[env-trinity] Klamath River Woes - KWUA release re:Democrat bill

Mon May 1 09:30:30 PDT 2006

----- Original Message ----- 
From: krizohr 
To: Jim Carpenter ; klamathstakeholders at lists.oregonstate.edu 
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Klamathstakeholders] Klamath River Woes - KWUA release re:Democrat bill

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Greg Addington, Executive Director

greg at cvcwireless.net cell# 541.892.1409

The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) learned today, April 25, 2006 that Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) plans to introduce legislation in Congress to provide emergency relief for coastal fishermen and provide funding for Klamath restoration activity.

The legislation appears to have three primary components:

  1.. It would provide $81 million in emergency appropriations for impacted commercial fishermen, tribes and related businesses in the region; 
  2.. It would direct the Department of Commerce to complete a Klamath Salmon Recovery plan within six months, and after completion of the plan $45 million would be allocated for conservation projects, including in river monitoring of diseases and parasites, additional ocean and river population monitoring, operation and maintenance of stream gauges for flow monitoring, fish passage on National Forest lands and restoration of aquatic habitats in the lower basin; 
  3.. The Department of Commerce would be required to report to Congress on the progress of the Klamath on a yearly basis.
Broadly, KWUA is on record as supporting the apparent goals of the bill, which include mitigation of impacts of fishing restrictions and improvement of Klamath salmon stocks. On Monday, April 24, KWUA sent a letter supporting declaration of a fishing disaster to the Secretary of Commerce. KWUA supports relief for fishing families, Tribes and communities who will be impacted by the federal harvest restrictions.

While we see the need for financial assistance to parties affected by fishing restrictions, we do have some concerns with the proposed legislative package. The environmental restoration provisions of the bill seem well-intended, however it is not clear how new money and a new process will compliment efforts already underway (see accompanying list). 

Irrigators support the need to better understand the river through monitoring and measurement. There is much to learn about fish populations and the stressors that affect them. However it is important to make sure that efforts are coordinated and that funding goes to the agencies that are best qualified to conduct these activities. Unfortunately this legislation does not address that issue.

Finally, we are concerned that mandating a coho recovery plan be in place within a six month time-frame will not allow important, highly relevant processes to play out. These include finalization and National Academies of Science (NAS) peer-review of the Hardy flow study, the Bureau of Reclamation's naturalized flow study, and ongoing collaborative processes to deal with salmon issues.

KWUA continues to support a comprehensive watershed-wide approach to recovery of all Klamath fish species as outlined in the 2004 Klamath report from the National Research Council of the NAS. Having not been contacted by the sponsors of this legislation, we are unclear how this legislation incorporates those peer-reviewed, scientific objectives.

We urge Congressman Thompson to approach this issue in a bipartisan manner. It is our understanding that members of Congress who represent areas of the Klamath River Basin and have sincere desire to help address these issues had no advance knowledge of the bill or any opportunity to help craft language that would ensure successful passage of any beneficial legislation. KWUA also urges that any consideration of the bill reflect the interests and inputs of stakeholders currently engaged in addressing these same issues in a constructive manner.

KWUA will further evaluate the bill in the near term and develop its positions and recommendations more fully.

###

A partial list of restoration activity and research currently underway appears to include many of the concepts in this legislative package.

Current Ongoing Restoration and Research Activity in the Klamath River Basin

Arcata Fish and Wildlife Office:

Salmon related modeling analyses including- 

  a.. Salmon runs over the period of record 
  b.. Determining the optimum flow for production 
  c.. Naturalized flow analysis 
  d.. Production estimates 
  e.. Composite suitability programming, to allow computation of escape and distance to escape cover 
  f.. Shasta and Scott River Habitat Assessment Study Planning Assistance 
  g.. Klamath River habitat suitability criteria development 
  h.. Klamath Spawning distribution and abundance 
Additional Studies ongoing- 

  a.. Coho survival and migration behavior in relation to Iron Gate Discharge 
  b.. Collection of juvenile chinook by hydrologic reach for pathogen infection rates and histology 
  c.. Collection of juvenile coho for histology 
  d.. Habitat distribution and life history study plan 
  e.. Analysis of Klamath hydrology and fish returns 
  f.. Analysis of water samples for spore densities 
  g.. Water quality analysis of data and nutrients) 
  h.. Analysis of Shasta River spectral imagery for riparian and instream classification 
  i.. 2D hydrodynamic analysis of Pecwan riffle for adult fish passage 
  j.. 2D Hydrodynamic and habitat modeling Training 
Karuk Tribe:

  a.. Water quality collection: Data sondes and nutrient suite 
  b.. Big Bar and Salmon River outmigration trapping 
  c.. Radio telemetry of salmon smolts during adverse mainstem Klamath conditions 
  d.. Habitat evaluation of radio tagged, juvenile coho 
Yurok Tribe:

  a.. Water quality collection (Data sondes and nutrient suite) 
  b.. Habitat evaluation of radio tagged, juvenile coho 
Salmon River Restoration Council:

  a.. Big Bar and Salmon River outmigration trapping 
  b.. Otolith collection for microstructural analyses 
  c.. Radio telemetry of salmon smolts during adverse mainstem Klamath conditions 
Siskiyou RCD:

