Protest Fails to Derail Plan to Poison Fish

A noisy protest by about 250 residents of Portola failed Tuesday to persuade state wildlife officials to stop plans to poison fish in a lake that provides drinking water to the Plumas County town. The state Department of Fish and Game plans this fall to kill off thousands of illegally stocked northern pike at scenic Lake Davis to keep the predatory fish from invading salmon and trout fisheries downstream. The department wants to put an organic poison called rotenone and other chemical agents, including the carcinogen trichlorethylene, into the reservoir to kill the pike. Lake Davis provides up to 50% of Portola’s water supply, depending on the time of year. State officials contend that the $2-million fish kill, scheduled for October, will only temporarily render the lake unusable for fishing or drinking water, and that no long-term health effects will occur. But residents of Portola, about seven miles south of the lake and 100 miles northeast of Sacramento, fear that the poisoning will imperil their health, lower property values and chase off tourists.