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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This article is a little stale, but the information
is still relevant. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>TS</FONT></DIV>
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<P><BR><B><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Klamath's conundrum</FONT></FONT></B>
<BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>By John Driscoll The
Times-Standard</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Tuesday, August 31, 2004 -</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>EUREKA -- Calls for leadership and cooperation
were mixed with a sense of desperation from</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>fishermen and tribes at a hearing on the Klamath River
basin's ecological maze of pitfalls and</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>politics.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>More than 100 people pressed into the City
Council chambers here on Monday to hear from</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>regulators, tribes, irrigators and fishermen. Led by
Rep. Mike Thompson, most speakers agreed</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>that diverse interests need to work together to restore
the Klamath basin on a large scale.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"I'm one who believes it's been piecemeal at
best," the St. Helena Democrat said.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The hearing comes as the federal government is
releasing billions of gallons of water purchased</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>from Central Valley water users down the Trinity River.
The releases are meant to cool and raise</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>the lower Klamath River, where the specter of a massive
fish kill like that in 2002 still looms.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>For now, conditions on the river have
improved. But fishermen are still worried that the offspring</FONT></FONT>
<BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>of the 2002 fish kill may not be numerous
enough to allow fishing next year.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>When federal fisheries managers laid out
studies being done to determine the effects of the</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>increased flows, Thompson grew frustrated, asking how
the effort might be sped up.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>He said restoration projects on Klamath
tributaries won't do much unless there is water in the</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>river. Thompson likened it to paving the side streets
while neglecting the highway.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Project Manager
Dave Sabo said there must be a reduction in</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>demands on the system from all sides, especially as
precipitation appears to be dropping off and</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>average temperatures are rising in the
basin.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Throughout the meeting, nearly every interest
voiced disappointment in Reclamation's water</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>bank, used to boost flows to fish downstream. This
year, more than 80,000 acre feet has been</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>released -- water bought for $5.5 million from
irrigators in the Klamath Irrigation Project.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The project will use a total of about 240,000
acre feet this year. Next year, Reclamation will try to</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>buy 100,000 acre feet for $7.5 million.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"We hate the water bank," said Klamath Water
Users Association Executive Director Dan Keppen,</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"but it was sold to us as a temporary
solution."</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The basin runs from the Sprague and Williamson
rivers in Oregon, into the warm, shallow Upper</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Klamath Lake, down through a series of dams and to the
sea at Klamath. It also picks up water</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>from the Scott and Shasta rivers, and its main tributary the Trinity
River -- tapped by Central</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>Valley water and power users -- and its water supplies refuges for
waterfowl on both sides of the</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>central Oregon-California border.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Not considered in plans regulating the Klamath
Irrigation Project are chinook salmon, lamprey or</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>sturgeon valuable to several downstream Indian tribes.
Troy Fletcher, executive director of the</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Yurok Tribe, said the federal government has shirked
its responsibilities and refuses to seek a</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>permanent reduction in demand from the
project.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"It's the goal of the federal government to
operate this project as the status quo," Fletcher said.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>The tribe will go to court in September to
attempt to prove Reclamation's operations were behind</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>the deaths of up to 68,000 chinook salmon in
2002.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Commercial fishermen were also critical of the
government's actions on the river. Eureka</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>fisherman Dave Bitts said he's highly concerned that
the fish kill, and a juvenile fish kill that</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>claimed perhaps 200,000 fry that same year, could shut
down salmon fishing from the Columbia</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=-1>River to Monterey. He said fishermen would seek federal compensation if
it happens.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>He also addressed Sabo's calls for compromise,
saying there was no more room to give on the</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>fishing industry's side. Heavy restrictions on fishing
for Klamath fish have reduced the industry by</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>80 percent in recent decades, he said.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen's Associations advocated reducing</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>agricultural demand for water, removing some of the
river's dams, and restoring the Scott and</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Shasta rivers.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"This isn't rocket science," Grader said.
"What we really need is leadership to do it."</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Klamath County, Ore., Commissioner John Elliot
raised the idea of creating more storage to give</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>the project flexibility by storing up to 500,000 acre
feet of water in the upper basin.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Environmentalists at the meeting raised
concerns about federal timber sales in the watershed that</FONT></FONT>
<BR><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>they claimed would further harm salmon by
silting in streams.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Toward the end of the meeting, Thompson asked
Keppen to bring together irrigators and elected</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>representatives to collaborate with other interests in
the basin.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Keppen said the constant stream of litigation
and press releases hasn't been helping anyone, and</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Thompson agreed. He looked back on 2002, when he
delivered dead fish to the door of the U.S.</FONT></FONT> <BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=-1>Interior Department.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=-1>"I hope I never have to bring 500 pounds of
dead salmon to Washington again," Thompson said.</FONT></FONT>
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