Posts tagged: Klamath River

Thirty Seconds To Some Potentially Kickass Steelhead & Salmon Fishing On The Klamath

November 11, 2011, by 17 comments

If you have an extra 30 seconds (and even if you don’t), do Klamath River steelhead and salmon a favor and click here, copy and paste the “sample” comment you’ll find below (or write your own), and leave a public comment in support of the Klamath EIS/EIR Alternative 2 (complete removal of the four lower Klamath River dams).

That’s the short version of this post.

The Longer Version

The four lower Klamath River dams (which are currently throttling the salmon and steelhead populations on what used to be the west coast’s third-most productive salmon fishery) are not only bad for fish, it turns out they’re bad for the economy.

The owner of the dams (PacifiCorp) is in the midst of a FERC relicensing, and if they were to update the dams with fish ladders (as would be required), they’d operate at a $20 million annual loss.

If taken out, they’d:

  • Create 4600 jobs
  • Provide an estimated 86% bump in Chinook salmon populations
  • Open up an additional 300-400 miles of spawning habitat to salmon and steelhead
  • Make my day

In literally thirty seconds, you can help us take them out. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky thing — we’ve got a fair to good chance to make this happen, though it’s going to require putting pressure on legislators over the next couple years.

Still, you want to know how easy this comment will be?

Here’s a picture of the form (click it to go to the real form):

Klamath EIS-EIR Public Comment Form

How hard could this be? (We even wrote the comment -- click image to go there now.)

And here’s your cut and paste comment:

Subject: Klamath Draft EIS/EIR: I support Alternative 2

Comment: I support Alternative 2 of the Klamath Draft EIS/EIR proposal (full removal of the Iron Gate, Copco1, Copco2, and J.C. Boyle dams).

    • These dams are decimating one of the west’s most prolific salmon and steelhead fisheries and strangling the area’s economy
    • Alternative 2 will help restore salmon runs (dramatically increasing steelhead populations), and ensure predictable water deliveries to irrigators
    • The dams don’t make economic sense: if upgraded to modern standards they’ll actually operate at a $20 million annual loss
    • Even the owner (PacifiCorp) wants these privately owned dams taken out

I support healthy fisheries and a healthy local economy (dam removal brings many jobs to the area) — and I support Alternative 2.

Thank you,
[your name]

****************************************

I try not to bombard you guys with a lot of “Save The World” stuff but the Klamath River dams issue is about to hit a series of critical moments.

At stake is the future of what used to be one of the west coast’s best salmon rivers (and let’s not forget the steelhead fishery, which is good, but could become stellar).

With a little more water and a little less dams, the Klamath could become a wholly kickass salmon and steelhead fishery (again).

Want More Information?

For an executive summary of the Klamath River dam removal Draft EIS/EIR, click here.

For more information about the Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and other Klamath Issues, click here.

Klamath River Flows Spiking Wednesday

February 8, 2011, by 6 comments

This just in from CalTrout – Klamath River Flows [Ed: just below Iron Gate dam] will see a significant spike tomorrow (Wednesday).

And it turns out, it’s maybe for a good cause (ridding salmon of parasites):

Flows will rise from from base of 1600 cfs to 5000 cfs and back to 1600 cfs between noon and midnight Wednesday. These flows are designed to flush fine sediments that harbor polycheate worms—the intermediate hosts for fish parasites such as Ceratomyxa shasta. As most of you are aware, a large percentage of outmigrating juvenile salmon are infected with parasites which can be lethal.

This flow change is a result of the Klamath Settlement Agreements and in particular the ability to more flexibly manage the river.

The Underground’s Siskiyou County Peeps: Votes Yes On Measure G

October 30, 2010, by 5 comments

The Underground’s never really surprised when the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors drags the rest of the county into the mud alongside them – and normally I don’t bother the Undergrounders with something this local – but this one might affect you (at least a few years down the road).

Right now, the Klamath River is sick as hell. Every summer, the river below two of its reservoirs runs bright green with toxic algae, and while I could write a good fifteen paragraphs of text outlining the latest move on the part of the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors  to keep it that way (Measure G), but rather than bore the Undergrounders as a whole (99% of whom won’t get to vote on this subject), let me just say this to my Siskiyou County readers:

Vote “Yes” on Measure G

Below is a letter to the editor I wrote (the local paper didn’t publish it). Just to be clear, a “No” vote means you don’t support dam removal, and the Supes are hoping to use an overwhelmingly “No” vote to springboard a later (and expensive) lawsuit.

