FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2003Contacts: Allen Foreman, Tribal Chairman, 541-783-2219
Bud Ullman, Tribes¹ water attorney, 541-783-3081
Don Wharton, Native American Rights Fund (land issues) 303-447-8760
Joe Browder, Washington D.C., 202-546-3720
Monica Shovlin, The Ulum Group, 541-434-7028NATIONAL ACADEMIES' REPORT EMPHASIZES NEED FOR
HABITAT RESTORATION IN THE KLAMATH BASIN
Klamath Falls, Ore. - The Klamath Tribes are encouraged after a cursory
review of the National Academies' National Research Council Final Report,
"Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River Basin: Causes of
Decline and Strategies for Recovery" released yesterday afternoon in
pre-publication form."The NRC final report clearly acknowledges the need for large-scale
ecosystem and fish habitat restoration in the Klamath Basin, and that is
promising," Tribal Chairman Allen Foreman said. "It also emphasizes that
additional withdrawals of water from Upper Klamath Lake cannot be reconciled
with the needs of fisheries. The Klamath Tribes and our staff scientists
will thoroughly review the full report and look forward to participating in
viable remedial actions, as well as long-term solutions."The Tribes and many in the scientific community have previously identified
inherent problems with the NRC Committee¹s interim report on the subject.
Recent articles in Science and Fisheries magazines reported that the hastily
organized NRC Committee employed flawed logic in its evaluation and
preparation of the report. The Native American Rights Fund also pointed out
socio-economic bias and called for the withdrawal of the interim report it
called ³blatantly discriminatory against Native American people.²Klamath tribal fisheries have been closed for 17 consecutive years. They
were originally closed in 1986 because fish populations were declining at an
alarming rate. The Lost River and short-nose suckers were listed under the
Endangered Species Act in 1988. Pollution of Upper Klamath Lake and its
tributaries, along with agricultural withdrawals from the lake and streams,
contributed to the decline.
