The Many Facets of The
Endangered Species Act, by Julie Smithson, posted to KBC 9/7/05.
This well-researched document details getting species listed, methods
used, United Nations ESA mandate, examples, species recovery success
rate, etc.A must-read for the objective student of
environmental science.
Emails about the book
The Great Salmon Hoax by James
Buchal have been circulating in the
midst of Klamath dam destruction
schemes. Dams, mismanagement,
Endangered Species Act, ..."This
book is written to begin debunking
these myths and provide a
comprehensive summary of the best
available scientific evidence on the
prospects for salmon recovery. It
also tells the many stories of how
these myths arose, who is promoting
them, and how the promoters have
overcome both science and law.
Myth #1: Columbia Basin Salmon Are
in Danger of Extinction."
The Endangered Species Act Fundamental Flaws, by Senator Doug Whitsett 12/12/11. "...These provisions have allowed the intent, implementation and outcomes of the Act to be hijacked to serve the greed and exploitation of preservationist factions both inside and outside of government agencies...In spite of the expenditure of billions of tax dollars, the species recovery rate is less than 1.5 percent."
Related - David Vogel, fisheries
scientist now with nearly 50 years experience, 14
working for U.S. Fish and wildlife Service: "In 1986
the U.S. F&W Service staff responsible for whether or
not to pursue these (ESA) listings believed there were
only 12,000 Lost River suckers in the Upper Klamath
Lake...they didn't believe they were endangered. A
couple years later...we now know for a fact that numbers
were exceeded by tens of thousands of Lost River
suckers. Now they flip flop and they say they are
endangered? What constitutes endangered?" July 17,
2004 Congressional Hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Water shutoff leaves Klamath farmers scrambling to save
crops, Capital Press 9/16/22. "...farmers
say Reclamation kept changing the end-of-season water
elevation needed for suckers in Upper Klamath
Lake....Normally, the “absolute minimum” elevation is
set at 4,138 feet above sea level. Reclamation added a
buffer of 4,138.15 feet above sea level, which it later
increased to 4,138.62 feet...Paul Simmons, executive
director of the Klamath Water Users Association, said
the changes were “far above any level ever claimed to be
necessary for endangered sucker species,” while cutting
off access to another 45,000 acre-feet of water for
irrigation..."
Small fortune coming to Klamath Basin for ecosystem
restoration, H&N 11/27/21. "...the
funding package will
allocate $162 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service specifically for “Klamath Basin restoration
activities...Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.) secured the funding...There’s no shortage
of places to work on habitat restoration,” Merkley said.
...Essentially, a plan already
exists for implementing wide-scale restoration in the
Klamath Basin through the Integrated
Fisheries Restoration and Monitoring Plan (IFRMP),
a multi-year effort that identifies key restoration
priorities throughout the watershed — from recreating
instream habitat for anadromous fish in the Lower Basin
to reducing nutrient loading in the Upper Basin...it
could make life easier for endangered C’waam and Koptu
(suckers)...will help fund the expansion of Gone
Fishing, the Service’s sucker hatchery operation...The
Klamath Tribes, Trout Unlimited, USFWS and other
restoration-focused groups are already working with
federal agencies.." KBC NOTE: As we
opined before,
habitat restoration usually includes buying out farms
and water rights.
Reversal on habitat a missed opportunity for spotted
owls, people, by Nick Smith American Forest Resource
Council,
posted to KBC 1/3/22. "...between
1994 and 2013, over 80
percent of owl
habitat loss during this period was due to severe
wildfire and forest disease, not timber harvest.
Spotted owl populations continue to reach all-time lows,
largely due to competition
from the barred owl...1.7
million acres of spotted owl critical habitat is not
even suitable habitat for the species. One economic
study found the
designation of uninhabited lands has resulted in
economic losses of up to $1.2 billion to our rural
economies. A unanimous 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision found
the Endangered Species Act does not authorize the
government to designate lands as critical habitat unless
it is in fact habitat for the species..."
Beating
botulism (in Tule Lake refuge), H&N 11/16/21.
"Tule Lake Sump 1A is mostly dry after most of its water
was drained to Sump 1B to try and prevent the spread of
botulism..." (KBC
NOTE: because The Bureau of Reclamation denied water
to the farms and refuges) Eventually, refuge
managers will try to refill Sump 1A and create a better
environment for waterfowl."
KILLING SUCKERS:
The following comment was on our Klamath Basin Crisis
Facebook page:
November 2022 - From Matt
Brimmer 4
days ago in a discussion in this fb group regarding
suckers, hatchery, and draining Sump 1A : "Michael this
has been attempted on a couple different instances since
2001 and has failed. I sat in on one of the original
meetings regarding a Sucker Hatchery. It was set up on
Lower Klamath Wildlife refuge towards the Sterns Unit.
It was working well until the Birds found it and ate
most of them! I also had the opportunity to be part of
the Team that assisted with Sucker fish capture on the
Caldona (Running Y) marsh when the dike broke. This made
for what the ESA and the Tribes called the perfect
Sucker Habitat. However, I believe we only captured
around 30-40 Suckers. Then let’s fast forward to
this year when TID with the assistance of Ducks
Unlimited and the Tulelake Basin Farmers drained Sump 1A
(again supposed perfect sucker habitat). Multiple Large
Adult Breeding suckers were trapped however were not
allowed to be moved from 1A to Klamath Lake. They were
moved to Sump 1B where most were found floating a few
weeks later."
