WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Monday set up a new task force to wrangle California water decisions, with long-term hopes of consolidating protections for smelt and salmon. The new task force eventually envisions one unified environmental management plan assisting the fish species dependent upon the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Guided by an Interior Department veteran with considerable California experience, the task force has shorter-term goals, as well. "(This will) ensure that we are coordinating to use state-of-the-art science and to find the best alternatives to protect both endangered fish and water supplies," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. Salazar and his Commerce Department counterpart, Gary Locke, oversee the two federal agencies responsible for protection of the smelt and salmon.