  a.. Habitat Assessment Study Plan Development 
  b.. Habitat Inventory 
  c.. Limiting Factor Analyses 
Shasta RCD:

  a.. Habitat Assessment Study Plan Development 
  b.. Remote Sensing for GIS Analysis of Spectral Imagery
Idaho State University:

  a.. Hydrological analysis of departure for the Klamath and significant tributaries 
Bureau of Reclamation Funded:

  a.. Juvenile coho survival and migration behavior in relation to Iron Gate releases 
  b.. Mainstem Klamath River adult coho spawning surveys 
  c.. Development of a Conservation Implementation Program, including salmon considerations
Trinity River Restoration Program:

  a.. Outmigration monitoring at Willow Creek 
  b.. Pre and post channel reconstruction habitat analyses 
  c.. Outmigration Database support 
  d.. Outmigration monitoring coordination 
  e.. TWGs and many subcommittees 
Otolith Microstructural Analyses:

  a.. Trinity River Hatchery and natural 
  b.. Iron Gate Hatchery 
  c.. Salmon River spring chinook
Section 10, NMFS Research Permit:

  a.. Coverage for a wide variety of studies and incidental take of coho 
  b.. Recent modification gave coverage for direct take of coho for disease analyses 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jim Carpenter 
  To: Klamathstakeholders 
  Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 11:34 AM
  Subject: [Klamathstakeholders] Klamath River Woes

  Democrats' SOS for fishermen; Lawmakers seek help for commercial salmon fleets, inhospitable Klamath River

  Sacramento Bee - 4/28/06

  By David Whitney, staff writer

  WASHINGTON - California and Oregon Democrats are rallying behind commercial salmon fishermen facing drastic reductions in their season because of poor runs in the Klamath River. 

  The 32-member California House Democratic caucus and Oregon's four Democratic House members joined in legislation introduced this week by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, that directs $81 million in emergency relief to the commercial fishermen. It also calls for spending another $45 million to make the Klamath River more hospitable to the prized fish. 

  Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both California Democrats, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., making the call for federal aid a unanimous Democratic initiative. 

  So far, no Republican member has joined on the legislation. But Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has introduced a much narrower bill that includes the $81 million for emergency assistance but does not seek any funds to improve river conditions. Wyden is also a co-sponsor of that bill. 

  The political jousting showcases a huge divide over Bush administration environmental policy. It comes as Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez is about to act on a recommendation by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to drastically reduce the commercial salmon harvest this summer from Monterey to the Columbia River in an effort to protect the low numbers of fish migrating back to the Klamath River to spawn. 

  More than 30,000 adult salmon died in the lower portions of the Klamath in the fall of 2002 when the river was running low, the water was warm and a fatal parasite spread. Poor runs last year and this year are related to that die-off, and continuing water quality issues in the river have been blamed for tens of thousands of additional fish dying either as they head out to mature in the ocean or as they return to lay their eggs as part of their three-to four-year life cycle. 

  Fishermen blame federal water policy, saying the Bush administration's management decisions favor water for agricultural irrigation in the Upper Klamath basin north of the California-Oregon border. A federal court recently ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to redo its biological opinion on water needs for the Klamath salmon. 

  Glen Spain, Northwest regional spokesman for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said the $81 million included in the legislation in aid for commercial fishermen, Indian tribes and fishing communities reflects what Oregon and California estimate the economic damage will be from the proposed season closures. 

  Democrats held a press conference with fishermen in San Francisco on Monday to announce the introduction of the bill. 

  "The Bush administration's gross mismanagement of the Klamath River has led to this year's and last year's shortened salmon seasons," Thompson said. "Yet the administration isn't offering any assistance." 

  Last year, Democrats, again unanimously, wrote the administration seeking an economic disaster declaration after the commercial season was shortened by 60 percent. The Commerce Department recently rejected such a declaration, however, saying that high prices paid for salmon last year canceled out the effects of the shortened season. 

  Thompson has filed a Freedom of Information Act request in an effort to evaluate the information the agency used in reaching that conclusion. Thompson said the situation is so dire this year that the dock price for salmon would have to top $280 a pound for commercial fishermen to break even under the expected closures. 

  The prospects of economic damage are serious enough that representatives of Boxer and Smith said separately Thursday they will try to persuade congressional leaders to include money for the fishermen in an emergency spending bill for hurricane relief and the war in Iraq nearing completion in the Senate. 

  Even with the pared-down bill Smith proposes, however, the chances of passage seem grim. 

  According to Spain, without the additional funding for improving the Klamath River included in the Democrats' version of the bill, there's not much hope for reversing the conditions that make the Klamath problematic for fish. 

  "We can't solve the problem just with disaster assistance," Spain said. "The river itself is the problem." 

  Under the Thompson bill, the Commerce Department would have six months to write a recovery plan for the salmon. Once done, the $45 million would be allocated for monitoring equipment, fish passages and more fisheries biologists to study the problem and issue annual progress reports to Congress.

  Carpenter Design, Inc.
  541-885-5450
  www.CarpenterDesign.com 

  CCB 93939

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