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Archive 89 -
October 2009
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main archive page
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Around 1900, Link River,
between Upper Klamath Lake and Lake
Ewauna,
occasionally went dry before
the Klamath Project was built. There
was no hydropower, no hatcheries,
occasionally no fish (fish need
water), no artificially-raised river
flows or lake levels.
HERE for more
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Latest environmental lawsuit by Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement stakeholders against Scott and Shasta agriculture
October 2009. Petitioners: KLAMATH RIVERKEEPER (Craig Tucker
boardmember on KBRA negotiation table with Karuks), QUARTZ
VALLEY INDIAN RESERVATION, PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF
FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATIONS (on KBRA negotiation table),
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION INFORMATION CENTER, SIERRA CLUB,
NORTHCOAST ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER (KBRA negotiator), and
INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES. (KBC NOTE - Why do
KBRA supporters claim these environmental groups will not sue
them, when the enviros are already litigating against family
farmers?)
Environmental Lawsuits Rake in Billions for Lawyers, Idaho
Farm Bureau News, posted to KBC 10/30/09.
Klamath River Dam Removal,
10/30/09 - Column by
Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor District 5.
Environmental dissent, (Oregon Wild, formerly ONRC) Group
critical of water agreement, with KBC editorial, 10/30/09.
"Why is it ok
for Karuk spokesman Craig Tucker to help draft and support the
KBRA, and with another affiliation Klamath Riverkeeper, oppose
it?" Why do several supporters of the KBRA, including
Tucker and Glen Spain of PCFFA, state: "Commercial
agriculture within the national wildlife refuges should be
phased out in an equitable manner and refuge lands should be
returned to a natural habitat condition" ? Why do they
tell the farmers otherwise?
Forest
activists get win in court,
Case deals with 2005
Biscuit fire protests in state,
H&N, posted to KBC 10/30/090. (KBC NOTE: the protests were
against harvesting the timber that would rot if it wasn't
harvested)
Family Farm Alliance Oct 2009
"Monthly Briefing" (PDF)
Klamath
Restoration agreement - two views: Roger Nicholson and Garrett
Roseberry Against the agreement: It would devastate cattle
industry, followed by
Becky Hyde defending the agreement
and blasting elected Off-Project leaders who represent more
than 95% of Off-Project, H&N, posted to KBC 10/29/09
Environmental Activists
rule 1:
do not deal with facts or issues. Assassinate the character of
anyone who opposes your agenda. Be sure and read Hyde's
response to Nicholson.
Might
Change Hearts regarding Klamath Dam Removal,
Shasta Indian Nation Tribal Council, Pioneer Press, posted to
KBC 10/29/09
My
Opinion: Coho in the Klamath River.
This report has been made by history research writer and
former and half-century resident of the Klamath River, Karuk
tribal member James
A. Waddell, in 2009
President Obama's Czars, posted to KBC 10/29/09. More on our President
HERE
Klamath
Water and Power Agency/KWAPA, public board of directors
meeting 11/3/09
Coalition challenges state's proposal on key Klamath River
streams,
The Trinity Journal 10/28/09
Coho returning
to Columbia in big numbers,
Capital Press 10/26/09. "About
700,000 coho were projected to return to the river system this
year -- at least 200,000 more than last year...They say ocean
conditions are mostly responsible."
Huge coho run will
help feed Oregon’s hungry, ODFG, posted to KBC 10/28/09
Fishermen contest plans for Calif. ocean reserves, Capital
Press, posted to KBC 10/28/09
10/27/09,
TODAY: Sign up and attend:
2009
Watershed Council Gathering, October 27 - 30, Klamath Falls,
Oregon. Wednesday hear Klamath Water Users Association
director Greg Addington will speak for the Klamath Project
regarding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement/KBRA.
