Long term Klamath Basin solution
needed now more than ever.
Oct. 12, 2001
Chiloquin, Ore. The Secretary of Interior’s responsibility and authority regarding
long-term solutions in the Klamath Basin are more important than ever, now
that the irrigators have withdrawn from the federal court mediation process.
The mediation process was established after the irrigators unsuccessfully
sued to prevent the Secretary from protecting the Klamath Tribes’ endangered
fish resources. "The Secretary has the authority and the perspective
to craft a Klamath Basin compromise that meets the needs of the Tribes, the
farmers and the fish," says Allen Foreman, chairman of the Klamath Tribes.
The Klamath Tribes are committed to a settlement that protects and enhances the natural environment and the economy in the Klamath Basin. To accomplish those goals, a Klamath Basin compromise should include four components:
Balance the amount of water supplied to agriculture with the natural system’s ability to support recovery of harvestable fisheries for the Klamath Tribes and, in the lower Klamath River Basin, the Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa Valley Tribes as well as commercial fishermen along the Klamath River, all of whom have lost jobs and livelihoods as a result of federal resource management decisions.
Restore forest and water ecosystems throughout the Klamath Basin from the mountain marshes in Southern Oregon to the endangered fisheries on the Pacific Coast in California.
Make fair payments to landowners whose lands or water interests are voluntarily sold for ecosystem restoration purposes.
Assure restoration of the Klamath Forest by returning to the Klamath Tribes their reservation lands (690,000 acres) that in the 1960s were included in the Winema and Fremont National Forests.
"The focus now must be on a viable long-term solution for the Basin," Chairman Foreman says. "The Klamath Tribes support a comprehensive Basin-wide solution that preserves agricultural and tribal communities and their property rights, and meets the needs of endangered species. The Department of Interior is the appropriate venue for a real settlement now that the federal mediation has ended."