USFWS overturns spotted owl habitat rollbacks, H&N 11/9/21. "The
American Forest Resource Council, a group that
represents wood products manufacturers and forestland
owners, argues the ruling illegally designates more than
1 million acres of federal land that is not currently
spotted owl habitat. Travis Joseph, AFRC president, said
the designation further restricts timber harvest and
tree thinning projects designed to help mitigate large
wildfires that threaten the very habitat officials are
trying to protect.
Biden administration leaves ESA 'habitat' undefined,
Capital Press 11/5/21. "U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service said it plans to repeal a
definition that limited “habitat” to land that could
support the species."
Fish and Wildlife Service withdraws critical habitat
rollbacks for spotted owlAdvocates
for the timber industry argue the decision illegally
restricts logging on more than 1 million acres of
federal land that is not actually spotted owl habitat,
and hinders the type of forest management needed to
repel increasingly large wildfires...reversing
the 2021 critical habitat designation will provide no
conservation benefit for the species, and pointed to
last year’s catastrophic wildfires that burned more than
560 square miles of suitable nesting habitat in
Oregon..."
Biden administration to roll back ESA reforms,
Capital Press 6/07/21. "Rescind
a regulatory definition of “habitat” that limits
critical habitat designations to a location that
“currently or periodically contains the resources and
conditions necessary to support one or more life
processes of a species...Prohibit
the agencies from considering the economic impacts and
certain other consequences of their ESA listing
decisions..." etc.
APRIL
2001
- when Klamath irrigators were informed that they could
not have their deeded irrigation water; for the first
time ever in known history their land and wetlands were
denied water. KLAMATH BASIN CRISIS - ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT GONE WRONG
from: Chris Moudry, Basin Fertilizer, Merrill, OR, April 2001.
"I am writing this memo for insight to what can happen when the Endangered Species Act and environmental
extremism come together and attack personal property rights. You may think, “Not in America!” Read our story..."
What's in a species? For suckers, some lines are blurred,
H&N 3/26/2021. "...scientists
have yet to find a way to genetically distinguish
shortnose and largescale suckers in the Lost
River...geographic and temporal separation is what
divides the Basin’s sucker population into separate
species...another study confirming the lack of a genetic
difference between shortnose and largescale suckers in
the Lost River Basin won’t have an immediate effect on
management practices there, particularly as it pertains
to ESA implementation..."
USFWS acts to remove land from critical habitat for owl,
CFBF Ag Alert 1/20/21. "...The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said last week it would
revise the designation of critical habitat for the owl,
to exclude nearly 3.5 million acres of land in
California, Oregon and Washington...The action leaves
more than 6.1 million acres of land in the three states
designated as critical habitat for the owl, which has
been protected under the ESA as a threatened species
since 1990."
Saving
salmon to feed orcas? Capital Press editorial 10/9/2020. "...Among the reasons they give for
wanting the dams removed is to increase the number of
native-run salmon — so orcas can eat them."
Klamath salmon not a distinct population, H&N by
Jerry Jones, Chiloquin 9/9/2020. "Dam
removal is not about salmon restoration. Any salmon species that
existed in the Upper Klamath river basin have been extinct soon
after the first Copco dam was built in 1920."
US officials seek limits on "habitat" for imperiled
species, H&N 8/2/20. "The
dispute arose after the Fish and Wildlife Service
designated 1,500 acres of land and ponds in neighboring
Louisiana as critical habitat for the frog even though
none lived there."
Federal Government agrees to reevaluate Northern Spotted
Owl habitat after Supreme Court ruling, H&N 4/15/2020. "The coalition brought legal action
after the Fish and Wildlife Service designated 9.5
million acres of mostly federal lands as NSO critical
habitat across Washington, Oregon and Northern
California in 2012...The ESA
requires the federal government to take “into
consideration the economic impact, the impact on
national security, and any other relevant impact, of
specifying any particular area as critical habitat.”
Merkley facilitates follow-up summit on sucker recovery,
H&N 1/5/2020. "Merkley
has delivered $23.5 million to the Basin since 2013 to
find a way toward a solution..."
KBC
NOTE:
Did Merkley address the fact that our government spent
millions of $ to build manmade islands in our Klamath
basin refuges: to lure fish-eating Caspian Terns from
the Columbia that were eating millions of tiny salmon?
Now tiny suckers?
"...the
Columbia River has been responsible for around 15
million to 20 million salmon smolts being eaten
annually.
The cormorant population growing on East Sand Island is
estimated to be responsible for an additional 11 million
young salmon each year."
