Historic moment’ celebrated  

Ever since he was a child, O’Rourke knew he wanted the dams out of the Klamath River. He said he saw firsthand the impacts the structures had on the waterway and those who relied upon it.

Salmon runs, once some of the largest on the West Coast, plummeted, threatening his tribe’s way of life. And toxic blue-green algae, formed in large blooms behind the dams, floated downriver, leaving skin rashes on those who dared enter the water.

With pen in hand, anticipation, joy and excitement fluttered inside O’Rourke as he bent down to ink his name to the agreements. But mixed with those emotions were reservation and uncertainty about the future.

“There are many unknowns, and nothing is certain until it’s certain,” O’Rourke said in a telephone interview after the signing. “There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ for us, and a lot of hard work for us to fulfill this destiny that is the restoration of the Klamath River.”

Each person who spoke at Thursday’s signing ceremony, including U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, acknowledged that the agreements were simply a beginning to dam removal. Several more steps must be completed before 2020, the scheduled removal date.

Before decommissioning takes place, Salazar’s office must determine that dam removal is in the public’s interest and will, in fact, restore salmon populations on the river. Funding must also be secured to take out the dams and the federal government needs to approve $1 billion in spending measures for restoration work in the Klamath Basin.

Even with these looming hurdles, O’Rourke said there was a feeling of hope at Thursday’s ceremony that the dam removal agreements would actually result in the end of a long-standing water conflict and become the largest undertaking of its sort in U.S. history.

“There was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm,” he said. “It was a historical moment for sure, and the atmosphere projected that.”

After O’Rourke signed the two agreements, representatives from various stakeholder groups waited until their agency’s name was called to make official their own support for dam removal and basin-wide restoration.

Thirty stakeholder parties were called to sign the agreements, including the Karuk Tribe, the California Department of Fish and Game and Humboldt County.

One entity that did not have its name announced was Del Norte County.

The Board of Supervisors has mulled signing the agreements for the past several weeks. Del Norte was not included in the initial Klamath dam negotiations, but has considered becoming a party now that the agreements are final.

Under provisions of the agreements, Del Norte County now has 60 days to become a party as of Thursday’s signing, after that timeframe it must apply for permission to do so.

“There’s some reluctance to sign on because we weren’t included in the discussion in making up the agreements,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Hemmingsen said. “The other thing is there’s a lot of information to go through that we need to understand how it impacts the Del Norte County.”

The supervisors have already held a workshop with the Yurok Tribe to learn more about the agreements. On March 2 they plan to have a meeting with other entities, including those that have opposed the agreements, to further their fact-finding mission.

District 2 Supervisor Martha McClure said she hopes the county makes the decision to sign the agreements because she sees a need for the dams to come out, even though she was critical in the beginning for being excluded from the negotiations.

“My feeling, personally, is that we should be involved because for the sake of the river and the salmon we need to move forward,” McClure said. “And like most deals it’s not the best for everyone and it’s not good for everyone, but it is a springboard and a good place to start.”