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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
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Klamath
River Basin fish
Why voters should care:
Proposed measures to restore fish habitats affect related
industries, including agriculture, power, recreation and
policymaking.
The KBRA in part aims to restore
fish habitats.
Current water and dam conditions
in the Klamath River and Upper Klamath Lake can be harmful to fish,
the agreement says. Some of those fish are protected by the federal
Endangered Species Act.
Part of the plan over the next
few decades is to remove four PacifiCorp owned dams along the
Klamath River to improve water quality and fish migration.
Proponents of removing the dams
say it’s the only way to allow salmon to move freely along the river
to benefit the Klamath Tribes and fishermen downstream.
“It’s not fish versus farmer,
it’s fisherman versus farmer,” said Craig Tucker, Klamath
coordinator with the Karuk Tribe in California. “The interests of
humans who live down here are equitable to the people who live up
there.”
But some irrigators disagree.
“(Dams) serve a good, useful
purpose,” said Tom Mallams, president of Klamath Off-Project Water
Users. “They are existing infrastructure … that provide renewable
energy. We should be building new dams, not taking them away.”
What is the Klamath
Basin Restoration Agreement?
The Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement seeks to stabilize water and power supplies among Klamath
Basin stakeholders — tribes, environmental groups, fisheries and
irrigators.
The effort was
launched in 2004, when PacifiCorp sought to renew a 50-year federal
license to operate four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River
in Oregon and California.
Klamath River Basin
stakeholders wanted to represent their interests, especially in the
wake of a devastating 2001 drought, when irrigators had their water
shut off.
Essentially, the
agreement and its associated dam removal plan seek to remove
PacifiCorp’s four dams to improve water quality and fish habitats,
establish sustainable water supplies and affordable power rates for
irrigators, help the Klamath Tribes acquire 92,000-acres of
privately owned timberland, and fund wildlife habitat restoration in
the region.
Fully implementing
the agreement will be a long-term, $1.5 billion endeavor.
Elements of the
agreement cannot be implemented until environmental and economic
impact reviews are conducted. Other aspects hinge on federal
funding. 
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