Some, maybe many will see this announcement as a great step forward for the health and fish of the Klamath River Basin. Many communities have long fought for this action to occur including myself. But there is another aspect that is being ignored, that being the degraded habitat that we have up above the California, Oregon state line. From Keno Dam to the very headwaters we have severely degraded water riparian habitat. This habitat is so bad we have had our cwamm (sucker fish to some) fisheries listed under ESA since 1987. There has been little progress made since then to improve those conditions and these fish continue to suffer.
The funding to address thie degraded habitat was included in the now defunct KBRA. Promises were made to the Klamath Tribes to address these issues fell with the KBRA. What will occur when steelhead and salmon finally get home to the Upper Klamath Basin and cannot re-establish themselves due to poor habitat and poor water conditions? I think we all know the answer to that question.
If you closely examine the now defunct KBRA and its budget you will see the costs at that time when they were developed. The cost was in the hundreds of $ millions. Many years have gone by since we agreed to that budget. I believe that those costs have undoubtedly risen since then.
So when you all are patting each other on the back while standing on that dock over the KHSA and allowing PacifiCorp to have its cake with extra frosting. Please remember that the Upper Klamath Basin has fisheries up here on the ESA list that are on the brink of extinction due to poor water and habitat issues.
More promises made but once again it appears we will get screwed again, right John Bezdek?
Re: “UPDATED: California, Oregon Governors to Make 'Major Announcement' on Klamath”
Some, maybe many will see this announcement as a great step forward for the health and fish of the Klamath River Basin. Many communities have long fought for this action to occur including myself. But there is another aspect that is being ignored, that being the degraded habitat that we have up above the California, Oregon state line. From Keno Dam to the very headwaters we have severely degraded water riparian habitat. This habitat is so bad we have had our cwamm (sucker fish to some) fisheries listed under ESA since 1987. There has been little progress made since then to improve those conditions and these fish continue to suffer.
The funding to address thie degraded habitat was included in the now defunct KBRA. Promises were made to the Klamath Tribes to address these issues fell with the KBRA. What will occur when steelhead and salmon finally get home to the Upper Klamath Basin and cannot re-establish themselves due to poor habitat and poor water conditions? I think we all know the answer to that question.
If you closely examine the now defunct KBRA and its budget you will see the costs at that time when they were developed. The cost was in the hundreds of $ millions. Many years have gone by since we agreed to that budget. I believe that those costs have undoubtedly risen since then.
So when you all are patting each other on the back while standing on that dock over the KHSA and allowing PacifiCorp to have its cake with extra frosting. Please remember that the Upper Klamath Basin has fisheries up here on the ESA list that are on the brink of extinction due to poor water and habitat issues.
More promises made but once again it appears we will get screwed again, right John Bezdek?
Mohiwaqs