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Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
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Archive 71 - April 2008
also  see main archive page

Around 1900, Link River, between Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna, occasionally went dry before the Klamath Project was built. There was no hydropower, no hatcheries, occasionally no fish (fish need water), no artificially-raised river flows or lake levels.  HERE for more

From the archives: July 20, 2006, PCFFA Strategy meeting Minutes: SAVING THE KLAMATH SALMON: Development of an Intervention Strategy or What to Do Between Disaster Relief and the Dams Coming Down.

Council OKs salmon fishing on Klamath; DFG vote next, The Record-Stockton, 4/30/08. "But Chinook salmon fishing on the Klamath River will be open as usual, with a larger than normal quota (22,500 fish) allocated for the 2008 season. The Klamath Tribal allocation is 27,000 fish." (KBC NOTE: Fishing in the Pacific Ocean is shut down this season decimating the fishing industry and economies, Tribes want the Klamath dams out because they say it is causing the fish to go extinct, and the fish run on the Klamath is exceptional...?)
Foes of dams to confront Buffet again, Times-Standard posted 4/30/08
Salmon ban takes toll in Fort Bragg, Modesto Bee, posted 4/30/08

(Klamath) farmers key to local economy 043008, H&N by Warren Haught.

Bureau of Reclamation weekly Klamath water report, 4/30/08

Fish and Wildlife Service to Provide Additional Opportunity to Comment on Proposal to Revise Critical Habitat for the Canada Lynx in July 2008, FWS 4/30/08. "Service is proposing to designate approximately 42,753 square miles of habitat..."

Status Review of Bull Trout Completed; Species still threatened in the United States, additional analysis will be done, FWS posted 4/30/08

PRESS RELEASE - "President Bush Is Absolutely Correct - The Democratic Anti-Energy Policies Will Continue To Worsen America's Gas & Energy Problems," Alaska U.S. Rep Don Young, 4/30/08  "If President Clinton hadn't vetoed this bill, ANWR production would now be providing our nation with more than one million barrels of oil each day. This Democratic opposition to ANWR oil production has kept 10.4 billion barrels of American oil locked up in the northern coast of Alaska Coastal Desert."

4/29/08 - The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-5.2 earthquake has hit in the Shasta National Forest west of Weaverville, 191 miles north of Sacramento, Sacramento Bee.

Looters Limit Out on BPA Salmon Dollars, James Buchal, posted to KBC 4/30/08

Sunday Bible lesson, Acts 9, by Jim Foley 4/27/08

Salmon win in this dam legal battle, Capital Press editorial 4/25/08. "It's a fact that some environmental groups won't be happy until every dam is removed from every salmon stream and river in the West. Whether that's practical is, for them, not a concern. They simply don't seem to be willing to accept any alternatives. For them, it's an all-or-nothing proposition."

That Dam Bill, Ratepayers and regulators want PGE to explain a land donation. Willamette Week 4/25/08. "Some PGE ratepayer groups say the utility may have given up their millions when it did a transaction that included blowing up a Sandy River dam."

Tax dollars are used to fund our destruction, Letter to Pioneer Press 4/25/08. "The administration of the Klamath Tribe and various environmental groups have appealed forest service timber sales for years, which has killed the timber harvest and hurt all of us." Klamath Tribe document  explains that, in the Klamath Settlement plan with a gift of 92,000 acres to the Klamath Tribes, they will trade that land for the Winema Forest so THEY can log it, acquire surrounding private land, and with ripping out 4 hydro dams, they will build a power plant.

GoingToPieces.jpg

Going To Pieces; The Dismantling of the United States of America by Elaine Devary Willman and Kamie Christensen Biehl

A documentary film is now online that shows how 'tribalism' is now claiming vast waters, lands, and natural resources.

Click Here for more on the book and to view the full-length online video.

Click Here to view a summary video. (suitable for 56KB)

More on Willman and book, go HERE.

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review, 4/25/08. "Farm Bureau’s testimony focused on the fact that Prop. 98 will not affect the use of eminent domain for public facilities, public transportation, or public utilities, such as much needed water infrastructure. Despite the false claims by our opponents, Prop. 98 will not impact future water development in California."

Letter from Karuk Tribal member James Waddell to friend Glen, and from Glen to friend Leo regarding Klamath settlement agreement, posted 4/25/08

Tulelake endorses deal, H&N 4/24/08. (KBC NOTE: Klamath Water Users Asso. board member Steve Kandra promoted the Klamath Settlement Agreement to the Tulelake City Council. They had not read the agreement. They did not have a public comment period. They voted that night to support the agreement. The council member we spoke with did not even realize that 'settlement' entailed taking out four hydro dams on the Klamath, giving our water rights to the Klamath Tribes, downsizing Project ag, nearly obliterating ag Off Project, introducing endangered fish with demands that the fish live or the farmers' assurances are rewritten, and giving control of the Klamath Watershed to 26 groups which include 3 tribes, 9 environmental groups, feds, and the Project farmers have merely one vote in a non-consensus new government that was formed excluding the public.) "Kandra plans to meet with the Malin City Council Tuesday and Merrill City Council May 5."

