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

[Michael and Ruth Jackson]

Tom,
    This may take down a dam.  What a great idea.

Mike J.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Stokely <tstokely at trinityalps.net>
To: env-trinity <env-trinity at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 3:17 PM
Subject: [env-trinity] Tribes heading to Scotland to seek salmon passageover
Klamath Dams


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/07/09/special_reports/science_technolog
y/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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