Free Republic

* Fish-friendly agriculture made the difference. * Cutting-edge projects of land owners open eyes of decision-makers. * A united effort with other resource-based groups paid off. CRESCENT CITY, CALIFORNIA - The extraordinary efforts of farmers, ranchers and timber were recognized on Friday, when the California Fish and Game Commission voted 3 to 2 to postpone the final vote for listing the coho salmon to the California Endangered Species Act. So coho limbo continues, at least, until August; and it may linger for another six to seven months. The shocking postponement of the decision is full of legal twists and turns,...

Monday, May 3, 2004 Water level drops in Klamath BasinTo save fish, farmers are paid to use wells, but now the aquifer is shrinkingTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- Klamath Basin farmers are facing another water crisis, this time caused by the widespread use of wells after the federal government cut off their irrigation water in 2001.The Bush administration has encouraged this use, paying farmers to irrigate crops with billions of gallons of water from the wells, leaving lake and river water for protected fish.But now the underground reservoir that feeds the wells is shrinking -- the water table is...

It's not surprising that a lot of accusations are made in a presidential campaign. What is surprising is for the accuser to get his official comeuppance so early in the contest. In one small case, however, that's exactly what has happened. And the accuser who has gotten his comeuppance is the Democratic candidate for president. Last year, Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) — who at the time was watching his presidential hopes disappear in the face of the Howard Dean juggernaut — sided with environmentalists who were accusing the Bush administration of using political muscle to influence a key environmental...

March 18, 2004, 10:38 a.m. Empty Allegations Kerry attacks Bush, government investigates, finds nothing. It's not surprising that a lot of accusations are made in a presidential campaign. What is surprising is for the accuser to get his official comeuppance so early in the contest. In one small case, however, that's exactly what has happened. And the accuser who has gotten his comeuppance is the Democratic candidate for president. Last year, Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) — who at the time was watching his presidential hopes disappear in the face of the Howard Dean juggernaut — sided with environmentalists who...

It’s not surprising that a lot of accusations are made in a presidential campaign. What is surprising is for the accuser to get his official comeuppance so early in the contest. In one small case, however, that’s exactly what has happened. And the accuser who has gotten his comeuppance is the Democratic candidate for president. Last year, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — who at the time was watching his presidential hopes disappear in the face of the Howard Dean juggernaut — sided with environmentalists who were accusing the Bush administration of using political muscle to influence a key environmental decision...

The Interior Department's inspector general has found no basis for a claim by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that White House political advisers interfered in developing water policy in the Northwest. The inspector general said President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not involved in a 2002 decision to divert water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms. While Rove mentioned the Klamath in passing during a briefing with senior Interior officials, "we found nothing to tie Karl Rove's comments ... to the Klamath decision-making process," Inspector General Earl Devaney said in a letter to Kerry, the...

<p>The Federal Bureau of Reclamation announced Wednesday that beleaguered farmers in Klamath Falls, Ore., will be receiving water this year in time for the 2002 planting season, which officially begins next month.</p> <p>Speaking to reporters in Washington, John Keys, the head of the Reclamation Bureau, said the move will not guarantee enough water for the farmers. But if current weather patterns and water levels hold it should be plenty, he said.</p>

It comes too late to save the farms and livelihoods of hundreds of southern Oregon farmers left high and dry last summer, but the National Academy of Sciences released a report Feb. 5 bearing out what those farmers have been saying all along &#151; the federal government did not have sufficient scientific evidence to cut off irrigation water to the farms below Oregon's Klamath Lake Dam. Two hundred thousand acres of the Klamath Valley in southwest Oregon went without irrigation water last summer, with 1,500 affected farm families suffering losses that may total $250 million, dwarfing a $20 million ...

Deeper, colder lake key to solving Basin water dilemmaPublished Feb. 23, 2004 By ROBERT W. GARDNER Guest columnist I am writing in regard to the Klamath Basin water problem. Though it is believed there is no easy solution, I believe there is a way to meet the needs of all. When Fremont came here in the mid-1800s, he found a huge, shallow lake covering most of the basin at the foot of Crater Lake. It was so foul-smelling and dirty-looking with green algae in it that his horses wouldn't even drink from it. In the winter and spring, the lake...

Water quality, supply key to Klamath solutions By TAM MOORE Oregon Staff Writercappress@charter.net KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The Lost River and shortnosed suckers are tough, long-lived fish native to the Upper Klamath Basin. They’ve been on hard times at least since the 1980s. Sacred to American Indian tribes, once so numerous they supported a commercial “mullet” fishery, the two sucker fish ended up on the Endangered Species List in 1988. Last week after four days of talk about suckers, it appears the ancient fish are far from recovery even as some debate how to measure sucker recovery. In 2004, sucker...

