Rex Emerson
Special to the Sun

Hope is in the air for the Kern River Valley, its merchants, hostelries, and, of course, fishermen. It’s been almost 18 months since the upper Kern River has been stocked by the Department of Fish & Game. During that time, the economy of the Kern River Valley has been especially hard hit by vanishing tourist dollars. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, hope came in the form of more than 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout that were deposited in the Kern River, near Riverside Park in Kernville.

Greg Kellenborn, Central Region Senior Hatchery Supervisor in Fresno, deposits a few of the more than 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout in the Kern River by Riverside Park on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

“It’s about time,” said David Kiel of Bakersfield, while trying to hook one of the seven- and eight-pound rainbows. “They shouldn’t have stopped stocking in the first place.”

On the same day trout were being delivered to the Kern River, a group from the Kern River Valley was meeting at Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Sacramento office.  John Moffatt, a Kern Valley High School graduate and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Chief Deputy Legislative Affairs Secretary, and representatives from the Department of Fish and Game, met with California State Assemblymember Jean Fuller, Judy Hyatt, representing 1st District Supervisor Jon McQuiston, retired Kern River District Ranger Dave Freeland, and past president of the Friends of the Hatchery Jim Hunt.

A representative from Kern River Valley Revitalization and presidents of both the Chambers of Commerce.

The discussions covered the future planting issues for the upper Kern River. John McCamman, Department of Fish & Game Director, stated the DFG is resuming planting as they have in past years, in the absence of any injunction filed by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Following the meeting, Kernville Chamber President Jill Thurman said, “It was the unity of the valley that helped,” adding, “Staying focused on the issues at hand, got the job done.”

After hearing the news of the resumption of stocking the Kern, excited anglers from Ridgecrest and Bakersfield came to Kernville to spend the day fishing. 

Don Filker of Kernville said, “I have fished the Kern since 1943, it’s a great thing the river is being stocked again.”

“This is good. We used to come here every weekend,” said Tyle Petitti of Bakersfield. “We’ll be back.”

Coincidentally, while the Sacramento meeting was taking place, and the upper Kern River was being stocked, the Center for Biological Diversity (the organization that prevailed in seeking an injunction that put the brakes stocking) was in court filing a lawsuit contesting the DFG’s newly released report, which was the last day of the comment period. 

However, on Friday, Noah Greenwald, M.S., Endangered Species Program Director, Center for Biological Diversity issued a statement saying, “We are challenging the EIR/EIS over impacts to native species. According to Dr. Peter Moyle, the Hardhead Minnow, which is the only known species of concern in the Kern below Southern California Edison Fairview Dam, is apparently doing okay in the presence of extensive stocking. There is thus currently a low likelihood of harm to native species in this reach. We are not planning to seek an injunction to stop stocking the Kern River at this time.”