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<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>CSPA Joins Karuk Tribe
in Lawsuit Against Suction Dredge Mining <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>by Dan Bacher <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The California
Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) has joined in a lawsuit by the Karuk
Tribe of the Klamath River and a coalition of environmental and fishing groups
against the California Department of Fish and Game's use of State General Fund
money to support suction dredge mining. The suit is asking for an injunction
until California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review is completed and other
mitigations take place. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>"An injunction
halting mining at this time of the year would be fantastic," said Jerry
Neuburger, CSPA webmaster. "Most trout spawn in the spring. A halt to
suction dredge mining would mean that redds will not be buried with layers of
silt, killing the eggs. The court needs to act and act NOW!" <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"ArialMT","sans-serif";color:#111111'>CSPA
is a longstanding nonprofit organization working for the conservation of
California’s fisheries and their aquatic habitat. Other organizations
filing the second amended complaint against the DFG include the Center for
Biological Diversity, Friends of the River, Klamath Riverkeeper, Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Institute for Fisheries
Resources. </span></b><b><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"ArialMT","sans-serif";
color:#111111'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>"Suction dredge mining
has seriously degraded habitat and fisheries where it is conducted," said
Neuburger. "Although DFG is on record as acknowledging that suction dredge
mining harms fish, it does not have valid regulations controlling the activity.
Despite the lack of necessary regulations, DFG continues to issue approximately
3,000 permits each year." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The lawsuit takes
place as California fisheries are in their greatest crisis ever. Salmon fishing
in ocean waters off California and Oregon is expected to be closed again this
year, due to the collapse of Central Valley chinook salmon populations, while
coho salmon populations in coastal streams have reached record lows. Meanwhile,
delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass, threadfin shad and other
California Delta fish population have also reached record low population
levels, due to massive increases in water exports, increasing levels of toxic
chemicals in Central Valley rivers, and invasive species. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>A court order in 2006
required the DFG to conduct a CEQA review of its regulations and to mitigate
harms through formal rulemaking. This process was supposed to have been
completed by June 2008, but the DFG has not yet begun the CEQA process and
claims they lack the money to bring the program into compliance. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>However, over the last
two years, the Department has continued to spend state General Funds to operate
the program, which has already been found to be out of compliance with the law.
"CSPA and the other plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to prevent DFG
from continuing to use General Funds to operate the suction dredge mining
program until the Court's 2006 order is satisfied, the required environmental
reviews are completed, the harms are mitigated through a formal rulemaking
process and the new regulations are in place," said Neuburger. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The dredgers pay
$150,000 into the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. "The DFG claims they
don’t know exactly how much is spent administering the dredge program,
including processing and issuing permits and enforcement activities related to
dredging, but we assert that it's much more than $150,000 which would barely
pay salary and benefits of one staff equivalent," said Craig Tucker,
spokesman for the Karuk Tribe. "We expect a more detailed accounting to be
revealed in the course of the lawsuit." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>"The fact that
they are not publishing a detailed accounting of how the program is run
suggests to us that they don’t want anyone to know exactly how much is
being spent," emphasized Tucker. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Tucker said the real
issue is that DFG is failing to comply with its own regulations. Fish and Game
Code 5653 allows the DFG to grant permits for the use of any vacuum or suction
dredge equipment only if their operation "will not be deleterious to
fish." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The plaintiffs have
testimony from DFG biologists as well as Dr. Peter Moyle, one of the nation's
prominent fishery scientists, stating under oath that dredging is deleterious
to fish. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>“Suction
dredging represents a chronic unnatural disturbance of natural habitats that
are already likely to be stressed by other factors and can therefore have a
negative impact on fishes that use the reach being dredged," said Moyle.
"All anadromous fishes in the Klamath basin should be considered to be in
decline and ultimately threatened with extirpation. Section dredging through a
combination of disturbance of resident fish, alteration of substrates, and
indirect effects on heavy human use of small areas, especially thermal refugia
(side creeks), will further contribute to the decline of the fishes." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The miners also fail
to comply with section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act that compels them to
have a discharge permit to operate. "There are no suction dredgers with a
404 permit in CA, since the State Water Resources Control Board has never
established a permit process," added Tucker. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Miners Attack
Traditional Karuk Fishery <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Meanwhile, the New
49'ers Prospecting Club and a coalition of mining and “wise use”
groups from northern California, Oregon and Washington have submitted a
petition to the DFG demanding that they ban the Karuk Tribe from dip netting
salmon below Ishi Pish Falls on the Klamath River, as they have done for
thousands of years. The petition claims the tribe is engaged in the
“widespread and wanton destruction” of the coho salmon and other
fish in the Klamath River. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>“At a time when
the federal government is poised to ban ocean salmon fishing for the second
year in a row, it makes no sense for the State to turn a blind eye to the
wholesale slaughter of salmon by the Tribe,” claimed Mike Higbee of
Grants Pass, Oregon. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>However, Leaf Hillman,
Vice-chair of the Karuk Tribe, said these accusations are
"ridiculous." <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>“Our fishery is
gear limited," said Hillman. "This means that because we use
traditional dip nets, we can only catch a very small percentage of fish that
are coming up the falls. This is by design.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>To the tribe, catching
the salmon is not just a means of feeding themselves, but vital to the
preservation of their religion and culture. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>“The creator
taught us to use dip nets in order to not over harvest fish,” said
Hillman. “We would not have survived here for thousands of years had we
abused this privilege granted to us by the Creator.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Hillman explained that
although many Tribes in the Pacific Northwest use gill nets that are strung
across the river in subsistence and commercial fisheries, the Karuk do not.
Karuk fishermen stand on rocks and dip large nets on poles into the river to
catch fish as generations before them have done. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>“Our fishery is
non-lethal,” said Hillman. “This allows us to selectively harvest
fish. In other words, we release ESA listed Coho and smaller chinook back into
the river unharmed and we eat the rest. It also provides opportunities to tag
fish for purposes of conducting scientific studies.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>Hilllman believes that
the New 49’ers petition to Fish and Game “comes in
retribution” to the Tribe’s effort to restrict suction dredge
mining in areas that serve as critical habitat for ESA listed coho salmon,
Pacific lamprey, green sturgeon and other fish listed as ‘species of
special concern’ under the Endangered Species Act. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>For more information
on the lawsuit and suction dredge mining, go to <a href="http://www.karuk.us/"><span
style='color:#17345C'>http://www.karuk.us</span></a> and <a
href="http://www.calsport.org/"><span style='color:#17345C'>http://www.calsport.org</span></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'>The Fish and Game Code
on Suction Dredge Mining: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt;text-autospace:none'><b><span
style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#111111'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#111111'>Section 5653.9. "Before any person uses any vacuum or
suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake of this state, that
person shall submit an application for a permit for a vacuum or suction dredge
to the department, specifying the type and size of equipment to be used and
other information as the department may require. (b) Under the regulations
adopted pursuant to Section 5653.9, the department shall designate waters or
areas wherein vacuum or suction dredges may be used pursuant to a permit,
waters or areas closed to those dredges, the maximum size of those dredges that
may be used, and the time of year when those dredges may be used. If the
department determines, pursuant to the regulations adopted pursuant to Section
5653.9, that the operation will not be deleterious to fish, it shall issue a
permit to the applicant. If any person operates any equipment other than that
authorized by the permit or conducts the operation in any waters or area or at
any time that is not authorized by the permit, or if any person conducts the
operation without securing the permit, that person is guilty of a
misdemeanor."</span></b><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Palatino","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
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