Yes Vote on Measure G Means Jobs

With Siskiyou County’s economy faltering and unemployment near 20%, it’s hard to understand why the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors are so rabidly opposed to the recovery of Klamath River salmon and steelhead – especially given the huge economic stimulus that dam removal and the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) would bring.

Independent economic analysis says dam removal and habitat improvement projects would lower unemployment, provide sustainable tourism-related jobs, and result in lower power rates (compared to retrofitting the dams to current standards).

Also, the KBRA’s adaptable flow regimes offer us water for salmon and water for farmers, who need some idea what they’re getting so they can plan ahead (many are also getting way-below-market-price power too).

Tellingly, the Board of Supervisors have repeatedly called for in-depth studies of the effects of dam removal, yet they’re now asking citizens to make up their mind before the asked-for studies have been completed.

Simply put, they’re hoping to use an overwhelming “No” vote to springboard this county into an expensive lawsuit which we can’t afford – and will delay the jobs this county so desperately needs.

Returning the Klamath to a healthy state delivers many economic benefits to Siskiyou County – including to our vital (and wholly sustainable) tourism industries. After all, once they stopped shipping all of Northern California’s water south out of the Trinity River, the steelhead and salmon runs came back strong, and on some weekends, you can’t find a place to park along the river.

Those who want you to vote “No” on Measure G will tell you the dams provide irrigation water and flood control, yet they don’t.

Instead, they offer us terrible water quality (the Klamath runs pea green with toxic algae every summer), and because they’d cost us power users $500 Million to retrofit yet only $200 Million to remove, we’re simply better off without them, and in almost every way possible.

Please vote “Yes” on Measure G. Our local economy will thank you for it.

Note to the Board Of Supervisors

Turns out salmon restoration – and a healthy river – actually creates jobs. To see how, watch the video below from Chelan County, WA.

And – Siskiyou County’s Board of Supervisors take note – the restoration actually helps the local economy.

Located in Central Washington State, Chelan County residents have long enjoyed the bounty of their regions natural resources. But since the late 1950′s, they have seen their salmon populations all but disappear. Rallying around this urgent cause, communities throughout Central Washington are now setting an example for the world on how to work collaboratively in addressing salmon recovery.

WINNER: First Place – Stories From Our Watersheds film contest. Hosted by the Whole Watershed Restoration Initiative. ecotrust.org/​wwri

PRESS: “Stories from the North Cascades: Flying for Fish” Published by experiencewilderness.org (experiencewilderness.org/​my-north-cascades-story/​flying-fish)

Shasta, Scott Rivers About to Experience a Large Scale Fish Kill? Low Flows, High Temps Say Yes…

September 24, 2009, by 5 comments

Record low flows and strong fall Chinook salmon run could spell disaster on Klamath tributary

The following is a press release received from Craig Tucker (of the Yurok Tribe) and the Klamath Riverkeeper. It’s not what you’d call great news: Excessive agricultural surface and groundwater withdrawals – and the willingness of state and federal agencies to look the other way – are imperiling salmon and steelhead populations in these two major spawning tributaries of the Klamath River:

Thursday, September 24, 2009

High numbers of fall Chinook salmon returning to the Shasta River are coming home to record low flows and extremely hot weather this week, creating ideal conditions for a large-scale fish kill in the Shasta River. Biologists and water managers with state and federal agencies are monitoring the situation closely as irrigators continue to maximize water withdrawals through the late September heat wave.

“We need to get more water in the river immediately,” said Erica Terence of Klamath Riverkeeper. “Unfortunately, the fish are moving much quicker than the resource managers on the Scott and Shasta Rivers this year.” The USGS realtime streamflow gage on the Shasta River shows record low flows for the last several days, as it has much of the summer. Temperatures are forecasted to be in the 90s through the weekend.

With 1,319 fish past the California Department of Fish and Game’s counting station in the Shasta River canyon as of Sept 22nd, this year’s fall Chinook run is shaping up to be among the largest in the last 20 years on the Shasta. Whether the fish are able to migrate and spawn throughout the basin, or whether the fish turn up dead, will be determined by the extent of irrigation deliveries over the next week. CDFG’s fish counting station on the adjacent Scott River is not yet operational.

