FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
From the Klamath Tribes
May 10, 2002
CONTACT:
Allen Foreman, Tribal Chairman, 541-783-2219
Doug Barber, The Ulum Group, 541-434-7023
Commissioners
oppose Tribal Treaty Rights
Taxpayer money used to fight Indian water rights
Chiloquin, Ore.“The Klamath Tribes today questioned the wisdom and
the legality of the Klamath County Commission’s decision to use public
funds to support anti-Tribal litigation by local farmers.
Klamath Tribes Chairman Allen Foreman said, “The federal courts have
repeatedly recognized what solemn U.S. government treaties and recent Interior
Department decisions make clear, “ it is the Klamath Tribes who have
senior water rights in the Klamath Basin, and those rights can be used to
protect the wildlife and fisheries important to the Klamath Tribes - culture
and economy.”
Foreman was commenting on the Klamath County Commissionerís decision
to give $50,000 to local irrigators to help fund their appeal of a court
case against the Klamath Tribes. “Local governments have historically
been party to the shameful treatment of native people,” says Bud Ullman,
Klamath Tribes’ Water Attorney, “so I suppose this episode should
not be surprising.”
In March 2002, the federal court reaffirmed that the Tribes have senior
water rights in the Klamath Basin dating back to “time immemorial.”
That decision goes on to say the Treaty of 1864 entitles the Tribes to “whatever
water is necessary” to support productive habitat for the Tribes’
hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering activities. The irrigators, with
support from the Klamath County Commissioners, are appealing the decision
to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Foreman adds, “The courts have spoken so strongly on this issue, and
the Klamath Tribes’ rights are so clearly spelled out in Treaties and
in federal policy, we feel it is a real shame that the County Commission
wants to waste public money on more court fights instead of encouraging
all of us to work together to resolve this conflict.” For the past
three months the Commissioners have repeatedly cancelled appointments to
meet with Tribal officials to discuss issues important to the Basin. The
Commissioners again cancelled a meeting scheduled for today, May 10, 2002.
“We should be working together to encourage the federal and state governments
to restore the Klamath Tribes’ Treaty-protected fisheries, and working
to restore an environmentally healthy watershed in the Klamath Basin. Then
we will know how much water can be devoted to supporting a sustainable agricultural
economy,” Chairman Foreman said. “It is bad enough that our local
government would refuse to recognize the valid property rights of taxpayers
who are members of the Klamath Tribes. It is worse that Klamath County wants
to spend public funds to help pay for a private lawsuit. We know what the
County Commission has done is not fair. It will be interesting to see if
the County's action is lawful.”