Pace calls out Addington-Tucker attack on democratic process

It has long been KlamBlog's contention that it was wrong for federal and state bureaucrats, tribes, environmental and irrigation interests to conspire behind closed doors to determine the future of the Klamath River Basins Public Trust Resources. Worse still, the KBRA Water Deal seeks to establish that closed-door process as the manner in which the most important Public Trust Resources - water - will be managed going forward.

KlamBlog has also called attention to the fact that -  in the two years since the KBRA was signed - managing water via back room cronyism has resulted in regular cuts to river flows as well as to the yearly dewatering of Klamath wildlife refuges. 

The alternative we have advocated is for a new Klamath River Compact and a new Klamath Compact Commission which would have seats for tribes and counties as well as states and the feds. A new and properly empowered Klamath Compact Commission would coordinate water management under existing federal, state and local authorities and would oversee an open, democratic process for coordinating restoration strategies and allocating restoration funds.

Now KlamBlog's principle writer and editor Felice Pace has called out these undemocratic practices in a major article appearing in the on-line journal Counterpunch. In Political Theater of the Absurd in the Klamath Basin, Felice takes the Irrigation Elite's Greg Addington and the Karuk Tribe's Craig Tucker to task for suggesting that newly elected Klamath County Commissioners can not take Klamath County out of the KBRA. According to Felice, Addington and Tucker are seeking to turn the KBRA into a virtual Hotel California where - in the words of the Eagles classic song - “You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!”

The Irrigation Elite's Men:  Klamath Water Users Association  

Executive Director Greg Addington (right) and Lawyer Paul Simmons (left) 

Read Felice's article in full at this link.

Connecting the dots

As part of monitoring how the media reports on Klamath River issues, KlamBlog follows several newspapers including the Klamath Falls based Herald and News. In recent months we've noticed an interesting juxtaposition of articles in that publication. 

On the one hand, the H&N regularly publishes news articles touting the economic development efforts of Klamath County leaders. Looking for economic salvation from the outside, these leaders have been courting corporations interested in turning wood into electricity. Biomass elctrical generation has become the mythical golden fleece for many of the West's rural forest counties. Many rural leaders hope fervently for a return to the good old days when salmon and clean water were sacrificed to maximize timber production. 

Juxtaposed with articles about economic development hopes are others announcing that the air in Klamath County is so bad that everyday folks must stop burning wood for heat. Klamath County already has the worst air in Oregon; just recently it was announced that the county also has the most unhealthy population. Local political leaders, however, seem to be wearing blinders; they fail to  connect the dots. 

Mount Shasta rises above unhealthy air in Klamath Falls Oregon 

While their citizens appear to be catching on (between fits of chronic coughing), Klamath County politicians - like most western rural political leaders - seem not to recognize that in today's world a clean, healthy environment is a key to a healthy population which is the key to a healthy economy. Quality of Life is the concept connecting them all.

Klamath County political leaders who want a healthy economy should spend less time chasing the next smokestack and more time figuring out how to improve the health of county citizens. Cleaner air is one obvious place to start.  

That reminds KlamBlog of yet another old tune from the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary - "When will they ever learn?"  

Stay tuned!
     

Gorgeous new video for Klamath Dam Removal

There is a gorgeous new video available on causes.com featuring the mural in Orleans which KlamBlog recently called to readers attention. The "cause" in the video is Klamath Dam removal; it features traditional members of the Karuk and Yurok Tribes.

Karuk artist Biran Tripp working on the Orleans mural

The causes.com page then asks viewers to click on a link in order to "add your voice to theirs, send an Un-Dam the Klamath letter to Congress and share this action with your friends." 

The link is to the Klamath Riverkeeper page where one can sign a letter to Congress asking members to "please introduce and pass legislation to Un-Dam the Klamath in 2013."

There is no mention anywhere on causes.org of "the other side of the story" - that is, of the normal route to dam removal through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Also not mentioned is that, while many folks who have worked long and hard for the River and Klamath Salmon think Congressional authorization of the KHSA Dam Deal is the quickest and best path to dam removal, others who have also worked long and hard for Klamath restoration think FERC is the surest, quickest and best path to dam removal.

That is why at the same time Klamath Riverkeeper is urging folks to contact Congress, the Hoopa Tribe has petitioned FERC to resume jurisdiction over the fate of PacifiCorp's Klamath River Dams and Rogue Group of the Sierra Club is urging folks to contact FERC in support of the Hoopa Tribe's petition.

Such is the state of affairs on the Klamath: natural allies and friends who have worked long and hard to restore the Klamath River and Klamath Salmon have been divided by the KHSA Dam Deal and KBRA Water Deal. The division plays on old inter-tribal antagonisms and weakens the overall effort; it is NOT in the interest of the River.

KlamBlog believes we need leaders who can resolve the conflict and bring those who work for the River and Klamath Salmon back into coalition.  That IS the River's interest.

On-line book focuses on the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake Refuges

Brett Cole is a professional photographer whose work has focused on "wetlands and wild birds, endangered baboons, tropical and temperate forests, and cultural, social, and environmental topics in India and Peru." Cole has worked for and with "a variety of environmental and humanitarian NGOs in different countries" including The Nature Conservancy, Cambridge Conservation Initiative and World Wildlife Fund.

