Hearings Offer Slim Hope For Fix In Klamath Basin
Here’s the deal at the Underground; I provide an inconsistent stream of quality, family friendly (lately) fly fishing content (maybe), and every once in a while, I ask you to send a...
Hearings Offer Slim Hope For Fix In Klamath Basin
Here’s the deal at the Underground; I provide an inconsistent stream of quality, family friendly (lately) fly fishing content (maybe), and every once in a while, I ask you to send an email.
Today, I’m asking you to send an email here: Klamath@energy.senate.gov
Senator Wyden of Oregon is finally holding hearings about Klamath Basin water issues, so tell him you support the Klamath Basin Accords, which offer the only realistic (to me) route out of the fighting which has gripped the Klamath Basin for decades.
As always, if you just want to send the email and get on with your day, the short info is below. If you want the whole story, ready The Larger Picture section.
Easy as pie.
Here’s What You Tell Him
Dear Senator Wyden:
It’s time to fix the Klamath Basin water issues using a comprehensive agreement negotiated by the stakeholders themselves.
In this drought year, we’re getting a glimpse of the chaos that will occur if the KBRA/KHSA aren’t passed.
Remember, in 2001, water to irrigators was turned off to protect fish, and economic upheaval and violent protests resulted. In 2002, the water to irrigators was turned back on (ignoring science in favor of politics), and the result was the West’s biggest fish kill.
With the KBRA and KHSA, we’ve got a chance to put that kind of history behind us.
The Larger Picture
As fly fishermen, we tend to fixate on dam removal and the health of the fishery (and the head-exploding steelhead population that would result from an additional 300+ miles of steelhead spawning habitat).
But the KBRA and KHSA provide a way forward for everyone — commercial fishermen, irrigators, ranchers, the tribes and even PacifiCorp.
The Klamath Basin — and the Klamath River — have long suffered under the weight of four lower Klamath River dams and a wildly overcommitted water supply.
In 2001, the water to irrigators was turned off to protect endangered fish, and the economic effects were unpretty. A few fairly threatening protests resulted.
In 2002, water was returned to irrigators (with the help of Darth Cheney), and the result was the West Coast’s biggest fish kill (some estimates say up to 60,000 salmon died).
After those sorry events, many of the local groups got together, and — despite a fair amount of prior animosity — negotiated the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA).
The KBRA and its governmental equivalent (the KHSA) have been largely stalled in congress by Tea Party groups, who can’t actually tell us why they dislike the agreements without resorting to making up all sorts of weird, tinfoil hat shit.
Now — with the Klamath in the grip of a drought year and a decades-long water adjudication awarding senior water rights to the Klamath Tribes — we’re getting a little glimpse into what the future holds for the Klamath Basin should some sort of agreement not fall into place.
For example, the Klamath Tribes just issued a water call in an attempt to protect their long-foundering populations of endangered suckerfish, and watermasters are now telling irrigators to stop taking water from tributaries upstream of Klamath Lake.
It’s likely that several agriculturally dependent communities will suffer economic hardship, and there will also likely be blowback against the Klamath Tribes, despite the fact they’re exercising a legal right and trying to protect a fishery they haven’t been able to access for 27 years.
Meanwhile, coho salmon populations continue their downward spiral towards extinction, and even “record” returns of Chinook salmon in 2012 only approached 1/3 of their historic populations.
Standing in the way of fixes for these problems are fools waving myths (U.N. Agenda 21, “coho aren’t native,” etc…)
Tellingly, a group of ranchers — many of whom have vehemently opposed the KBRA — tried
