www.philosopherSeed.org  Thanks to Jim Lockhart Audio & Video of 2006 Protest  MP3 AUDIO,  GOOGLE VIDEO

Klamath Tribes and Supporters Want Klamath Dams Removed

        

        

The Rally and March was energetic and punctuated with chants, both organized and spontaneous. People felt this issue strongly deep in their heart and cried out loudly for the removal of these dams, blocking not only the salmon, but a way of life and a relationship centuries, millenniums old.

The March was at least three blocks in length when marching down to the Convention Center, where Native speakers from the tribes affected by the dams demanded the dams be removed and asked supporters to contact their elected leaders with this message: BRING THE SALMON HOME!

Klamath River Tribes, fishermen, and citizens are fighting to remove PacifiCorp's Klamath dams. Four dams are presently up for their 50 year re-licencing by FERC (Federal Energy Relicencing Commission). This is an opportunity of a life time to have these antiquated fish-blocking dams decommissioned and removed.

The fate of the dams is still under negotiation and Portland based PacifiCorp, the dams owner (Warren Buffet being the company's largest share holder) needs to hear from the people of the Klamath and all those who are supportive in person. The Klamath, Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa Tribes and non-native river communities rely on salmon and a healthy Klamath River Basin to survive. As long as the dams stand, serious environmental and cultural in-justices continue, including loss of the thriving Klamath salmon fishery, negative health effects due to loss of salmon as part of the traditional diet, and degraded water quality.

Following the speakers, a mock dam was raised up and, accompanied by loud cheers, knocked down by the many salmon who attended the rally.

        

The Rally began at Holladay park, near Lloyd Center. Arriving a little late I missed speakers, but caught the tail end of one impassioned speech by an Indigenous man. "We're fish people, we're people of the Klamath River; we were honored when we were born. Now it's time for us to give something back and honor the resource, and more importantly, honor the children. I want to say something about the Klamath tribes of Oregon. These guys have not seen salmon since 1917, and that's a travesty."

"The Klamath tribe of Oregon have fought through their water battles, they've fought with the Federal government, and now they're fighting to get these dams removed. they're one of our strongest allies, along with the Karuk tribe and the Hoopa tribe, and we need to get these dams removed so that once again they can see a salmon in their home area."

Following these remarks, a man with a hand drum took the microphone and introduced a song which had came to him in a dream He described the dream where, when standing by a river a salmon jumped out of the water into his arms. The words, in English, "jumping out of the river like a fish into the heart of the dreamer. I am the fish spirits magic song" He then sang his song accompanying himself on his drum.

Following the song, the people gathered for a spirited march to the Convention center, where international hydropower corporations were holding their bi annual HydroVision Conference. The march spanned at least three blocks, with loud chants, drumming and the honking of many, many horns in support. Once at the Center, and after a long period of chanting, the Master of Ceremonies, Craig Tucker, campaign coordinator for the Karuk Tribe, introduced leaders from the many tribes being affected by the dams.

First to speak was Leaf Hillman, vice chairman and ceremonial leader of the Karuk tribe of California. As is customary with Indigenous peoples, Hillman first thanked those whose country this is, meaning the local Native peoples, not the government of the U.S. Then he gave a Blessing in his Native tongue, and translated it into English. "This right here is our country, this is where we were born and raised, just like our long ago people, our ancestors. May it continue to always be so."

This is the time. I've spent the last, too many years, 20 or so, talking about fish, talking about water, talking about people, the lives of our people, the future of our children. After many years, empty promises, -that's being gracious I think. LIES! We have a new leadership at PacifiCorp. We are a time in history with the relicensing the Klamath dams. This is a historic and unprecedented opportunity."

Hillman is referring to the fact that the 4 dams are coming up for 50 year relicencing by the Federal Energy Relicencing Commission. This is an opportunity for those who support Indigenous peoples, who support endangered species, who support subsistence living and religious freedom to assist these tribes in their desire to Bring the Salmon Home.

Hillman spoke a while longer and then Craig introduced the next speaker, Frankie Joe Meyers, a traditional fisherman from the Yurok tribe, who inhabit the mouth of the Klamath River. This speaker stated that he was asked to come to share his his feelings on what the salmon means to him. "I have a hard time answering because I don't know what it means to all the people; I only know what it means to me. And to me it's the connection to the way we once were, before we started having to fight for who we were. You know, we've been fighting for over 100 yers now for the salmon and for the river. It's been under attack since the 1900's, since they first started digging the ditches to divert the water.

Frankie Joe then speaks of the legends of the people, of how in ancient times the salmon offered to sustain the people. "And he has ever since. He sustained the people. He is what we eat, that's how it is. Now it's out turn to defend him.......we must never forget that salmon are more than just creatures of the water; they are people, just like me and you. They wouldn't give up on us, we shouldn't give up on them.

