Time to Take Action
 

Archive 112 - September 2011
also  see main archive page

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(U.S. Fish and Wildlife service) 'Wish list' for suckers nails farms,  H&N, "Reconverting 41,000 acres of prime farmland in the Klamath Basin to marshes and wetlands is high on a list of priorities in a proposed $50 million government plan (USFWS) to protest two endangered species of sucker fish. The plan was outlined in a congressional budget proposal drafted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Sacramento field office."
Group lists wetlands as endangered, H&N 9/30/11. "Tule Lake and Lower Klamath refuges receive water from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the federal Klamath Reclamation Project. In 2010, the drought that severely limited Project irrigators’ water deliveries left the refuges dry." “Last year, we had less than 1,000 acres of wetlands at this time,” Cole said. (Cole is USFWS Klamath Basin refuge manager)
HERE for photos of Tulelake refuge one year ago, October 2010 compliments of KBC News.
Wildlife and Farmland
"There are (489) species of wildlife here in the Klamath Basin. The biological opinion deals with three." Ph. D. Robert McLandress, UC Davis ecology.
HERE FOR AUDIO.
    
Here in the Pacific Flyway, "...Klamath Basin is the most important waterfowl area in North America. Waterfowl eat 70 million pounds of food here, and more than half comes from the farms.
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen / PCFFA, American Rivers, Trout Unlimited, Institute for Fisheries Resources (spinoff of PCFFA), North Coast Environmental Center, Klamath Riverkeeper, Oregon Wild, Klamath Forest Alliance, Water Watch, Earthjustice, VISION statement: "Commercial agriculture within the refuges should be phased out (Klamath Coalition link) in an equitable manner and the refuge lands should be returned to a natural habitat condition...Crops planted on the refuge lands such as onions, sugar beets and potatoes, which are of little or no value to wildlife and require particularly toxic pesticides, should be eliminated expeditiously." 5 of those groups listed are "stakeholders" in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement which states they support refuge farming. Huh???
Earthjustice provides free legal services for most of the above enviro groups, partly funded by George Soros.

Medicine Lake Water Quality meeting, posted to KBC 9/30/11. Funding for studies, BIA, USFS, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, County, TNC, Bella Vista Foundation. HERE for KBC's Medicine Lake Page.

Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett newsletter 9/30/11

Mining Districts: a concept Reborn, by Jim Foley, Yreka, Prospecting and Mining Journal 9/30/11

Klamath River Basin Crops: over 100,000 marijuana plants seized, Siskiyou Daily News 9/29/11. "...total street value of the plants seized is estimated at $93,105 000."

<  Klamath Falls, Oregon - "Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) opponent's sign is destroyed outside Chiloquin, Oregon community center during KBRA's Klamath Water and Power Agency (KWAPA) public informational meeting on Monday. The battle to save 4 hydroelectric and agriculture dams on the Klamath River takes a step towards violence by the environmentalists," from Mike King.

Obama Interior Department Rife with zealots, Washington Examiner, posted to KBC 9/27/11.

Sunday prayer page sent from Frank Tallerico 9/25/11

Can we really say jobs are being created? H&N letter by Mark Slezak 9/25/11. "Oh great. We are going to “create” 4,600 jobs by tearing out the dams on Klamath River. First, I don’t believe the number, but more importantly, let’s expand the logic..."

Central Valley - Judge throws out parts of salmon, steelhead plan, Contra Costa Times, posted to KBC 9/25/11

Columbia Basin Bulletin, posted to KBC 9/25/11

It isn't job creation, it's economic distribution, by Klamath County Commissioner Dennis Linthicum 9/24/11. (Klamath Dam destruction)
Job Creation Through Destruction! Families Protecting the Valley, posted to KBC 9/24/11 (Klamath Dam destruction). "...all I had to do was run through the neighborhood and break all the windows and it would create a lot of jobs in window replacement."