< Senator  Doug Whitsett Newsletter, posted 4/24/08

Tribes water claims wind through process, Billings Gazette 4/24/08

Tribes to lobby in Omaha, H&N, 4/24/08

Family Farm Alliance April 2008 issue:
• Aging Water Infrastructure Is Focus, Pages 3-5
• Reclamation Plans Canal Workshop, Page 4
• Wrapping Up Reclamation’s M4E, Pages 6-8
• Hearing Held On Indian Water Rights, Page 8
• Columbia River Fish Pacts Proposed, Pages 9-10
• Water 2025 Applications Are Sought, Page 10
• California Pays Fish-Saving Price, Page 11
• Senate OK’s Site Security Cap, Page 12

Klamath Water Users Association Klamath Project timeline, April 24, 2008
Klamath Water Users Association settlement information packet, April 24, 2008

Doing fowl deeds to fields, followed by Farms’ support of birds studied, H&N 4/24/08

Board of supervisors continues work on Klamath resolution, Siskiyou Daily News, posted to KBC 4/24/08

Proposal would put chinook in local waters, H&N 4/23/08. (KBC NOTE: this public meeting was announced today, and the public meeting was today 4/23.)
Proposal
>
www.dfw.state.or.us  under Special Plans and Programs.
Comment >
odfw.comments@state.or.us

***Fish and Wildlife Service Final Biological Opinion, posted 4/22/08

Coos County Commissioner John Griffith responds to Riverkeeper regarding Klamath dam removal, posted to KBC 4/22/08

Klamath water report 4/22/08

United Nations with Agenda 21 is alive and well in the Klamath Basin, to control our resources, our population, and herd people into 'sustainable' communities using the Endangered Species Act, Water Quality mandates, etc. Here is an extensive resource in UN documents, agenda, and NGOs.

Prayer Page on Nehemiah and the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, 4/18/08 by Rudy Hiley

Utility hesitant about dams, Pacific Power official: Liability of Klamath dam removal unknown, H&N 4/18/08. "Art Sasse, strategic consultant for PacifiCorp, said mail received by the utility is running 15-1 against dam removal..."

Letters can be sent to: Regulatory Liaison, Pacific Power, 825 NE Multnomah, Suite 800, Portland, OR  97232
E-mails ca be sent to:  klamathquestions@PacifiCorp.com

ODFW to Study Reintroduction of Salmon into Upper Klamath Basin, Columbia Basin Bulletin 4/18/08

Judge: harm to salmon justifies Columbia River sea lion removal, 4/18/07, Columbia Basin Bulletin.

Unemployment in California surges to 6.2 percent, SacBee 4/18/08. (KBC comment: The feds, tribes and environmental groups have locked up our forests so they will burn rather than be harvested, shut down our fisheries, and taken our farmland called "restoration." They want to take our Klamath Basin hydro dams which will raise power rates and further downsize agriculture. They have shut down our oil drilling and coal mining, and are trying to shut down our Klamath River gold mining. There is less farmland, higher world hunger, and higher food and gas prices. Welcome to the West!)

Dr. Calvin Hunt, we'll miss you!

HERE is an op-ed written by Dr. Hunt that the Herald and News refused to print. He stayed up nights last year, in the midst of his illness, so he could inform his community of this impending travesty.

 

Energy 2008: the coming economic meltdown; The energy policy of the United States seems designed to purposely and artificially raise prices to the consumer by throttling supply, Intellectual Conservative, posted to KBC 4/17/08. "In California there is a concerted effort to destroy the Klamath dams. These dams provide cheap, renewable energy to 70,000 homes in Oregon and California. Replacing this energy with natural gas would release 473,000 tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. This is roughly equivalent to the annual exhaust of 102,000 cars."

Tulelake Irrigation District well report 4/17/08

Klamath County delays water decision, Commissioners vote to postpone recommendation on agreement, H&N 4/16/08

Commentary: The truth about the Clean Water Restoration Act, CFBF 4/16/08

Schwarzenegger commended for quick response to fisheries closure, Eureka Reporter, posted to KBC 4/13/08. (KBC Question for anyone who knows: Is any money going to the PEOPLE and communities being devastated by the closure, or is it only going to "restoration projects?")

ODFW announces limited ocean coho salmon season, ODFW, posted to KBC 4/13/08

Klamath County Natural Resource Advisory Council members, H&N 4/13/08

Council voices concern with deal; county advisory board postpones recommendation, Posted to KBC 4/13/08

Klamath Fish Management by Larry Toelle, Ft Jones 4/13/08

CEI Fights Sierra Club Demands for CO2, CEI posted to KBC 4/13/08. "If Sierra Club wins the litigation, potentially hundreds of thousands of previously unregulated small- to mid-sized farms, factories and buildings would have to go through the costly and time-consuming PSD permitting process, because the statutory threshold for regulation under PSD is 250 tons a year."

