[env-trinity] Times-Standard -Judge won't pull coho protections

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2648770,00.html# 
Judge won't pull coho protections 

By John Driscoll The Times-Standard 

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 

An Oregon judge on Tuesday denied a request by the Pacific Legal Foundation to remove 
protections for coho salmon in the Klamath River Basin. 

With roots in the wrangling over water for fish and farms in the basin, it's the second case of its 
kind recently brought against the federal government. The ruling is being hailed as a victory for 
American Indian tribes and fishing interests in the lower basin. 

Judge Michael Hogan ruled from the U.S. District Court bench in Eugene, Ore., that although the 
Endangered Species Act listing of the region's coho salmon was legally deficient, the protections 
should remain until the federal government issues its new policy on hatchery born salmon. 

That final decision is expected this summer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration has recommended reinstating protection for the coho. 

Yurok Tribe Executive Director Troy Fletcher said he believes the tribe's attorneys were able to 
show that the Indian fishery in the Klamath would be harmed by removing protection for the 
coho. 

"The judge properly left the listing in place, partly because of the effect it would have on tribal 
fisheries," Fletcher said. 

He said the Endangered Species Act protections are an important tool in holding the line against 
further degradation of the river. 

The Yurok Tribe intervened in the case. 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operates its central Oregon-California border irrigation project in 
a balancing act between endangered species, irrigators and wildlife refuges. 

In 2001, the bureau for the first time shut off water to many of the Upper Klamath Basin's farms 
to provide water to salmon and endangered suckers, prompting protests from irrigators. The 
following year the bureau crimped water to the river to deliver full supplies to farms, and 
34,000 to 68,000 salmon died -- including some coho. 

Glen Spain with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations -- which also intervened 
-- called the suit an attempt by irrigators to grab more water from the river without regard to 
threatened fish. 
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