<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Sacred Water, Klamath People and the Struggle for Cultural Survival</h1><a href="https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/sacred-water-klamath-people-and-the-struggle-for-cultural-survival/">https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/sacred-water-klamath-people-and-the-struggle-for-cultural-survival/</a><br><br><p><br></p>
<p>February 25, 2015 (Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon)</p>
<p>Entangled in the heart of an arduous century long battle over water
rights in the Upper Klamath Basin, is the struggle of the Klamath,
Modoc, Yahooskin Peoples for cultural survivance.</p>
<p>Our elders have always told us that water is life, water is
priceless. Our water is so sacred it should never be quantified,
compromised or negotiated.<br>
But what happens to the future of a culture, whose spiritual foundation
is water, when even to tribal negotiators, the priceless becomes a mere
commodity?<span id="more-5775"></span></p>
<p>In a world where some believe everything has its price, many of us as
Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin descendants hold strong to the values of our
ancestors.</p>
<p>The values of our ancestors have taught us that water, above all else, is essential to our way of life as Indigenous People.</p>
<p>Our water sustains all our sacred foods and medicines, which have supported us since time immemorial in the Upper Klamath Basin.</p>
<div id="attachment_5776" style="width:614px" class=""><a href="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/klamath-canoes-1.jpg"><img class="" src="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/klamath-canoes-1.jpg?w=604&h=570" alt="Klamath people in dug out canoes, 19th century. Photo: Wikipedia." height="570" width="604"></a><p class="">Klamath people in dug out canoes, 19th century. Photo: Wikipedia.</p></div>
<p>Without it, we cease to be a People.</p>
<p>We are the descendants of Kientpoos, Captain Jack, who refused to be
tamed by the United States and their destructive colonial agenda to tap
our aquifers, irrigate our beautiful homelands and degrade them into
barren farm lands.</p>
<p>On October 3, 1873 the US government sentenced Kientpoos (Captain
Jack), Schonchin John, Black Jim, and Boston Charley to death by hanging
at Fort Klamath. 9 years later in 1882, farmers introduced irrigation
to the Klamath area.</p>
<p>In 1905, the Bureau of Reclamation’s massive project, otherwise known as the Klamath Reclamation Project, replumbed the region.</p>
<p>Today, seven dams, 45 pumping stations, 185 miles of canals and 516
miles of irrigation ditches stretch like a watery web over the land.
Less than 25 percent of the original wetlands remain. Some 25,000 acres
of those wetlands have been leased to farmers while another 200,000
acres have been turned into farmland. Agricultural runoff has altered
the chemistry of the lakes and wetlands and waterfowl populations have
declined by two-thirds. It is a familiar story in the arid West – water
moved from where it was to places where it should not be.</p>
<p>“What we have,” explains former Klamath Tribe Water Attorney Bud
Ullman, “is an over-commitment of the water resource and general
ecosystem degradation. There have been promises of water initially to
Indians in the Treaty…, then there were promises to the farmers in a big
irrigation project…, then promises for water to other farms. This all
adds up to more water than nature gives us to work with. (Winona Laduke,
<em>Klamath Water, Klamath Life</em> 2002)</p>
<p>The irrigable lands of the Klamath Project are in south-central
Oregon (62 percent) and north-central California (38 percent). The
Project currently provides full service water to approximately 210,000
acres of cropland.</p>
<p>The two main sources that supply water for the project: Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River; <span style="font-family:georgia,serif">and Clear Lake Reservoir, Gerber Reservoir, and Lost River, which are located in a closed basin. (<a href="http://www.usbr.gov/" target="_blank">www.usbr.gov</a>)</span></p>
<div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,serif">An over
commitment of water paired with climate change is hastily altering the
water cycle in the Klamath Basin. Snow pack levels melted out 2-4 weeks
early in 2014. In November 2014, Gerber Reservoir was reported to be 99
percent dry.<br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,serif">In an
attempt to resolve conflicts between Indigenous senior water rights
holders and junior rights holders, the Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement (KBRA) was introduced in 2009 and the final document was
signed on February 18, 2010 in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem%2c_Oregon" target="_blank">Salem, Oregon</a>.</span></div>
<div id="attachment_5778" style="width:614px" class=""><a href="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image4.jpeg"><img class="" src="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image4.jpeg?w=604&h=390" alt="Members of Klamath Tribal council and Klamath Tribes negotiation team at the latest community meeting in Portland, OR 2/9/15. In order from left to right: chairman Don Gentry, Kathy Hill, Vivian Kimbol, Anna Bennett, Taylor Tupper [public information/news manager], and Shawn Jackson." height="390" width="604"></a><p class="">Members
of Klamath Tribal council and Klamath Tribes negotiation team at the
latest community meeting in Portland, OR 2/9/15. In order from left to
right: chairman Don Gentry, Kathy Hill, Vivian Kimbol, Anna Bennett,
Taylor Tupper [public information/news manager], and Shawn Jackson.</p></div>Since
then, two more agreements have been drafted and introduced, the Klamath
Basin Hydroelectric Settlement (KHSA) on February 18, 2010 and the
Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement (UKBCA) on March 4, 2014.
