Klamath Restoration Begins

Posted by Terri Hansen on 7/15/10 • Categorized as climate,climate,culture,environment,human rights,indigenous peoples,innovation | solutions,land,sovereignty

By Craig Tucker for Mother Earth Journal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The economic and environmental review process of the pending Klamath Restoration Agreements began this week with a series of public scoping meetings in the Klamath Basin. For many basin residents this signals the preliminary steps of an ambitious locally driven effort to restore the Klamath Basin’s fish and farm economies.

For the past several decades a crippling cycle of crisis has gripped the Klamath Basin. A series of fish kills, irrigation shut-offs, and bans on commercial salmon fishing resulted in a rotating crisis for Basin communities, often leading to finger pointing between neighbors. However in recent years a large number of affected parties successfully negotiated a pair of Settlement Agreements aimed at resolving many of the conflicts.

The Klamath Agreements were signed February 18, 2010 by Governors Schwarzenegger and Kulongoski, Secretary of Interior Salazar, leaders of the Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath tribes, and a host of local irrigation districts, local governments and conservation organizations.

The Agreements lay out a process for removing Klamath dams and other restoration measures aimed at recovering the Klamath salmon fishery, while addressing the water and power needs of agricultural communities as well. Heralded as the “Fish and Chips Agreement,” – potatoes are a popular crop in the Upper Basin – the plan offers tangible benefits for fishermen and farmers. And the agreements ensure that utility customers’ pay less than they otherwise would to retrofit the aging dams in order to comply with modern environmental standards.

Supporters of the Agreements note that in addition to the environmental benefits, dam removal alone would provide a $1 billion boost to Siskiyou County, which has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the state. The Agreements also plan for millions in restoration work and irrigation project upgrades.

Secretary Salazar must determine if dam removal is in the public interest and will benefit fisheries as a first step in implementing the Agreements. This decision constitutes a “federal action” and therefore is subject to the terms of the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA requires a thorough review of the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed action as well as public input.

Since California funds must also be applied to dam removal, the process must also meet the requirements of California law. Thus, the environmental review process must also meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

Supporters of the Settlement Agreements are confident a fair and objective consideration of the issues will lead the Secretary to agree with many other basin leaders, that the Klamath Agreements are the best hope for ending the Klamath’s rotating crisis.

“We’ve studied the problem to death,” says Leaf Hillman, Natural Resources Director for the Karuk Tribe. “We believe that when viewed through the lens of objective science, only one conclusion can be reached and that’s to implement these agreements. Otherwise none of the communities and economies on the Klamath River can survive.”

The NEPA process is the first step towards implementing the Agreements. Congressional authorizing legislation must be passed and funding from California must be approved.

According to Yurok Chairman Thomas O’Rourke, “Getting to this point was a monumental effort. Now that tribal, fishing, and agricultural communities have formed a partnership with a common purpose, we encourage people to become knowledgeable about what these agreements do and help us restore the vitality of the Klamath Basin.”