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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:bold'><!-- make editorial appear preceding headline -->EDITORIAL</span></font></b><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<h1><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>A
hard choice on Klamath salmon</span></font><o:p></o:p></b></h1>
<p class=date><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><!-- START WRITER CREDIT--><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><!-- END HEADLINE/DECK & SUBHEADLINE/SUBDECK -->Tuesday,
May 2, 2006<o:p></o:p></span><!-- END WRITER CREDIT--></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><!-- end #contentheader --><!-- <hr> now part of stylesheet <hr noshade size="1" color="#CCC" />--><!-- START STORY --> JUST
OFF Northern California's rocky coast, the ocean teems with salmon. Prime
conditions on the state's biggest river, the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City>, have swelled the numbers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Why then are federal regulators cutting the season by 60
percent along a 700-mile stretch of <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>
and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>
coastline? Because the state's second-biggest salmon-producing river, the
Klamath, is on life support. The result makes for a bitter choice: Because
salmon are indistinguishable once they swim into the Pacific, the fish-catching
at sea must be curtailed to safeguard the dwindling numbers from one river. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The pared-back season is a hard outcome. Water diversions,
dams, logging and development have harmed the clean, cold flows of water needed
for rearing salmon. Commercial fishermen are paying the price for problems
caused by others, and many may go bankrupt. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>This huge price shouldn't be ignored. Federal authorities
should use the opportunity to mend failed policies and consider new approaches.
Drought, which cut steady flows needed to raise salmon, may be uncontrollable.
But other destructive policies to steer water to farmers or allow
migration-blocking dams must be re-thought. This winter's heavy rainfall may
restore rearing conditions, a gift that mustn't be wasted. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>The Klamath needs help badly. The minimum number of returning
salmon is pegged at 35,000 by wildlife experts, though only 25,000 are expected
this season. To accommodate this lapse, commercial boats will face a limited
season that aims to push fishing away from the mouth of the Klamath north of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Eureka</st1:place></st1:City>. Expect the price
for wild, local-caught salmon to soar as a result. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>In the short run, the Klamath's problems may push Congress to
aid the state's $100 million salmon industry. But finding money in
deficit-fixated <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>
may be hard. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Longer-range solutions may be just as hard, given the way the
Klamath was treated in the recent past. A White House move in 2002 flipped the
spigot on the upper Klamath to send water to farmers in southern <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>. That move, in a
low-water year, meant less for salmon, who died by the thousands in warm,
sluggish pools downriver. It was a lesson in destructive environmental
decision-making that ignored sound science. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>Salmon are a hallmark of the outdoors, thriving in clean
surroundings. It's time to restore this image to the Klamath</span></font></b><b><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-weight:bold'>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Advisor, California Trout, Inc</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>http:www.caltrout.org</span></font></u><font
color=lime><span style='color:lime'> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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