“Unfettered agricultural diversions are playing Russian roulette with salmon, and it’s the commercial fishermen and Tribal people downriver who will deal with the consequences,” said Terence. She noted that the sacrifices of commercial salmon fishermen, who face a season closure caused by low returns to the Sacramento River, may be in vain if river conditions do not allow a successful spawning season.

Klamath Riverkeeper is surveying the Shasta River for fish mortalities and is monitoring locations where fish are currently holding in deeper, colder pools. Representatives of multiple organizations and agencies are also keeping tabs on the situation. Unofficial reports indicate at least 7 dead adult Chinook have been documented in the river at this time and fisheries managers and advocates would like to avoid an increase in that number.

Agricultural diversions and groundwater pumping have de-watered the Scott and reduced the Shasta to a trickle for much of the summer. Both tributaries were once abundant salmon producers and are recognized by scientists as key priorities in the effort to restore Klamath basin salmon. Terence added, “We cannot rely on dam removal alone to fix this watershed, it’s time to address the steadily increasing agricultural demand on the Klamath’s water.” The Shasta River was once the most productive salmon stream, for its size, in the state of California. Peer-reviewed science on the adjacent Scott River has demonstrated that decreasing flows cannot be fully explained by climate change.

This year’s record low flows come as CDFG is releasing its final Watershed Wide Incidental Take Permit Program for the Scott and Shasta basins – a controversial and potentially precedent-setting project that would widen allowances for coho kills from agricultural de-watering and other impacts. Klamath Riverkeeper is joining with other salmon allies to oppose the program. Terence said, “With conditions deteriorating for fish every year on the Scott and Shasta, CDFG should be proposing programs that expand protections for fish, not destroy them as the watershed wide permits would do.” She added, “the Scott and Shasta are now growing more alfalfa than they are fish – and its time for that to change.”

Irrigation season ends on the Scott and Shasta Rivers during the month of October.

I’d love to add a poignant twist to all this, but in truth, I’m too pissed off to do so. The politcal environment up here is so backwards (those who participated in our Stream Access/Land Use Planning Nightmare know the County Board of Supervisors would happily see every last fish disappear from the area), and it seems the agencies charged with protecting wildlife are willing to turn a blind eye in efforts to maintain good working relationships with irrigators.

How’s that working for us?

Just so you can watch the water levels dwindle in near realtime, here’s the USGS Streamflow Gage for the lower Shasta River can be found here.

More information on this summer’s Shasta and Scott flow crisis can be found here.

Scott, Shasta Rivers All But Dry, Finally Receiving National Attention

September 13, 2009, by 9 comments

Recently, we reported on the destructively low flows plauging the Scott and Shasta Rivers.

The story – originally broken by North State water activist Felice Pace on his Klamblog site – made it clear that flows had fallen so low, that salmon and steelhead populations simply weren’t going to survive.

Pace noted that the federal government has an adjudicated water right that it seemed unwilling to exercise, and that unlimited groundwater pumping was a big part of the problem.

Now the story’s made it to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, which offers up a fairly grim prognosis:

“Large areas of the (Scott) River have gone completely dry, stranding endangered coho salmon as well as chinook and steelhead in shallow, disconnected pools of water,” said Greg King, president of the nonprofit Siskiyou Land Conservancy, which has fought to protect the salmon runs in the Klamath River system.

“This could be the year that causes the coho to go extinct if they can’t get upstream in the Scott and Shasta.”

You can read the entire article here: Key salmon spawning rivers all but dry.

This whole mess isn’t simply the result of a three-year drought; excessive surface water diversions are a long-time problem, and the overharvesting of groundwater is a major factor in low stream flows.

Farmers and ranchers – trying to increase their harvest of often-marginal crops like alfalfa – have been increasingly turning to unregulated groundwater pumping to do so.

Low Flows Not the Whole Problem

The loss of some of the Klamath Basin’s best salmon and steelhead spawning habitat is only part of the problem.

The Scott and Shasta contribute badly needed cold water to the Klamath River, which suffers from high water temperatures and poor water quality – due in large part to the four Klamath River dams.

Remarkably, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors are fighting hard to retain the Klamath River dams and resisting any attempt to leave water in the rivers, in many cases suggesting the dams are actually helping salmon populations – despite the fact that the waters flow pea-soup green below the lowest dams in summer (the result of a toxic algae bloom).

