Klamath Tribes Call for Action
Elwood Miller, Director of Natural Resources
September 30, 2002
The Klamath Tribes continue to regard anadromous salmonids as treaty-guaranteed resources, despite having been deprived of these fisheries for many years. Right now, thousands upon thousands of salmon and steelhead are dieing in the lower Klamath River. The loss of thousands of these fish is devastating to salmon-dependant communities up and down the river, as well as up and down the Pacific Coast. We are especially concerned for the welfare of Tribal communities on the Klamath River, because we know that these fish are important to them, important beyond words, and that their loss is an enormous emotional, spiritual, and economic blow to our friends. We have never stopped working for the return of the salmon to the Upper Klamath Basin, and we are now deeply concerned about how this catastrophe might affect our restoration efforts. We wonder, will this event exterminate the coho, or some of the other runs?
It is not right that from July 12 to August 31 there was more water going down the A canal (870 cfs) than was in the Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam (711 cfs). It is not right that full deliveries are made to the Klamath Irrigation Project while Upper Klamath Lake gets drained and the Klamath River is diminished to flows far below FERC minimum flow requirements and Hardy Phase II flow recommendations. It is not right that water badly needed by salmon is released from Upper Klamath Lake when it is already critically low - instead, the Klamath Irrigation Project should drastically decrease its diversions and that water should be sent down the Klamath River.
It is not right that enormous amounts of water are diverted to the Central Valley of California from the Trinity River system. It is not right that the Biological Opinions in place for both suckers and salmon fail to incorporate principles of precautionary management, instead allowing water management strategies almost certain to produce terrible conditions for the very species they are supposed to protect. Conditions were very poor in Upper Klamath Lake this year, and we avoided a fish kill only because the weather turned cool and windy. We clearly were not so fortunate in the Klamath River. It is true that factors other than the Klamath Project affect conditions in the Klamath River. However, the enormous loss of water from the river system to the Klamath Irrigation Project definitely has an effect on the Klamath River, and merely saying that other things have effects as well does nothing to address those very real impacts.
We also wonder, what will be done about this terrible situation? What kind of efforts will be undertaken to establish the causes and magnitude of the kill? Who will lead this effort? What kind of support will the effort receive from the state and federal governments? When Klamath Project irrigators were denied full water supplies in 2001, the federal government responded rapidly with prompt attention from high-level officials and investment of well over a million dollars to investigate the situation and deal with the resulting social unrest. Will this situation receive equivalent treatment? Will the tremendous, tragic losses being experienced by salmon-dependant Tribes and other communities be viewed as being as important as the losses experienced by Klamath Project irrigators in 2001? What efforts will be made to help these communities survive?
Controversy over the relative contribution of Klamath Irrigation Project water diversions to this and previous fish kills has been raging here for years. It is past time for the appropriate state and federal agencies to put forth the resources to resolve this issue. Federal agencies like NMFS, USFWS, BIA, and USGS should be mobilized, staffed and funded to perform necessary research. The Klamath River should be viewed as a whole, the relative impacts to various portions of the system quantified, and a system-wide resolution to the severe ecological problems should be developed and implemented. The social fabric of this Basin is disintegrating along with the ecosystem. There is no time left for those responsible for meeting Tribal trust obligations to drag their feet. Critically important Tribal trust resources are facing extinction at both ends of this river system, and if land and water use practices that have caused this situation are allowed to continue, we can expect more listed species, more extinctions, and more conflict.
Political expediency can no longer be the driving force behind water management in the Klamath Basin. We can all continue to argue about how to use the existing scientific information to direct water management, and it seems certain that this will happen. However, doesn't it make far more sense to identify where true scientific uncertainty exists, and then immediately move to perform the research that will resolve the uncertainty? It is time for action, meaningful action that will truly lead to effective strategies for restoring health to the ecosystems and peoples of the Klamath River, from its headwaters to the ocean. It is time for the federal government to step forward with adequate resources and a firm commitment to meet its obligations to Tribal people up and down the Klamath River, and to restore ecosystems throughout the Klamath Basin, and to implement water management strategies that enable all community segments to live with the hope of stability and survival.