9/24/11 - Awhile back we were asked to find a couple videos..one of Toby Freeman with PacifiCorp saying how the enviros with a dam destruction agenda would make it too expensive to relicense: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibZUMJ96ywA&list=FLOOqZ_h8cIa2lzcNPuydrLQ&index=17

We were also asked where Toby said that Oregon ratepayers do not get a refund. It is in the video where the Dept. of interior facilitator wrenched the mic out of Bob Kings hand, after the first interruption, stated by Toby : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_4M_0nTI3Q&feature=youtu.be

We made a 4-hour dvd of Whitsett/Garrard/Gilman public input meeting in 2009, where there were 4 hours of mostly solutions, and comments. Following is the 12 minute edited version of this event. KWUA, Klamath Project irrigation districts, UKWUA, and Family Farm Alliance director all boycotted that meeting and held their own “strategy” meeting with the tribes at the same time.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK46Bm-qlDw&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gurlALsn_DI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
300 came, 81 spoke, 40 additional attendees submitted written testimony. Everyone who spoke or wrote opposed the "agreements." Approximately 50 people were there from the Klamath Project, 200 Off-Project, and 30 Klamath Basin citizens.

Angry federal judge (Wanger) rips 'false testimony' of federal scientists, Washington Examiner, posted to KBC 9/24/11

Outcomes of last summer’s public employee labor negotiations, Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 9/24/11

* Whitsett files for third term Oregon Senate District 28, 9/22/11. "Doug Whitsett has officially filed with the Oregon Secretary of State's office for re-election to the Oregon Senate, District 28 (all of Klamath, Lake, Crook, and parts of Deschutes and Jackson Counties)." HERE for KBC's Senator Whitsett Page

California U.S. Congressman Tom McClintock speech on the House floor regarding Klamath Dam destruction 9/22/11.

Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report and Notice of Public Hearings for Klamath Facilities Removal, 9/22/11 Oct 18, 2011, 4:30-8 p.m Klamath Falls Public Hearing KBRA

Klamath dams: Real estate repercussions (of dam destruction)? Siskiyou Daily News 9/22/11. (KBC Note: Siskiyou County is home of 3 of the 4 Klamath River dams targeted for destruction, opposed by about 80% of Siskiyou voters.) "

Federal Court Eviscerates Obama Administration's California Water Policy, Congressman Nunes Newsletter, and Letter from Congressman Devin Nunes to Secretary Salazar, 9/22/11

KWAPA On-Project Plan Advisory Committee (OPPAC) 9/22/11. 

AGENDA 21 Workshop - How our private land is being stolen away Sept 22, Thursday, Klamath Falls. Speakers: Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of private property rights, free enterprise, and American sovereignty and independence.
Karen Budd-Falen is a land-use and private property rights attorney based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and represents private property owners, ranchers and farmers. She served three years in the Interior Department under Reagan...
Jim Huffman is a Professor Emeritus at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, OR. Perhaps best known for being a Constitutional attorney and scholar, his other areas of expertise include private property rights, the environment, and tort reform..

DOI Press Release: Salazar announces release of Klamath dam removal studies 9/21/11. "flood risks...impacts of juvenile fish populations...loss in recreation opportunities...decrease in property values...loss in hydroelectric power generation (for) 70,000 homes..."

***Draft Dam Removal Studies EIS/EIR 9/21/11

Delta smelt decision 9/21/11. "...The Court finds agency bad faith here. There simply is no explanation. There is no justification..."

Judge: Salmon protections too costly to water users, Contra Costa Times 9/21/11.

Remarks To The Major Donors Of Hillsdale College, Constitution Week, September 2011, by Igor Birman, Congressman McClintock's Chief of Staff. "I remember vividly the week before my parents, my brother, my grandmother and I left Moscow for the United States.  As we went to say good-bye to my uncle in St. Petersburg, Russian authorities ransacked our little apartment..."