In fact, a commonly heard refrain in Northern Siskiyou County is that “the salmon are gone anyway,” so no measures need to be taken.

In a political environment like that, it’s hard to imagine we’ll be reading too much good news about salmon and steelhead anytime soon.

See you on the non-existent Scott and Shasta Rivers, Tom Chandler.

Why Exactly Are the Scott & Shasta Rivers Being Dewatered – And Why Isn’t CA Fish & Game Doing Anything About It??

August 17, 2009, by 6 comments

In 1980, a water adjudication on the Scott River awarded the US Forest Service minimum flows to protect salmon and steelhead. In August, those flows are supposed to be 40cfs, but – as Felice Pace at the Klamblog discovered via an unnamed whistleblower – the Scott River is way, way below those minimum flows.

In fact, both the Scott and Shasta Rivers are almost wholly dewatered – and this despite the fact they’re populated by endangered Coho salmon.

Making matters worse is California Fish & Game’s willingness to look the other way as Siskiyou County ranchers and agriculture hammer salmon populations – even after those same populations were listed and (supposedly) received federal protection.

It’s one more example of Siskiyou County’s crazy inbred politics, where extreme ideology serves as a substitute for facts, science and (dare we say it) reality.

This lengthy excerpt is from Pace’s Klamblog post on the Scott & Shasta’s flows, though the whole post is worthwhile reading for any taxpayer who wonders what current stupidity is going to require salvaging in the near future – at the cost his or her tax dollars:

The Shasta and Scott are spawning grounds for most of the Fall Chinook produced in the Upper Klamath River watershed; the Scott has the most Coho. If spawners do not reach their natal streams, Klamath River salmon production will be low and the impact on tribal, commercial and sport fishing – and related economic activity – will be great.

Here is flow data for the Shasta from the US Geological Service ~

* Early on October 11th Shasta River flow declined to nearly 6 cubic feel per second. The flow then became too low to measure for several hours. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=11517500

* The minimum daily flow recorded during the 2008 water year was 14 cfs.

* The lowest minimum mean flow during August for the period of record (1934-2008) was 8.35 in 1939.

From this data we conclude ~

THE SHASTA RIVER CURRENTLY IS EXPERIENCING THE LOWEST RECORDED FLOW DURING AUGUST SINCE FLOW RECORDING BEGAN IN 1934!

Precipitation at Yreka in the Shasta River Valley during 2008 was 77% of long-term mean annual precipitation. This is a dry year but not a drought.

The flow situation in the Scott is just as bad or worse ~

* On August 14th flow at the Scott River gauge operated by the USGS was less than 2 cubic feet per second (cfs).

* The lowest mean flow for the period of record during August was 5.52 cfs in 2002. The lowest daily mean flow in August was 3.4 cfs also in 2001.

From this information KlamBlog concludes ~

THE SCOTT RIVER CURRENTLY IS EXPERIENCING THE LOWEST RECORDED FLOW DURING AUGUST SINCE FLOW RECORDING BEGAN!

The rest of Pace’s article makes for interesting reading – especially when he notes that Fish & Game and other agencies are spending $500,000 to fund “improvements” for diversions (screening a diversion), but nothing is being done about flows.

That sounds about right given the backwards politics of the area. You don’t have to scientist to know that salmon and steelhead need something to survive, and it’s wet.

All the “diversion improvements” in the world – which could easily be construed as another giveaway to ag interests – won’t matter one bit if the water’s gone.

The Battle For the Pit River’s Flows: Are Whitewater Enthusiasts About to Lose Out?

June 16, 2009, by 2 comments

Pit River flows have caused some friction between fly fishermen and whitewater enthusiasts, yet the current stalemate may be ending – and not in the favor of the whitewater folks.

From the Redding Record Searchlight:

Concern over an endangered crawfish’s dwindling numbers on the Pit River could end summer white water that has become a popular ride for rafters and kayakers.

“What those flows do is bring warmer water from upstream down to that area,” said Al Donner, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento. “The crawfish need cool water.”

The agency is asking the state Water Resources Control Board and the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) to end the increased flows immediately.

But white water enthusiasts say they don’t think Fish and Wildlife has data to support its call for the end of the increased flows that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. turns on one weekend a month in June, July and August.