According to Resource Conservancy representing most of
Off-Project irrigation, they were not invited to participate
on the panel. Becky Hyde, employee and partner of
Sustainable NW, will speak for Off Project irrigators along with
PacifiCorp, Klamath Tribes, Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen, and American Rivers. Today's tour,
2:30pm is Link River Canyon "and future decommissioning of the
dam."
10/26/09 - An Off-Project
irrigator who does not work for Sustainable NW asked us to
post the following information:
Sustainable NW paid NRI/National Heritage Institute $112,487
Richard Roos Collins, the legal services director for Natural
Heritage Institute, which is a "non-profit law and science for
global resource solutions" organization:
www.n-h-i.org, is a
participant in both the KBRA and Hydro meetings and is the
main author of the actual KBRA. NRI represents "American
Rivers and California Trout in an ongoing effort to
decommission PacifiCorp’s Klamath River Project, so as to
restore free passage from the Pacific Ocean more than 250
miles upstream to Upper Klamath Lake." Go
HERE
for NHI webpage and clients.
“Hydro” Agreement (Dam Removal)
Hearings: "The
Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors will hold two hearings to
receive public comment and ask public questions about the
proposed “Hydro Agreement” to remove four dams on the Klamath
River. This will be on Thursday November 12 at the Miners Inn
in Yreka at 1 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. Principal signatories
are PacifiCorp, the federal and state governments. Siskiyou
County’s signature is not required for the agreement to go
forward." sent by Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong
10/25/09
Water
deal the topic of panel talk,
H&N 10/25/09. KBC NOTE: apparently the public is not
invited. Off-Project Resource Conservancy, representing 95% of
off project irrigation, has not been invited to speak
either.
Fish & Wildlife Service
Completes 5 Year Reviews for 50 Species in California, Nevada
and Southern Oregon
Recommends Uplisting Bay Checkerspot
Butterfly
to Endangered and Downlisting Arroyo Toad, Modoc Sucker, and
Santa Cruz Cypress to Threatened, posted to KBC 10/25/09
< Sprague
River Water Resources Foundation hosted a barbecue to discuss
Klamath Basin water adjudication in Beatty, Ore. 10/24/09.
Oregon
Senator Whitsett on Oregon Water adjudication,
Part 1 of 2, YouTube
Video.
Oregon
Senator Whitsett on water adjudication Part 2 of 2,
Eight
reasons Klamath dams should stay, by Dorothy Dana,
Montegue, opinion for Pioneer Press 10/21/09
Financing Environmental Lawsuits, by Oregon Senator Doug
Whitsett, 10/21/09 Newsletter. "...between
January 2003 and July of 2007, the Judgment Fund paid nearly
42,000 claims totaling more than $4.7 billion taxpayer-dollars
to reimburse prevailing radical environmental organizations
for their legal costs and attorney fees...The second major
source of prevailing plaintiff payments is the Equal Access to
Justice Act. In this scheme, funds are taken from the losing
federal agency’s budget to pay the attorney fees and costs
claimed by the winning environmental organization....Between
2003 and 2005, the United States Forest Service alone paid
about $1.7 million to 44 prevailing environmental
organizations."
Schwarzenegger Executive Order: ALL Californians to be
vaccinated for swine flu! posted to KBC 10/21/09
On October 14, Lord Christopher
Monckton gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of
global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he
issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United
Nations Climate Change Treaty that is scheduled to be signed
in Copenhagen in December 2009.
http://www.infowars.com/video-is-obama-poised-to-cede-us-sovereignty
Doug
LaMalfa senate support continues to grow 102109
10/19/09
<
PLF wins lawsuit against California water theft by
federal government October 5, 2009
Technology
can provide fish migration and power, by Dan Golden, H&N
10/21/09
Cost estimates of upgrading (Klamath) dams grossly inflated,
That’s being done to make dam removal look more attractive
than adding fish ladders,
Herald and News guest opinion by Thomas Mallams, President of
Klamath Off-Project Water Users 10/18/09. "A
recent news article on dam removal stated PacifiCorp costs to
upgrade all four dams as being a total of $279 million....the
FERC report estimates, in a worst-case scenario, total dam
removal costs at $4.4 billion. The CDM report puts costs, in a
worst-case scenario, in excess of $1 billion..."