<p>While the Klamath Basin has glorified these agreements as a
historical reconciliation, Indian Water Settlement agreements similar to
the KBRA have been on the rise, and since 1989 congress has ratified at
least 30.</p>
<p>Spring 2014, Klamath Tribal members were notified at a series of
community meetings in Portland, Eugene, Chiloquin and Klamath Falls that
the UKBCA had been finalized and referendum ballots would be mailed the
following week. This left tribal members only 19 days to review over
100 pages of legal and scientific documentation and cast a vote to
approve (or deny) and direct the Klamath Tribal chairman, Donald Gentry,
to sign the proposed legislation. According to the Klamath Tribes
Referendum Official Ballot, “all ballots must be received by the US Post
Office in Chiloquin by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Or they will
not be counted.”</p>
<p><a href="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image1.jpeg"><img class="" src="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/image1.jpeg?w=604&h=870" alt="image[1]" height="870" width="604"></a>Many
tribal members, primarily those who live out of area, either did
not receive their ballots or received their ballots after the deadline
for submission. 564 Tribal members voted yes, in favor of the Agreement,
and 419 voted no. Less than one third of eligible voters cast a vote.</p>
<div>Lack in ethical leadership has affected business at home and many
have not been given the opportunity to exercise their right to
vote. Administration is not updating addresses for tribal members to
tribal departments. Members who live out of area have also had their
ballots rejected because addresses didn’t match elections. There were
two tribal newsletters in 2014 which some still have not received. This
has left countless tribal members disenfranchised.<br>
Numerous tribal members have now been questioning the motives of their
own tribal government and the tribal negotiators of these water
agreements.</div>
As of last week, Fidelity National Financial Ventures announced it had
sold the assets of Cascade Timberlands, LLC to Whitefish Cascade Forest
Resources, LLC, based in Singapore. The sale included the Mazama Tree
Farm, which is a key component in the Klamath Tribes negotiations
regarding the KBRA. This may now give the Klamath Tribes a special
circumstance to file for withdrawal from the agreements as outlined in
section 33.2.2. in the KBRA. This option is not currently being shared
or discussed with Tribal members. And the actions of Klamath Tribal
negotiators regarding this issue are yet to be determined.<br>
Within this last year we have watched the UKBCA, turn into Senate Bill 2379 and witnessed it die in Senate at the end of 2014.<br>
Every time a new document is drafted, new language is <span class="">introduced.On</span> January 8th 2015 Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon reintroduced the agreements as Senate Bill 133.
