waddell letter klamath settlement 021908

Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.

Letter to KBC regarding settlement by Karuk tribal member 02/19/08

Please note that the history of which I found my information on the lack of salmon at Klamath Falls in history, as told here - see Stephen Powers' "Tribes of California" 1877 Chapter 28 page 256 where Powers told of how the Modoc people did not have salmon because the salmon did not ascend beyond the rapids below Lower Klamath Lake...because there was no spawning gravel there! And the slow waters of the Klamath Falls area do not have spawning gravel.

There were large lake trout up to over 15 pounds, large brown trout of similar large size and one or more species of large Mullet fish and at least 2 species of sucker-fish... all that do not need gravel to spawn!

Read Alfred E. Kroeber's 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California which was a compilation of past anthropological reports.

Removal of the Klamath dams will not bring salmon back to Klamath Falls. Removal of the Klamath dams will not enhance salmon for Karuks, Yuruks, or Hupas! Removal of the Klamath dams will not get rid of algae, for algae is a product of decaying organic matter including droppings of millions of birds and other animals... shallow waters of lakes and marshes that received intense sunshine onto that water. Make more "Wetlands" make more algae!

James A. Waddell, Karuk Member, resident of Happy Camp, CA for over 5 decades.