[env-trinity] Times Standard June 23 Klamath Rally

[Byron]

Tribes, fishermen rally for Klamath salmon 

Eureka Times-Standard - 6/23/04

By John Driscoll, staff writer

About 100 American Indians, fishermen and environmentalists lined U.S.
Highway 101 here with a message to federal regulators: Tear down the Klamath
River dams. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is weighing Portland, Ore.,-based
PacifiCorp's request for a 50-year license for six dams. The commission
scheduled the public hearing at the Red Lion Inn after hundreds wrote in to
complain that its other four meetings were all held inland -- far from the
North Coast, which is most affected by the hydropower project. 

Protesters said the Scottish Power subsidiary's dams block salmon from
reaching historic spawning grounds, and its reservoirs heat and foul water
that is sent to the remaining fish runs on the lower river. That has in
large part devastated a legendary fishery for Indians and commercial and
sport fishermen, they said.

Robley Schwenk, a Yurok Indian born on the lower Klamath in 1936, said he's
watched as runs of salmon, lamprey, candlefish and sturgeon have plummeted.

"There used to be a multitude of tourists and fish," Schwenk said.

But PacifiCorp has ignored the idea of removing the dams, or even building
fish ladders to pass salmon above the dams, he said. 

The National Research Council and the California Energy Commission have also
called for an analysis of decommissioning at least one of the dams. 

Drivers in rush-hour traffic honked their horns in support of the
protesters, who carried signs that said, "Save our Salmon" and,
"Corporations swim in money, fish in water."

Yurok tribal member Glenn Scott said he hopes to raise public awareness to
the Klamath's problems. Massive fish kills, like the one in 2002, and the
hundreds of thousands of young fish dying of diseases in recent years point
to a troubled system, Scott said.

"Fish can't afford to wait for better water," Scott said.

Some said they've seen their livelihoods evaporate with increasing fishing
restrictions meant to protect Klamath salmon. The Klamath's struggling
salmon influence quotas and seasons from Oregon to San Francisco, driving
hundreds from the industry in the past 20 years. 

Former commercial salmon fisherman and lower river fishing guide Craig Bell
said there's no time to wait for action on FERC's part.

Bell called for immediate interim measures to improve river conditions
followed by a quick, complete analysis of the dams' effects. 

"We want some action fairly rapidly," Bell said.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Consultant, California Trout, Inc.

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 519 4810 ce

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

 <mailto:bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org> bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org
(secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

 

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