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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'>Battling Upstream; The tribes on the
Klamath know that as the river goes, so go the salmon<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>San Francisco Chronicle – 4/11/08<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>By <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Glen Martin</st1:PersonName>,
staff writer</span></font></b><b><font size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> surges just below
Merk Oliver's house. Right now, the water is slightly turbid, clouded and green
- perfect for steelhead fishing. The Klamath is the second largest river in <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, following the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City></st1:place>, and its watershed encompasses a
landscape that seems removed from the rest of the state by time as well as
distance. Freeways, the digital economy, the entertainment industry, industrial
agriculture - up here they seem like ill-recalled dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>But what happens on this river affects <st1:place w:st="on">Lower
California</st1:place> greatly. It determines whether commercial fishermen and
recreational anglers can take salmon - and whether there'll be fresh wild
salmon in markets and restaurants in <st1:City w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:City>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:City></st1:place>.
Ultimately, it figures into the availability of water for the state's homes and
farms.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Oliver's home is several hundred yards from the river's mouth, and from
his property you can hear the muffled reports of big combers breaking on the
beach. A group of Yurok Indian youths are in the yard, grilling Pacific lampreys
- anadromous, eel-like fish with circular mouths filled with sharp radula.
Lampreys are highly esteemed by the Yurok, and are gaffed in the winter during
low tides, when they skitter across flooded sandbars from the sea to the river.
The close proximity to the big surf makes eel snagging a dangerous business,
and fatalities from sleeper waves occur with some regularity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Inside the small, clapboard house, Oliver, a tribal elder, is eating
strips of smoked salmon. Oliver is thin but not frail, an exceptionally
handsome man with long iron-colored hair and dark eyes glimmering with humor. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>He is 78, and has lived in this home for 55 years. A wood stove
provides radiant heat. On the walls are photos - of family and tribal members,
but also of fish: big salmon arrayed on a plank, skewered salmon staked around
a fire, a close-up of a lamprey in shallow water, a huge sturgeon hanging from
a tree limb. The room smells pleasantly of smoke and fish. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>A few Yuroks are seated and standing around Oliver, who is ensconced in
a comfortable chair near the stove. As he nibbles on the fish - symmetrical,
long strips of blood orange chinook, translucent as stained glass - he uses a
jack knife to carve a lamprey hook handle from yew wood. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Lamprey hooks are the essential tool for eel fishing. The requisite
technique is to chase an eel as it lunges across the sandbar, snag it with the
hook, then flip it high up on the beach with a flip of the arm and wrist. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Oliver's eel hooks are held in particularly high regard, a set of
finished hooks hang on a wire above Oliver's chair, the golden yew wood handles
glossy. They are carved with uncanny accuracy to represent a lamprey head,
right down to the radula in the mouth and staring, inquisitive eyes. The
lamprey is an intelligent fish, say the Yurok; when you run after them with the
hook, you can see the alarm in their faces. Somehow, Oliver has captured that
sentience in his carving.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The talk is discursive, humorous and mildly chaffing. Oliver asks one
of the young men if he is still seeing a Tlingit woman. Tlingits are a
southeastern <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Alaska</st1:State></st1:place>
tribe, accomplished fishers and marine mammal hunters who have long... enjoyed
must be the operative verb... a reputation for pride and aggressiveness. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>No, the young man says, a half-smile on his lips. She went back north.
