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<P><STRONG>Hoopa Valley Tribe Marches To Restore The Trinity</STRONG></P>
<P>by Dan Bacher</P>
<P>Over 100 members of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and supporters marched on the
offices of the Northern California Power Agency in Roseville on March 15 to ask
the agency to withdraw from the lawsuit blocking Trinity River restoration.</P>
<P>The group, holding colorful signs, big salmon puppets, and a huge
fisherman puppet, surprised representatives of the NCPA and local residents in a
city unused to protests. Many drivers going by the offices on Cirby Avenue
honked in support of the river advocates as the protesters shouted, "Hey-Hey,
Ho-Ho, the lawsuit has got to go," "Don’t shake - don’t shiver, we are here to
save the river," "Please hear our wish, don’t kill the fish."</P>
<P>Heather Campbell, a Hoopa Tribal member who helped hold the fisherman puppet
up with her two children, explained the importance of the river to her culture.
"The river is part of our heritage and culture and we need it to survive," she
stated. "I fish hook and line with spinners for steelhead and salmon for fun,
but my family fishes for sustenance. Our tribe has survived on fish since time
immemorial."</P>
<P>As tribal members marched peacefully and beat a ceremonial drum on the
sidewalk outside of the office, Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle
Marshal and members of the Tribal Council presented a "peace offering" of a
basket of smoked salmon to representatives of the NCPA.</P>
<P>"The energy crisis was created by manipulation of the market in Texas, not in
California, and it’s time to see that the lawsuit does not have any merit," said
Marshall as he presented the basket to John Fistolera, and Jane Sirrincinoe,
NCPA representatives. "We want the NCPA to do the right thing for the right
reasons and to preserve the river for our kids and their children."</P>
<P>Marshall emphasized how the Trinity restoration plan - the Record of Decision
(ROD) signed by then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt - was the culmination of
over 20 years of hard work by the Hoopa Tribe and other California
communities.</P>
<P>"People must realize that the Trinity is something worth saving not only for
the Indian people but for all Californians," said Marshall. "We invite you to
spend time on the river rafting or fishing. If you saw the river even once,
you’ll understand why we love it so much and why it’s so important to protect
it."</P>
<P>The Hoopa Tribe was joined by members of the Yurok Tribe and representatives
of Friends of the River, International Rivers Network, United Anglers, Friends
of the Eel River and Save the American River Association in protesting the
continued participation of the agency as partners in the lawsuit with Westlands
Water District, the poster boy of unsustainable agribusiness.</P>
<P>The lawsuit blocks the Record of Decision, which provides 47 percent of the
river’s flows to fish and the other 53 percent to agricultural and power users.
Prior to the ROD, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation diverted up to 90 percent of
the river, much of it to the unsustainable corporate farms in the Westlands
Water District of the San Joaquin Valley.</P>
<P>After the peace offering, the NCPA representatives invited them into the
office. Nothing was resolved, with Fistolera and Jane Sirrincinoe reiterating
their agency’s position.</P>
<P>"We support river restoration," said Fistolera, NCPA’s legislative director.
"The resource portfolio of NCPA members is 75 percent renewable energy. We think
that the Environmental Impact Statement coming out (as a result of the lawsuit)
will address your concerns and our concerns.<SPAN class=781191304-19032004>
</SPAN>We commit to working with the Hoopa on a solution that restores the fish
and considers the need for reliable electrical generation."</P>
<P>"The ROD was made on only one basis - flow," added Sirrincinoe, who claimed
that higher flows could in fact impede restoration efforts by washing gravel out
of some alluvial areas.</P>
<P>However, Mike Orcutt, fisheries program director of the tribe, emphasized
that the agency was just rehashing concepts that have already been proven wrong
by fishery scientists.<SPAN class=781191304-19032004> </SPAN>"They are
holding onto bygone ideas, such as the discredited SMUD Alternative and the idea
that higher flows can damage a river," he said. </P>
<P>"But the science is behind the ROD. NCPA is just talking about procedural
violations of the ESA to continue the litigation."Marshall dismissed the concept
that the ROD would cost power customers a substantial amount of power or money.
The cost of implementing the ROD would only be $.25 per month or $3.00 per year,
based on a study by Environmental Defense.<SPAN class=781191304-19032004>
</SPAN>Friends of the River (FOR), a statewide river advocacy group, helped
organize the event with the tribe to mark the annual International Day of Action
Against Dams on March 15. River activists in 18 countries, including many
indigenous activists, held 38 separate events to support healthy, free-flowing
rivers.</P>
<P>"Friends of the River is here to support the struggle of the Hoopa Tribe,"
said Craig Tucker, FOR Outreach Director. "The Trinity was once one of the
west’s most productive salmon fisheries. Today it is but a shadow of its former
self, hosting only 12% of its historic population of salmon. NCPA will still get
power from the project even if the river is restored."</P>
<P>Local recreational anglers also supported the Hoopa Tribe. Bill Hagopian,
spokesman for the Granite Bay Flycasters, said, "The City of Roseville needs to
be more environmentally sensitive. For the cost of a cup of coffee annually, we
can help the Hoopa people restore the Trinity River."</P>
<P>Before the Hoopa departed from Roseville to go back to the reservation,
Marshall told tribal members and local activists,"I think you guys made an
impact. This is our elite attack force today. If we have to come back, we’ll
bring the rest of the tribe, we’ll bring our cousins with us!"</P>
<P>The Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District, one of the original litigants
in the Westlands lawsuit, withdrew from the legal battle in 2003 after pressure
by Indian tribes, fishermen and environmentalists. Three members of NCPA - Palo
Alto, Alameda and Port of Oakland - have also voted to withhold funding for the
agency’s lawsuit.</P>
<P>The event was held in Roseville not only because the NCPA office is located
there, but because the city of Roseville is a NCPA member that is still a
partner to the lawsuit.</P>
<P>"We want to return home, in peace, to the heart of our valley by the Trinity
River, concluded Marshall. " We want to care for the gift of our ancestors and
conserve if for our descendants. All of the money and time spent fighting in
court subtracts from the real need – saving the river and the fish."</P>
<P>Hopefully, the NCPA and its member agencies will see the error of their ways
and pull out of the litigation just like SMUD, Palo Alto, Alameda and the Port
of Oakland did - after they were educated about how their participation<SPAN
class=781191304-19032004> </SPAN>was stopping salmon and steelhead restoration
efforts on the Trinity.</P></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Byron Leydecker</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Chairman, Friends of Trinity
River</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Consultant, California Trout,
Inc,</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>PO Box 2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 4810 ph</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 519 4810 cell</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#808080>415 383 9562 fx</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bwl3@comcast.net</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><FONT
color=#0000ff>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#0000ff>
(secondary)</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><A href="http://www.fotr.org/"><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.fotr.org</FONT></A></EM></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.caltrout.org/"><EM>http://www.caltrout.org</EM></A></DIV>
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