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In the Klamath, Politics Defeat Science and Common Sense
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<address>Read more at <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/klamath-politics-defeat-science-and-common-sense-147496">http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/klamath-politics-defeat-science-and-common-sense-147496</a><br>
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<div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2>In the Klamath, Politics Defeat Science and Common Sense</h2></div></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The
AP has reported that seven fisheries scientists from the Klamath Bureau
of Reclamation (BOR) filed a complaint claiming they had been the
victims of political retribution. Like many who came before them these
scientist claimed their science was being tampered with for political
reasons. The Klamath BOR responded that they were actually engaged in a
restructuring and would be tasking the US Geological Survey with future
scientific studies because the larger scientific community and Tribes
did not consider the BOR’s science credible.<br> <br>No matter who is
telling the truth, recent claims of retribution by government scientist
come as no surprise. The Klamath Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has used
bad science in the past. No one living on the Klamath can forget the
Bush Administration decision to manipulate Klamath science in 2002 and
the subsequent death of 60,000 salmon followed by years of fishing
disaster declarations because of scant salmon populations. It appears we
may be slipping back toward those dark days.</p>
<p>The Klamath River is the third largest river in the West. It hosts
five California tribes, including its largest, and regulates the West
Coast’s iconic commercial fishing industry. Its water aids no major
cities and therefore the River has the greatest chance for fisheries
recovery in the West. Even the Klamath’s one large corporation,
PacifiCorp, has agreed it should remove its dams to aid fish recovery.</p>
<p>Yet, nowhere have water wars been fiercer. Lawlessness regarding
water and pollution is common. Tribal senior water rights are still
compromised. Science often takes a back seat in decisions. To the
detriment of an entire ecosystem, the lands, including public lands, are
drained and farmed with little regulation to benefit subsidized farms.</p>
<p>Currently, Klamath settlements, including the Klamath Basin
Restoration Act (KBRA) add to the lawlessness by lowering flows. Dam
removal, which would greatly benefit the Klamath River, continues to be
tied to a bad water sharing agreement that sacrifices Tribal Rights. The
settlement was a great effort to bring people together, but it provides
less water then the Endangered Species Act (ESA) currently calls for.
The KBRA even state the government and trustee for Klamath Tribes will
not exercise water rights, even if the Tribes are not party to the
agreement. </p>
<p>Last year Klamath flows were too low for the salmon runs and extra
water was needed from the Trinity River, a tributary to the Klamath, to
avoid a fish kill. Next year the Bureau of Reclamation proposes to lower
flows to levels not supported by science, and without the benefit of
dam removal. Agencies tasked to protect the environment oftentimes fold
to anti-fisheries pressure. Widely accepted concepts like fish need
water are studied for decades on the Klamath, with no conclusions drawn.</p>
<p>Here are some recent examples of how politics is currently dominating science:</p>
<p>• This past December, almost twenty years after the original
proposal, the Fish and Wildlife Service finally defined mandated
critical habitat for endangered Short Nose and Lost River Suckers. The
result: agencies agreed to remove the species from the Lost River, for
which the species was named, and a wildlife refuge, to prioritize
farming. In the end the total acreage of critical sucker habitat was
reduced by 630,000 acres, a 72 percent reduction in habitat. These fish
only exist in the Klamath and are declining fast.</p>
<p>• Late last fall flows for Coho salmon were reduced by 23 percent
even though just months before flows had to be increased in the Trinity
River to avoid a fish kill. Now Reclamation plans to reduce Klamath
flows even more.</p>
<p>• Despite claims of proponents, the KBRA reduces water for fish,
ignoring studies proving fish need water. Government studies, which are
posted on the KlamathRestoration.gov website, show that in most years
the KBRA will provide less water than fish need and less than the
current ESA-required flows.</p>
<p>• Similarly the Clean Water Act seems not to apply in the Klamath.
Studies show that the Klamath dams and farmers’ pollution create record
levels of toxic algae. However, the only Clean Water Act process that
can address this issue was recently delayed for the seventh year even
though the law calls for it to proceed within a year of the polluter’s,
PacifiCorp, application.</p>
<p>• The Scott River, which now goes dry in the summer, was once one
of the biggest Coho producing tributaries to the Klamath. Numerous
studies have shown the dewatering of the river has accelerated due to
unregulated ground water pumping. A groundwater study in progress could
prove this, yet agriculture interest control the study and water data is
kept secret.</p>
<p>It is time for species protection and scientific integrity to take
priority over politics in the Klamath, before it is too late. The fate
of six Tribes and the west coast fishing industry depends on it.</p>
<p><em>Leonard Masten is the chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. He has
been active with the Tribal council for the last fourteen years and is a
retired law enforcement officer with over 26 years of experience. His
main goal as Tribal chairman is to make the Hoopa Valley a safe and
drug free environment.</em></p></div></div></div>
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<address>Read more at <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/klamath-politics-defeat-science-and-common-sense-147496">http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/klamath-politics-defeat-science-and-common-sense-147496</a></address></span></address></span><br>