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Landmark Klamath River
restoration and dam removal agreements signed
By Terri Hansen, Today
correspondent
February 25, 2010
Photo courtesy Thomas B. Dunklin - Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar, Governors Ted Kulongoski
of Oregon and Arnold Schwarzenegger of
California joined chairmen Arch Super of the
Karuk Tribe and Thomas O’Rourke of the Yurok
Tribe in California, and Joseph Kirk of the
Klamath Tribe in Oregon in signing the
agreements beneath a mural depicting Native
fishermen at yesteryear’s tumultuous Celilo
Falls Feb. 18.
SALEM,
Ore. – The world’s largest river restoration and dam removal
effort kicked off in a spirit of celebration inside the
grand rotunda of Oregon’s Capitol Feb. 18.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Governors Ted Kulongoski
of Oregon and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California joined
chairmen Arch Super of the Karuk Tribe and Thomas O’Rourke
of the Yurok Tribe in California, and Joseph Kirk of the
Klamath Tribe in Oregon in signing the agreements beneath a
mural depicting Native fishermen at yesteryear’s tumultuous
Celilo Falls.
The
Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement
aims to restore a mountainous land of rivers, tributaries
and wetlands spanning the Oregon-California border.
Its sister
Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement
Agreement, contingent on full funding and
scientific study, will open hundreds of miles of the Klamath
River closed to salmon for a century.
The agreements, five years in the making, signal a close
to decades of bitter struggles between tribal, agricultural,
environmental and governmental entities, and more recently
dam owner
PacifiCorp.
Federal water management practices over the past century
had taxed the federally reserved fishing rights of the
tribes of the Klamath Basin, testified the
National Congress of American Indians
in 2004. Development of irrigation and reclamation projects
created non-sustainable crops in the historically arid Upper
Klamath Basin that required high volumes of water. Water
exported out of the basin for decades led to over-dependence
by agriculture and stressed the fisheries.
“We had back-to-back disasters,” said Craig Tucker, Karuk
Klamath Campaign coordinator.
Drought in 2001 spurred the federal government to
increase water to protect two species of Upper Basin sucker
fish, culturally important to the tribes, and the wild coho
salmon under the
Endangered Species Act. The
move withheld irrigation water from farmers, pitting them
against the tribes, conservation groups and federal
agencies.
“It was hairy at times,” said Tucker, recalling the
political backlash that ensued.
It got worse.
The Bush-Cheney administration reversed the decision and
restored irrigation, leading to the largest salmon kill in
the history of the West. Some 70,000 salmon died in 2002,
devastating the Klamath Basin tribes. It stunned the
sensibilities of Yurok tribal members at the mouth of the
Klamath River.
“Everyone sued everyone else,” said Tucker. “In the
middle of this water catastrophe, the dams came up for
re-licensing. Solutions were possible but only if people
recognized the concerns of other people in the basin. We
started negotiating.”
The agreements will restore more than 350 miles of
historic salmon habitat and thousands of acres of wetlands,
improve river flows and water quality, settle water-related
litigation, increase irrigation certainty and affordable
power options for agriculture, provide economic
revitalization programs for tribal communities, and a
coordination council to manage the watershed.
“The Klamath River [is] a stunning example of how
cooperation and partnership can solve difficult conflicts,”
Salazar said. “Let me say that as we look at the Department
of the Interior and the trust responsibilities which we have
as the United
States of America,
we will honor the trust relationship, the nation-to-nation
relationship that we have with the Native American
communities, the First Americans.”
“Change is happening and we invite people to join us,” said
Yurok Tribe Chairman Thomas O’Rourke. “Legislation will take
some time, but former adversaries are already working
together to manage the basin, take care of our people, and
craft a shared future. That’s what we’re celebrating here
today.”
“This brings together dozens of groups that for years and
years stood toe to toe, but now stand side by side united in
this cause,” Schwarzenegger told the crowded room. “By
finalizing that agreement we can say, ‘hasta la vista’ to
the dams.
“I can already hear the salmon fish screaming, ‘I’ll be
back!’”
Fifty organizations representing dam owner PacifiCorp,
the Obama administration, three of the four Klamath Basin
fishing tribes, several counties, agricultural districts and
numerous conservation groups agreed to support the
agreements. But there were dissenters.
Fish and wildlife in the basin’s Trinity River in
California is integral to Hoopa Valley tribal customs,
religion, culture, subsistence and ceremony. The agreements,
Hoopa Tribal Chairman Leonard Masten said in a statement,
undermine tribal rights, do not ensure dam removal, and rely
on unfunded and unspecific fishery restoration goals. “We
cannot stand behind deals that require the subordination of
our rights, and that may never result in dam approval.”
A few others, including two environmental groups and a
group representing irrigators also oppose the agreements.
The agreements could be a model for the nation, Salazar
and Schwarzenegger said. Several Native peoples in
attendance expressed hope that, even while dams in the
Columbia Basin are not among those now slated for removal
these agreements could pave the way to renewing voices at
the
legendary Celilo Falls that
lie muffled beneath stilled waters behind
The Dalles Dam.
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