(Note by
KBC: Jim McCarthy is from environmental
group ONRC which does not contribute to
or perform any conservation projects on
the Klamath or in the Klamath Basin.
They perform lawsuits.
Regarding Addington, his opinions are
facts. According to FWS massive data, no
pesticides or fertilizers have been
found to cause any death or illness in
wildlife. The pesticide usage is the
most stringent in the State of
California.
Regarding the refuges,
Fish and Wildlife refuges
contain more than 112,000 acres of
marshland and open water. Water is sent
FROM farmland into the refuges. Contact
Ron Cole with Tulelake Fish and
Wildlife refuges for information on
Walking Wetlands, where wetlands and
farmland are rotated, enhancing the
wetlands and the farmland which house
489 species of wildlife. Water is not
diverted from the river...the Klamath
River historically went dry before the
Klamath Project was built, and now it is
kept at artificially high levels. The
year the refuges dried up was in 2001,
when all the water went from farms and
refuges into the Klamath River to
supposedly benefit 3 species of wildlife
while decimating 489. That year, while
fields were dry, the farmers drilled
wells and sent their well water to the
refuges to save the wildlife. And
according to the National Academy of
Science peer review, Klamath irrigation
did not cause fish to die in 2002)
Opinion- Sacramento Bee,
by Jim McCarthy, Ashland Oregon, ONRC
Re
"Water use on Klamath not so simple,"
Another view, Aug. 27: Greg Addington is
entitled to his own opinion, but not his
own facts. His astonishing claim "that
the many pesticides, fertilizers and
animal wastes flowing from the Klamath
Project's 220,000 acres of farmland into
the Klamath River have no impact on
water quality" is simply not credible.
In fact, the Environmental Protection
Agency has listed the Klamath River's
250 miles from the project to the
Pacific as "water quality impaired."
However, polluted runoff isn't the
only way irrigation has degraded Klamath
water quality. Irrigation development
destroyed most of the area's natural
pollution filters: its vast wetlands.
Even remnant marshes -- including
national wildlife refuges on Upper and
Lower Klamath lakes -- are often left
dry for months due to runaway water
demand. Dry marshes not only cannot
filter water pollution, but release
polluting nutrients that otherwise would
remain locked in wet peat soils.
Irrigation diversions also significantly
reduce river flows, creating a better
environment for algae growth and
spurring salmon-killing river
conditions.
As this summer's devastating Klamath
River-driven commercial salmon fishery
closure has made clear, we must address
the river's environmental problems now.
To succeed, we need to be honest about
the challenges we face. But misleading
the public helps no one.
- Jim McCarthy, Ashland, Ore.