Fly fishermen and guides have contended the abrupt flushing flows are hard on insect life, though we’re only talking about one weekend per month during the summer.

It’s an interesting time to be a coldwater fisherman in Northern California.

  • There are rumblings about salmon & steelhead returning to the Upper Sac (which hasn’t seen them in 70 years).
  • The Klamath Dams may finally come down (beginning the salmon and steelhead restoration process.
  • The Lower Sacramento salmon runs have cratered along with the state’s water supply, fueling California’s Water Wars and exposing the madness of increased pumping from the Delta.

There’s more to come from the mountains of Northern California. I’m sure of it.

It’s the Barbarian Hordes Against Us, And They Might Be Winning ($35)

March 27, 2009, by 6 comments

CalTrout remains an Underground Fave, in part because their local office (here in Mount Shasta) continues to fight the good fight on a lot of fronts – including the Klamath, McCloud River Dam Relicensing, multinational predator Nestle in McCloud and a host of others.

Given the stone-age perspective of Siskiyou County’s Board of Supervisors, it’s clear we need the help.

At a recent meeting, Supervisor Jim Cook astonishingly said “This is the first time I’ve seen anything that CalTRout has been involved with that wasn’t a piece of crap,” while Wise Use Cartoon Character (from way back) Supervisor Marcia Armstrong asserted that “fishing is no longer a vital activity in the county.”

Cook even suggested the Shasta River (major spawning tributary of the Klamath) simply wasn’t a good salmon river when he said “…the stream channel is not what you normally see in salmon areas.”

Jim “I’m not a biologist, but I’ll pretend” Cook is completely wrong, of course – every biologist who knows the Shasta River practically wets their pants explaining why it’s perhaps the most productive trib on the whole Klamath River.

Good call, Jim.

As you can see, the mess up here is considerable. At times it’s even despressing, especially given that the quotes you read above are not fictional – and that the people issuing them are using public funds to foul our own own nest.

It’s galling to think my property tax dollars are fighting salmon recovery on the Klamath – and this despite the economic boon a healthy fishery would bring to this county, which is suffering an 18% unemployment rate.

After all, we put a little water back in the Trinity and now the flood of steelhead fishermen means you can’t park your car there most weekends.

And the Lower Sac sees somewhere between 4000-6000 boat trips annually – the cumulative economic affect of which is considerable.

Meanwhile, the salmon on the Klamath are dieing in droves, and scientists aren’t even sure why, though it’s pretty clear the Klamath’s atrocious water quality is playing a role.

My close friends know the Klamath River/Nestle/Shasta Dam stuff alternately works me up and knocks me back – a fact exacerbated by this reality: there’s only a few of us, and a lot of them, and the “bad guys” all seem to be getting paid.

It’s as if the barbarian hordes were fulltime professionals, while the guys charged with defending Rome buckled on the old broadsword only after working a hard shift in the catacombs.

With that as a backdrop, you’d think CalTrout wouldn’t want to bite off any more regional office goodness, but they’re slow learners (thank goodness), and they just announced the opening of a field office in the Tahoe area.

That’s good because – when it comes to fishery issues – nothing really beats a “boots on the ground” presence (though we wonder why Tahoe gets a babe for a regional rep, while here in Shasta we’re stuck with some skinny guy).

I imagine the recession is playing havoc with CalTrout’s budgets, and while I’m all for the Undergrounders becoming members of the organization (it’s $35 for chrissakes), it would be a lot better if some undeserving AIG bonus baby threw a couple hundred thousand at the organization instead.

Of course, that’s about as likely as an Undergrounder throwing away a Victoria’s Secret catalog without a peek, so in truth, I guess I am suggesting the Undergrounders throw down for a yearly CalTrout membership (nothing’s changed from the previous sentence: it’s still $35 for chrissakes).

Somebody’s got to beat back the Barbarian Hordes, and while it doesn’t have to be CalTrout ($35), there’s probably somebody in your neck of the woods beating back the barbarians, so consider joining them.

Clearly, this is all getting to me, so after I write this, I’m going to get up, walk out of my dungeon office, and shoot a few paper targets (which is calming and a little zen – nobody hits the 10 ring in a frazzled state of mind).

The Upper Sacramento’s falling slowly, so even though it’s probably not fishing great, I expect I’ll find out for myself this weekend.

