March 2, 2010
By Emily Wood
KDRV, Medford
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Two historic agreements signed by 30
groups in Salem last month are attempting to end decades of
water wars in the Klamath Basin between farmers, fishermen
and tribal members.
The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath
Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement outline a 50-year
framework to handle restoration issues, including fisheries
programs, in-stream flows and the removal of four
hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River. The KBRA and KHSA
total more than 570 pages.
The dam removal is one of the most contentious issues in the
agreements, which says it will cost $450 million to remove
J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1 and 2 and Iron Gate. Another
one-billion is built in to restore the 250-mile Klamath
River that stretches from Southern Oregon into Northern
California. The Klamath River starts at Upper Klamath Lake,
where Basin farmers rely on its water for their crops.
Farmer Ed Bair supports the agreement.
"If the agreement is put into full effect we'll have a
reasonable guarantee of a water supply, a block of water,
every year," Bair said.
Ed's older brother John is against it.
"My water right is being taken away and re-distributed to
different groups without any restitution to me for my land
or any compromise on the years of work that I put in to
build what I have. It's simply been taken away and I've been
excluded from the meetings," Klamath Basin Farmer John Bair
said.
Some irrigators in the Upper Klamath Basin are worried the
agreements do not do enough to protect water rights.
"Those dams are there doing a good job. They aren't the
greatest in the world, no, some of them are pretty old and
need to be retro-fitted, they need to be upgraded, yes. To
take out dams in a time in our history right now where the
economy is in horrible shape for the sake of fish," said Tom
Mallams, President of the Off-Project Upper Klamath Water
Users Association.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon Governor
Ted Kulongoski and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
signed the agreement in Salem last month, along with members
of the Klamath, Karuk and Yurok tribes, Klamath irrigators
and environmental groups.
"Groups like Oregon Wild, the Northcoast Environmental
Center, Friends of the River, WaterWatch of Oregon... these
groups have rejected the settlement because they're the ones
that know a lot and fought for a long time for fish,
wildlife and the river. And they're saying 'no' to this deal
because they see the loopholes in it and they see the
problems in it. You have zero Oregon environmental groups
supporting this," Oregon Wild Spokesman Sean Stevens said.
Oregon Wild is against the KBRA but in favor of taking out
the dams.
"We've always been supportive of dam removal in the Klamath
Basin. It's the economical, the moral and the environmental
thing to do, always has been. The problem is the KHSA, the
dam removal deal. It's tied to this albatross that is the
KBRA that costs too much money, that gives away money to
special interests, and doesn't protect fish and wildlife
adequately," Stevens said.
The KBRA also returns more than 90,000 acres, known as the
Mazama Tree Farm, to the Klamath Tribe. The land runs
alongside Highway 97 in Klamath County.
"This has always been our homeland, but we lost land during
termination. Reacquiring land, it's really darn important
for the tribes. It allows us to start rebuilding our
economic base, creating a sustainable homeland, that's what
we're looking for," Klamath Tribe Member Jeff Mitchell said.
The Klamath Tribe plans on using the land as a commercial
forest, and are looking into building a bio-mass plant.
"When you look at what's happening on the Klamath, we are
removing four dams. We're taking some energy off the grid.
It's important that that energy be replaced with Mazama. It
gives the ability to have another renewable resource, timber
and create energy," Mitchell said.
While the Klamath, Yurok and Karuk tribes support the
agreements, the Hoopa Valley Tribe along the Trinity River
is against it. The Hoopa Tribe wants the entire Klamath
Basin to be restored, which includes the Trinity River.
"The biggest reason is that we're sitting on the Lower
Trinity right here. There's things like the science and the
information that's been put together to support the
agreements. There hasn't been, to our knowledge, a thorough
analysis of the water allocation and the impacts to the
fishery, including this river," Hoopa Valley Tribe Fisheries
Director Mike Orcutt said.
The Hoopa Valley Tribe is still supportive of dam removal
and is trying to find another way to
fast-track the process.
"We are working with the Klamath Conservation Partners, for
example... One thought is to alternatively separate out the
dam removal aspect of it, have that clean stand on its own,"
Orcutt said.
The Klamath Conservation Partners is a new environmental
group that includes Water Watch, Oregon Wild and the
Northcoast Environmental Center. The partners want to
separate dam removal from the restoration agreement, and are
drafting their own legislation to remove the dams faster.
"What we're trying to do with the Klamath Conservation
Partners is point out to our legislators that all their
alternatives are available. But you have to look beyond the
restoration package and see that we could work
collaboratively to come up with those alternatives. But if
the restoration package is sold as the only thing there is,
then that's all we will have to work with," said Jay Wright
with the NEC.
"Its a good thing, because now it's out in the open and we
can actually work with Congress to improve it and make sure
that we are getting a complete restoration of the Klamath
Basin," Stevens said.
With the agreements signed, the future of these dams lies in
the hands of Salazar. Salazar has until 2012 to determine if
the dams should come out. If he decides to remove them, it
will be the largest dam removal project in world history.
However, the dam removal wouldn't start until 2020 or 2025.
"I don't think this thing will be in place for five years or
longer. But we need the secretary's determination, we need
the funding at the federal level, then we need to get the
organizations locally in place that are going to develop and
fine tune. The KBRA has been signed. The deployment, or
bringing this thing to the ground, is going to take three
times the work it took to bring it to the signing," Ed Bair
said.
The agreements now head to Congress, which will have to
approve more than a billion dollars in funding. Salazar will
take into account their decision before he rules in 2012.