Feelings Flow Like a River on Water Issues
By Dylan Darling, K-Falls Herald & News
February 3, 2005

KLAMATH, Calif. - Tears. Laughs. Raw emotion.

They all came out Wednesday as about 60 people gathered for a three-day retreat aimed at getting to the heart of the water issues in the Klamath River Basin.

"This is not something that should cause us to hate each other ... the water should not make us hate each other," said Bob Chadwick, facilitator of the Greater Klamath Basin Stakeholders Workshop. "It's not right."

Starting at lunchtime and going until past dinnertime, people from up and down the Klamath Basin - federal and state officials, ranchers, upstream and downstream tribal members, commercial fishermen and more - shared their experiences and what they thought would be needed for a lasting solution.

The goal is to build relationships among people who often find themselves at odds on water issues, Chadwick said. The Yurok Tribal Office in Klamath, Calif., was selected as a meeting place to spur interest from downstream tribes and fishermen.

"Our purpose is to bring the salmon back," Chadwick said.

Similar workshops have already been held in Somes Bar, Calif., on the Klamath River and in the Scott Valley of Siskiyou County. Another workshop is planned for March in Klamath Falls.

From all angles the Klamath water issues are prickly. Emotions run high and there are fundamental disagreements on basic issues.

But Chadwick said he has experience dealing with contentious issues and is confident he can tackle the Klamath.

As supervisor of the Winema National Forest in the 1970s, Chadwick was tasked with solving quarrels among groups about roadless parts of the forest.

Since leaving the U.S. Forest Service he has parlayed the experience into a conflict resolution business called Consensus Associates that he runs out of his cabin near Redmond.

He said it's critical to get all the parties affected by the water issue engaged in discussion.

"The only failure is when people don't come together," he said.

Missing from the collection of stakeholders Wednesday was a contingent of Klamath Reclamation Project irrigators. Marshal Staunton and his wife, who farm near Tulelake, are attending the conference, and Klamath Water Users Association President Steve Kandra sent a letter and made a call apologizing for the group's absence. But there was little Project representation aside from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials.

Alice Kilham, who owns agricultural land next to Upper Klamath Lake, said one of the problems with trying to get the groups to talk to each other is the physical distance between the upper and lower Basin. She said she expects more Project water users to show up at the Klamath Falls workshop.

"I'm hoping they will then feel the need," she said. Chadwick credited Kilham, who has been involved with groups searching for a solution for the Klamath issues for more than a decade, for getting the workshops going.

"We often get focused on single issues," Kilham said. "What this is about is a healthy watershed."

This week's stakeholder conference is taking place in the Yurok Tribal Office near the banks of the Klamath River, not far from where it flows into the Pacific Ocean. The group met in the modern, cavernous tribal council hall. Outside of the hall a fish cleaning station waits for the next salmon run. Water trickles down a heavily forested slope.

The Yurok Tribe's reservation extends up the Klamath River for 40 miles, taking in up to a mile of land on either side of the bank. It was on these banks that bloated, rotting salmon washed up in September 2002 because of a parasite and disease outbreak. In all, 34,000 salmon are estimated to have died in what water users call a "fish die-off" and tribal members and environmentalists call a "fish kill."

Whatever it's called, those who live in and near Klamath still talk about it and ways to avoid another episode like it. "If you see a catastrophe like that you are going to talk about it," said David Gensaw Sr., a member of the Yurok Tribe from Klamath.

Debate continues as to whether more water sent down the river from Upper Klamath Lake would have helped the salmon.

Gensaw hadn't planned on being in the workshop, but happened upon it when he came for a different meeting. He said he joined in because water is great concern to people up and down the Basin, and people aren't afraid to fight for it.

"There are a lot of angry people everywhere you look," he said.

"I had no idea how angry the downstream tribes were about the fish kill," said Becky Hyde, whose family has a ranch above Upper Klamath Lake.

She said before the workshop she thought the tribes had been trying to use the event to get political spin. After hearing first-hand accounts from some members of the tribes, she has sympathy for them.

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