[env-trinity] Tribes heading to Scotland to seek salmon passage over Klamath Dams

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/07/09/special_reports/science_technology/19_22_447_8_04.txt

Special Reports: Science & Technology
Last modified Thursday, July 8, 2004 9:54 PM PDT 


     
     
     
     
     

        
Tribes heading to Scotland to seek salmon passage over Klamath Dams

By: JEFF BARNARD - Associated Press 

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Indian tribes, commercial fisherman and conservationists are going to Scotland to pressure PacifiCorp's parent company to give salmon a way over dams on the Klamath River.

Representatives of the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk and Klamath tribes, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Friends of the River plan to make their case at the July 23 annual general stockholder's meeting of Scottish Power in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

"We think its important that they see and talk to a real live Yurok and other Indians of the Klamath river," said Troy Fletcher, executive director of the Yurok Tribe, whose reservation lies along the lowest reach of the Klamath. "They need to see that we're human beings. They need to see we have culture and traditions that have been here since the beginning of time. And they need to see that their actions have very real impact on our people."

     
The tribes, conservationists and fishing organizations met with PacifiCorp over the past two years discussing their desire to open 350 miles of habitat upstream of the dams to salmon. But when the utility sent its application for a new operating license to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last March, there was no proposal for restoring salmon passage.

The coalition hopes to be able to get into the Scottish Power meeting as guests of stockholders and make their case to the company, said Craig Tucker of Friends of the River, a conservation group. They are also talking to investment groups that hold major blocks of Scottish Power stock.

"Scottish power has an international reputation as a green energy provider," Tucker said. "I'm hoping that once they hear the story of what is happening on the Klamath directly, that they'll want to help."

Glen Spain of the Pacific Federation of Fishermen's Associations, which represents California commercial salmon fishermen, said it was important to educate the managers of Scottish Power about the cultural and economic harm their outdated dams were causing people in the Klamath Basin.

Once the third-largest producer of salmon on the West Coast, the Klamath River has produced only a fraction of its historic runs since the series of six dams was built was built between 1908 and 1962. To protect the Klamath's struggling salmon runs, federal fisheries managers have long cut back sport and commercial seasons off Northern California and southern Oregon.

Though the dams only produce 151 megawatts, enough to power about 77,500 homes, PacifiCorp still considers them very valuable because they can be used to meet sudden demands for power, such as winter mornings when people turn on the furnaces in their homes.

The utility has estimated building fish ladders to help spawning adults swim over dams and screens to keep young fish migrating downstream out of turbines would cost $100 million. It has said it would be more willing to consider hauling fish around the dams in trucks.

PacifiCorp CEO Judi Johansen, who will attend the stockholders meeting, is willing to meet with the tribes beforehand to discuss a settlement process for license renewal, said spokesman Jon Coney.

"The tribes are free to do this, but it's not really necessary, because we believe their best opportunity to air and resolve these issues surrounding the Klamath project is right here in the US," Coney said. "This is where the licensing process is taking place. We are nowhere near the end of this process and nowhere near the end of settlement discussions."

Coney said Scottish Power takes "very seriously" the tribes' desire to restore salmon runs, as well as a $1 billion lawsuit the Klamath Tribes have filed against PacifiCorp for damages from the loss of salmon.

Fletcher said none of the tribes along the river benefit from electricity produced by the dams, and all have been hurt by the loss of salmon, which are central to their culture.

The fight over the dams comes on top of the long-standing fight over sharing scarce water between endangered suckers above the dams, threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River, and farms irrigated by the Klamath Reclamation Project, which was partially shut down during the 2001 drought to protect fish.
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