunteers began building a series of low-lying “check dams” on key lakes. They brought supplies to the highlands on pack animals and built the dams by hand with stones and mortar. They received the full support of the US Forest Service, California Fish and Game, and many local organizations.
The first dam was built on Yellowhammer Lake at the head of Cherry Creek, just two miles north of the Yosemite boundary. Over the years, 17 more dams were built. Most were in lakes, including Lower Buck Lake, Bigelow Lake, Emigrant Lake, Emigrant Meadow Lake, and Huckleberry Lake. Two dams were built along the streams, creating reservoirs to provide summer irrigation water to the grasslands. The last two dams were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1941.
As a result of the dams, fishing improved considerably in the region with rainbow, brown and brook trout populating the waters. Every summer fishermen flocked to the highlands, carrying pack animals from trails like Pinecrest, Kennedy Meadows, Gianelli’s cabin.
The designation of the emigrant desert
The beginning of the end of the “check dams” came in 1975, when the region was designated as the emigrant desert. The Wilderness Act of 1964 prohibits virtually any type of man-made structure within the boundaries of a wilderness area. Exceptions made for historic structures like the first log cabins have been rare. For a time it seemed that “containment dams” would fall into the category of historical features. Many of them were eligible to be included in the historical register. Most of them were only a few feet tall and hardly intrusive. Others saw them differently.
The battle for “check dams” continued for decades. In 1988, the Stanislaus National Forest Regional Ranger ordered the removal of all dams. His decision sparked a public outcry and soon after he changed his position. Then, in 1991, the Forest Service began developing a Land Resources Management Plan for the area. At the same time, Rep. John Doolittle tried, but failed, to get Congress to pass a bill to protect dams.
Meanwhile, evidence mounted that the dams were in dire need of repair. Some had been vandalized, others were simply eroding. The spill valves were lost under the silt. Finally, in 1998, the Forest Service decided to rebuild 8 of the decaying dams to keep the stream flowing. But just a year later, the Forester Regional reversed that decision. He took the position that there was no evidence that dams were necessary. Restocking kept fish levels at an acceptable level.
The decision of the US District Court.
The “check dam” dispute came to an end in 2006 when Wilderness Watch and other environmental groups filed the following lawsuit to stop proposed maintenance of the dams. Both parties argued persuasively. Advocates for the dams noted their historical value, non-intrusive nature, and benefit to wildlife habitat. Wilderness purists pointed out that there was nothing in the Wilderness Act that would allow such structures within the boundaries of migrant wilderness areas. In addition, the Forest Service had admitted that the fish populations were self-sufficient. The construction of the dam at Cherry Reservoir in 1957 had long negated the need for upstream flood control.
Judge Anthony W. Ishii ruled in June 2006 that the dams could not be rebuilt or maintained. But they didn’t have to be dismantled either. They would be left to rot naturally.
“The area manifested its desert character before the dams were in place and it would lose nothing in the way of desert values if the dams were not present,” Ishii wrote in his decision. “What would be lost is some improvement for a particular use of the area (fishing), but that use, while perhaps popular, is not an integral part of the wilderness of that area.”
With that decision, the fate of Fred Leighton’s “containment levees” appears to have been resolved. Even without maintenance, many of them can last another century or more. Meanwhile, fish populations have been stable. Every summer, thousands of visitors flock to the Emigrant Wilderness to fish, camp, and enjoy the pristine beauty of the area.