[env-trinity] Klamath River Tribes Rally To Remove Klamath River Dams
Daniel Bacher
danielbacher at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 15 11:30:31 PST 2005
Klamath River Tribes, Fishermen Rally To Remove Klamath River Dams
by Dan Bacher
In an unprecedented show of unity, hundreds of members of the Yurok, Hoopa
Valley, Karuk and Klamath tribes rallied in support of the removal of dams
on the Klamath in front of the State Capitol on March 14.
After marching from Riverfront Park in Sacramento, the group, including many
attired in traditional tribal dress, converged on the capitol and urged
Governor Schwarzenegger to serve as “Conan the Riparian” by increasing state
efforts to restore the Klamath River’s beleaguered salmon populations. The
salmon runs are now blocked by six dams owned by Pacific Corp, a subsidiary
of Scottish Power based in Glasgow, Scotland.
“We will continue to fight until we bring the salmon back,” said Jeff
Mitchell of the Klamath River inter-tribal Fish and Water Commission and a
member of the Klamath and Modoc tribes. “We traveled to Scotland last summer
to tell Scottish Power and the Scottish people that we need the salmon
restored. We are bringing to the California leadership the same message
today. We need ‘The Terminator’ to terminate the dams on the Klamath.”
Later this spring, Mitchell said the Klamath and other tribes plan to go to
the Oregon State Capitol in Salem to urge Governor Kulongoski to pressure
Pacific Corp to remove the dams. “We know that dam removal won’t solve all
of our problems, but re-opening the 350 miles of habitat upstream is a
prerequisite to any other restoration programs,” he stated.
The six dams owned by the company on the Klamath include Iron Gate, Copco
#1, Copco #2, J.C. Boyle, Keno and Link River. The dams generate 70,000 to
80,000 megawatts of electricity most years, enough electricity to light up
only 30,000 to 40,000 homes, although the power capacity on paper is 150,000
megawatts, according to Troy Fletcher, executive director of the Yurok
Tribe.
Historically, the Klamath produced up to 1.1 million adult fish annually,
including chinook, coho, pink and chum salmon, as well as abundant
steelhead, and was once the third most productive salmon river system on the
west coast of the continental United States, according to Craig Tucker,
Klamath Campaign Coordinator of the Karuk Tribe.
However, when Copco 1 Dam was constructed on the Klamath in 1918; it blocked
access to more than 350 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat in the upper
Klamath. Iron Gate Dam, constructed in 1964, blocked salmon and steelhead
from accessing seven more miles of upstream habitat.
According to Tucker, the Klamath River fall run chinook salmon productivity
is now less than 8 percent of its historical abundance. Coho salmon, once
the “workhorse” of the West Coast fishing industry, are less than one
percent, while chum and pink salmon are extinct.
Although Southern and Central California received lots of rain this year so
far; the Upper Klamath Basin in southern Oregon is facing a drought. The
fish returning to spawn this fall are the progeny of fish that spawned
during the fall of 2002, when over 68,000 adult chinook salmon perished
because of a change in water policy by the Bush administration that favor
subsidized agribusiness over fish.
Confronted with a projected record low run, recreational and commercial
ocean fishermen, in river fishermen and the tribes are faced with severe
salmon fishing restrictions this year. Last year the Karuk Tribe, with over
3300 members, harvested less than 100 fish in its traditional dip net
fishery at Ishi Pishi Falls – and the prospects are even dimmer this year.
“We only have two cold water tributaries, the Indian Creek and the Salmon
River, left in the middle Klamath,” said Sandi Tripp, director of the
Natural Resources Department of the Karuk Tribe. “When the PacifiCorp dams
are removed, we’ll have all of the tributaries of the dams opened up for the
fish to spawn.”
The tribes were joined by 50 members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, now
fighting Bureau of Reclamation plans to raise Shasta Dam, as well as
commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, environmental activists and
farmers. In front of the State Capitol, the Winnemem Wintu, arrayed in
colorful tribal dress, performed for several minutes the war dance that they
did at Shasta Dam last September
“We are here to support our Klamath brothers and sisters,” said Gary Mulachy
of the Winnemem Wintu. “We were horrified when we saw the reports on the big
salmon kill on the Klamath in September 2002. It used to be that the BIA
(Bureau of Indian Affairs) was the bad ‘b’ word to us. Now the ‘b’ word is
the Bureau of Reclamation.”