See you fighting the barbarians, Tom Chandler.

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The Trout Underground’s Away, Yet Almost Ends Civilization As We Know It

November 16, 2008, by 4 comments

I’m on Day Two of my weekend-long class schedule, which means I’m not fishing, nor am I watching the gears turn at the Trout Underground World Headquarters.

Yesterday, fly fishing’s only atomic-powered Web-site apparently became self-aware, joined with Skynet, and attempted to eradicate the human race through repeated postings of the last two “Short Casts” segments.

Fortunately, I seem to have gotten things under control, though Wally the Wonderdog’s eyes are glowing red and he’s taken to wearing big, dark sunglasses.

We apologize for almost ending civilization.

Klamath, Cloud Seeding Followups

There’s certainly more to come on the Klamath River issue, and the Mt Shasta Herald has already published a follow-up to their PG&E Cloud Seeding Story.

I’ll be honest; nobody ever gets everything they want when other stakeholders and the government is involved, but the Klamath River dam removal deal is starting to smell a little – to the point it may not pass the Underground’s Sniff Test. I’ll gather a bunch of information, lace it with a little opinion, and then we’ll see what the Undergrounders – who always bring something of value to conversation – have to say.

This should prove interesting.

I’ll be back, Tom Chandler.

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A Brief History of the Contentious Klamath River Salmon Recovery/Dam Removal Issue

November 13, 2008, by 8 comments

[TC: Originally written for a fly fishing magazine which never published it, the article below outlines the Klamath River dam removal issue - one of the most contentious water issues in the West. In light of today's announcement of a non-binding dam removal agreement, I'm posting it here for the Undergrounders' enlightenment]

Will the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement Restore Salmon Populations, or Simply Benefit Upper Klamath Irrigators?

For more than a decade, Northern California/Oregon’s Klamath River has been ground zero in the salmon wars: a vicious legal and public relations battleground that’s pitted commercial fishermen, irrigators, big ag, tribal interests, environmental groups and an electrical utility against each another.

Fought amidst a volley of lawsuits, threats, PR campaigns and high-end political intervention, the results haven’t been pretty; salmon populations continue to dwindle, and in 2006 and 2007, plummeting salmon populations in the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers forced a large-scale closure of the commercial salmon fishery along the West Coast.

Against this backdrop, some of the west’s most gripping water wars have played out – largely to nobody’s advantage.

In 2001, 1/3 of the water headed for irrigators was put back in the river to protect endangered suckers, salmon and other species.

Mass protests and civil disobedience reigned in the small, largely agricultural communities along the Klamath, including threats and a largely symbolic “Bucket Brigade” that actually moved water from the river to irrigation ditches via a human chain.

An influx of extreme private property rights groups followed, and the area became the center ring in one of the biggest water circuses the west’s ever seen.

Massive Fish Kill Ignites Controversy Over Cheney’s Role, Future of Salmon

In 2002 – after direct intervention by the Bush administration and Vice President Cheney – water again flowed to irrigators, which lead to one of the biggest salmon kills in history (estimates range from 30,000 dead salmon to 80,000).

Shortly thereafter, 28 organizations came together, looking for a way out of the endless web of lawsuits. After years of negotiation – and the ejection of two of the groups who refused to sign a working framework – the group released the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement – a proposal aimed at restoring the Klamath’s troubled salmon populations and ending the Klamath’s water wars.

At stake is the future of the Klamath’s faltering salmon runs, which have been plagued by habitat loss (removing PacifiCorp’s four dams would open 300 miles of spawning habitat), agricultural water diversions, poor water quality, poor returns due to ocean conditions, and overfishing.

The agreement can’t force the removal of the lower four aging PacifiCorp dams – the dams are currently in the midst of a federal relicensing process – but it is dependent on dam removal before it’s put into effect.

After the restoration agreement was released, participants seemed stunned by the wave of protest pouring forth from groups on both sides of the issue, and PacifiCorp – the Warren Buffet-owned electrical utility who must agree to remove its four Klamath River dams or the agreement is a bust – continued playing its cards close to its chest.

Proponents – including diverse groups like Trout Unlimited, CalTrout, upper Klamath irrigators and several nearby native American tribes – say the restoration agreement charts a way forward after years of lawsuits.