<p>Direct quote from SB 133:</p>
<p>“Prohibits water allocations for fish and wildlife and National
Wildlife Refuge purposes from adversely affecting water allocations for
irrigation purposes..”</p>
<p>There were originally 80,000 acres of seasonal marshes in the Lower
Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. On average the Refuge served about 10
million birds and had a large winter population of threatened Bald
Eagles. At the current status, the Refuge will essentially be a cracked
lakebed.</p>
<p>Now a year after the signing of the UKBCA, for us as Tribal People
whose primary interest is to protect all sacred things that are outlined
in the 1864 Treaty that pertain to our survivance as a culturally
distinct People, more is coming to light in regards to these documents
along with various reasons to not support them. These “agreements” do
not secure that which is necessary to protect what is promised under the
Treaty. These agreements do not protect that which is crucial to our
spirituality and way of life.</p>
<p>“The adverse effects of KBRA on water needed for fish became much
clearer during the dam removal EIS stage than they were earlier. Buried
in the <a href="http://klamathrestoration.gov/" target="_blank">klamathrestoration.gov</a>
list of engineering studies is a definitive report showing that KBRA
means less water during many key times than is currently required by the
BiOps protecting Coho Salmon., e.g., during dry year months. The
irrigators like this outcome but no one who wants Salmon to thrive
should be satisfied.” Tom Schlosser, legal counsel for Hoopa Valley
Tribe</p>
<div id="attachment_5780" style="width:614px" class=""><a href="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/klamath-canoes-2.jpg"><img class="" src="https://warriorpublications.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/klamath-canoes-2.jpg?w=604&h=490" alt="Klamath member making dug out canoes." height="490" width="604"></a><p class="">Klamath member making dug out canoes.</p></div>
<p>Signatory tribes, such as the Klamath, Yurok, and Karuk Tribes have
hailed the agreements as a path toward dam removal and fisheries
restoration. Through the KBRA and Upper Basin agreement those Basin
Tribes with water rights, or which have advocated for Salmon, have been
promised funding for restoration and economic development in exchange
for not pressing for increased flows in the Klamath River.</p>
<p>Klamath Tribal Members have been told the agreements do not
relinquish any rights, however, the agreements irrefutably contain
language that limits the federal trust responsibility. Both the
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) and the National Congress
of American Indians (NCAI) have resolutions opposing any action that
limits or abolishes the federal trust responsibility. Nevertheless,
signatory tribes have chosen to proceed into the agreements.</p>
<p>The Hoopa Valley, Quartz Valley and Resighini tribes did not
sign. They argued the agreement subordinates priority tribal water
rights and the Endangered Species Act. They argued the lack of water
effects Chinook and Coho Salmon health and future salmon runs in the
Klamath Basin. They argued that the inexpensive, direct path to dam
removal is restarting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission process
for these facilities. The Klamath agreement has blocked this process for
years.</p>
<p>The government is frequently conflicted in their obligation to
protect Tribes but often chooses to protect irrigators that have created
a large economy based on Tribal resources. The crux of the dispute is
the United States government has been involved by providing assets and
paying for resources to advance the cases (sell-out our rights), when
they have a fiduciary duty as trustee to protect Tribes.</p>
<p>Clearly, the Bureau of Reclamation is also pulling levers behind the
scenes with the Pacificorp power company. In 2014, salmon were sick and
dying in the Klamath River and BOR prompted Pacificorp to provide
water, with the promise to pay back that water the following
year. Though residents complain about the toxic river conditions,
Pacificorp continues to operate outside the guidelines of the clean
water act.</p>
<p>The Klamath Basin long term plan for 2015 provides no water for the environment.</p>
<p><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">In Sec. 2.5.1 footnote 8
and 4.3.1 n. 14 of the KBRA indicate that Upper Klamath water will not
be used to address lower Klamath fish health; the Upper Klamath will be
managed by the KID BiOp.</span></p>
<p>As it stands now, the most senior water right goes to support
agriculture and to the flooding of fields to prove usage, for increased
farm subsidies in the Upper Basin.<br>
The KBRA and associated agreements are not at all an exercise in
self-determination but advocating for a blood oath from
Tribes. Although, we are faced with drought, contamination and
over-consumption, the Klamath Tribal council and Klamath Tribes
Negotiation Team continue to support an agreement that permits
destructive acts against our culture, environment, and our future as
Klamath, Modoc, Yahooskin Peoples.</p>
<p><em>Honor The Treaty of 1864</em> is a group of like minded
individuals who want to honor our ancestors and our 7th generation by
protecting our resources and our rights. While these ideas are not new
and many people before us stood for the same things we do, our group was
officially formed in 2014. We welcome all people who support our cause.</p>
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