More articles on Refuge Page.Did he address
the fact that the NRC Chairman Dr William Lewis Jr
stated at a Klamath Science Workshop: "Lewis
explained that the suckers were listed since 1988
because of over harvest. They stopped fishing in
'87 but they did not recover. The lake has gone from 3'
range under natural conditions to experiencing 6' deep
in current dry years. With charts and graphs he showed
the habitat and water quality, algae and chlorophyll. He
said that the committee looked extensively at water
levels, and they find 'no hint of a relationship'. He
also said that there was no relationship between lower
water levels and extreme ph levels. And "the committee
cannot support the idea that water levels effect algae
growth.' "It can not be achieved by lake levels." '92
was the lowest water year, and they expected it to be
the least favorable for fish. 'The lowest water year
produced the same amount of larvae as other years.
He said that fish kill information does not support that
fish are dying by changing water level."
Here for KBC's Science Page
Suckers die in USFWS pilot project, H&N 10/24/19. "When
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visited the
pens on the lake last week to release them
into the wild, 10 of the 1,000 endangered
fish were found alive...The fish that
remained from the group were plagued by
open flesh wounds from Lamprey in
addition to numerous parasites...The
$242,710-pilot project steered by Childress
and a group of biologists with Congressional
funding is leading them to identify a need
to release fish when they are bigger." KBC NOTE: The proposed KBRA/Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement
mandated planting more fish-parasite
Lamprey into Klamath Lake. Our community at
large opposed this massive
dam-removal/land&water acquisition agreement
in spite of the closed-door negotiations
with Tribes, government agencies and farm
leaders.
In February 2004, dozens of
scientists at Klamath Basin Science
Workshop met in Klamath Falls to put
their heads together regarding suckers and
government proposals...lake level
management.
Read Day 3 of theScience Workshop, Suckers and Hydrology
2/5/04: "...in Lake Euwana, sucker
movement did not correspond with PH levels. A rise
in PH had no effect. He said suckers passed in 233
to 1500 CFS. The minimum flow of 233CFS is
sufficient for suckers. Most of the tagged fish
died, and he said that the tagging could be killing
them. Barbara Adams from USGS told about
suckers with respect to water quality in UKL. They
tagged 100, 36 died, and many of the rest got lost...
2002 Fires / Fish Kill:"Tamara Wood,
USGS, studied water
quality--the dissolved oxygen dynamics in UKL. She
studied wind speed, temperature and oxygen. They
found that in 2002 the oxygen into the lake was
turned off by the weeks of heavy smoke from the
forest fires. She was asked about lake levels
effecting the suckers, 'I don't think the
relationship is there.' "
2002 Fires / 2002 Fish Kill:"Tamara Wood,
USGS, studied water
quality--the dissolved oxygen dynamics in UKL. She
studied wind speed, temperature and oxygen. They
found that in 2002 the oxygen into the lake was
turned off by the weeks of heavy smoke from the
forest fires. She was asked about lake levels
effecting the suckers, 'I don't think the
relationship is there.' "
The Biscuit Fire was a
massive wildfire in 2002 that
burned nearly 500,000 acres (780
sq mi; 2,000 km2) in
the Rogue River–Siskiyou
National Forest, in southern Oregon and
northern California. The Biscuit
Fire was the largest wildfire in
the recorded history of Oregon
.Burned
area: 500,000
acres (2,000 km2): 28,7...Date(s): July
12, 2002 –; December 31, 2002
2002 Fish Kill
North
Cascades Grizzly Bear Introduction Draft EIS
Comments due October 24,
Ag Daily 10/17/19. "The
plan seeks to import up to 200 grizzly bears to the
region, despite obvious local stakeholder concerns...The
International Union for Conservation of Nature has
listed Ursus arctos, more commonly known as the
“Grizzly” bear, as a ‘Species of Least Concern’, due in
no small part to its population numbers of over 55,000
across North America."
More than $350,000 awarded to benefit endangered Klamath
sucker, H&N 10/9/19.
Phosphorus causing decline in Klamath sucker fish by
David Hill, Merrill 7/25/19. "The
major element causing the problem is phosphorus, which
comes from the leaching of phosphorus from the volcanic
ash, "pumice" in Annie Creek and numerous other streams
feeding into Klamath Lake, as was found from research
done in the 1970s. Klamath Lake is a euphoric lake,
meaning it is a self dying lake which was noted by the
Fremont Expedition as "stinking water" in the 1800s, no
cattle were present then."
Owl
killings spur moral questions about human intervention,
H&N 10/16/19. ("The
owl experiment is unusual because
it involves killing one species of owl to save another
owl species...After the owl was listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act in 1990...federal
officials halted logging on millions of acres of
old-growth forests on federal lands to protect the
bird's habitat. But the birds' population continued to
decline...the barred owl is the spotted owl's worst
enemy")
Lower Klamath refuge to start getting water, KWUA 9/5/19.
“Even in a year with 130 percent of average
precipitation, we still did not have a full allocation
to the Project,” said Klamath Irrigation District
Manager Gene Souza. "The ESA requirements for fish are
overwhelmingly the biggest risk to the water needs of
the Refuge as well as the Project.”
