Klamath Agreement: Part I
Emily Wood & Mike Nelson
KDRV 12 Medford/Klamath Falls, ABC
04/28/2009
This is the first of a three part series looking at the issues surrounding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.
Watch full video piece at KDRV 12.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - J.C. Boyle Dam is one of four hydropower dams along the Klamath River.
Starting in Upper Klamath Lake, the river flows over 250 miles through Southern Oregon and Northern California. It is a source of recreation and business for fishermen, water for farmers, and a vital part of the culture for Klamath tribe members.
Casey Spinks is a member of the Karuk Tribe, and has lived all 67 years of his life along the Klamath.
"About late 70s, early 80s, the fish started to get less and less. I mean, there was still a good number of them. You could go out and catch a lot, but not like the old days, where people go out and catch all the fish they ever wanted, catch them all day long," says Spinks.
The Karuk, along with the Hoopa and Yurok Tribes, are working to remove J.C Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2, and
Iron Gate dams from the river to restore the fisheries and help salmon swim upstream to spawn.
"The Klamath has several impacts on the fisheries on the river. It blocks over 350 miles of spawning habitat the fish once used," says Karuk Tribe Spokesperson Craig Tucker.
The Klamath Tribes have been fishing on the Klamath River for thousands of years. Salmon is the cornerstone of their diet. They also gather plants and wildlife along the banks of the river.
Dip net fishing is still used by contemporary Karuks for fishing for salmon. The nets are woven by hand and placed on poles that have been handmade out of oak or fir. However, the nets are turning up empty.
"It's really bad to just see no fish anymore in the river," says Spinks.
Tribal members aren't the only ones with empty nets.
Commercial fishermen say the salmon runs in the Klamath River have decreased by more than 90 percent from what they were historically.
"That's a huge burden, a huge impact on a commercial fishing family, fish dependent families and communities," says Glen Spain with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Association.
Spain represents fishermen with the PCFFA. He says the Klamath dams are part of the reason for the decline in West Coast salmon.
"They block access, they were built with no fish passage. They cut this river in half. Most of the best habitat is above the dams for major runs. The spring run is nearly extinct because all their spawning and rearing habitat was above the dams," says Spain.
Also above the dams are Klamath Basin farmers like Karl Scronce. Farmers have been working the rich soil for generations. However, tribes and farmers have also been fighting for years over water rights.
"Water has been a big issue since the enactment of the Endangered Species Act. We've just been on this total slow progression of dealing with endangered species, salmon, and now sucker fish in the Upper Klamath Lake, and so there's a competition for water," says Scronce.
That competition came to a head in the spring of 2001 when drought plagued the basin, and the U.S. Government shut off irrigation to some 1,400 farmers.
"Getting your water shut off, it's a game changer in your career," says Scronce.
It rallied basin farmers, who formed the Bucket Brigade, when farmers opened the head gates in defiance.
The following spring, to help farmers and irrigators, the Bush Administration ruled to divert water from the Klamath River to the basin.
In March of 2002, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton came to Klamath Falls and turned the water back on at the beginning of the irrigation season.
However, the following September, near the mouth of the Klamath, tens of thousands of dead Chinook salmon lined the riverbanks. It was one of the largest fish-die offs on record, and it rallied tribes and commercial fishermen against the farmers.
After fighting for years, tribes, fishermen and farmers are coming together in hopes of restoring the Klamath. The center of that compromise: taking down all 4 dams. It would be the largest dam removal project in American history.
Scronce supports the KBRA because it would remove dams, which would help the tribes and fishermen. It would also guarantee water for irrigators in the basin.
"Our compromise was agreeing to less water in some years than what we will need. But the trade off for us, was if we can know ahead of time what the shortfall will be, we can manage for a shortage," says Greg Addington with the Klamath Water Users Association.
"I'd like to think that the members of the tribes down in the Klamath River, if the dams are removed, salmon are returned, that they will defend our rights to have irrigated water, and that we will all work together to try and make the system a workable system," says Scronce.
The tribes say a workable system is possible once salmon runs are returned to the river.
"This is a sweetheart deal for Native Americans who don't have enough salmon to put in their smoke houses. We cannot shove salmon down the throats of Upper Basin irrigators if we don't put together a package that they don't welcome salmon home," says Tucker.
Fishermen support the KBRA because it will bring the river back to life.
"There's not a whole lot of difference between the farmer and the fisherman. We're harvesters and providers of food to America's tables. We harvest the sea, they harvest the land," says Spain.
Most experts agree, if the dams do come down, the Klamath can be restored to be one of the West Coast's most productive rivers. It signals what could be the end to decades of conflict.
However, to get there, supporters must wade through miles of government regulations and get final federal approval. Approval for a workable system that has the backing of commercial fishermen, secures water to farmers, and returns salmon to the Klamath River...