Oliver nods his head sagely, intent on his carving.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"That was a tough woman," he says after a time. He looks
around the room, fixes on a visitor sitting nearby on a stool. "That woman
could've whipped three of you," he says. "She was fierce. Ate too
much seal meat." There are gentle laughs, and heads nod in agreement. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>This is a conversation that has been going on for a long time - eight
to ten thousand years, give or take a millennium. That's how long the Yurok, <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>'s largest tribe, have occupied this reach of
the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The three main tribes inhabiting the <st1:place w:st="on">Lower Klamath</st1:place>
- the Yurok, Hupa and Karuk - all have maintained strong cultural identities,
but the Yurok are perhaps most closely identified with the river. This is
because of the location of the ancestral Yurok lands: From the Klamath's mouth
and surrounding littoral territories to more than 50 miles upstream. All the
Klamath tribes depended on the fish runs, but the river and its coastal nexus
assumed particular significance for the Yurok. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The Yurok had access to the migrating fish as soon as they left the
sea, when they were at their fattest and brightest. Along with the river - and
its salmon, steelhead, lampreys and candlefish - they also had the open ocean
to exploit. Their food sources included Dungeness crabs, seaweed, mussels,
abalone and periwinkles from the intertidal zone. They carved - still carve -
elegant boats from redwood logs, and were redoubtable mariners, hunting marine
birds, seals and sea lions and fishing for ling cod and rockfish in the rough
inter-coastal waters. They had first rights to the dentalium and abalone shells
that were the primary medium of exchange for the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath
River</st1:place> tribes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The river was their source of food and wealth, and it was their
highway, their means of establishing commerce with other tribes. They were a
water people, and still are. The photos on Oliver's walls are religious icons -
graphic representations of all that is sacred to the tribe: the fish. Fishing
nets and implements. Boats. The River. Because in any conversation with a
Yurok, it always comes back to the river. To a very significant degree, the
river is the reservation: Tribal holdings extend 1 mile inland along each bank
from the mouth of the Klamath more than 40 miles upstream. Most of the land is
exceedingly steep, of little utility for anything except conservative and
limited forestry. What the tribe has always had, and still has to a significant
degree, is the Klamath.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"The river gave us everything we needed to thrive," said Troy
Fletcher, a tribal member and resource policy analyst. "It gave us food,
wealth, beauty. This was paradise, and we knew it."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>But like most rivers</span></font></b><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> in <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place>,
the Klamath has suffered. Agricultural water diversions have depleted the
river's once mighty flows; four moderately sized hydroelectric dams along the
Klamath's main stem - plus a huge dam on its major tributary, the Trinity - have
greatly reduced the spawning grounds for anadromous fish. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Too, the main stem Klamath dams warm the river's water, encouraging
destructive parasites and blooms of toxic blue-green algae. Increasingly, it is
clear the Klamath can have the dams or it can have fish, but not both. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>For years, the Yurok have been at the vanguard in a battle to remove
the dams. Allied with them are the other Klamath tribes, commercial fishermen
and sport anglers. Opposing them are the dams' operators - which have shifted over
the years, as the facilities have changed ownership - and farmers in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Upper</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, who divert the
river's water for potatoes, grain, alfalfa, horseradish and other crops. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The Klamath always has been a major front in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>'s water wars, one that has waxed
especially hot throughout the Bush administration. In 2001, increased downriver
flows by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to sustain salmon were resisted by
Basin farmers, who seized irrigation canal head gates in protest. Water availability
already was a flashpoint issue on the Klamath because much of the Trinity's
flow is diverted south for the state's cities and agricultural lands. The <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Upper</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
skirmishes heightened the sense among the tribes and their allies that the
entire system was being drained, with no regard for the fisheries and the
people who depended on them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>In 2002, the Bush administration sided with the farmers and slashed the
releases to the river, delivering the water up to the irrigation districts. A
massive fish kill on the Klamath followed; the salmon never really recovered
from the blow. The incident scarred the collective sensibility of the Yuroks,
and it is a subject that still engenders deep anger on the reservation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The situation on the Klamath has far-reaching consequences - all the
way down to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Monterey</st1:City></st1:place>.
The scarcity of Klamath fish has resulted in multiple truncated commercial
salmon seasons for <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State> and <st1:State
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State>, because the Klamath fish mingle with the
nominally more plentiful <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place>
salmon in the open ocean. As the Klamath goes, then, so go the fortunes of the
West Coast's commercial fishing fleet - and the Bay Area availability of fresh
wild local salmon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>[Some fisheries biologists say it's already too late for salmon in the
Lower 48 states. Development, logging, water diversions and dams, they claim,
have compromised the spawning streams to an irreparable degree. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Oceans warming due to climate change - and perhaps overfishing - are
just additional nails in the coffin.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>As of this writing, the Pacific Fishery Management Council - the
regulatory body that governs West Coast marine fisheries - is poised to