Craig then introduced the Vice Chairman of the Yurok Tribe, Thomas O'Rourke, who said that "the state of the Klamath River is in despair, th e waters are contaminated and polluted, our people can no longer swim in the riv3r without getting scabs on them, without getting sores on them. There's a new algae that blooms behind these dams, a blue green algae that at certain times of year it reaches very toxic levels that are poison to the people, but not only to the people, but to the animals and to the salmon."

Thomas came to speak for his people, and to speak for the salmon. In 2002, 70,000 salmon died in our river....these salmon can no longer speak for themselves, so we as a people that care, users of the salmon, users of the river, it's our turn to stand up and speak out for the fish."

Next to speak was Chuck Carpenter, cultural advisor, traditional fisherman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. "We are here to honor our past as well as our present and our future of all these little young children running around here.........we are here carrying on something very sacred to us. It just isn't salmon, and it just isn't water. It is our livelihood, our culture, our heritage, our customs and our beliefs of the native people that we are. We stand up for our future generations."

After Chuck finished, Craig introduced Allan Foreman, Chairman of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon. The headwaters of the Klamath river is located in the homeland of the Klamath Tribe, which is the biggest tribe in the state of Oregon. "I come to you today as the leader of a sovereign nation and as an American. We're here today, not out of choice, but out of necessity. We're here because the right of Americans have been and are being violated. 146 years ago the U.S. government entered into a treaty with the Klamath Nation. The essence of that treaty stated that we the Klamath people would retain our right to hunt, fish, gather and trap within our homelands forever." "Exactly 90 years ago construction began on the first of several power generation dams on the Klamath River. This action was taken by the California-Oregon power company and endorsed by the Federal government. This action subsequently blocks all runs of salmon and steelhead from our homeland, which they had done since the beginning of time. Promises were made to remedy the situation by providing fish passage. This action never materialized. Today there are 4 dams and two smaller dams on the Klamath River and the tribes are still without their salmon."

Foreman spoke at length, about 12 minutes altogether, and was the final speaker for the afternoon. The total length of this audio file is about 30 minutes.

www.philosopherSeed.org  Thanks to Jim Lockhart Audio & Video of 2005 Protest  MP3 AUDIO,  GOOGLE VIDEO

Klamath Community Demands for Portland Based Pacific Power to Remove Dams

                    

Today at the Lloyd Tower Klamath river residents and supporters joined Native people of the Klamath River to ask Pacific Power to remove thier fish killing dams. The Klamath dams are currently in a process that occurs every 50 years, in dam removal is possible. However after years of negotiations Pacific Power shocked river communities by ignoring fish passage and down river communities in their plans. Now community members are taking their issues straight to the doorsteps of Pacific Power.

Community members of the Klamath River and supporters staged a protest today in front of the Headquarters of Pacific Power, to demand that the dams be removed and that the Klamath River be allowed to flow freely. There was good educational outreach, eloquent speakers, and impassioned pleas to passers-by and PacifiCorp (same as Pacific Power) employees to take their message inside the walls to their employers and fellow employees about the seriousness of the situation on the Klamath. Not only are the Klamath tribes along the entire stretch of river being severely impacted, but the river ecosystem is suffering too, evidenced by the fish die-offs and the toxic algae growth in the river. There was a pile of this toxic algae and dead fish in the center of the protesters, bringing the smell of the polluted reservoirs to the area.

Residents and tribal members told of the lowest Chinook (or King) Salmon runs in recorded history and the impacts to thier way of life due to continuing fish kills in the Klamath. They also demanded for Pacific Power to Bring the Salmon home to the upper Klamath watershed, which has not seen Salmon in almost a century.

This was a surprise protest, but some videographers from independent and corporate media showed up and hopefully some video will be shown on Jim Lockhart's Growing Concern show on Cable Access (live Fridays on PCA at 7-8pm) and possibly there will be a film about this issue shown on Videos From The Resistance, tonight at It's a Beautiful Pizza.

With the publicity being brought to bear around this issue, it is important that we in Portland who call ourselves friends of the "salmon nation" or who claim to want to preserve salmon habitat, get involved in the struggle these people are waging for their very survival. The Oregon govenor has shown little compassion on this issue and has not given his support for dam removal.

This fight is far from over. 50 years is too long to wait for the return of the salmon and steelhead runs. It may already be too late for the spring Chinook which historically had up to a million returning adults per year, many of which used the upper basin above the dams. Currently their are less then 200 in the whole river.

Karuk Tribe

Bring Salmon Home - Un-Dam Klamath!

