"Plan to Save Delta Smelt Faces Tough Road"

"California agencies released a three-year plan to bring delta smelt back from the brink of extinction, but some of the goals and the overall feasibility of the plan have been questioned."

"When a coalition of California and federal agencies announced a new Delta Smelt Resiliency Strategy last week, the ambitious plan to save the region’s nearly extinct fish grabbed headlines.

But whether most, or even parts, of the comprehensive program can realistically put in place the changes needed to rescue this endangered native species is another question.

'I understand what they are aiming at doing and why. But how achievable it is, and whether or not it will result in the desired outcome, is a different matter,' said Richard Connon, a toxicologist at the University of California, Davis, who studies the impacts of contaminants on smelt and other fish."

Michael Levitin reports for Water Deeply July 20, 2016.