Delisting of Wolves passes the house,
11/16/18: H.R. 6784: Manage our Wolves Act:
To provide for removal of the gray wolf in the
contiguous 48 States from the List of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife published under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973.H.R. 6784: Manage our
Wolves Act
Passed 196/180
Rep. LaMalfa [R-CA1]:
Aye Trackers:
Rep. Doug LaMalfa
[R-CA1
Science behind listing of endangered fish should be
public,
by Christine Hankins,
Bonanza, letter to H&N 7/3/18. "...has
anyone ever wondered how the ”endangered” short-nosed
sucker existed for millennia before the local dams ...
made it possible to keep lake and river levels so high?"
Environmental, fishing groups sue Oregon over coho
salmon, Statesman Journal 6/13/18.
"...Poor logging practices by the Oregon Department of
Forestry is causing real harm to the Oregon coast coho
and commercial fishing families who depend on these
magnificent fish for their livelihoods," Glen Spain (PCFFA/IFR
attorney) said, the northwest regional director for the
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and
the Institute of Fisheries Resources, both plaintiffs in
the case..."
ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM THE JUDGMENT AND
CLARIFYING INJUNCTION ORDERS April 30, 2018. "...Interveners’
argument mainly rests on the effects of the Klamath
River Project on the family farms and ranches in the
Project’s irrigation districts...I am not free to favor
economic or other interests over potential harm
to endangered species..."
"...the injunctions prioritizes first and foremost the wellbeing of
the endangered species (both the Coho salmon and the
sucker fish to the extent that they are affected), then
the federally-protected rights of the tribes, and
finally the rights of the irrigation districts. Federal
defendants have not shown that so-called partial
implementation cannot meet the objectives of the
injunctions, nor that even some lesser amount of Reserve
Water would provide no benefits...."
"...Because the injunctions demand partial compliance in the event
that full compliance is not possible, federal
defendants’ proposal of releasing water to the Project
is clearly inconsistent with their duties. Under the
injunctions, they are not permitted to release any water
to the irrigation districts that could be instead used
to implement Measure 4, even if only partially..."
Sucker fish success requires cooperation, H&N by
Tracy Liskey 4/3/18. "In
the past all we have done is keep the water levels
higher and the fish population has done nothing but
continue to decrease and the basin economy decrease
because of water restrictions..." KBC NOTE:
It's been stated at meetings for more than 15 years that
the fish die-offs happen when water managers mandate
historically high lake levels for the fish.
The Klamath
Science Workshop Feb. 3, 2004:
Dr William Lewis Jr of the National Resources Committee
"explained that the suckers
were listed since 1988 because of over harvest.
They stopped fishing in '87 but they did not
recover. The lake has gone from 3' range under
natural conditions to experiencing 6' deep in
current dry years. With charts and graphs he showed
the habitat and water quality, algae and
chlorophyll. He said that the committee looked
extensively at water levels, and they find 'no hint
of a relationship'. He also said that there was no
relationship between lower water levels and extreme
ph levels. And "the committee cannot support the
idea that water levels effect algae growth.' "It can
not be achieved by lake levels." '92 was the lowest
water year, and they expected it to be the least
favorable for fish. 'The lowest water year produced
the same amount of larvae as other years.
He said that fish kill information
does not support that fish are dying by changing
water level. 'We need to look at other locations.' "
Species battle pits protected sea lions against fragile
fish, H&N 3/23/18. "
the mammals’ numbers dropped dramatically but have
rebounded from 30,000 in the late 1960s to about 300,000
today due to the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection
Act...Last winter, a record-low 512 wild winter
steelhead completed the journey, said Shaun Clements,
the state wildlife agency’s senior policy adviser. Less
than 30 years ago, that number was more than 15,000...Of
all the adults that are returning to the falls here, a
quarter of them are getting eaten.”
Study blames pot farms for poisoning of threatened owls,
H&N 1/12/18. "...Researchers
from the University of California, Davis, and the
California Academy of Sciences tested 10 northern
spotted owls found dead in the region. Seven of the owls
tested positive for rat poison, used by pot farmers to
keep rodents away from their irrigation systems and
crops..." Spotted
owl controversy renews over logging plan, KCBY News
6/12/07. "The Bush administration Tuesday proposed
cutting 1.5 million acres from Northwest forests
considered critical to the survival of the northern
spotted owl, reopening the 1990s battle between timber
production and wildlife habitat on public lands..."
Birds play role in sucker numbers, H&N 1/29/16.
“ 'Predation rates on suckers at Clear Lake were
highest by birds nesting at the lake...The
predation on suckers in 2014 and 2015 pretty
much came from whatever got to nest on Last
Chance Island,' Hewitt said." KBC NOTE:
Historically Clear Lake was a meadow. When The
Klamath Reclamation Project was built, it stored
some water in that meadow and was named Clear
Lake. The federal government took the reservoir
and named it a bird refuge, nurturing pelicans
and cornerants, keeping out people, and
mandating certain amounts of "endangered"
suckers that never before lived in that meadow.
Now the cormorants and pelicans are eating the
suckers, keeping them endangered in that former
meadow."
*Thousands
of fish-eating Cormorants eating baby suckers?
by
Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett 6/13/13 Newsletter:
"What
is NOT commonly known is that the second largest
nesting colony of Double Crested Cormorants in
the Western United States and Canada is located
on Upper Klamath Lake. There may be as many as
six thousand breeding pairs of these birds
reproducing in the Upper Klamath Basin...When
will the biologists look to see if the immense
population of Double Crested Cormorants living
in the Upper Klamath Basin may be simply eating
the young endangered suckers?"