KWAPA/Klamath Water And Power Agency public board
meeting 10/20/09
When
God Opposes The Shepherds, Restore America 10/18/09
Hydro plant proposed near Henley, H&N, posted to KBC
10/18/09
No surprise:
Salmon most expensive endangered species, Oregonian,
posted to KBC 10/18/09.
"...the total spent on the 13 salmon and
steelhead species in the Columbia Basin since 1978 exceeds $12
billion."
The Invisible
Government, by Nita Still, Montegue 10/18/09.
A
Salmon is a salmon no matter where it's hatched, Pioneer
Press letter by Nita Still, Montague 10/17/09
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."
Rerun:
Walking Wetland
Controversy, and Bureau of Reclamation Issues by KBC.(KBC
NOTE: For your information, several stakeholders who wrote
and support the KBRA/Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement
are in the
Klamath Coalition with
Oregon Wild/ONRC opposing government leaseland farming.
Those groups are American Rivers, Friends of the River,
Klamath Forest Alliance, Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen, and Trout Unlimited. Riverkeeper publicly
opposes the KBRA, however at the same time their board
members Craig Tucker and Leaf Hilman with the Karuk Tribe
are at the table of the KBRA. The following is a
portion of the endorsed
Vision of many
KBRA stakeholders who are part of the Klamath
Coalition: Go
HERE
Agreement guarantees refuges water, H&N 10/16/09. "(Cole)
defends the Endangered Species Act and the involved National
Environment Protection Act, which are often seen as
obstacles....“They allow citizens the right to work for
solutions, not to stop achieving solutions.”
“Throwing our hands up and saying, ‘let’s go to court,’
is not a solution. The time to solve the problem is here,”
(Mauser) says. (KBC NOTE:
An author and person at the table of the closed-door Klamath
Settlement Craig Tucker is on the board of Riverkeeper who
opposes the agreement and
promises to litigate if their demands are not met.)
NW Fishletter #267,
October 12, 2009
Analysis: Dam Breaching Made Simple
BiOp Plaintiffs File Same Old Complaints
Plaintiffs Want Docs From NOAA's 'Secret'
Science Panel
Juvenile Steelhead Survival Soars In
Hydro System
Huge Jack Count For Fall Run In The Snake
700 Sockeye Make It All The Way To
Redfish Lake
New Klamath Settlement Targets BuRec As
Likely Removal Entity
Settle water adjudication before
Basin agreement,
by James Ottoman, H&N letter
posted 10/16/09
Future
of irrigation: Views differ about water agreement’s impact on
agriculture, H&N 10/16/09 (KBC NOTE: Scronce and
Hyde's group represent less than 5% of off project and are at
the negotiation table. Hyde works for Sustainable NW which
works for the Klamath Tribes. Resource Conservancy represents
the majority of off project and are denied a seat at the Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement table. Why?)
Kulongoski wants
to head off Calif. gold miners, San Jose Mercury News,
posted to KBC 10/16/09. Here for
MINERS PAGE.
California, Sacramento unemployment fall (to 12.2%),
Sacramento Bee 10/16/09
Why tear
down power dam that has a fish ladder? H&N Letter by
Robert McSorley 10/16/09
Restoring (Klamath Basin) refuges - Wildlife refuges benefit
from stimulus funds, H&N, posted 10/16/09
PRESS
RELEASE: Hastings Opposes Democrat Leaders’ Misplaced
Priorities, Calls for Relief for San Joaquin Valley Farmers
and Families, posted 10/16/09
Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife
Bulletin, 10/16/09 including:
* Snake River Wild
Steelhead Return Breaks Record; Fall Chinook Jacks Four Times
Previous Record
* Fall Fish Returns Strong, Catch Rates High; Sport Coho Catch
Second Highest On Record
California water rights fact sheet, BLM, posted to KBC
10/16/09
When Equity is Unfair—Upholding Long-Standing Principles of
California Water Law in City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency
by Jason M. Miller, posted to KBC 10/16/09
Click here or to watch Oregon Congressman Greg Walden's
interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, posted to KBC
10/16/09 - Health Care Bill. People want representatives
to read bill before voting, and they want transparency.
