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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>TRINITY RESTORATION:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 color=black face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Editorial:
Trinity restoration: Promises should be kept<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><b><font size=4
color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Eureka</span></font></b></st1:City></st1:place><b><font
size=4 color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:black;font-weight:bold'> Times Standard – 12/13/07</span></font></b><b><font
size=4 color=black><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>History holds many lessons for us, and
current efforts to force the federal government to honor its financial
commitment to a healthy <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place> conjure
up many of them. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The U. S. push westward left behind it
many broken treaties with Indian tribes, such as the 1877 seizure of the Black
Hills of South Dakota (yes, home of the noble monument at Mount Rushmore),
despite a treaty that recognized the Sioux Nation as owner in perpetuity. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>In southeastern <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>'s
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Owens</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>,
the 1920s “water wars” pitted valley farmers against the city of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:City></st1:place>, which coveted
the rural area's water for itself. Once verdant, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Owens</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
now features a dried-up lake and alkali dust storms. (This tragedy was
immortalized in the movie “<st1:place w:st="on">Chinatown</st1:place>”.)
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Also in the 1920s, in northern <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hetch</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hetchy</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType>
-- said to be even more beautiful than Yosemite Valley -- was dammed and filled
with water to provide a reservoir for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San
Francisco</st1:City></st1:place>, despite protests by John Muir and other
early environmentalists. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Even closer to home in 1964, the Lewiston
Dam began diverting Trinity River water to the <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Valley</st1:place>. The Bureau of Reclamation promised Congress that 45
percent of the water would stay in the Trinity to sustain its abundant salmon
and steelhead populations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>That turned out to be a lie. Up to 90
percent of the flow was sent south. Not only did this have a tragic effect on
the Trinity itself, depleting the fishery by 80 percent, but the Trinity is the
only <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> tributary producing
harvestable quantities of endangered species of salmon. The Klamath, in turn,
is an economic lifeline for native people as well as for commercial and sport
fishermen for 900 miles along the <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1:place>
coast. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Then in 1992, Congress approved a law to
fix rivers damaged by excess water diversion. In 2000, Clinton Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed a so-called “Record of Decision,”
promising to fund the restoration of the Trinity's water levels and the
riverbed. But soon George Bush came into office, and his administration began
dragging its feet, despite a 2002 decision by the federal courts upholding the
commitment. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Today, the Trinity agreement is five years
behind schedule and receiving only half its annual funding, $8 million. Yet
fulfilling a promise to the Trinity seems much cheaper that the recent payout
of $60 million in federal aid to fishermen and businesses devastated by the
2006 salmon season failure. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>That's why North Coast Congressman Mike
Thompson is seeking the passage of a bill, HR 2733, mandating that the Bureau
of Reclamation do what it promised to do. BOR Director Robert Johnson has made
it clear that he won't do it willingly, opposing the bill because it
“reduces the discretion of the executive branch.” That's why we
support HR 2733, because that's what it will take. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Remember the desolate <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Owens</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>?
In 1997, <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Inyo</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>,
<st1:City w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:City>, farmers and environmentalists signed
a “Memorandum of Understanding” laying out how the lower <st1:place
w:st="on">Owens River</st1:place> would be rewatered by June 2003. They're
still waiting.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:
italic'>Byron Leydecker</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font color=gray><span
style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>Friends of <st1:place
w:st="on">Trinity River</st1:place>, Chair<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>California Trout, Inc.,
Advisor<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>PO Box 2327<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>Mill Valley,
CA 94942-2327</span></font></i><span lang=ES-EC><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 4810</span></font></i><span
lang=ES-EC><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=ES-EC style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;font-style:italic'>415 383 9562
fax<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bwl3@comcast.net<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></font>
<font color=gray><span style='color:gray'>(secondary)<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;font-style:italic'>http://www.caltrout.org<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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