Saturday, November 26, 2005
By MIKE GENIELLA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Organizers of a Klamath River "salmon summit" next week are
calling for voluntary accords to avoid federal intervention and another
potentially contentious listing for North Coast rivers under the Endangered
Species Act.
Klamath River salmon issues pose consequences for the entire Northern
California coastline, including the Russian River basin.
This year the spring run of chinook salmon on the Klamath was the lowest on
record, raising new concerns on top of a massive fish kill in 2002 that left
one of the state's prime rivers littered with rotting carcasses of chinook,
steelhead trout and endangered coho salmon.
"We know that the real solutions are never easy to find, but the people
of the Klamath basin have shown a willingness to cooperate when given the
opportunity," said biologist Ron Reed of the Karuk Indian Tribe.
For years, Klamath River users have been torn by competing interests. Upstream
farmers want to continue diversions that have enabled century-old agricultural
communities to thrive. Downstream users including commercial and sport fishing
interests have witnessed dwindling fish runs.
Historically, the Klamath has been the second-largest salmon producer in the
state. The 200-mile-long river traverses rugged terrain across the top of
California before emptying into the ocean near Crescent City in Del Norte
County.
Reed and other organizers of the conference Friday in the Karuk Community
Center in the town of Orleans are asking the divergent interests to come to
the table to find common ground.
Prompting the summit is the threat of a possible new federal listing to
protect spring chinook salmon that return from the ocean to spawn in the
Klamath and its tributaries.
Petey Brucker, program coordinator for the Salmon River Restoration Council,
said his group's goal is to help draft a voluntary recovery plan for spring
chinook salmon.
"This kind of effective strategy, including conservation agreements, may
be the best way to avoid listing, and lead to the successful recovery of
spring chinook salmon," Brucker said.
The reasons behind dwindling salmon runs on the Klamath are complex, including
low water flows, historic salmon migration patterns, overfishing and
environmental damage from dams and logging practices. The problems continue
despite federal spending of at least $100 million over the past decade on
restoration efforts.
Nat Pennington, a fisheries coordinator for the salmon restoration council,
said he believes time is running out.
"We are seeing lower returns than ever before, and regulatory processes
set up to protect salmon haven't proven to work quickly," said
Pennington.