Steve Rothert of American Rivers said “By releasing the proposed Basin Restoration Agreement today, we’re saying that there is a better way, and that ongoing environmental degradation is no longer an option.”

Opponents Decry Pork, Priorities

Opponents point to “pork” projects unrelated to salmon recovery (the Klamath tribe wants $21 million to purchase lands for a new reservation), and Felice Pace – longtime Klamath activist, author of the Klam blog water-related Web site and critic of the agreement – argues that the flows mandated in the agreement won’t result in salmon recovery.

“According to independent scientists who have reviewed the flow plan, the flows that would result from this agreement and which would be capped by federal legislation will not lead to Salmon Recovery.”

Pace adds “there are no provisions that will make it possible to adequately address climate change impacts.”

Pace has a point; minimum flows in dry years would fall below those recommended by the biological opinion as being necessary for salmon recovery, and when I asked one of the leading figures in the negotiations about the implications of climate change, he offered a not-very-helpful response about a paragraph in the agreement “acknowledging the potential for climate change.”

Another biologist who was part of the negotiations – and supports the accord – admits to some concern about the water available to salmon in wet years, when recovery should be aided by high recruitment.

In low-flow years, salmon populations fall off, but high-flow years should allow populations to recover quickly. However, with upstream irrigators receiving a lot of water in high-flow years, populations won’t “bounce back” like they should.

Pace also suggests that this agreement – which provides guaranteed flows and heavily subsidized power to irrigators – isn’t necessary. Saying that PacifiCorp can’t meet water quality standards (the Klamath River often runs pea green due to toxic algae blooms in the summer), so they can’t relicense the dams.

Local Politics Flare Up

Meanwhile, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors held a series of public meetings, on dam removal, and with the help of a lot of questionable scare tactics via the Underground’s old friend Supervisor Marcia Armstrong – who alleged dangerous levels of dioxin in the sediment behind the dam when tests suggested only trace amounts – the Board passed a resolution opposing dam removal.

While the county has some legitimate concerns about the loss of property taxes, the heavily timber-and-extractive-industry leaning board (typically) failed to consider the economic benefits to the county of healthy salmon and steelhead fisheries.

Fisheries advocate CalTrout commissioned a study which suggested a salmon was worth $200 to the state economy, and given the Klamath’s history as the third most-productive salmon river on the West Coast, the economic benefits to sport and commercial fisheries could be substantial.

Tribes Split

While the Karuk, Yurok and Klamath tribes support the agreement, the Hoopa tribe have refused to sign.

In a Sacramento Bee opinion piece, Hoopa Reservation Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall argued that “Water rights are upside down in the agreement. The agreement guarantees water for Bureau of Reclamation project irrigators and refuge users, while Hoopa and Yurok senior fishing rights, dating back to 1855 and 1864, are not guaranteed. The agreement puts all the drought-year risks on the fish.”

Craig Tucker – the Klamath Coordinator for the Karuk tribe and longtime proponent of dam removal on the Klamath – wrote a sharply worded opinion piece in the Eureka Times-Standard.

He supported the deal with “The proposed deal addresses the need for increased river flows for fish, dependable power and irrigation diversions for agriculture, and funding to restore fish habitat,” then castigated opponents: “The reality is that many critics of the deal simply hate the other side more than they love their own self-interests.”

The estimated costs of the settlement agreement have been estimated a $1 billion (over ten years).

And frankly, all this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Before agreeing to any removal, PacifiCorp will likely insist someone else assume the risks and costs of dam removal, which would be the largest dam removal project in history [ed: this appears to be true, at least given the reports coming out about the agreement]

This stance belies the fact that the utility benefited from the power produced by the dams for decades, only to try and dump the liabilities associated with them on taxpayers.

Unresolved Water Quality Issues

A hidden issue in all this is the Klamath’s horrible water quality – the product of toxic algae blooms behind the dams in Iron Gate and Copco Lakes.

During the late summer, the Klamath actually turns green, and in places human and pet contact with the river is discouraged. Residents and tribal members offer up stories of rashes that won’t go away after contact with water, and that level of water quality has to have an effect on endangered species.

Felice Pace suggests that these water quality issues mean PacifiCorp can’t get their dams relicensed, and thus, a sweetheart deal for irrigators (the settlement agreement) isn’t necessary.

With rumors of federal/state/PacifiCorp negotiations in the works, the next chapter in the Klamath’s history remains to be written.