[env-trinity] Karuk Tribe, Conservationists Add Klamath National Forest to Westside Lawsuit

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/15/1501728/-Karuk-Tribe-Conservationists-Add-Klamath-National-Forest-to-Westside-Lawsuit
Karuk Tribe, Conservationists Add Klamath National Forest to Westside  
Lawsuit

by Dan Bacher

The Karuk Tribe and four environmental groups today expanded their  
complaint challenging the Westside Post Fire logging plan to include  
the United States Forest Service and Klamath National Forest over  
allegations that they violated federal law protecting imperiled salmon  
and their watersheds.

The groups filing the complaint include the Environmental Protection  
Information Center (EPIC), Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS  
Wild), Center for Biological Diversity, and Klamath Riverkeeper.

The lawsuit alleges the Klamath National Forest Plan, as approved by  
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries,  
“illegally increases the risk of extinction” for threatened  
populations of coho salmon.”

The plaintiffs allege the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of  
NOAA Fisheries violated the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) when it  
issued a Biological Opinion (“BiOp”) and Incidental Take Statement  
(“ITS”) for the Westside Fire Recovery Project (“Westside Project”) on  
Forest Service lands in the Klamath River watershed.

NOAA Fisheries is an agency that the late Zeke Grader, the longtime  
Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s  
Associations (PCFFA), nicknamed “No Fisheries” for its many failures  
to protect salmon and other fish over the years.

Coho salmon, now listed under the state and federal Endangered Species  
Acts, were historically one of the most abundant fish species on the  
Klamath, Trinity and other California rivers. The coho population has  
declined dramatically after decades of bad forestry practices, water  
diversions and habitat degradation.

“The Klamath National Forest proposal will increase fire danger,  
degrade water quality, and harm at-risk salmon populations,” according  
to a statement from the Tribe and their allies. “An alternative to the  
Project developed by the Karuk Tribe would result in about 33% of the  
logging that the Forest Service proposed, but would be far more  
protective of fisheries, water quality, and communities at risk of  
wildfire.”

“The Westside proposal short changes our community by denying us an  
opportunity to restore the forest, manage wildfire, and put locals  
back to work,” said Karuk Chairman Russell “Buster” Attebery. “There  
is no way that the Forest Service plan will pass a legal challenge.  
The Karuk alternative on the other hand has the support of local  
conservation groups, provides significant opportunities for bringing  
timber to market, and complies with applicable state and federal law.”

According to the groups, “The Tribe’s alternative proposal ensures  
that future fire events will be healthy for the environment and safe  
for local residents while providing marketable timber. The Forest  
Service did not analyze the Karuk Alternative because it rushed the  
environmental review process under the pretense of a ‘public  
emergency.’”

The litigation occurs at a critical time for imperiled Klamath River  
and West Coast salmon and steelhead populations.

Agency scientists estimate that there are only approximately 142,200  
Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon in the ocean this year, based on  
the returns of two-year-old salmon, called “jacks” and “jills,” The  
salmon from the Klamath and Sacramento River make up the majority of  
salmon taken in California’s ocean and inland fisheries.

The low numbers of Klamath and Trinity River fish expected to return  
to the river and tributaries this year will result in more restricted  
seasons for both the recreational and commercial fisheries on the  
ocean and recreational and Tribal fisheries on the rivers in 2016.

“The Forest Service plan to clear-cut thousands of acres above the  
Klamath River disregards the reasonable Karuk Alternative and hurts at- 
risk salmon and river communities,” said Kerul Dyer of Klamath  
Riverkeeper. “A healthy Klamath River requires sensible forest  
restoration that addresses the needs of both fish and people, like  
that laid out in the Karuk plan.”

The Tribe and groups are challenging the “illegal harm to fish and  
watersheds” that they say will result from the proposed post-fire  
clear cutting timber sales in hopes that the federal government will  
change course.  The fish play a major role in the culture, religion  
and food supply of the Karuk and other Klamath River Tribes.

“The Karuk Tribe has occupied lands along the Klamath River since time  
immemorial,” the complaint states. “The Klamath, Salmon, and Scott  
rivers are within Karuk ancestral territory, and are the lifeblood of  
the Karuk people. Before Europeans entered these lands, these waters  
provided the Karuk Tribe with a bountiful supply of anadromous fish,  
including coho and chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Today, in the  
Klamath River watershed, coho salmon are listed as threatened with  
extinction under the ESA.”

Initial arguments will likely be heard by the Federal District Court  
for the Northern District of California in the “very near future,” the  
groups said. The Western Environmental Law Center represents all of  
the plaintiffs and EPIC is represented by in-house counsel.

To read the full complaint, go to: http://www.karuk.us/images/docs/press/2016/Complaint.pdf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20160315/72d8ede7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: klamath.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 348256 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20160315/72d8ede7/attachment.jpg>