Sunday Bible lesson Acts 8, by Jim Foley 4/13/08

Sheep ranchers work hard just to break even; High expenses, low returns … but it’s in their blood, Capital Press, posted 4/13/08
John O'Keeffe and his wife, Gail, raise Columbia sheep on the Oregon-California state line near Malin, Ore. They have 500 lambs from 300 ewes, with several yet to be born...I am a hobby farmer, he said, explaining that he doesn't make a profit from raising sheep, so it must be a hobby."

Farm families continue to struggle for water, H&N, posted to KBC 4/13/08

Toxins found in Klamath fish, Study commissioned by (Karuk) tribe on river finds risk to public health, H&N, posted to KBC 4/13/08. Craig Tucker, Karuk spokesman, was previously activist with 'Friends of the River', an international dam removal group, and presently 'Riverkeeper.' Karuks along with Bobby Kennedy, President of Waterkeepers, filed a lawsuit against PacifiCorp to get the dams removed because of algae. A quote from Tucker 7/4/07: "It would be worth better understanding what they could to address the algae problem. But note that our push for dam removal comes with or without the algae as the dams remain a barrier to the recovery of salmon even if the human health threat of the toxic algae blooms were addressed." S. Craig Tucker, Ph.D., Klamath Campaign Coordinator, Karuk Tribe of California

Chinook season closed, The World Link, posted 4/13/08

KBC NOTE: Sea lions each kill several salmon per day. Sea lions have an unlimited salmon season.

Sea lion removals postponed to await looming court decisions, CBB, posted 4/13/08. "Last year an estimated 80 California sea lions made the 145-mile quest to the dam. Observers documented a sea lion "take" of 4.2 percent of the salmonid run in the waters immediately below the dam. Those fish include five salmon and steelhead stocks that are listed under the Endangered Species Act."
Followed by, Hazing not reducing sea lions' salmon catch."California sea lions were the primary predator of adult salmonids in the Bonneville Dam tailrace, accounting for 99.0 percent of the 8,946 observed adult salmonid catches over the recent three-year period, and 99.8 percent of the 4,957 observed chinook salmon catches...White sturgeon was the most commonly observed prey item for Steller sea lions, which made 97.8 percent of the 626 observed sturgeon catches since 2002."

Salmon fishing closure prompts Schwarzenegger to declare emergency, Sacramento Bee, posted 4/13/08

Alaska Cuts Chinook Quota Nearly 50 Percent, NW Fishletter #245, posted April 13, 2008. " it is widely recognized that unfavorable ocean conditions in 2005 and 2006 likely were a significant cause of the poor survival of chinook in the early part of their four- to five-year life-cycle, Some of these ocean conditions have moderated substantially and appear to be returning to a status more favorable to salmon populations."

Dr. Moyle, cited in Dan Bacher's article, "Peter Moyle's Commentary on Central Valley Chinook Salmon Decline" would like us all to believe that ocean conditions play a small role in today's salmon decline, note and links by Joseph Greene, EPA retired scientist, posted 4/13/08
Peter Moyle's Commentary on Central Valley Chinook Salmon Decline, Indy Bay, posted to KBC 4/13/08
2008 salmon forecast predicts 18th largest harvest since 1960, Alaska Journal of Commerce, posted 4/13/08."The total harvest is expected to include 672,000 Chinook salmon, 47.1 million sockeye salmon, 4.4 million coho salmon, 66 million pink salmon and 18.7 million chum."
Climate, Uncertainty and the Pacific Salmon Treaty: Insights on the Harvest Management Game, Miller et al, posted 4/13/08

Kruse: Salmon Run failures in 1997-1998, A link to Anamalous Ocean Conditions, posted to KBC 4/13/08

Agreements propose $980.5 million for projects; support for feds' salmon strategy, CBB, posted 4/13/08

Ocean conditions: do Columbia and Alaska chinook go to the same place? posted April 13, 2008, Columbia Basin Bulletin. "Blame for declining runs of Pacific Northwest salmon has been cast broadly: habitat loss from logging and development, an abundance of predatory sea lions, power-generating dams, terns and other coastal birds that prey on juvenile fish, and over-fishing by commercial and sport fishermen. But no factor is more critical to salmon prosperity than ocean conditions, experts say..."

Researchers hope to continue "River of Origin" salmon study, CBB, posted 4/13/08

< Plowing in the Klamath Basin ended abruptly as 2 inches of snow covered the ground on April 8. It’s that time of year when the farmer just never knows what tomorrow, or this afternoon, might bring. Photo by Jacqui Krizo for the Capital Press.

Bill Ransom's comments to the Council yesterday regarding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement went something like this: Go HERE. (The Natural Resource Advisory Council was supposed to vote today to recommend to the Klamath Commissioners how to vote on the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. They decided to vote in May because they need more time, and, Draft 12 has not been made public yet. The comments recorded by board member Ransom covered the majority of the concerns expressed by most of the board, with all the board members expressing that they believe that their are viable solutions to these concerns and that they would like to see the