Judge clears barred owl removal study,
Capital Press July 21, 2015. "Populations
of the northern spotted owl, which is protected
under the Endangered Species Act, have continued
to decline in recent decades despite strict
limits on logging...U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service authorized an experiment to remove 3,600
barred owls over four years, typically by
shooting them, to see if spotted owl recovery
improves...the barred owl has consistently
invaded the spotted owl’s territory since the
1970s...the removal study costs $1 million a
year"
(Klamath)
Project irrigators could get new fed status.
‘Applicant status’ may allow for more input in
ESA development, H&N 7/18/15.
"The
amendment was proposed by by U.S. Reps. Greg
Walden, ROre., and Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., to
help protect Klamath Project water users in
Oregon and California...the
amendment gives Project water users “applicant
status,” ensuring they are included in
Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultations that
affect Project water operations."
Tracking suckers in drought proves to be a
tricky task. Spawning data hard to come by
in low water, H&N 5/21/15. "75 Clear Lake
suckers received telemetry tags, more than
10,000 have been fitted with another type of tag..."
KBC NOTE: Clear Lake was historically a
meadow. When Reclamation rerouted water to
create farmland, they put water in the meadow to
evaporate. Our government has made it into a
bird refuge with a mandate of how many suckers
must exist, thus restricting stored water use
for farms.
Preservation plan unveiled for sage grouse.
Proposal could
affect 10 states, oil and natural gas
development,
H&N 5/29/15 followed by
Interior proposes land controls to
preserve Nevada sage grouse, Las Vegas
Review Journal. “The economic
impact of sage-grouse restrictions on just
the oil and natural gas industry will be
between 9,170 and 18,250 jobs and $2.4
billion to $4.8 billion of annual economic
impact across Colorado, Montana, Utah and
Wyoming,”..."Department
of Interior is updating management plans
covering 165 million acres — an area
the size of Texas — in consideration of the
sage grouse"
Washington ranchers wary of (sage) grouse
agreement,
Capital Press 5/5/15. "Creston,
Wash., rancher Dawn Nelson says she would have
to reduce her herd of more than 120 by roughly
half if she were to sign up...They say it’s
voluntary to sign up, but if you don’t sign up
and you happen to have a bird die on your place
or an accidental take, they can come back and
sue you,' Nelson said."
Tribes in 13 States Receive $4.2 Million
From Service for Conservation Work, FWS
3/27/15.
California and Southern Oregon Tribes
Awarded Grants.
"Tribal
lands encompass millions of acres of
important habitat for hundreds of wildlife
species across the nation...Since its
inception in 2003, the competitive Tribal
Wildlife Grants program has awarded more
than $68 million to Native American tribes,
providing support for more than 400
conservation projects...Yurok
Tribe ($176,771)...This project will support
specific goals of the California Condor
Recovery Plan. The Klamath Tribes ($200,000)
The Re-introducing Extinct Populations of
Endangered Suckers in the Upper Klamath
Basin grant will assess and restore spawning
habitat for endangered Lost River and
shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake
Oregon."
Salmon habitat rules on the table, and
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD, H&N 10/24/14. "Sen.
Doug Whitsett, R-Ore., said he is concerned
about restrictions being placed on the
diversion canal connecting Lost River to the
Klamath River. He said the diversion is at
the “heart of the Klamath Project.”
Biologists identify pot gardens as salmon
threat, KATU 9/30/14.
"The plan marks
the second time that
Endangered Species
Act actions have
pointed to marijuana
as a threat. The
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has
been looking at rat
poison left around
illegal pot
plantations in
California as a
factor in whether to
list the Pacific
fisher as a
threatened species."Go HERE for
numerous articles on huge pot plantations
near the Klamath River, on the Hoopa Indian
reservation, in our locked-up forests.
Corps seeking comment on plans to again
reduce Caspian Tern nesting area on East
Sand Island, Due Feb 21, 2014,
CBB 1/24/14.
“In 2013, at
1.58 acres of nesting habitat on East Sand
Island, the number of nesting pairs was near
7,600 and predation on juvenile salmon was
near 4.7 million...“In 2013, approximately
680 Caspian terns moved from East Sand
Island to some of the constructed inland
sites, including Summer Lake, Malheur Lake,
Crump Lake, Sheepy Lake, and Tule Lake.”
KBC NOTE:
These fish
predators eat baby fish and were relocated
to Tule Lake and Klamath refuges. Our baby
suckers are mysteriously vanishing. 100,000
acres of irrigation water were shut off
above the Klamath Project because Indians
demanded it due to low juvenile sucker
counts, claiming more water in the lake
makes more suckers.
Write comments regarding Columbia building
Caspian Tern habitat, terns killed millions
of juvenile salmon so they relocated them
here, and plan to relocate more.
http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Media/Announcements/tabid/1887/Article/21181/draft-ea-caspian-tern-nesting-habitat-reduction-east-sand-island.aspx
Sage grouse plan seeking comments by
Jan. 13, H&N 1/2/14.
