By Jay D. Wright

Recently, two issues of importance occurred on the Klamath River Basin which are likely to have major impacts on the outcome of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's relicensing.

Issue No. 1: Pacific Fisheries Management Council's contemplation of near total, if not complete, shutdown of the tribal, commercial and sport salmon fishing season from the Columbia River to Monterey Bay (otherwise known as the “Klamath Management Zone”) due to crashing fish stocks on the Klamath River. Subject: The Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations request for federal and state disaster relief funding to the tune of at least $100 million, but that number could easily double.

Issue No. 2: The combined federal fisheries agency comments on recommended terms and conditions as well as preliminary prescriptions submitted to the FERC. Subject: Removal of the four major dams on the Klamath below Link River are now most definitely on the table. Failing that, they will prescribe equally costly full volitional upstream and downstream fish passage requirements to the tune of at least $200 million. Who really knows how high that number could go? More importantly, will it occur in time to prevent total extinction of the threatened and endangered species as well as the tribal cultural resources?

I certainly agree that the tribal and commercial fishermen, as well as the concomitant milieu of related community impacts from a crashed fishery, are deserving of disaster relief assistance. However, they are not now, nor have they ever been the proximate cause of the decline in Klamath River fish stocks. The tribes will be the first to tell you how they were able to fish on the river for thousands of years without causing a crash among the salmonid species. Disaster relief funding will not relieve their pain and suffering for the loss of a cultural resource. Trust me; they would rather be catching fish!

The proximate cause of the fisheries collapse is the elephant in the room. It's the dams, stupid! Everyone knows it and kudos to the federal agencies for finally putting the issue of dam removal firmly on the table.

Here's where my sell gets significantly more dicey and I may be stepping on a sacred cow. I say instead of providing disaster relief assistance to well-deserving communities, let's put our bucks where they will have the most bang. Not that I necessarily advocate for blowing up the dams! However, that worked just fine on the Rappahannock River in Virginia, much to the delight of one power broker of a senator. I might also add that they performed this using cheap labor via an Army Reserve demolitions team.

Foisting the cost of dam removal upon the taxpaying public shouldn't ordinarily become part and parcel of our increasing desire to restore ecosystem integrity. However, in this case, I would be more than happy to lighten my wallet and divert the proposed disaster relief funding towards achieving a long-term solution to the Klamath crisis. Especially if some public assistance will afford PacifiCorp a means to gracefully negotiate their way out of what can otherwise only be described as a lose/lose scenario.

Jay D. Wright, who attends Humboldt State University, is writing his master's thesis on the FERC hydroelectric relicensing process. He lives in Arcata.