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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>Trinity County, Humboldt County, Eureka, Del Norte
County, Arcata and perhaps others local governments (Fortuna?) filed a joint
Amicus Brief in this case some time
ago.</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>It sounds like the trial will come too late to
save this year's fish from another potential fish kill in the lower Klamath and
the current Ceratomyxa juvenile fish kill in the Klamath. Despite Judge
Armstrong's rulings, she did not order any change in Reclamation's operations
for the Klamath Project.</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>TS</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>*********************************************************************</STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG><A
href="http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2210605,00.html">http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2210605,00.html</A></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
class=articleHeadline><STRONG>Talks collapse on fish kill suit</STRONG></SPAN>
</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<P class=articleSpacer></P>
<DIV><SPAN class=articleByline>By <STRONG>John Driscoll </STRONG>The
Times-Standard</SPAN> </DIV>
<P class=articleSpacer></P>
<P>Talks to settle a lawsuit pressed by the Yurok Tribe against the federal
government over the 2002 Klamath River fish kill have broken down.
<P>The Yurok Tribe has walked away from discussions with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation after the court-ordered mediation met an impasse this week.
<P>The tribe, along with the Hoopa Valley Tribe, is suing Reclamation for
damages after 34,000 chinook salmon and other fish died in a hot, shallow river
that fall.
<P>The Yuroks backed away from the discussions after Reclamation cut flows to
the river when the National Resource Conservation Service predicted less water
would flow into the river from snowpack than expected.
<P>The flows planned for the fall are as low as those during the year the fish
died, although a federal water bank and a small amount of additional water are
providing supplemental flows, mainly this spring.
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<P>"What we had to do is assess whether the Bureau of Reclamation is genuinely
interested in protecting our rights," said Yurok Tribe Executive Director Troy
Fletcher. "It's clear to us that they're not."
<P>The lawsuit is part of another being pressed by the Pacific Coast Federation
of Fishermen's Associations and other environmental groups. In July, a federal
judge in Oakland found Reclamation's 10-year plan for the river didn't follow
the law. Judge Saundra Armstrong also ruled that the Yurok and Hoopa Valley
tribes had a legitimate grievance against the government for potential breach of
tribal trust responsibilities.
<P>A trial is likely to begin in September, now that negotiations have failed.
<P>Both sides claim they are still willing to talk, however.
<P>Dave Sabo in Reclamation's Klamath Falls, Ore., office said he understands
that the Yurok Tribe is frustrated with Klamath Irrigation Project operations.
The project supplies water to about 200,000 acres on the central
Oregon-California border.
<P>But he said Reclamation has taken steps, with the water bank and other
additional flows, to meet provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the
tribal trust.
<P>"It's really up to the Yurok what they want to do," he said.
<P>Fletcher said the tribe now is worried the river flows could again set up the
lethal conditions on the lower river this fall, jeopardizing another run of
chinook. </P></FONT></BODY></HTML>