"The
draft EIS has six possible management
alternatives for maintaining and
increasing habitat for greater sage
grouse on BLM lands in Oregon. The BLM
has about 10 million acres in Oregon
that provides greater sage grouse
habitat."
Feds begin barred owl kills to help spotted owl, H&N, 12/21/13. "Major cutbacks in logging in old growth forest that spotted owls prefer as habitat have not turned around their population decline, and scientists want to see if removing competition from the more aggressive barred owl will make a difference."
Officials oppose Oregon spotted frog
habitat; all three commissioners voted to send an opposition letter to USFW,
H&N, 12/7/13. "Klamath County commissioners are voicing their opposition
to designating more than 56,000 acres in Oregon as critical habitat for the
Oregon spotted frog, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing
to list as a threatened species...of the 53,866 acres in Oregon considered
for critical habitat, 27,825 are in Klamath County and 8,823 acres in
Klamath County are on private land."
Feds to start shooting
barred owls, The Westerner 7/24/13. "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service on Tuesday released a final environmental review of an experiment to
see if killing barred owls will allow northern spotted owls to reclaim
territory they’ve been driven out of over the past half-century."
Lack of forest logging to blame for fires, H&N letter to editor, posted to KBC 7/9/13. "I’m still waiting for just one environmentalist, one environmental group, or anyone else who played an active or sedentary role in stopping logging to save the spotted owl, to come forward and publicly protest the illegal marijuana grows in our national forests, national parks, and Native American Indian reservations, after it’s been proven the pesticides used on these grows are killing spotted owls and fishers."
Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge -Floating Islands Enhance Salmonid Recovery by Creating Alternative Nesting Habitat for Caspian Terns,US Army Corp of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA Fisheries plan succeeded, with OSU and USGS, to bring fish predators to Klamath Basin.Floating Island International 2010, posted to KBC 6/13/13. "In February 2010, FIW and Just Buckets built and launched a 40,000sq. ft. floating island at Sheepy Lake in Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge." (The fish-predator Caspian Terns population in 2010 went from 0 to 325 in 3 months on Lower Klamath.) "This innovative island has been a tremendous success, as the Sheepy Lake tern colony appears to have had the highest nesting success of any Caspian tern colony in the region during 2010."
Photo:
A new two-acre island
for Caspian terns, shown before it was flooded, was built at
the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Restoring refuges - Wildlife refuges benefit from stimulus
funds, H&N, posted 10/16/09.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Stimulus funds
bring Caspian tern project to Siskiyou County, Siskyou
Daily News 8/12/09. "...the Tulelake reserve rock
island’s cost is approximately $1.1 million, the Orems unit
rock island’s cost is approximately $650,000 and the Sheepy
Lake floating island’s cost is approximately $2.3
million...an estimated colony of 10,000 nesting pairs of
Caspian terns on Rice Island in the Columbia River were
consuming approximately 6 million to 25 million salmonid
smolts per year, according to a 1999 USACE report."
Judge
tells feds to study owls before selling timber, Capital Press, posted to
KBC 4/6/13. “Arguably, this means every timber sale in the Northwest
Forest Plan area has to have an EIS...The EIS will likely come to the same
conclusions, but will delay the timber project by up to a year and use up
agency resources...That seems wasteful and unnecessary.”
Ranchers wary of
rules expanding scope of ESA, Capital Press 3/27/13. "cattle
can be subject to greater restrictions on grazing near streams that are
considered critical habitat even if no endangered or threatened fish swim in
them, said Budd-Falen..."
Department of Interior Federal Register: over 2 million acres proposed critical habitat for yellow legged frog and Yosemite toad, 1,105,400 acres. 750,926 acres in Yosemite: Part 2Part 3Public Comments due June 24, 2013. Mining and timber country..."Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Alpine, Mariposa, Mono, Madera, Tuolumne, Fresno, and Inyo Counties, California"
Attacks Against Rural Counties,
from Dr Richard Gierak
8/20/12:
Spotted Owl listing, Coho, Fish Kill, Yurok boat dance, water pulse,
forestry roads, mining,...
Farmers,
ranchers in the Langell Valley familiar with water crises,
H&N, posted to KBC 8/16/12. "Under
federally-mandated U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinions, a
minimum lake level is required to support the short-nose sucker, an
endangered fish."
(KBC NOTE: There is a mandatory lake level in Clear Lake for
"endangered" suckers. Before the Klamath Project was built, Clear Lake
was a meadow. The reservoir was built to evaporate water so farmers
could farm. The Project also pumped water out of this closed basin into
Klamath River, water which historically did not reach the river. The
federal government now demands a higher-than-historical lake level for
salmon because of the ESA / Endangered Species Act. )
Humboldt: Federal charges against former Yurok forestry director over $1 million embezzlement,The Times-Standard, posted to KBC 8/15/12."Raymond, LeValley and McAllister used an elaborate system of fake invoices, false purchase requests and electronic bank transfers to embezzle more than $870,000 in federal funds from the Yurok Tribe during a three year period of wildlife preservations studies... The surveys that allegedly were never conducted primarily purported to be for spotted owl research..."