* Defend Rural America October 22nd in Yreka, California with Kirk MacKenzie to form a unified effort to stop Big Government from winning this battle, and all subsequent battles across our nation. Posted 9/20/11
Kirk MacKenzie
Website: Silent No More Publications

Videos

o How To Take Our Country Back.
o Why We Are In So Much Debt.
o Aaron Russo speaks out.
o A collection of great videos.

Report: Dam removal will create jobs, H&N 9/20/11. "The tone of (Salazar’s) speech seems to me to dismiss concerns of a broad majority that maintain well-founded reservation regarding dam removal,” said state Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls. "Whitsett said he would reserve specific comments until he read the full draft environmental impact study, but said, “Dams and sediment can’t be removed for $290 million.” KBC NOTE: According to the KBRA On Project plan there are "conservation easements, forbearance agreements, conjunctive use programs, efficiency measures, land acquisitions, water acquisitions..." with the KBRA dam-removal scheme. How do these create hundreds of "agricultural" jobs according to Secretary Salazar?

Tribes awarded $500,000 grant, H&N 9/20/11. “We’ve got a preliminary construction estimate of $1.2 million,” Sexton said. “We’ll raise the rest of the money through grants.”  

Tribes: Trimmed budget hits benefits, H&N 9/20/11. "What we want are the dams out,” Tucker said. “The water quality is horrible, our fishery is suffering. … Everything we cut out was important, but nothing is more important than getting the dams out.” HERE for Tucker bio and articles. Trained by GreenCorp, and outreach director of Friends of the River, his stated goal is, "removal of four dams on the Klamath River which would represent the largest dam removal project in history." His activist training was invaluable to pull off the KBRA "agreement" with farmers. See article Learning from the (dam removal activist) Pros

Judge: Salmon protections too costly to water users, Contra Costa Times 9/21/11.

U.S. District Court: 2009 salmonid biop found to be unlawful, Central Calif district court decision 9/20/11

Resolution proposed in Tulelake Irrigation District case (regarding KBRA / Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement), Siskiyou Daily, posted to KBC 9/18/11

The case of the missing steakholder, by Klamath County Commissioner Dennis Linthicum, posted to KBC 9/18/11. "What is a stakeholder? Shouldn't it be the guy with the biggest 'stake'?...Who is coughing up the $1.5 billion?"

Dam removal in Washington part of growing movement, Banger Daily News, posted to KBC 9/18/11. "What once seemed radical is now mainstream,” said American Rivers President Bob Irvin, whose group has advocated dam removal for environmental reasons. “All of these are experiments in how nature can restore itself, and the Elwha is the biggest example of that.” The pace of removal has quickened, with 241 dams demolished between 2006 and 2010, a more than 40 percent increase over the previous five years...A drumbeat of litigation by tribes and environmental groups has pushed federal officials to dismantle some dams that otherwise would have remained in place. (KBC NOTE: American Rivers is an exclusive KBRA stakeholder voting member. George Soros helps fund Earthjustice, who pays for American Rivers attorney fees. Earthjustice also pays the bills for other environmental groups on the KBRA "stakeholder" voting members, and also those opposed, yet all in the same coalitions: PCFFA, Klamath Wildlands, Karuk Tribe, Oregon Wild, ....." Some are still in litigation against Klamath Basin irrigators. American Rivers and many KBRA voting "stakeholders" and opposing groups are in the coalition to destroy the Snake and Colombia River dams.

Dam removal movement gathers steam, Washington Post, posted to KBC 9/18/11. Slideshow of dam destruction.

French Creek September 13 2011, Pienpolitics, video and letter by Preston Harris. "I urge others to do as I did and develop a method to tell the true story of their respective watersheds and not allow people to create lies and propaganda about in stream conditions in the Scott Valley watershed."

