Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.

www.heraldandnews.com

Just pay the tribes the value of the fish on the Klamath River

Herald and News Letter to the Editor by Bill Staunton, Fall River Mills, Calif.

In 1940, I was fishing the mouth of the Klamath River with an Indian guide whose name was Rafe James. He stated that as long as the sea lions and gill nets were controlled, fishing would stay good.

Why not pay the Indian tribes for the fish they would catch in their gill nets on the lower Klamath River? The salmon run would increase. Make a contract with Pacific Power to leave dams and give farmers a special rate for irrigation.

Close the dams and fill Upper Klamath Lake in the winter like they did in the 1940s and '50s. This had little effect on fishing and also gave farmers and refuges the water they needed.

Bill Staunton

Fall River Mills, Calif.