Indians Stake Claim to Coves at Lake Havasu to Save Bass

NEEDLES, Calif. —  An Indian tribe, apparently fearing destruction of a fragile compromise aimed at ending a three-year dispute between environmentalists and water-skiers, has come to the rescue of Lake Havasu bass.

A representative of the Chemehuevi Tribe told a hearing last week the tribe was claiming jurisdiction over five lake coves and would back a California Fish and Game Department proposal for construction of submerged shelters for largemouth bass.

The skiers would be prohibited from riding the cove waters once the bass shelters are built.

San Bernardino County officials had been arbitrating the matter but now say that, in light of the claim staked by the Chemehuevi Indians, it’s out of their hands.

Fish and Game Department officials said the numbers of largemouth bass in the lake have been dwindling, dropping from more than 80% of the fish population there in 1965 to less than 25% now.

California fisheries biologist Linda Ulmer blamed increasing shoreline development and a gradual buildup of silt that she said has virtually eliminated once-widespread underwater brush in which the bass found a home.