Water Update on Klamath Lake levels and river flows 6/29/07, Bureau of Reclamation

June 2007 Family Farm Alliance Bay-Delta update

Officials debate Lost River TMDLs EPA seeks comments on water quality regs Capital Press 6/29/07. "Luther Horsley, president of Klamath Water Users Association, said the standards seem unachievable given the historical natural conditions of the huge nutrient load while irrigation has improved water quality in some areas. “Are we trying to make the water quality better than it was historically?"

Jacqui Krizo/For the Capital Press Klamath Water Users Association President Luther Horsley, right, and KWUA Executive Director Greg Addington were among those in the audience who expressed concerns over the EPA’s Lost River water quality regulations for Klamath Project irrigators.

Request letter from Congressmen Walden, Doolittle and Herger regarding Democrats blaming Dick Cheney for fish die-off in the Klamath River 5 years ago, 6/29/07.

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review, 6/29/07, contains the following bills: SB 634-Williamson Act, SB 200,201,202-Food Safety, B 771-Seedless Citrus/Honey Bees, AB 1634-Pets Spaying and Neutering, AB 1100, SB 63-Cloning/Meat and Milk, SB 178-Groundwater Monitoring, AB 1338-Nonpoint Dischage Regulations, SB 719-Air Board Membership

watershed grant app 5/1-6/29/07

Weekly water report, H&N 6/27/07

Ranking Member Stevan Pearce's Statement From Today's Hearing On Minerals Management Service's Proposed 5-Year Program For Oil & Gas Leasing On The OCS, House Resource Committee, 6/28/07

Burn baby burn, World Net Daily, posted to KBC 6/28/07. (KBC Note: Seems an appropriate explanatory article regarding recent fires, and will never be outdated.) HERE for forest page.

6/27/07: Klamath Water Users updates written before the 2002 Klamath River fish die-off warning that more warm water may harm fish, along with National Research Council comments:
* 8/9/02 KWUA Biologist Warns: “Increased Summer Flows Could Harm Salmon”
followed by
*  Salmon Runs Surging Into Northern California Rivers –Including Klamath 9/20/02
*  KWUA Responds to Interior’s Flow Decision 9/27/02
*  Klamath Project Under Attack: A Recap of the 2002 Klamath River Fish Die-Off 10/4/02
*  National Research Council On the fish die-off: 8/3/04
*  KBC Fish die-off page

A helping or harming hand, H&N 6/27/07.

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors passed the following Resolution concerning the unmanaged state of our local National Forests and the fire threat they pose to our local communities, from Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor (April 07)

Scott River Water Trust and Water Balance, by Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor, posted to KBC 6/27/07

Failure to clear brush aided (Tahoe) fire, officials say, Sacramento Bee 6/27/07. "In order to remove a tree with a diameter of more than 6 inches, homeowners need a permit. But many are reluctant to apply because they think TRPA will inspect their properties and find a reason to fine them, some fire officials say...People are scared to death to do anything on their own property because they are afraid of retribution; it's created this huge paralysis..."
Here for Forest and Logging Page.

Yurok addresses settlement money, The Daily Triplicate, posted 6/27/07. "We're talking about how to spend $90 million," said Troy Fletcher, a Yurok Tribe member.."

Dry year may work in irrigators’ favor, H&N, posted to KBC 6/27/07. "Wildlife refuges may also get more water"

(California) timber harvest continues its decline, Sacramento Bee, posted to KBC 6/27/07 "California's timber harvest dropped 5.4 percent in 2006 to 1.63 billion board-feet, the second-lowest level since 1936.."

Bald Eagle to be Removed from Endangered Species List, American Bird Conservancy 6/27/07.

White House sorts out Bush on amnesty, Sacramento Bee 6/26/07.

Supreme Court limits the Endangered Species Act,, posted 6/26/07, Environmental News Service

Lake Tahoe fire could have been prevented -- Greenwire 6/26/07. "Public opposition to mechanical thinning of forests at risk for wildfires contributed to the Lake Tahoe fire that has scorched 2,500 acres, proponents of the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative said today."

PRESS RELEASE: Service Releases Draft Economic Analysis for Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for the Marbled Murrelet, FWS 6/26/07. "potential costs related to the conservation of areas proposed for marbled murrelet critical habitat at $69.4 million to $1.4 billion over the next 20 years...The Service is proposing to designate 221,692 acres of critical habitat...(in) California, Oregon and Washington." HERE for more ESA expenses.