proscribe all salmon fishing for the 2008 season. The reason: An unexpected
collapse in <st1:place w:st="on">Sacramento River</st1:place> salmon stocks,
which up to now have been relatively robust. If the ban is enacted as expected,
it will be the first complete salmon closure for the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> coast since commercial fishing
began more than 150 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>But many fisheries </span></font></b><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>experts maintain Pacific salmon and
steelhead can be revived in the continental <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Further, they say,
salmonid restoration will have ancillary benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Bill Kier is a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> consulting
biologist who has designed computer programs to track fishery restoration efforts
on the Klamath; they are so accurate they have been applied by scientists
across the country. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Kier acknowledges that the data on southern range Pacific salmon is a
mixed bag.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"But I still believe they have a very real fighting chance,"
he said. "The fact is that caring for salmon results in stabilized
watersheds, better water quality, more wildlife - and in general terms, a
cleaner environment. If you manage water and land for salmon, it doesn't matter
if you're talking about the Klamath or the creek that flows through Mill Valley
- life will be better not just for the salmon, but for the people who live in
those watersheds, whether they're Native Americans, farmers or
suburbanites."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Dams are not the only thing winnowing the Klamath's salmon. A couple of
years ago, fluctuating ocean conditions off western <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place> reduced the production of plankton, the basic building
block for all marine food webs. Pacific salmon typically run in two-to-four
year cycles, so many biologists think the plankton paucity had a deep and
negative effect on the fish populations that are now returning - or rather, not
returning - to the rivers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Oliver, who has been watching the fish runs all his long life, is
convinced pollution also is a major factor in the decline. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"Everywhere in the world, people are using these harmful chemicals
to do everything, right down to cleaning their toilets and dishes," he
said. "The timber companies are spraying their lands with herbicides, and
it runs into our rivers. The farmers are using too many pesticides. The whole
system is poisoned, and the fish can't take it."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>But for the Klamath, most biologists agree, the biggest problem is the
dams. The battle over their disposition has raged in the courts, Congress and
the media for two decades. Last year, the Yuroks and their allies caravanned to
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Omaha</st1:City></st1:place> in an
attempt to meet with Warren Buffett; his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, had recently
purchased PacifiCorp Power, the company that owns the Klamath hydroelectric
dams. Buffett declined to meet with tribal leaders to discuss possible dam
removal, claiming he never interfered in the management of subsidiary
companies. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>He may have been unnerved by a similar trip the Yuroks, Hupas and
Karuks took to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in 2004 to engage representatives of Scottish Power, the company that owned
PacificCorp at the time. The Scots, who consider themselves a tribal and
salmon-loving people, hailed the Indians as kindred souls and heroes, and
reviled Scottish Power. Chagrined, Scottish Power executives promised to
negotiate a solution with the Klamath tribes. Instead, they sold PacificCorp to
Berkshire Hathaway. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>After getting stonewalled by Buffett, a certain level of depression
settled in along the river. But it now appears that serious negotiations about
dam removal and increased flows were not wholly undermined by Buffett's rebuff.
Indeed, talks have continued - both with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Upper</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
irrigators and PacificCorp. The negotiations, Fletcher said, are at a sensitive
stage, and he won't discuss details. But other stakeholders who weighed in on
the Klamath for this article indicated a deal is very close. Not everyone is
completely thrilled by the prospect. Both commercial fishermen and the Hupa
tribe - who live just upriver from the Yurok - have expressed concerns that the
settlement now under consideration may not guarantee sufficient flows for the
Klamath.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"That worries us," said <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Zeke Grader</st1:PersonName>,
the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's
Associations. "On the other hand, we're not going to actively oppose a
settlement. We have to have good cops and bad cops on this thing, and the
Yuroks are the good cops. We understand that."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Fletcher did say any settlement must be predicated on the removal of
the main stem's four dams and adequate downstream flows for the fish. He also
noted the tribe never really felt like its fight was with the farmers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"After (the) 2002 (fish kill), we reached out to them,"
Fletcher said. "They share a lot of our values. They're rural people,
people who are tied to the land, who are spiritual and hard-working. And like
us, they face an unstable future. When we started talking to them, we realized,
hey - we have a lot in common with these guys."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>But there is still PacificCorp. The farmers aside, Fletcher
acknowledges it is naive to think any corporation would sign an agreement that
results in a significant financial loss simply because other parties consider
it the right thing to do.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"We understand this has to make sense for PacificCorp," he
said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Fletcher is built </span></font></b><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>like a logger: big shoulders and arms,
and a torso like a keg. Arriving at tribal headquarters near the Klamath's
mouth for a recent interview, he walks into the building with his hands
blackened from grease and soot. He had just driven over a snowy mountain road
from the hamlet of Weitchpec, about 40 miles upriver. En route, he had come
across a car engulfed by fire, and had stopped to help its owner put it out.