Let the River Run: Strategies to Remove Obsolete Dams and Defeat Resulting Fifth
Amendment Taking Claims, by Christopher Scoones, Seattle Journal of
Environmental Law, 2012. KBC EDITOR: the message is how to deny claims of
communities and resource users when they destroy dams, and use the ESA to force
dam removal. "The Endangered Species Act (ESA) can be an effective tool for
the removal of public and private hydropower and nonhydropower dams..."
There is local timber that could be cut, Bob Jensen, H&N, posted to KBC 4/15/12. "The 1990 Timber Management Plan for the Fremont-Winema National Forests called for a timber harvest of approximately 490 million board feet...this volume was never met due to legal challenges to various timber sales because of spotted owl and salmon controversies, so that today the two national forests produce approximately 50 to 60 million board feet annually." The Yurok Grift, Questions linger in million-dollar embezzlement scheme after fugitive surrenders,
North Coast Journal, posted to KBC 4/14/12. "Field had already figured out that the Mad River Biologists invoices submitted for spotted owl research were fakes...an associate at Mad River Biologists acknowledged that they hadn’t conducted the surveys in question."
National Marine Fisheries Service: ‘Chinook not endangered, Siskiyou Daily News, posted to KBC 4/7/12."The agency says several studies have “found that spring-run and fall-run populations in the Salmon River were nearly indistinguishable genetically and that spring and fall-run populations in the South Fork Trinity were extremely similar to each other and to the Trinity River hatchery stocks.”
U.S. plans to kill barred owls to save spotted owl, San Francisco Chronicle 2/29/12. "The government set aside millions of acres of forest to protect the owl, but the bird's population continues to decline - a 40 percent slide in 25 years." According to Siskiyou County Sheriff Lopey at Saturday's sheriff meeting in Yreka, in the early 80's there were over 22 lumber mills, and now only 2 are functional, and 65% of land in the county is public land. Endangered Species Act / ESA mandates locked up the forests to save the spotted owl. It devastated Siskiyou economy, they have one of the highest unemployment rate. KBC NOTE: Sacrificing the forest, wildlife and owls by rampant wildfires, and communities and economies, all by false science, did not save the spotted owls. HERE and HERE about 2 esteemed spotted owl scientists.
Timber industry files lawsuit against murrelet designation, posted to KBC 1/31/12. "Because humans almost never see the bird, the FWS seems to think it can throw a net over millions of acres of federal timber land that not only aren’t being used by the bird, but don’t even have the characteristics it is looking for when it flies inland to lay its eggs. Someone has to speak up about this violation of the limits of the ESA.”
Wolf worries, Siskiyou Daily 1/11/12.
“There is no allowance under the law for killing of a wolf that is going after or preying upon livestock, but there is an allowance if there is a direct threat to life and limb for humans.”
Cliff Wooten, former Lin County Commissioner and former resident of Tulelake, Calif. "With the problems of the "poor" management of the irrigation water (trying to save the "sucker" fish at Klamath Lake) the future of Tulelake farming is in jeopardy. I might add the entire lake was poisoned back in the mid 60's to kill all the sucker fish and now the same irresponsible government agencies are trying to "save" this fish which was destroying habitat of other fish. I can't count all the rowboat loads of dead suckerfish that was removed from Klamath Lake at Moore Park. The dead fished floated up and the wind "stacked" them at the park and I remember working for the Klamath Park Department "scooping up" these fish and our boats were dragged ashore and the dead fish loaded in County trucks and hauled away as fertilizer."
AUDIO - Attorney Karen Budd-Falen interviewed by Kirk McKinzie about Equal Access to Justice Act / EAJA, "The ESA does not require the agency to know how many species there are before it's listed...What the Obama administration is proposing is, let's include critical habitat in places where the species may feel like living someday..." Karen explains how the federal government reimburses environmental groups and litigants like Earthjustice and Center for Biological Diversity for attorney fees suing the federal government, however individuals or small groups rarely are reimbursed when trying to save their farms or property. The government does not account for how much money it gives these groups for fees.
Federal Management of Oregon's Forest Lands, Senator Doug Whitsett Newsletter 8/12/11. "federal district court ruled that the owl was threatened under the Endangered Species Act and that nearly unlimited critical habitat was required to preserve the bird from extinction...Oregon’s annual timber harvest from federal lands plummeted from 60 percent to 12 percent. Nearly 300 timber mills closed and more than 30,000 family wage jobs were lost."
One owl horning in on another, H&N, posted to KBC 7/7/11. "One of the potential removal methods involves shooting the barred owls."
followed by: Owl plan hinges on killing rival;
Spotted owls not recovering; may be linked to barred owl.
(KBC NOTE: a few decades ago the federal government poisoned suckers, killing thousands of them. Now the plan is to kill little barred owls...?)
Wildfires threaten protected habitats; wolves, owls among the endangered, H&N, posted to KBC 7/7/11. "Crown fires in overgrown forests have become the greatest cause of unusual losses for the (spotted owl) birds, and 73 protected nesting areas were burned in the fire,...The burned forest supports more than a dozen other endangered or threatened species, including snails, frogs and fish. Dozens of other species live in the forest that aren’t rare, including bear, deer, antelope and a herd of elk that, at about 6,000, is among the state’s biggest."