“There are more of you here today that the numbers of salmon we expect to
return to the Klamath this year,” quipped Zeke Grader, executive Director of
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “The fish kill is
not impacting just the Klamath watershed – it’s hurting the fishery in the
whole state of California, since commercial fishing for Sacramento Fish will
be cut dramatically this year to protect the Klamath stocks. We need to tell
the governor we want the dams out now.”
According to a study by the Institute of Fisheries Resources, a restored
Klamath Basin would be valued at $4.5 billion, providing a needed boost to
struggling rural and coastal communities along the California and Oregon
coasts.
Last Summer, Scottish Power executives promised tribal members that dam
removal is “on the table’ as a possible result of the FERC relicensing
process. The current license by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
expires in 2006.
The State Water Resources Control Board has the authority to demand adequate
measures for fish restoration in the licensing process. The Governor has the
power to require a viable strategy, including a combination of fish ladders
and dam removal, to return salmon to the upper Klamath Basin.
So far, the Governor has said some positive things regarding Klamath
restoration and his staff has been warm to the ideal of dam removal,
according to the tribes. Hopefully, the unprecedented march and rally send a
strong message to Governor Schwarzenegger and Oregon Governor Kulongoski to
do the right thing and mandate PacifiCorp to remove the dams.
Becky Hyde and her husband, who farm land on the Sycan River in the Klamath
Basin, support the tribes and fishermen in their efforts to restore the
Klamath.
“It’s not an issue of fish versus farmers,” she emphasized at the rally. “We
can have both. I support dam removal for fish passage – and I also want
affordable power for farmers to continue. Faced with drought conditions, it
is imperative that we pull together to make it through this year.”
“If one river system can be fixed and restored, it is the Klamath,”
concluded Jeff Mitchell. “I haven’t met one person yet that doesn’t want
clean water, to see the salmon survive and to have healthy rural
communities. This fight won’t be over until we have fish returning into the
Sprague, Chiloquin and other Upper Klamath Basin tributaries once again.”
by Dan Bacher
In an unprecedented show of unity, hundreds of members of the Yurok, Hoopa,
Karuk and Klamath tribes rallied in support of the removal of dams on the
Klamath in front of the State Capitol on March 14.
After marching from Riverfront Park in Sacramento, the group, including many
attired in traditional tribal dress, converged on the capitol and urged
Governor Schwarzenegger to serve as “Conan the Riparian” by increasing state
efforts to restore the Klamath River’s beleaguered salmon populations. The
salmon runs are now blocked by six dams owned by Pacific Corp, a subsidiary
of Scottish Power based in Glasgow, Scotland.
“We will continue to fight until we bring the salmon back,” said Jeff
Mitchell of the Klamath River inter-tribal Fish and Water Commission and a
member of the Klamath and Modoc tribes. “We traveled to Scotland last summer
to tell Scottish Power and the Scottish people that we need the salmon
restored. We are bringing to the California leadership the same message
today. We need ‘The Terminator’ to terminate the dams on the Klamath.”
Later this spring, Mitchell said the Klamath and other tribes plan to go to
the Oregon State Capitol in Salem to urge Governor Kulongoski to pressure
Pacific Corp to remove the dams. “We know that dam removal won’t solve all
of our problems, but re-opening the 350 miles of habitat upstream is a
prerequisite to any other restoration programs,” he stated.
The six dams owned by the company on the Klamath include Iron Gate, Copco
#1, Copco #2, J.C. Boyle, Keno and Link River. The dams generate 70,000 to
80,000 megawatts of electricity most years, enough electricity to light up
only 30,000 to 40,000 homes, although the power capacity on paper is 150,000
megawatts, according to Troy Fletcher, executive director of the Yurok
Tribe.
Historically, the Klamath produced up to 1.1 million adult fish annually,
including chinook, coho, pink and chum salmon, as well as abundant
steelhead, and was once the third most productive salmon river system on the
west coast of the continental United States, according to Craig Tucker,
Klamath Campaign Coordinator of the Karuk Tribe.
