FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2002
CONTACT:
Allen Foreman, Tribal Chairman, 541-783-2219
Doug Barber, The Ulum Group, 541-434-7023STATEMENT BY ALLEN FOREMAN,
KLAMATH TRIBAL CHAIRMAN
Salmon kill results from failed water policy
"For most of the summer, there was more water flowing down the irrigation canal than down the Klamath River. It¹s no wonder salmon are dying by the thousands. The Bureau of Reclamation¹s new water policy is a failure.
The Bureau of Reclamation drains Upper Klamath Lake to below natural levels, killing off any hope of restoring the Klamath Tribes' sucker fishery. When I was a young man, we harvested tens of thousands of pounds of suckers each year. Now we are limited to one ceremonial fish. Earlier this year the National Academy of Sciences and the Bureau of Reclamation argued that fish might not need their natural supplies of water. 30,000
dead salmon and an endangered sucker fishery show how much damage such policies can cause.
And then we read quotes from a White House spokesman (James Connaughton,
Council of Environmental Quality) saying that these fish kills are an acceptable risk of BOR management. Damaging the cultures and economies of Indian people, destroying fisheries that are important to all people up anddown the Klamath Basin, can never be acceptable.
Federal officials and the states of Oregon and California must act to keep enough water in our lakes and rivers to protect and restore our fisheries. These fish are as important as any other crop. Secretary Norton has said she recognizes the federal government¹s trust responsibilities to the Tribes. The Secretary is coordinating a working group for President Bush, with a mission to make federal programs work more fairly, so Tribal fisheries and lands can be restored, and agriculture can learn to be productive without
destroying our other economies. We think it is essential that Secretary Norton¹s approach be given a chance to work.
We cannot afford another summer of disastrous BOR policies. Those policies need to provide the balanced water use we are all seeking. The Klamath Basin cannot afford another year of BOR repackaging the same old policies that damage Indian people and Indian resources."
