DFG News Release

Lake Davis Northern Pike Eradication Project Update Open House Scheduled

An open house to provide updated information pertaining to the Lake Davis Northern Pike Eradication Project is scheduled Feb. 2 in Portola. The event, co-hosted by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Eastern Plumas Healthcare Education Room, 500 First Avenue, Portola.

Staff from the DFG, the USFS, and the Department of Public Health (DPH) will give presentations and answer questions from the public. Speakers will review last year’s treatment process, on-going monitoring procedures, and discuss future actions, including the planned re-stocking of nearly 1 million Eagle Lake trout to re-establish Lake Davis’ high-quality trout fishery. The open house will also feature staffed information stations.

The USFS on Jan. 18 lifted the temporary closure of Lake Davis prompted by the Lake Davis Northern Pike Eradication Project. Although currently frozen over, Lake Davis and the area surrounding the reservoir are open to the public for winter recreation opportunities. The DPH has confirmed no detectable levels of the chemicals used to treat the reservoir in the surface waters of Lake Davis.

After several years of control and containment efforts at Lake Davis, the state moved to eradicate the predatory, non-native northern pike last September. DFG officials treated the Plumas County reservoir, which is on USFS land, and its tributary streams with CFT Legumine, a new liquid formulation of rotenone, one of the only chemicals licensed to kill fish in California.

Pike devastated the local fishery and had a subsequent negative impact on the local economy since 1999, when they reappeared after a pike eradication project in October 1997. If they had escaped from the reservoir, pike could have caused irreversible ecological and economic harm to other areas of the state and region, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Keeping pike out of Lake Davis and other California waters benefits everyone. It is a crime to introduce pike to waters in California, with a maximum penalty of $50,000 and up to a year in jail. In addition, violators are liable to pay damages caused to property, sport and commercial fisheries, and local communities who depend on those fisheries. Any future introductions of pike will be investigated and will be prosecuted to the extent allowed under the law. In addition, anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person who unlawfully places or plants, or causes to be placed or planted, in any of the waters of the State, any live fish, any fresh or salt water animal, or any aquatic plant, is eligible for a reward of up to $50,000.

Visit www.dfg.ca.gov/lakedavis for more information or call (530) 832-4069.