Ratepayers should be considered stakeholders, H&N by
George Warner, Klamath Falls, posted to KBC 10/14/09
New Klamath Settlement Targets BuRec As Likely Removal Entity,
NW Fishletter, posted to KBC 10/14/09.(Clarification from
KBC. 1.
" 'We look forward to turning
our full attention now to the KBRA and finalizing terms that
combine federal power and renewable energy investment to
provide affordable power for our members,' said UKWUA's
Becky Hyde."
KBC NOTE: Hyde represents less than 5% of off Project; the
other 95%, Resource Conservancy, were not allowed at the table
and oppose the agreement. 2.
"Klamath Riverkeeper, which has not been involved in the talks
but has pursued litigation against PacifiCorp and regulators
over water quality problems in the river, acknowledged
substantial improvements in the agreement." KBC NOTE:
Klamath Riverkeeper, who dropped out of the negotiations
of the settlement agreement promises to sue if the agreement
doesn't change to meet their desires. An author and supposed
supporter of the agreement,
Karuk spokesman Craig
Tucker, is on the board of directors of Klamath
Riverkeeper along with Karuk
Leaf Hillman.)
Enviros now going after groundwater, Families Protecting
the Valley 10/14/09 (KBC NOTE: in the closed-door
negotiated Klamath Restoration Agreement, there is a map of
the groundwater areas that will be controlled, from South near
Alturas (Canby) Calif, West near Doris Calif, and North
through the Upper Klamath Basin. We farmers have no access to
the latest drafts that detail the mandates and regulations for
our land and water and our deeded rights.)
California Farm Bureau
Federation
Farm
Team bills, including Safe Harbor from environmental
regulations.
Williamson Act: Land
program earns county support for now, CFBF 10/14/09
KWAPA/Klamath Water
And Power Agency public board meeting 10/20/09
NEC
still at the table, Times Standard letter by Northcoast
Environmental Center, posted to KBC 10/13/09
(*Two
groups at the Klamath settlement table, North Coast
Environmental Center and Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen, support taking out the Keno Dam as well.
People at the Yreka meeting presented testimony objecting to
dam removal. Most of those objecting are not allowed at the
table.
Eureka.)
Feds shorted water districts, judge decides in Calif. case,
Capital Press, posted to KBC 10/13/09
Clarification; Tom Mallams
Dam
removal statement,
H&N 10/13/09
Klamath Lake Levels and River Flows 10/5-10/12/09
Land-use
laws in the West, Capital Press, posted to KBC 10/13/09
*
California Farm
Bureau Federation Friday Review of bills and laws 10/13/09
* This issue of the Friday
Review does not contain articles regarding water legislation.
The Governor has
called an extraordinary session of the Legislature
for the
purposes of discussing the following:
Review of water decisions needed. Dan Keppen for the
Capital Press 10/13/09
Oregon
asks for guidance on water projects, Capital Press
10/13/09. "Under
a law adopted earlier this year, the state may require
applicants to protect "peak and ecological flows" before it
provides money for water storage projects.
The language changes from "may" require to "shall" require
beginning in 2012."
Tulelake Irrigation District board meeting agenda for 10/12/09
Dams and cattle, Looking over the dam removal agreement,
(with informational links supplied by KBC) H&N 10/9/09.