Bush budget gives Oregon extra for forests, fish The plan includes more money for thinning woodlands in the state viewed as pivotal in the 2004 election 01/29/04JIM BARNETT WASHINGTON -- With the November election looming and Oregon likely to factor as a swing state, the Bush administration is touting plans in its 2005 budget to boost spending on environmental programs it once sought to limit. The White House will release its full $2.3 trillion budget Monday. But as has been the practice in previous administrations, officials have offered the public a glimpse of proposals that might yield maximum political...

Feds won't fight judge's ruling on suckersPublished Jan 25, 2004 By DYLAN DARLING The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided not to fight a judge's decision in a case involving the status of suckers protected by the Endangered Species Act. The decision doesn't have an immediate impact on the status of the suckers, which along with coho salmon are central to the struggle over water in the Klamath Basin. But a lawyer for a group of Basin residents said the decision means the service will have to re-examine whether the suckers should be protected, or else come up with...

Mr. President, I would like to respond.KBC (jdk) 1/20/04 We are irrigators in the Klamath Basin. Yes we agree with your words...they bring light and hope. But, your statement won't leave my mind; "I believe that God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again." It brings my thoughts to another statement by a neighbor in 2001 when our stored water was taken away from farms and refuges. Velma Robison, a WWII homesteader's wife, stated, "April 6, 2001 was as infamous to...

Set up for another train wreck? Tri-County Courier 12/30/03 Kehn Gibson, staff writer. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, the Bureau of Reclamation and the NOAA Fisheries continue to rigidly adhere to a 'below average' water year type, releasing a lot of water over Iron Gate Dam in November and December and resulting in a violation in the required level of Upper Klamath Lake Nov. 30. UKL level violated in November; Bureau and NMFS still refuse to reconsult The Klamath Basin has notched 83 percent of its average annual precipitation since the water year began Oct. 1, and more is...

<p>The controversy over water and endangered fish in the Klamath River basin has been, and will continue to be, touted as an example of all that is wrong with the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Critics claim that the act allowed federal agencies to use biased studies, ignore rights and needs of farmers, and even list species that were not in jeopardy.</p>

Klamath Tribes will unveil vision for reclaiming lands A blueprint due today will include concessions on sovereign immunity on 690,000 acres in Southern Oregon 12/16/03 MICHAEL MILSTEIN If the Klamath Tribes win back a swath of Southern Oregon the size of Rhode Island, they will grant the public continued access to the ponderosa pine forests and pledge to log only so much as to keep the forests healthy and resistant to fire. The Klamath Tribes today will unveil a blueprint, drawn by two of the region's leading foresters, outlining how they would manage 690,000 acres of the Winema and Fremont...

<p>Klamath basin overhaul is urged in report The proposal for helping fish includes the removal of up to three dams. .</p> <p>The National Research Council called for a watershed-wide set of fixes Tuesday to help threatened salmon and other fish in the Klamath basin, an embattled expanse of farms, forests and depleted salmon streams on the California-Oregon border. In a 334-page report, a scientific panel recommended the removal of up to three dams, restoration of wetlands and other measures to restore fish and prevent conflicts like one that exploded in 2001. The fight pitted farmers against environmentalists and Indian tribes and flashed a national spotlight on how the Bush administration handles water disputes.</p>

Rep. Greg Walden has put the entire NAS report on line in .pdf format here: NAS Klamath Executive SummaryNAS Klamath Chapter 1NAS Klamath Chapter 2NAS Klamath Chapter 3NAS Klamath Chapter 4>NAS Klamath Chapter 5NAS Klamath Chapter 6NAS Klamath Chapter 7NAS Klamath Chapter 8-11

Study recommends massive effort to restore Klamath By John Driscoll The Times-Standard Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - National Research Council report suggests major restoration work to save salmon; goes easy on irrigators. Threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River can't be helped by focusing on an upstream federal irrigation project alone, and removal of dams and other means of restoring their populations should be considered. That's the main thrust of a voluminous National Research Council report released Tuesday, which recommends some $25 million to $30 million be spent to improve conditions for coho in the river and endangered suckers in...

I understand that the Klamath Tribes want all their land and water rights back. The land is currenty controlled by the Federal Gov't. If the indians get the land all access with be determined by the Klamath Tribes. I also understand that they have been paid of this land and water twice before. Does anyone know the truth? How much money do the Klamath tribes get every year in addition to all this Federal land and water rights?