However, when Copco 1 Dam was constructed on the Klamath in 1918; it
permanently blocked access to more than 350 miles of salmon and steelhead
habitat in the upper Klamath. Iron Gate Dam, constructed in 1964, blocked
salmon and steelhead from accessing seven more miles of upstream habitat.
According to Tucker, the Klamath River fall run chinook salmon productivity
is now less than 8 percent of its historical abundance. Coho salmon, once
the “workhorse” of the West Coast fishing industry, are less than one
percent, while chum and pink salmon are extinct.
Although Southern and Central California received lots of rain this year so
far; the Upper Klamath Basin in southern Oregon is facing a drought. The
fish returning to spawn this fall are the progeny of fish that spawned
during the fall of 2002, when over 68,000 adult chinook salmon perished
because of a change in water policy by the Bush administration that favor
subsidized agribusiness over fish.
Confronted with a projected record low run, recreational and commercial
ocean fishermen, in river fishermen and the tribes are faced with severe
salmon fishing restrictions this year. Last year the Karuk Tribe, with over
3300 members, harvested less than 100 fish in its traditional dip net
fishery at Ishi Pishi Falls – and the prospects are even dimmer this year.
“We only have two cold water tributaries, the Indian Creek and the Salmon
River, left in the middle Klamath,” said Sandi Tripp, director of the
Natural Resources Department of the Karuk Tribe. “When the PacifiCorp dams
are removed, we’ll have all of the tributaries of the dams opened up for the
fish to spawn.”
The tribes were joined by 50 members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, now
fighting Bureau of Reclamation plans to raise Shasta Dam, as well as
commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, environmental activists and
farmers. In front of the State Capitol, the Winnemem Wintu performed for
several minutes the war dance that they did at Shasta Dam last September.
“We are here to support our Klamath brothers and sisters,” said Gary Mulachy
of the Winnemem Wintu. “We were horrified when we saw the reports on the big
salmon kill on the Klamath in September 2002. It used to be that the BIA
(Bureau of Indian Affairs) was the bad ‘b’ word to us. Now the ‘b’ word is
the Bureau of Reclamation.”
“There are more of you here today that the numbers of salmon we expect to
return to the Klamath this year,” quipped Zeke Grader, executive Director of
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “The fish kill is
not impacting just the Klamath watershed – it’s hurting the fishery in the
whole state of California, since commercial fishing for Sacramento Fish will
be cut dramatically this year to protect the Klamath stocks. We need to tell
the governor we want the dams out now.”
According to a study by the Institute of Fisheries Resources, a restored
Klamath Basin would be valued at $4.5 billion, providing a needed boost to
struggling rural and coastal communities along the California and Oregon
coasts.
Last Summer, Scottish Power executives promised tribal members that dam
removal is “on the table’ as a possible result of the dam relicensing
process. The current license by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
expires in 2006.
The State Water Resources Control Board has the authority to demand adequate
measures for fish restoration in the licensing process. The Governor has the
power to require a viable strategy, including a combination of fish ladders
and dam removal, to return salmon to the upper Klamath Basin
So far, the Governor has said some positive things regarding Klamath
restoration and his staff has been warm to the ideal of dam removal,
according to the tribes. Hopefully, the unprecedented march and rally send a
strong message to Governor Schwarzenegger and Oregon Governor Kulongoski to
do the right thing and mandate PacifiCorp to remove the dams.
Becky Hyde and her husband, who farm land on the Sycan River in the Klamath
Basin, support the tribes and fishermen in their efforts to restore the
Klamath.
“It’s not an issue of fish versus farmers,” she emphasized at the rally. “We
can have both. I support dam removal for fish passage – and I also want
affordable power for farmers to continue. Faced with drought conditions, it
is imperative that we pull together to make it through this year.”
“If one river system can be fixed and restored, it is the Klamath,”
concluded Jeff Mitchell. “I haven’t met one person yet that doesn’t want
clean water, to see the salmon survive and to have healthy rural
communities. This fight won’t be over until we have fish returning into the
Sprague, Chiloquin and other Upper Klamath Basin tributaries once again.”
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