That kind of instinctive willingness to aid a neighbor in trouble is embedded
in most rural cultures, but in Yurok society it extends to the landscape
itself.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"We believe we were given an obligation by the creator to restore
and protect our land and our fisheries," Fletcher said. "It's spelled
out in the preamble to the tribal constitution. For us, this goes back to the
beginning of time. The challenge right now is extreme. But the obligation has
always been there, and it will never change."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>As part of meeting that obligation, the tribe imposes fisheries
closures and season quotas on its members, even though the Yuroks have the
sovereign right to catch as many fish as they want. Not all members are happy
with the strictures, though they comply.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>One tribal member who feels the regulations should loosen up a little
is Tommy Wilson. Orphaned at 13, <st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City> went to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Atlanta</st1:City></st1:place> to live with a
married sister. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"That big city," he said. "I couldn't hack it. After a
couple of months, I came back here, lived on my own, and did what I had to do
to stay alive."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>That included selling salmon, sturgeon, black bear parts and home-grown
marijuana to a friendly man who later turned out to be an undercover U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service agent. In court, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City></st1:place>
argued that his sovereign rights allowed him to make a living from tribal lands
through any reasonable means.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"I said that we should be able to thrive, not just survive,"
he said. "That means when I catch a fish or kill a bear, or plant a seed
and harvest the plant, I should be able to do with it what I want. We were once
a wealthy people - and it was this river that made us rich. I didn't feel the
federal government had the right to force bare subsistence on us." <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The judge agreed, and threw the case out of court. But despite his
entrepreneurial views - by no means unusual among the Yurok - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City></st1:place> obeys the tribal fishery regulations
without rancor. That, of course, is integral to being a Yurok tribe member in
good standing. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"Individually, we don't define ourselves first and foremost by our
professions," said Maria Tripp, the tribal chairwoman. "To us, the
most important thing is to be Yurok. Work is what you do - Yurok is what you
are."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Courtesy among tribal members </span></font></b><font
size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>and hospitality to visitors is written
into the Yurok constitution. There isn't any emotive breast-beating or
preaching, but everyone is expected to strive for right thinking and right
acting.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'> You see this manifest, especially, when it comes to boat
building.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>The Yuroks have been carving redwood log boats for thousands of years;
the craft are exquisite artifacts by any measure, and sacred to the tribe. All
the boats are carved by hand without jigs or other mechanical aids, and a long
apprenticeship is required before an artisan is allowed to create one without
direct supervision. More than a steady hand is demanded of the carver: A clear
mind and quiet heart also are requisite.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"No one is allowed to approach a boat if he is angry or
upset," said Fletcher. "We believe the boats are living things - we
carve then with hearts, lungs and noses. They can be affected by bad thoughts
and feelings."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>On a large, grassy lot in front of tribal headquarters, tribal member
Dave Eric Severns has been carving a boat every day, up to 12 hours a day,
since Thanksgiving. <o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"It's not something you just - do," Severns said, slowly
peeling away long strips of straight-grained wood with a gouge. He moves slowly
and talks softly, seemingly out of deference to the boat. "You live it. I
work on this boat all day, way into the night. And when I go to bed, I still
see it in my thoughts. It stays with me in my dreams, and then I wake up early
in the morning and come back out here."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>This is the first boat Severns has carved on his own, after working for
six years under his mentor, George Wilson. It's about 20 feet long. The log it
is carved from was more than 5 feet in diameter, and weighed about 1,600
pounds. When the boat is finished, Severns said, four men will be able to lift
it and move it with ease.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"This is a river boat," Severns said, moving his hand along
the smooth, brick-red gunwales. "The ocean boats were up to 60 feet long
and 12 feet wide. Eighty years ago, Yuroks used the ocean boats to deliver milk
from Klamath dairies up to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Crescent</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">City</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> (about 20 miles).
They were incredibly seaworthy craft."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>There is a knob in the bow section of the boat that is meant to
represent its heart; a small black stone rests on it. The stone, says, Severns,
is a lock that keeps the boat secure.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"Boats had primary owners, but anyone could use one if they needed
it - unless there was a rock on the heart," Severns said. "Someone from
the tribe comes by here and sees the rock on this boat's heart, they know it
isn't supposed to be moved."<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Up at Oliver's house, the lampreys have finished cooking on the
charcoal grill. Nearby, a couple of young men check conditions in a large
smokehouse. It is full of lampreys; they hang like golden stalactites from
racks near the rafters. One of the Yuroks cuts off a slab of grilled eel, rolls
it in a slice of white bread and hands it to a visitor. The meat is dense,
rich, oily and incredibly sweet. Oliver walks among the youths, evaluating the
cooking techniques, sampling eel, essaying humorous comments. Sometimes he
simply looks at the river for extended periods of time.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>Tripp says Oliver and other elders are the tribe's bedrock assets,
keeping the people anchored to their place in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></font></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 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'>"When my friends and I were going to college (at nearby College of
the Redwoods and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Humboldt</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>),
Merk was always coming around to feed us with traditional foods," she
said. "He was out of time - connected to the old, old ways. He kept us
grounded, made us understand who we are and where we came from."</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"><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</span></font></i></st1:PersonName><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'> 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</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray;font-style:italic'>PO Box</span></font></i></st1:Street><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'> 2327</span></font></i></st1:address><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><i><font size=3
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray;
font-style:italic'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></st1:City><i><font
color=gray><span style='color:gray;font-style:italic'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></st1:place><o:p></o:p></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'>415 383 4810</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></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'>415 519 4810 cell</span></font></i><o:p></o:p></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'>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><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
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