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review, 6/22/07.
* AB 1223-Electrical Generation
* SB 200,201,202-Food Safety
* AB 771-Seedlees Citrus

Environmental Justice by Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor 6/22/07. "the county has lost more than 80% of our logging jobs since 1989, (from 951 jobs in 1989, to 331 in 1995, to 186 in 2004...We have seen the closure of several large sawmills mills such as High Ridge and, most recently, the Cal. Cedar Products mill in McCloud, accompanied by a loss of jobs in the mills. Only Roseberg Forest Products and Timber Products remain."

June 22 comments due for suction dredge mining. For mining page go HERE.

PRESS RELEASE: Bill To Allow Isolated Aleut Villagers In Rural Alaska Access To Region's Airport Introduced In U.S. House, 6/21/07.  "The Aleut people have lived in King Cove for more than 4,000 years, yet they have been completely isolated from the rest of the region since 1980 when the federal government created a wilderness area between King Cove and Cold Bay," Young said...unfortunately, several people have been killed trying to fly from King Cove to Cold Bay during inclement weather because no road currently exists."

Customers, 1; fish, 0; A mad scramble to meet Northwest energy demands forces the BPA to make a tough -- and illegal -- call to put salmon protections second. The Oregonian 6/21/07." (KBC Note: hopefully next time Bonneville Power will allow Portland to run out of power a couple days rather than risk getting scolded by Judge Redden for allowing less water for salmon that aren't there this time of year. Perhaps then they will see the light?)

Feds: Don't expect much change in plan for Columbia River dams, The Oregonian, posted to KBC 6/21/07. "The ruling left open the possibility that four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington may have to be breached to help salmon."

Measure 37 is under attack, posted 6/21/07. Measure 37 passed the Oregon voters in 35 counties, in all but Benten County.
The Legislature promised the voters would have the chance to vote on House Bill 3540, House Bill 3569 breaks that promise; go HERE for today's latest information.

Letter to Senator Cogdill, Calif, from Dan Wise regarding suction dredge mining, posted June 21, 2007.

Anti-mining bill AB-1032. PLEASE WRITE and support our miners. HERE.

Herald and News weekly water report 6/19/07

Hydropower -- It's a 'green' resource, 6/19/07  Tri-City Herald, Editorial: "Hydropower is a clean, reliable and affordable renewable energy source that serves as a key component in our national environmental and energy policy objectives," McMorris Rodgers said. "It's about time Congress recognized that hydropower is renewable and emissions-free."  Here for Dam Page.

Rep. Rob Bishop's Opening Statement from Today's Hearing on the National Landscape Conservation System, AB2016 posted 6/10/07.
Urgent Action Please! -- You have 10 working days, two weeks, two send written testimony to the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee. Please at least write a letter opposing HR 2016."Plans To Put Into Law The Babbitt National Conservation Lands System (NCLS) This Essentially Places A National Park Type Overlay Over Millions Of Acres Of BLM Land....The NCLS consists of major conservation areas in 12 western states, including 15 national monuments, 13 national conservation areas, Steens Mountain area in Oregon, Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California, 36 wild and scenic rivers, 148 wilderness areas, 4,264 miles of national trails, and more than 600 wilderness study areas. Making the NCLS permanent threatens recreation, access, grazing, mining, oil and gas and many other uses. Gradually these areas will be turned into parks with traditional uses strangled and roads cut off."

6/19/07: From a Klamath miner regarding Karuk-supported bill to shut down suction dredge mining in CA Please write to support the miners by June 22. More info HERE.

Letter to State Water Resources Control Board from Physical Scientist/Chemist, US EPA Retired, regarding benefits of suction dredge mining, posted 6/19/07. HERE for Miner Page.

6/19/07: In September 2004 the Bureau of Reclamation disclosed their intentions for a CIP, Conservation Implimentation Program. "The purpose of the CIP is to (1) largely restore the Klamath River ecosystem to achieve recovery of the Lost River and Shortnose suckers and substantially contribute to the recovery of Coho salmon, (2) contribute to the Tribal Trust responsibilities of the Federal government, and (3) allow continued, sustainable operation of existing water management facilities and future water resource improvements for human use in the Klamath Basin."
    (KBC Note: We are now June 2007. Public CIP planning meetings have not happened with the public. CIP money has been spent funding Dr. Thomas Hardy who, contracted by the BIA, created science for our biological opinions, The Nature Conservancy projects, Karuk and Yurok studies, and more.
HERE is todays PRESS RELEASE on the CIP today from the Bureau of Reclamation. For proposed CIP structure go HERE. Request for funding for grants was May 1 - June 29, 2007; we irrigators heard about it today. Irrigators were told that the Bureau would hold a series of public meetings to create the working structure, however this press release states that the Bureau designed the structure and will meet with the governors to tell them how the proposed structure works.)