Hoopa Tribe Gets $4.1 Million for a Healthy Facelift, Two Rivers, posted to KBC 9/18/11

Thompson announces $3.3 million for Yurok Tribe veteran cemetery, Times-Standard posted 9/18/11

Sunday message sent by Frank Tallerico 9/18/11

Oregon Forest Mismanagement, Senator Doug Whitsett 9/16/11. "...left is an area of nearly 600 square miles mostly dominated by standing, gray, dead snags...no effort has been made to salvage this timber for any use. The Forest Service has allowed wood cutting on a few hundred acres, but the infestation is spreading much faster than that meager harvest...The potential for catastrophic wildfire is enormous...Those private forest landowners were able to slow the spread, and reduce the damage on some of their forests, by proactively and selectively logging their timber out in front of the epidemic.. The Forest Service rewarded those efforts by charging the landowners tens of thousands of dollars to haul their logs over Forest Service roads. We were told that the Forest Service “road toll” was as much as $500 to $700 per load!"
Economic Records established during Obama administration, Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 9/10/11
Taxes, Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 8/19/11

Oregon Forest Mismanagement, Senator Doug Whitsett 9/16/11. "...left is an area of nearly 600 square miles mostly dominated by standing, gray, dead snags...no effort has been made to salvage this timber for any use. The Forest Service has allowed wood cutting on a few hundred acres, but the infestation is spreading much faster than that meager harvest...The potential for catastrophic wildfire is enormous...Those private forest landowners were able to slow the spread, and reduce the damage on some of their forests, by proactively and selectively logging their timber out in front of the epidemic.. The Forest Service rewarded those efforts by charging the landowners tens of thousands of dollars to haul their logs over Forest Service roads. We were told that the Forest Service “road toll” was as much as $500 to $700 per load!"
Economic Records established during Obama administration, Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 9/10/11
Taxes, Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 8/19/11

Columbia Basin Bulletin 9/16/11: Sea Lion removal, record salmon runs on Snake, strong Chinook and Coho, etc

NEW: Deadline Oct 7 - Klamath Basin Power Alliance / KBPA-Alliance begins seeking stable power rate, Number of participants will determine power load from Bonneville, H&N 9/15/11. Attend meetings from Sept. 19 - Oct. 3: what you must to to be allowed the cheaper power rate. "The affordable power program, administered by the nonprofit Klamath Basin Power Alliance, is part of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement’s effort to reduce — or at least stabilize — power rates for irrigators...The KBRA is a controversial agreement that aims to establish sustainable water supplies and affordable power rates for irrigators, restore fish habitats, and help the Klamath Tribes acquire a 92,000-acre parcel of private timberland, the Mazama Tree Farm (KBC NOTE: and the KBRA requires 4 Klamath River hydroelectric dams serving 70,000 households to be destroyed.) Around the end of the year, the agency will name a rate and the alliance will have written restoration requirements"

California Public Hearing on Public Lands Access by U.S. Congressman Tom McClintock, 1/15/11

9/15/11 - U.S. Congressman Wally Herger testimony: Monument Legislation Discussed at Hearing: "In the Northern California Congressional District I represent, the federal government owns a significant amount of the land, with it reaching as high as 75% in one county. Local communities collect no taxes from these lands, money that could go to schools and roads. The federal government is also unable to manage it properly. Now the Obama Administration is talking about increasing the number of presidentially-designated national monuments...."

Lawsuit asks court to kill new California Senate districts, Sacramento Bee 8/15/11

Stipulation for Judgement, Proposed Order Case No. SC CV CV 10-0463 Posted 9/15/11  
TULELAKE IRRIGATION DISTRICT, Plaintiff,
v.
ALL PERSONS HAVING OR CLAIMING TO HAVE AN INTEREST IN THE VALIDITY OF AGREEMENTS ENTERED INTO BY TULELAKE IRRIGATION DISTRICT ENTITLED
“KLAMATH BASIN RESTORATION AGREEMENT FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF PUBLIC AND TRUST RESOURCES AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES” AND “KLAMATH HYDROELECTRIC SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT”;
Defendants.
COUNTY OF SISKIYOU; SISKIYOU COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

Tulelake Irrigation District Agenda of 9/12/11 meeting: groundwater management plan, KBRA validation lawsuit stipulation, ....The board approved both of those issues. The public was not allowed to see the stipulation for Judgment Case.