Cole has a couple of books in print. He has also self- published seven photography books (with accompanying original essays) on line, including one focused on Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges. These books contain gorgeous and evocative images which Cole makes available to conservationists and utilizes himself to promote the appreciation of nature and to advance the work of conservation.  Here is one of Brett Cole's Klamath Refuge photos: 

Ducks at Sunrise, Lower Klamath NWR, Brett Cole Photo

If you read Brett Cole's book on the Klamath Refuges, you will soon recognize that he is not your typical photographer. Brett Cole has the soul of an activist-artist - one who wants to use his art to advance social and environmental justice.

While Cole's refuge photos include many celebrating the beauty of birds, other wildlife, wetlands and landscapes, he has also published numerous images focused on the industrial-scale commercial agriculture which occurs on Lower Klamath and Tule Lake Refuges. In his on-line book, Cole makes clear throughout that he thinks industrial agriculture on national wildlife refuge land must end. But he also projects restoration of wetlands on Tulelake and Lower Klamath Refuges as a win-win:

          "The Lower Klamath and Tule Lake Refuges provide perhaps the single most exciting and profound habitat restoration projects in the western United States. The next decade could be a time of incredible excitement and positive change in the Klamath Basin with all parties coming out ahead."  

Farming on the Klamath NWRs - photos and collage by Brett Cole

On the last page of Brett Cole's on line book "Klamath: Western America's Greatest Wetlands" he encourages readers to get involved with Comprehensive Conservation Planning for the Klamath Refuges. The Plan which will include Lower Klamath Refuge and Tule Lake Refuge is due to be completed in 2013. 

Cole suggests that those who care about the Klamath Refuges stay involved via the web site of Oregon Wild. 

Led by naturalist-activist Wendell Wood, Oregon Wild is far and away the leader in bringing attention to the plight of the Klamath Refuges - including the irony of dewatered marshes while commercial agricultural lease lands on the refuges receive full irrigation water delivery. Oregon Wild's web site includes lots of information on the refuges as well as a page with updates on Klamath River Basin issues and developments.   

American avocets (Recurvirostra americana) foraging, Lower Klamath Refuge, CA

Photo by Brett Cole

Bureau of Reclamation cuts Klamath River and Refuge water again in a non-drought year

According to the USGS drought monitoring site, the Klamath River Basin is not in drought. In fact, with the exception of the eastern portion of the Lost River Sub-Basin, the Klamath River Basin is not even abnormally dry so far this year.

That has not, however, deterred the US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) from again declaring a bureaucratic drought in the Basin. Reclamation's “Projection of Klamath Project February 2013 Operations” declares that, because the water level in Upper Klamath Lake has not met the desired “target” elevation, higher spring flows in the Klamath River – as promised by the KBRA Water Deal and the 2010 Coho Biological Opinion - will once again not be provided. Furthermore, Reclamation has again informed managers of Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges that they will receive little to no water this spring. That means many marshes on which 80% of the birds migrating through the Pacific Flyway depend will once again be dry this year.

This has too often been the dominant scene on Lower Klamath NWR

KlamBlog documented the same situation last winter resulting in a massive die-off of refuge birds and in 2010 we analyzed how Reclamation's water planning procedures had been manipulated to facilitate the creation of "bureaucratic droughts" in order to cut river and refuge flows and maximize irrigation water diversion and delivery. 

The KBRA fails to deliver 

Higher spring flows in the Klamath River and a set water allocation for the Klamath Refuges were supposed to be two of the main benefits received by environmental interests via the KBRA in exchange for a guaranteed first-in-line water supply for federal irrigation interests. While many aspects of the KBRA – including first priority for federal irrigation and funding for federal irrigators to secure cheap power - have been implemented, the promised enhanced spring river flows and the promised secure refuge water supply have not been forthcoming. Instead each year since the KBRA was completed, Lower Klamath Refuge has been dewatered and higher spring flows to help salmon outmigration and to lower salmon disease rates have not been supplied.

In spite of the bad faith shown by Reclamation and the Irrigation Elite, Trout Unlimited, Cal Trout and other KBRA promoters continue to support the deal; much like many individuals trapped in abusive relationships, these groups instead defend and make excuses for the abuser. 

Bureaucratic cowardice 

Reclamation prioritizes filling Upper Klamath Lake as early in the year as possible because that maximizes irrigation water deliveries the following summer as demanded by federal Irrigation Interests. That means, even in years of normal precipitation, the KBRA promised higher spring flows and promised sure water supply for the refuges are not provided. This is what KlamBlog has previously called “the Brave New World” of Klamath River Basin water management in the KBRA era: irrigation first and empty promises for the River and the Refuges.

So far the agencies responsible for Klamath River Basin fish and wildlife – the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Fish & Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife – have gone along with Reclamation's return to irrigation-first management under cover of the KBRA. That is what typically happens when politicians make deals; in spite of whistleblower and civil service protections, bureaucrats rarely raise objections when their political bosses condone violation of the very laws the bureaucrats have sworn to faithfully uphold. 

Let your voice be heard 

Whatever your views on water management in the Klamath River Basin in the KBRA era, consider letting the newly nominated Secretary of Interior - REI President Sally Jewell – know what you think. While Jewell has not yet been confirmed, messages directed to her at the US Department of Interior will be delivered. Here's the link to the Department of Interior's “contact us” page.