Endangered Species Act Congressional Hearing in Klamath Falls
notices, hearing, articles, photos and testimonies

July 17, 2004. Rally before Klamath Congressional
Field Hearing on the ESA

Please email to us your testimony if you would like it posted on KBC.

Testimony of witnesses to House Resource Committee
   David Vogel, fisheries biologist, written testimony pdf
   David A Vogel, Fisheries Scientist written testimony
   David Vogel,  Oral testimony pdf 
   Dan Keppen on behalf of KWUA
   Ralph Brown on behalf of coastal fishermen
   Doug LaMalfa, California Assemblyman
   William Lewis Jr., recent chair of the National Research Council's Committee on Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River Basin
    Jimmy Smith, commercial fisherman and Humboldt County board of supervisors.
    Chairman Calvert's opening statement
    David Carman, WWII veteran and retired Tulelake homesteader

Other testimony to House Resource Committee:
   Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor District 5
   Bill Pauli, California Farm Bureau Federation.
   Langell Valley Irrigation District and Horsefly Irrigation District, pdf file
   Allen Foreman, Klamath Tribes
   Deb Crisp  Tulelake Growers Association
   Ron Greenbank, Newell Grain Growers Association Manager
   Bill Kennedy, Resource Manager of Lost River Ranch in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
   Lee Riddle, Brookings, Oregon.7/17/04

ESA Table of Contents, go HERE

ARTICLES AND PRESS RELEASES, before and after the hearing.

AgLifeNW Magazine, October Issue Hearing underscores need for common sense, by Dan Keppen, Klamath Water Users Association Executive Director, submitted by KBC. KWUA is a nonprofit corporation that represents 1400 family farms and 5000 water customers served by the federal Klamath Project in California and Oregon.   HERE for article    HERE for KWUA website.

9/7/04 Following are three opinion pieces that ran in Friday's Capital Press,  9/3/04, all addressing the July 17th congressional field hearing on Endangered Species Act implementation in the Klamath Basin:
Hearing underscores need for common sense, Capital Press by Dan Keppen, Klamath Water Users Executive Director."The diverse panelists agreed, to the voiced approval of 700 audience members, that peer review of critical resources decisions — like the review conducted by the NRC committee of the federal decision to curtail Upper Klamath Lake irrigation supplies in 2001 — is a good thing." {The NRC committee also found that lake level/river flow management is not justified, however the the irrigators are forced to fallow land and pump wells, this year over 80,.000 acre feet, while our federal agencies disregard the peer review--KBC)
No more Klamath Basins: Require sound science, Capital Press by William A. Steel, president of the National Grange. "The sudden disappearance of irrigation water generated a loss of nearly $200 million to the local economy and forced nearly two dozen farmers into bankruptcy. The NAS report also concluded that shutting off the irrigation and disrupting the seasonal water flow created environmental conditions that were, in fact, harmful to the species the government was trying to protect. What a disastrous consequence of irrational law enforcement."
The things that weren’t said in Klamath Basin, by Felice Pace, volunteer activist with the Klamath Forest Alliance. (Look at the photos on top of this page--KBC Home Page. Then read the article, then look at the photos again. Remember, much of Klamath Basin was a closed basin, with no water getting into the Klamath River. Not only was our lake water diverted down the river, raising the river flows up to 30%, Link River occasionally went dry. Now the Bureau of Reclamation's mandatory water bank is depleting our aquifer according to Ned Gates, Oregon Water Resources, to make artificially high river flows and lake levels. KBC)

July Klamath Congressional Field Hearing – What Was Learned? "This interview was publicly released by the National Water Resources Association (NWRA) earlier this week." Interview with Dan Keppen, Executive Director of Klamath Water Users Association, posted to KBC 8/1/04.

Klamath ESA Congressional Hearing, AgAlert California Farm Bureau 7/21/04. "Vogel said. "The two sucker populations are now conclusively known to be much greater in size, demonstrating major increases in recruitment, and are found over a much broader geographic range than originally reported in the 1988 ESA listing notice. Despite this indisputable empirical evidence, current implementation of the ESA does not provide the flexibility necessary to down-list or delist the species." (The following articles ---USFWS refusing to delist the suckers, proves Vogel's point. KBC)

Committee to "Gut" and "Rollback" Endangered Species Act Tomorrow, July 20, 2004 by Brian Kennedy

Congressional subcommittee hearing on the ESA, Solutions for the ESA, Pioneer Press 7/19/04.

Rally Photos by Barbara Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade 7/17/04.  Thank you Barb!

Report from Lee Riddle, Brookings, Oregon, on the rally and Field Hearing 7/17/04

Notes by Barbara Hall, Klamath  Bucket Brigade, taken at House Resource Committee field hearing in Klamath Falls 7/17/04.

Congressional hearing Klamath Falls July 17

Hearing should highlight species act problems, H&N, 7/15/04.

Too much opinion, by Dr Doug Whitsett, President of Water for Life, H&N 7/14/04.

PRESS RELEASE: ESA Field Hearing to Include Testimony From Key Witnesses, Congressman Walden 7/13/04.

One voice to fit all tribes at species act hearing, H&N 7/13/04. There are no current Klamath Basin farmers speaking at this hearing.  However, we are, as ALL AMERICANS are, invited to submit written testimony on impacts of the ESA to you. Thank you, Resources Committee, for this opportunity. KBC

KWUA perspective on the 2002 and 2003 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reviews, posted July 12, 2004

Tribes to stage hearing protest, witness list for congressional field hearing does not include Allen Foreman, H&N 7/12/04.
There has been a misunderstanding by local media and local indigenous people.  This planned peaceful rally welcomes all people, not just one race, who feel the ESA needs to be improved for all Americans (that includes being allowed at the table, and peer reviewed science, unlike the current process).  Also, contrary to false accusations, as of 1:41 pm today, the local community has not been notified by the congressional committee on who will be chosen to speak at the hearing...it is not decided by local irrigators. KBC 7/12/04 1:41 pm.

July Klamath Congressional Field Hearing – What Will Be Learned? Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Klamath Water Users Association, talked with the NWRA about the upcoming Congressional field hearing scheduled for July 17. "Next year, unless biological opinions change, and regardless of actual hydrologic conditions, we’re going to be developing another 100,000 acre-feet of water for those purposes. Again, we question whether that water is actually helping the environment because the underlying biological opinions are flawed."

KWUA Media Alert: July 17^th Congressional Field Hearing Slated for Klamath Falls: Community Leaders Plan Pre-Hearing March and Rally, 7/10/04

Amend the ESA congressional hearing, Pioneer Press July 7, 2004. "Economic loss is not counted in the ESA decisions.  Local business leaders estimate that the termination of the 2001 water deliveries inflicted $200 million worth of economic damage on the Klamath Basin community."

IF YOU THINK THE ESA IS BAD LAW, BE THERE TO HELP CHANGE IT! 6/29/04 notice by Snorin Bear (radio show host).

PRESS RELEASE: Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on The Klamath Project, 6/21/04."The water shut-off in the Klamath Basin is a dramatic example of how, after 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has failed the species it was designed to recover.  Unintended consequences have devastated communities."

Klamath to host congressional hearing, June 15, 2004, H&N.

SOME VICTIMS OF THE ESA Velma Robison, 2001
Fred and Velma Robison, Reclamation ERA Magazine February 1947 at homestead drawing	Their home in 1947 was an old Japanese barracks, no well, no electricity, no community, on 80 acres of soil. HERE for story.