WHY ARE PEOPLE STARVING?
HOW ARE THEY SPENDING OUR STATE
AND FEDERAL TAX MONEY?

California - California's poverty rate highest in more than a decade, SacBee, posted to KBC 9/15/11
National - News Alert: U.S. poverty rate rises to 15.1 percent, Washington Post, posted 9/15/11

Tribes say Klamath project budget reductions violate pact; Tribes want fisheries funded to restore original level, Capital Press,  9/15/11. "Fisheries restoration, reintroduction and monitoring were cut from $493.8 million to $421.5 million, although money for tribes was increased from $65.25 million to $87 million."

Fishing for wild coho opens Sept. 15 on coast, Statesman Journal, posted to KBC 9/15/11. (KBC Note: $Millions have been spent on "endangered" coho habitat, land and water acquisitions, ...)

Hoopa Public Hearing on New Plan Scheduled for Sept. 7. "At an early August Hoopa Tribal Council Meeting the Tribal Fisheries Department was directed to provide a plan to spend $228,000 of salmon disaster relief aid by July of 2012...Over $50,000 was spent on purchasing gill nets for tribal fishers. Another $60,000 was spent on an ice machine that provides ice for better storage of fish while it awaits processing. About $5,000 was spent on ice chests for tribal members and the remaining money still sits, waiting to be spent by July of next year."

KBRA in the works; Congressional approval critical step toward obtaining needed federal funding, posted to KBC 9/15/11. "If all the provisions of the KBRA and the associated dam removal agreement are implemented, they’ll cost an estimated $1.5 billion. Most of the funding is supposed to come from the federal government."

Feds award California tribe $1M for visitor center, Indian Country, posted to KBC 9/15/11

Interior Secretary Announces more than $20 Million for Wetlands Grants for Migratory Birds, More than $9 Million for Wildlife Refuge Acquisitions

This is just a few examples written about in September of taxpayers' money

Contract Dispute Grounds Firefighting Planes, Human Events, posted to KBC 9/14/11. "Nearly half of the federal government’s firefighting air tankers are sitting idle at a California airport, grounded by the Obama administration in a contract dispute just weeks before wildfires swept through Texas killing a mother and her child, and destroying 100,000 acres."

Klamath County Natural Resource Advisory Council meeting Sept. 14, 2011

9/13/11 - BRYANT MOUNTAIN PUMPED STORAGE HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT, FERC PROJECT NO. 13680. Notification of Intent, Pre-application document. Listed are dozens of endangered species in the area, people who would lose their homes, farms, ranches and businesses (pg. 83), and many groups interested including Klamath Riverkeeper, The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Wild, American Whitewater, Klamath Audubon Society, plus some tribes and government agencies. The resource management plan. Also, pg. 53: "KBRA (Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement). 2010. Klamath basin restoration agreement for the sustainability of public and trust resources and affected communities."  

9/12/11: Klamath Basin residents just received notice that their farmland and homes would be destroyed with the creation of a new hydropower facility and reservoir. The following 2009 article is all we have found on the issue:
Hydropower potential; Claims staked for regional power sites, H&N 3/15/09
Closed-system, pumped storage, H&N 3/15/09

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review, posted to KBC 9/12/11. This week’s Friday Review offers an end-of-session re-cap of several of the issues important to Farm Bureau and its Members.

Dam liars, crooks and killers, Morphcity, posted to KBC 9/11/11

Tulelake Butte Valley Fair Sept 8-11.

September 11, 2011, submitted by Frank Tallerico

Tulelake Pioneer Day 9/10/11, 10 a.m. Tulelake Honker, coffee and donuts, lunch, and watch fair Parade.