Environmentalism on taxpayers' dime,
Victorville Daily Press Opinion April 18, 2011.
"...
the Center is one of four environmental groups seeking
to protect the “spring run” of the Upper Klamath chinook
salmon under the Endangered Species Act by submitting a
petition seeking to designate the fish as a “distinct
species....between
2000 and 2009, eight environmental groups — led by the
Center for Biological Diversity — filed at least 1,596
federal court cases against the federal
government....These same environmental groups are
receiving billions of tax dollars in attorney fees for
settling or ‘winning’ cases against the federal
government.”
No salmon above Klamath River stateline, by James
Waddell, Karuk People tribal member 4/14/11. From A. L.
Kroeber’s “HANDBOOK OF THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA” “The
salmon are said not to run into the Klamath Lake or above,
and streams are much smaller and standing bodies of water
infinitely more important than in the northwest. …” More letters and research by James Waddell
HERE.
Tag,
you’re it Biologists tagging endangered suckers
in Lake Ewauna, H&N 4/5/11. "The
initial reason (for tagging) was to find out how
many there are...”The
estimated few thousand suckers are ... not large
enough to potentially push the fish off the
endangered species list." Water, sucker science argued at
conference, H&N 2/4/04, "(William
Lewis, chair of the National Research Council
committee) said ...the finding that water levels
in Upper Klamath Lake aren't as important for
suckers as previously thought, ...(the NRC) found that lake
levels aren't a "master control" for larval
suckers, Lewis said."
MORE on William Lewis and lakes levels for
suckers at 2004 science conference. David
A Vogel, Fisheries Scientist written testimony
about endangered suckers (KBC NOTE: Vogel says
there were 10's of thousands more suckers than
estimated when they were listed as endangered,
however gov't agencies won't allow them to be
delisted.) July 17, 2004. HERE for 2004
Congressional Hearing on the ESA, and testimony HERE for Klamath ESA
DVD, sectioned film of the 2004 hearing and
rally.
Another town needs help. Please watch this
20 minute video. We lived this
in 2001 when our water was shut off, and other
Klamath Basin farmers lived a water shutoff this
year. People with water rights signed by the
President of the U.S.A. Thanks Awaker on our
Discussion Forum
for finding this sad story told by Americans on
the East Coast being destroyed by environmental
groups and the same government agencies.
Saving
the sucker, how the fish was listed as endangered,
and
Critical habitat: Providing safe havens for fish
by
Jill Aho, Herald and News, posted to KBC 9/17/09
KBC NOTE:"In 1986
the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff responsible
for whether or not to pursue these (ESA) listings
believed there were only 12,000 Lost River suckers in
Upper Klamath Lake...they didn't believe they were
endangered. A couple years later...we now know for a
fact that number's exceeded by tens of thousands of Lost
River suckers. Now they flip flop and say they are
endangered. What constitutes endangered?
David
Vogel, fisheries scientist with 29 years
experience, 14 years working for the Fish and Wildlife
Service."
.
Sucker holds significance for tribes, H&N,
posted to KBC 9/17/09.
KBC COMMENT:
According to Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement
advocates, power ratepayers and taxpayers must pay
millions/billions$ to decimate four Klamath River dams
because salmon must come into the Klamath Basin and
beyond because they supposedly provided food for the
Indians. In this article, tribal biologist said the
indians staple was suckers; they would have starved
without suckers. What was it, suckers or salmon?
USFWS deny
petition to delist suckers, Capital Press, posted to KBC
6/29/09 Feds:
fish still endangered, H&N 6/27/09. "The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delivered a blow to Klamath Basin
irrigators Friday when
it said the Lost River and shortnosed suckers still belong on
the endangered species list." Attorney James Buchal's letter to
AP writer Jeff Barnard:"I
have not seen the determination, but understand it to have
rejected any change in status for either species. If that is
the case, my comment is: "The Service's determination shows that
the political imperative to pillage the economy of the Klamath
Basin drives the Service's decisions, not good science, since
the Service rejected the opinions of its own scientists and its
own status review that called for downlisting at least one
species. "In fact, both species are in no appreciable danger of
extinction, and the lakes and ponds of the Klamath Basin are
filled with literally millions of listed suckers." 6/26/09
Advocate: Watch your water
rights, Capital Press
11/24/08. "Right now the
Supreme Court has made the
determination that we are
going to protect species at
any cost. ... It won't make
a difference if 25 million
people in Southern
California are without
water."
Sucker revision under way, H&N,
posted 6/20/08. "...an
appointed group of stakeholders,
meetings and consultation from Desert
Research Institute researchers will
guide the revisions...A
fisheries biologist from the Klamath
Tribes, the Nature Conservancy and
individuals from Oregon State University
and the U.S. Geological Survey will
participate as stakeholders...Commissioner
Bill
Brown was concerned to not see a
representative from the irrigation
community in the stakeholder group and
asked if that could be changed. Buettner
said the group was established by
regional director Steve Thompson..."