Tainted foods are daily problem in Asia, Sacramento Bee, posted 6/19/07. More on imported foods

Herald and News water data report for June 5-12, posted to KBC 6/18/07.

California Farm Bureau Federation Friday Review, posted 6/18/07. "...review contains: AB 771-Seedless Mandarins/Buffer Zones; SB 180-Secret Ballot Elections (Action Alert)"

Basin ag product prices looking good, posted to KBC 6/18/07

Oregon governor increases pressure to harm the coast, letter from Coos County Commissioner John Griffith, followed by Kulongoski's latest proposal outline, posted 6/15/07. "Gov. Ted Kulongoski has decided to increase pressure to evict us from our traditional marine fishing areas. He has changed the nature of a condemned 2002 Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC) fishing closure proposal to relieve anti-coast activists from having to justify at all the closing of fishing areas, or of having to ever show that closing them caused any change to ocean and fisheries’ health whatsoever."

Salmon campaign by chefs skirts facts, Capital Press 6/15/07. "It may be easy to blame the four dams as the sole culprits for the endangered status of the fish but it isn't accurate."
 

A Man Would Lose His Land While Another Would Benefit, PRISTINE COHO SALMON HABITAT sacrificed for millionaire's golf course  NY Times June 15, 2007. "The family refuses to sell, so the town plans to use its power of eminent domain to acquire the land...'Its morally offensive for government to take one man’s land to benefit another,' Mr. Cook said."      Mr. Cook worked as a salmon fisherman, logger and log truck driver, scrambling in a variety of ways to earn enough to support his family. But after 18 years without an accident, the state took his truck license away because he has only one arm after a childhood accident."      Here for story by Cook and Moore to Klamath Water Users in '06 > Coastal Fishermen meet with Klamath Water Users What happened to Klamath River salmon?    HERE for NY Times VIDEO of the millionaire vs/Scott with our tax dollars.

Coastal Fishing advocate Scott Cook will lose land to wealthy developer, river will lose salmon.       Last year Cook came to Klamath Basin to find solutions with farmers: KBC Note & photo

Timber cuts in spotted owl habitat proposed, H&N, posted to KBC 6/15/07

Water crisis looms for Westlands farmers, posted 6/15/07, Capital Press.

Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Lake levels and river flows 6/14/07

Anti farming groups banned from participating in Pacific Power negotiations, Pioneer Press 6/13/07. "Our Klamath settlement framework specifies dam removal, river flows that would allow salmon to recover, incentives for farmers to develop more wetlands, expands the size of upper Klamath lake and more" (KBC Note: this article seems a bit disorganized, so we are not sure how valid it is)

***June 22 comments due for suction dredge mining.

Suction Dredge Mining final comments to the California State Water Resources Control Board, by Joseph Green, Research Biologist, Retired EPA, posted 6/13/07.
California Assembly Bill 1032, Dredging: closed waters: native trout, letter to senators by Joseph Green, Research Biologist, Retired EPA, posted 6/13/07. "CDFG is clearly attempting to circumvent the rights of the State’s citizens by ignoring due process laws regarding the right of the public to notice and hearing requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Administrative Procedures Act...CDFG position is scientifically indefensible and that is why, failing the judicial route, they are misleading the State’s legislators to pass this Bill.  They have no significant scientific evidence to support their current position or they could make it available."
***June 22 comments due for suction dredge mining. HERE for mining page.

Valley farmers fire back at environmental group's study; Critics say claims of electric rates subsidized by government are misleading, Capital Press, posted to KBC 6/12/07. "We are paying for the project, including its cost of operation just as I would if I put a solar system on my house. Then I should be entitled to whatever the benefits of that investment were..." (KBC Note: this is what happened in the Klamath Basin last year. Project irrigators built and paid in full for the Klamath Project, the Project created free, regulated flows that made cheap power possible for the power customers, enviros and tribes and power company screamed 'subsidies', and our rates will raise 2400 percent.)