Tulelake Irrigation District well water levels 9/7/11

Tulelake Irrigation District hollared at those expressing concerns about the groundwater management plan at public meeting #1, by KBC, posted to KBC 9/3/11. KBC NOTE: The management plan is mandated in the KBRA / Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement On Project plan

Some alliances bent on downsizing Klamath Basin agriculture:
Family Farm Alliance tours Klamath Basin with KBRT / Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust,
page 5, FFA monthly briefing August 2011.
FFA director Dan Keppen, former director of KWUA / Klamath Water Users Association, is presently hired by KWAPA as an engineer in creating a groundwater management plan, and a media chairman to sell the On Project Plan, a plan mandated in the KBRA
: "15.2.3. Elements In development of the On-Project Plan, KWAPA shall consider and evaluate the following measures for short-term, intermittent, long-term, and permanent application to meet the purpose of the plan: conservation easements, forbearance agreements, conjunctive use programs, efficiency measures, land acquisitions, water acquisitions, groundwater development, groundwater substitution, other voluntary transactions, water storage, and any other applicable measures."
KBRT 2003 12-Point Klamath land-acquisition plan HERE

Negotiations 2003-  KWUA with former director Dan Keppen, Klamath Tribes and KBRT for giving tribes the National Forest, marketing water, and downsizing agriculture.
KBRT grant from "National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provides funding assistance for habitat restoration projects, and supports the establishment of an Upper Klamath Lake water transaction program."
"Klamath Drought Fund (Fund), to be administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)...As contemplated by the Restoration Agreement, money deposited in the Fund will remain available until expended... NFWF will approve or disapprove an expenditure plan..." "...after NFWF becomes a party to the Restoration Agreement..."  NFWF is funded by Heinz Family Foundation, HWBuckner Charitable Trust, Howard Heinz Endowment, Surdna Foundation, Bullitt Foundation. Please follow the links: they support Zero Population, Wildlands Project, Earthjustice (attorneys for the environmental groups in the KBRA), Tides, Nature Conservancy, Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Climate Trust, Ecotrust, Endangered Species Coalition,  many dozens more...
The Brainerd Foundation supports  KBRT and Sustainable NW, along with Earthjustice, Oregon Wild, Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited.
Partners with Sustainable NW are:   Klamath Water Users Association, 3 Indian Tribes, KBRT, Nature Conservancy, 4 environmental groups
Dan Keppen addressed Senate on Klamath Basin water transfers, Secure Water Act and Water Conservation Initiative 3/16/10. "Another area of focus in our report will include water markets and transfers, where we would like to provide examples of successful efforts, identify where there are impediments to success, and describe where adverse impacts negated such benefits. These studies will help form the framework for Alliance policy on water transfers, which will be advanced in the agricultural / urban / environmental water sharing coalition we are involved with in the Colorado River Basin. We are already assembling work for transfer programs undertaken in the Central Valley (CALIFORNIA), in the Klamath Basin (CALIFORNIA / OREGON), in Southern California, and along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains (COLORADO).”
Dialogue from Upper Klamath Basin and Rangeland Trust tour: This is a partial transcript of dialog and speeches, taken directly from video by KBC.
 Dan Keppen, Gerta and Becky Hyde, Kurt Thomas, KBC, tribal members...
 

 

Sunday prayer sent from Frank Tallerico

Conservative Policy Summit, 9/3/11 Newsletter by Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett. "...The Summit provided those of us who represent the people of Southern Oregon the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the community and business leaders and to discuss the potential solutions that they suggested. The primary purpose of the Medford Summit was to identify governmental barriers to private sector job creation and to recommend appropriate ways to remove those obstacles..."

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review of bills and laws, 9/2/11. This issue contains everything from water, labor, rural taxes..."The Department of Finance wants more money from rural California residents to fund the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; a lot more money..."

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