"I went to the Klamath River Tribes film screening and presentation tonight. Many powerful still photos opened up the showing, allowing us to see some of the beauty of the Klamath River, and to understand a little about the way of life the Klamath River tribes are struggling to both restore and preserve".

At issue is the 50 year dam relicensing application due in March of 2006, for the complex of dams along the rivers in the Klamath Basin, where there are currently 6 dams sited. There are already no salmon in the upper Klamath at all, because most of these dams have either no fish ladders, or inadequate ones. Salmon currently are being blocked from 350 miles of spawning habitat as a result of these dams. After the 'bucket brigades' by Klamath basin farmers, encouraged by Gale Norton, over 100,000 fish died on the Klamath directly resulting from lowered water levels.

When this licensing re-application process began, after Pacificorp announced their intention to apply for relicensure for another 50 year term, the public was invited to give input. The tribes offered their input and were invited to help Pacificorp develop a workable solution to meet the water needs along the Klamath. The tribes have worked for well over 3 years with members of each of the four affected tribal nations devoting several hours a week, using quality fishery biologist science, to address the issues of fish passage and water quality. But when Pacificorp came out with their final draft application, there was no mention of environmental impact, water quality, or fish passage provisions.

This is seen as an extreme betrayal of the effort the tribes have put forth to work out a solution with Pacificorp. The tribes then took their struggle to the parent company, Scottish Power, by traveling to Scotland. There they protested in front of Scottish Power during an annual shareholders meeting, where they educated shareholders, and were able to finally meet with the CEO, Ian Russell, who directed the board members to meet with the tribes and find a solution. Because Russell told them last year to keep in touch about how things were progressing, tribal members went back to Scotland this year to report to Russell that things are not progressing well, and that over 100,000 fish have just died, due to poor water quality and warming water temperatures.

This year when they went to Scotland, they were told that Scottish Power will be selling Pacificorp to a company called Mid-America, owned by Warren Buffet. The tribes maintain that since the sale will take at least 1 1/2 years to complete, Scottish Power still has time and a responsibility to work on solutions. The sale has yet to be approved by the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Pacificorp dams on the Klamath River provide less than 2 percent of Pacificorp's total operating power; A study by the California Energy Commission found that already-operational power plants could easily replace any energy lost from decommissioning the Klamath River dams. It is much harder to put monetary value on culturally significant resources, but this is clearly a human rights issue. The health of the Karuk people has suffered greatly with the loss of fish and other water-dependent plants from their diets; A recent study showed that the diabetes rate is 2 times the national average and that cardiovascular disease is 3 times the national average. 90% of the Kiruk people are living below poverty level.

Water Quality is now one of the main issues that the Klamath Tribes are working on calling attention to. Pacificorp was refusing access to information about the algae that collects above the dams. So independent water testing was done by the tribes this year. It was discovered a few months ago that in the summer with the heat and fertilizer runoff, there are huge algae blooms. When the air cools, the algae decomposes, lowering oxygen levels in the water behind the Copco and Iron Gate dams. In the Copco and Iron Gate reservoirs, one type of algae present is toxic to the liver, called microcystis aeruginosa. This algae was found in levels that exceeded 100 times the World Health Organization standards.

The Klamath Tribes in the upper basin have filed suit against Pacificorp for losses of historical fish runs. That case has still not been heard in court, and now that this company is being bought, it's hard to know what will become of that lawsuit.

The sale of Pacificorp and the relicensing of the Klamath River dams are both still under consideration by the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and by the PUC (Public Utility Commission). Cascadians need to put pressure on these agencies, along with our legislators and governor. We need our legislature to take a more active role in the management of the Klamath basin. Fisheries and recreational and cultural values need to take as big a role in decision-making as agriculture. The loss of anadromous fish and all other plant and animal life that depends on the healthy functioning of this ancient ecosystem impacts all Oregonians. We have to speak out to preserve these rivers, and in doing so, preserving the way of life of indigenous peoples. To not do so is to condone genocide. We need to contact our legislators about this gross human rights violation and argue against the relicensure of these dams, and to argue for dam removal.

The groups working on this campaign to remove the dams on the Klamath Basin and raise awareness of the destruction of the native culture and economic and food base being caused by these dams, along with the ecosystem balance being destroyed, include: The Klamath Salmon Media Collaborative, The Klamath Forest Alliance, The Mid Klamath Action Network and others that I didn't write down unfortunately. To get a copy of the dvd's that were shown, or their first newsletter, The Black Oak, packed with amazing articles that will inform, inspire, and anger you about the issues surrounding these native issues along the Klamath Basin, you can email klamathmedia@hotmail.com or the Karuk Tribe