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The Hoopa
Valley Tribe of Northern California has notified Congress and
San Joaquin
River
restoration supporters of the tribe’s concern the plan for the
San Joaquin
is fiscally gluttonous and could
drain restoration funds from the
Trinity River
, which bisects the Hoopa Valley
Reservation.
“They risk killing a living river and the fish in it if the
San Joaquin
legislation (HR 24/S. 27) becomes
a new consumer of
California
’s river restoration funding,”
said Hoopa Valley Tribal Council Chairperson Clifford Lyle
Marshall.
In an Oct. 23 letter, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council asked 10
members of
California
’s congressional delegation to
change the funding mechanism for the
San Joaquin
River
restoration and support
legislation authored by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson and co-sponsored
by U.S. Rep. George Miller (HR 2733) to ensure the promise of
restoration for the
Trinity River
.
In the letter, the tribe also notes federal funding shortfalls for
the restoration of the
Trinity River
are allowing fish habitat to
worsen. “Our tribal fishery is failing because of a collapse of
the fish populations in the Klamath and Trinity rivers,”
Marshall
noted.
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council sent the letter to key members of
Congress stating, “We need your assistance to ensure that the
federal government’s prior commitment and trust responsibility
for Trinity restoration are not sacrificed to the
San Joaquin
settlement.”
Since the
San Joaquin
settlement was first introduced
in the fall of last year, the tribe has said the legislation’s
funding mechanism will be used by the administration to divert
restoration monies from the
Trinity River
restoration program approved in
December 2000.
Congressional representatives, environmental groups, water and
power contractors in the
Central Valley
and administration officials have
asked the Hoopa Valley Tribe not to oppose the
San Joaquin
legislation. The tribe’s letter
replies the tribe can only drop opposition to the
San Joaquin
restoration if funding for the
Trinity River
restoration is assured with HR
2733.
Marshall
said the federal government
betrayed its promises to restore the
Trinity River
when administration officials
refused to support HR 2733 during a Sept. 18 House Natural
Resources subcommittee hearing on the bill. The tribe supports HR
2733 as a way to bolster sagging federal restoration efforts on
the
Trinity River
.
“We support river restoration throughout
California
, but Congress must recognize the
San Joaquin
restoration legislation could
allow the Interior Department to create a billion-dollar vortex
that will suck up available restoration funding for
California
rivers, including the Trinity,”
Marshall
said.
He said the
Trinity River
restoration project is
underfunded by $8 million annually and is seven years behind
schedule, according to estimates developed this year by the
secretary of the Interior Department and the tribe. “Shifting
limited funds to
San Joaquin
will reduce funding for
Trinity River
restoration further,” he said.
“Funding for the Trinity needs to be identified and confirmed
now because conditions have worsened for the Trinity and Klamath
rivers fishery.”
Marshall
said the
Trinity River
is the only tributary to the
Klamath River
producing quantities of salmon
available for local harvest.
“If the
Trinity River
goes down, so goes fishing for
native people, sports fishermen and the commercial fishing
industry for 900 miles of the
Northern California
and
Oregon
coastline. The
San Joaquin
will take decades to restore.
Funding for the Trinity will produce immediate returns on
investment and immediate benefits to the coastal communities that
rely on the salmon.”
Marshall
said the Hoopa Valley Tribe would
like to continue talks with Sen. Dianne Feinstein about
restoration of the
Trinity River
.
“The Senator has been a friend to the
Trinity River
in the past. I think she is
concerned that the Bureau of Reclamation is only committing half
of the money it should on the government’s promise to restore
the
Trinity River
. Congressman Thompson’s Bill
will fix the annual funding shortfall. We hope she will introduce
the same bill in the Senate.”
The federal government began diverting
Trinity River
waters to the
Central Valley
in l964, but promised enough
water would be retained for the river’s fish and wildlife. Since
then, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has allowed up to 90 percent
of the river’s water to be diverted. In the l980s, Congress
recognized the diversion had caused an 80 percent reduction in
salmon populations. In 1992, the Central Valley Project
Improvement Act was passed to create funding for environmental
restoration of
California
rivers harmed by commercial water
users.
In 2000, a Record of Decision agreement was signed by the Hoopa
Valley Tribe and the U.S. Department of Interior for meeting
federal trust responsibilities to restore and maintain the Hoopa
Valley Tribe’s fishery. Since then, the tribe has had to
litigate against Central Valley interests opposed to giving up
water for fishery restoration and fight for restoration monies
from the BOR.
“The
San Joaquin
settlement is the latest blow to
Trinity River
restoration,”
Marshall
said.
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