OTHER PLACES: Tribes seek land, money in water rights settlement, Indian Country, posted to KBC 6/13/07. "The Fort Belknap tribes plan to ask Congress for $240 million and nearly 55,000 acres of land as part of a water rights settlement bill...But some people aren't happy that the tribes are seeking state and federal public land in the settlement."

Land-use law fix headed to voters, posted to KBC 6/10/07. "Whitsett and Garrard said the bill overrides Oregonian voters, who approved Measure 37 several years ago."

The wrong owl is winning the fight, so the feds plan to take a hand - and a gun, The Daily Courier, Grants Pass, posted to KBC 6/10/07. "FWS unveiled last week plans for spotted owl recovery that include shooting 216-576 barred owls in 18 "study areas." Implementing all of its plans would take $198 million and 30 years, the department estimates...why should the FWS - or any human, for that matter - take sides in an owl brawl and thus interfere with natural selection?...

"Discussion continues about Klamath dam issue, H&N 6/9/07. “We’re moving down the path, and we’ve got to let our people know about it, whether a settlement comes tomorrow or 10 years from now,” Addington said (Executive Director Klamath Water Users Asso."

Irrigators brace for power bill hike, H&N 6/9/07, "The loss of a half-cent credit to irrigators is the latest blow to agriculture in the Basin. The region is already under pressure from rising power rates and initiatives to increase water conservation."

Fishermen and farmers lose a friend, advocate, Scott Boley helped form an alliance in the Klamath Basin, Capital Press, posted to KBC 6/10/07

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Water and Power Committee on Energy & Natural Resources United States Senate Oversight Hearing on Climate Change and Water Supply Impacts, posted to KBC 6/ 9/07, Family Farm Alliance.
* "...from 1987-2002, Colorado lost an average of 460 acres per day of ag land. The report predicts 3.1 million more acres will be lost to development by 2022."
* "The California Department of Conservation indicates that more than 1 million acres of farmland in the state was converted between 1988 and 1998."
* "Farmers, ranchers and rural communities cannot solve the water supply problem created by the Western population boom. Nor can they be expected to sacrifice their livelihoods for the “greater good” of golf courses, strip malls and housing developments. Farmland is disappearing at a time when the U.S. needs a stable domestic food supply (just as it needs a stable energy supply)."

Annual fisheries research award in Scott Boley's memory, posted 6/9/07

Tulelake Irrigation District well water levels, posted June 9, 2007
Tulelake Irrigation District well activity May 25, 2007 - June 6, 2007

OREGON: Whitsett Votes to Create Stable, Independent Ethics Funding, Oregon State Capital Press Release 6/9/07

PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for Bob Flowers and his family. Bob has been ill.

Dam the Salmon response by Bill Kennedy, Klamath Water Users Association board member, 6/6/07. "The agenda of the greens or the deep ecologists is not what we see in their advocacy. In the case of Klamath River hydropower, dismantling our infrastructure creates real economic pressure on those identified as the big environmental problem, the growing human race."
Dam the Salmon, In the Northwest, environmentalists want to have it both ways, Wall Street Journal editorial, posted to KBC June 1, 2007

PRESS RELEASE: House democrats finish Measure 37 repeal, adopt secret amendments; HB 3540 reverses will of Oregon voters, strips rights from property owners, Oregon House of Representatives 6/6/07.

The Many Myths of Ethanol By John Stossel, Real Clear Politics, posted to KBC 6/6/07. "...ethanol would cost much more than gasoline. The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same."

(Oregon) Property law vote likely; Senate: Measure 37 change should be up to the voter, H&N 6/6/07

Regulators seek aid for electricity hike; Each day of rate increase costs customers in Oregon $351,000, H&N, posted 6/6/07

United Opposition to Rahall Energy Dependency Bill H.R. 2337 6/6/07, followed by more statements. "A diverse coalition of organizations representing America's economic and business leaders, labor, farmers and ranchers, and clean alternative energy producers are uniting to oppose legislation that would repeal many of the nation's important energy policies and raise consumer energy prices and increase U.S. dependency on foreign energy."

Irrigation energy costs jump, Electric bills to double for Klamath Project, H&N, posted to KBC 6/2/07

Breaching Snake River dams is action of last resort; The latest proposal by the federal government to spur salmon recovery should be given a chance to work, by the Union-Bulletin Editorial Board, posted to KBC 6/2/07.