Guest Commentary:
Restoration agreement will pain many in Klamath River area
November 3, 2008 Herald and
News,
by Al Bowa and the board members of the Klamath Basin Alliance
On Oct. 26, a
guest opinion to the editor of the Herald and News was printed
in
support of the Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement
that was signed by 74 people.
Many of the signatories are those who have been intimately
involved in the secret drafting of this agreement. In the
opinion piece, they speak of the pain felt by the community
during the water shutoff of 2001, but they really don’t
address the pain that will be felt by those who are left on
the periphery if this agreement becomes an actuality.
Many Siskiyou County residents who own private property in
areas of the Copco and Iron Gate dams will see their land
devalued, thus incurring an unknown monetary loss to Siskiyou
County.
Local ranchers and farmers above the Klamath Lake are
asked to give up 30,000 acre feet of water in order to inflate
stream flows and lake levels above what is available in most
years. This is in addition to nearly 100,000 acres already
acquired by government agencies and The Nature Conservancy and
taken off our tax rolls.
Klamath Project irrigation would also be considerably
downsized, which affects our local economy.
There is the possibility of the loss of our national
forest if the Tribes choose to place the Mazama Tree Farm into
a tax-exempt tribal trust that can then be traded for said
forest without congressional approval. And, without the dams,
70,000 households will see an increase in their electrical
rates. These issues are some of the main factors leading many
to oppose the agreement.
The Klamath Basin Alliance Inc. has recently collected
over 600 petitions in opposition to the restoration agreement
and these petitions will be presented in the near future to
our elected officials. These petitions are in addition to more
than 1,100 petitions presented by the alliance to officials in
the past five years against a federally funded tribal land
gift alone, land that the tribes previously sold. This does
not include over 1,000 petitions collected and presented by
the late Dr. Calvin Hunt.
Those who have signed the current petitions in opposition
to the restoration agreement are not the “silent” majority.
They are those who are not afraid to voice their opinion in
opposition of something they believe is not only harmful to
them personally, but also to the communities that would fall
under this agreement. But there are other “silent” voices out
there that are afraid to speak up for fear to retribution.
The voices of many have been left out of the
billion-dollar restoration agreement as it was hammered out in
secret behind closed doors. Remember, for an agreement to be
an agreement, it needs to be agreeable to all parties.
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The Klamath Basin Alliance Inc. is a nonprofit organization
with a 10- to 15-member board of directors from diverse
backgrounds. It was formed in 2003 to keep the Winema-Fremont
National Forest in public ownership.
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