Indy Bay: Klamath River News

Klamath River News:
Oct. 6th

ACTION ALERTS:

* OVER THIRTY GROUPS ASK FOR TOXIC ALGAE REGULATION:
Sign on to toxic algae letter by Oct 18th and,

* RALLY AND TESTIFY FOR A CLEAN KLAMATH: Oct 25th at 12:30,
at the State Water Resource Board meeting in Sacramento.

* PUBLIC HEARING SET FOR TAKE PERMIT OF KLAMATH COHO SALMON:
Scott and Shasta River hearings on Take Permits set for Oct. 24th-25th.

PACIFICORP LOSES CHALLENGE OF FISH LADDERS OVER DAMS

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Salmon and steelhead would take back hundreds of miles of habitat above a series of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River if they had fish ladders to get there, an administrative law judge found late Wednesday.

The finding by Administrative Law Judge Parlen L. McKenna, following a two-day hearing last month in Sacramento, Calif., adds to increasing public relations and economic pressure on PacifiCorp to remove the four dams straddling the Oregon-California border to help the Klamath River's struggling salmon runs.

In the first case of its kind under a new provision of federal energy law, PacifiCorp had challenged mandates from federal fisheries agencies that it restore free-swimming fish passage past the dams, screen turbines and devote a smaller proportion of the river to power production.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20060928/NEWS/109280035

REGULATORS CLING TO KLAMATH DAMS;

Feds demand little more than status quo on troubled river
Eureka Times-Standard – 9/26/06

Pulling out two dams could significantly improve conditions for salmon on the Klamath River, according to an analysis by federal energy regulators released Monday. But that's not what they're recommending.

Instead, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to modify dam owner Pacificorp's proposal to operate the Klamath hydro project for the next 50 years. That would include trapping adult salmon and moving them above the dams, then capturing young fish and moving them below the dams, like an artificial migration.

The massive draft Environmental Impact Statement was issued before a ruling from an administrative law judge on federal fish and wildlife agencies' demands that fish ladders be built over the dams, and that screens be installed to keep young fish from being killed by turbines.

FERC chose not to fully analyze taking out all four dams that block many salmon from reaching spawning grounds, something many fishermen, tribes and conservation groups want. Poor runs of salmon on the Klamath have long subdued seasons and quotas for river anglers and commercial and sport fishermen on the West Coast. This year, the fishery was declared a multimillion-dollar failure.
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4397817

OREGON OFFICIALS VOTE TO REMOVE CHILOQUIN DAM
The Associated Press

CHILOQUIN - Officials have decided to remove the Chiloquin dam, which blocks the passage of endangered Lost River and short-nosed suckers to spawning areas up the Sprague River.

The Modoc Point Irrigation District voted to remove the structure last week and met Monday to ratify the vote.

Removing the dam was identified as a key project for helping endangered suckers after the Endangered Species Act forced irrigation water to be shut off to most of the 1,000 farms on the Klamath Reclamation Project during a 2001 drought. The move was intended to maintain water levels in Upper Klamath Lake - the project's main reservoir and the primary habitat of the suckers.

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-16/115930048193800.xml&storylist=orlocal

Also another view: Removing the Chiloquin Dam:
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/OPINION/61004003

OVER THIRTY GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS SIGN ON TO TOXIC ALGAE LETTER:

SIGN ON AND JOIN US IN SACRAMENTO ON OC. 25TH TO TURN IT IN.
Over 30 groups and individuals have already signed on to a letter from the Klamath Riverkeeper asking the Regional and State Water Boards to regulate the toxic algae problems in the Klamath reservoirs and rivers.

In the last two years levels of the toxic blue green algae Microcystis aeruginosa have been up to 4000x what is considered same for recreational use by the World Heath Organization. This algae is a liver toxin that is being created by, and then released from. PacifiCorps two lowest reservoirs on the Klamath. Currently this toxin is not being regulated by water and human heath agencies and the Clean Water Act is not being enforced, despite the serious potential heath effects.

There are two things you can do to help clean up the Klamath:

* Sign on to the letter.

* COME RALLY AND TESTIFY TO CLEAN UP THE KLAMATH: OCT 25TH at 12:30 at the State Water Resources Board in Sacramento 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

This meeting is a review of the 303d list of impaired waters. Despite public outcry the Klamath may not be listed for toxic algae and other water quality problems. Join us to ask the State Water Board to help us to Fix the Klamath and make the river safe for humans and fish.

Email klamath [at] riseup.net or go to klamathrestoration.org for a flyer or call Regina at 530 627-3280

COME TESTIFY FOR KLAMATH COHO SALMON:

Tell the California Department of Fish and Game (CDF) to save the Scott and Shasta River Coho

The California Department of Fish and Game is currently setting up CEQA public hearings for the Incidental Take Permit for the Coho Salmon in the Scott and Shasta Rivers. Currently these rivers, which are historically the best habitat in the Klamath Basin for endangered Coho Salmon, are experiencing extremely bad water quality conditions. Diversions and a dam on the Shasta River turn the spring and glacier feed water warm and shallow, and some years the Scott River is completely de-watered.

An Incidental Take Permit allows for the take, or killing, of an already imperiled species.

The hearing for the Shasta River is on the Oct. 24th in Yreka

The hearing for the Scott River is on the Oct. 25th in Fort Jones

Check http://www.dfg.ca.gov/html/pubnotice.html or klamathrestoration.org or call Bob Willams from CDF at 530 225-2365 for details on these hearing, as there has yet to be a public notice.

You call also call or email Regina Chichizola, Klamath Riverkeeper, at 530 627-3280 or klamath [at] riseup.net for sample comments.

COMMENT PERIOD NOW OPEN ON KLAMATH DAMS:

FERC recommends against dam removal

Comment to Un-Dam the Klamath and bring the salmon home by Nov 24th and come to a hearing to testify for dam removal in mid-November.

For more information call Craig Tucker of the Karuk Tribe at 530-627 3446 ext. 3027 or call or email Regina Chichizola, Klamath Riverkeeper at 530 627-3280 or klamath [at] riseup.net.

Hearing dates and sample comments will be on klamathrestoration.org as soon as they come out.

View the Dams DEIS at:
http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/enviro/eis/09-25-06.asp