"Senator Whitsett...said he believes
the
agreements as written will pretty much destroy the cattle
industry in the Basin and that is the No. 1 commodity in the
Klamath Basin...About 100,000 acres of land above and
around Upper Klamath Lake have been taken out of production,
much of that pasture. The agreements call for another 30,000
acre-feet of water to be diverted to the lake, which could
impact between 30,000 to 50,000 acres of land, he said."
Update on Federal Land Management: Congress Acts to Prevent
Wildfire Management Funds From Going to DC Parks, U.S.
Calif. Congressman Wally Herger 10/9/09
Schwarzenegger pushes lawmakers for water deal, Capital
Press 10/9/09
(Siskiyou) County: We have not approved dam removal,
Siskiyou Daily News 10/8/09
Mixed views
on dam removal, H&N, posted to KBC 10/8/09. "U.S. Rep. Tom
McClintock, R-Calif.
'I
think it’s absolute insanity,' McClintock said of the dam
removal agreement."
2007 Federal and State
2007Expenditures on endangered species, including land
acquisitions. Posted to KBC 10/8/09
!
Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement/KBRA Plan.
KBC NOTE: National Fish
and Wildlife Federation outlines plans, with Nature
Conservancy, Klamath Rangeland Trust, Klamath Tribes,
Sustainable NW, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath
Watershed Partnership, NRCS, and Ducks Unlimited, to downsize
ag, increase water in Klamath Lake and Klamath River, restore
lake by breaching dikes from ranches initially purchased for
irrigation water storage, plant lamprey (fish parasites) and
other endangered fish in the basin. The strategy includes
statements that ag, timber harvest and grazing cause "chronic
excessive nutrient loading." and we must manage water by
"lake level management." Although the chairman of the National
Research Council said that these waters are naturally laden
with phosphorus and no amount of downsizing agriculture will
fix it's naturally poor water quality, these groups, condoned
by our farm leaders in the KBRA with no public support, will
be controlling the land and water in the Klamath Basin if the
$1 billion KBRA is adopted. Posted to KBC 10/8/09
Something is not right on the rivers
by Glen Owen Briggs, Siskiyou Daily News 10/5/09. Briggs
is a retired civil engineer, Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation
The
cost of losing dams, Albany Democrat Herald, posted to KBC
10/7/09
Court orders government to pay for water losses; decision
could open door for more districts to seek payment for water
shifted to fish, Contra Costa Times, posted to KBC
10/7/09
Tulelake Irrigation
District well water levels 10/7/09
(Trinity) County
protests water rights request, Trinity Journal 10/7/09
Farmers express mixed reactions on dam removal, 10/7/09 by
Christine Souza, California Farm Bureau Ag Alert
We
have the power to stop dam removal, by Tony Intiso,
Siskiyou Daily News letter 10/7/09
People need to know about San Joaquin Valley, H&N letter
10/7/09.
Hope
for Modoc identity, some seek to separate from Klamath Tribe
H&N 10/7/09
Klamath
water report 9/28-10/5/09
Seeking
input - Stakeholders plan
public meetings; No
dates yet for public meetings on dam removal,
10/6/09 H&N
What will dam removal mean in the future? H&N
letters 10/6/09. Senator Doug Whitsett: "The
Basin will see less farming and an increased federal presence
in the region in the coming years with the dam removal
agreement, purchasing more land and creating more wildlife
refuges, he said...I
believe that the agreements as written will pretty much
destroy the cattle industry in the Basin and that is the No. 1
commodity in the Klamath Basin.”
Groups against Klamath Hydro Agreement speak out, KDRV,
posted to KBC 10/6/09
Going
Backwards--Dam Removal in Northern California, by Doug LaMalfa, former
Calif Assemblyman, posted to KBC 10/4/09. Sacramento Bee
opinion and Flash Report
Water Users group at first opposed bill, by Carole
Canavari, H&N 10/3/09
What you need to know about the
KBRA,
H&N 10/4/09. "...the
public also will have the ability to comment on it, before it
is signed..."
