Wilderness Report Pegs Klamath as Endangered
Eureka Times-Standard
March 30, 2005

Wilderness proponents have labeled the Klamath and Salmon river watersheds among the 10 most threatened places in the state, a designation the Karuk Tribe hopes will draw attention to the rivers' conditions.

The California Wilderness Coalition report released on Tuesday says the Klamath and its tributary Salmon River are threatened by dams, water diversions and logging. That, the Karuk Tribe says, puts some of its most important cultural areas at risk, too.

The Karuk Tribe sees the junction of the two rivers as a sacred place called Katimin, where its annual world renewal ceremony is held.

"The impact that dams, diversions and logging has had on this place and on the people that depend on it for both their physical and spiritual well being is nothing short of desecration," said Leaf Hillman, tribe vice president. "For Christians, it would be like bulldozing the birthplace of Christ."

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is weighing an application from Pacificorps for a 50-year license for its five dams on the Klamath. The dams have severely cut off habitat for spring chinook salmon, and a hatchery now produces fall chinook in an attempt to make up for spawning habitat lost to the dams. Once-abundant coho salmon are now protected.

The Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes have called on the agency to closely examine removing the dams as part of the complicated relicensing project.

The Salmon River, which begins deep in Northern California's most remote wilderness areas, is one of the last refuges for the Klamath's spring run chinook, which typically number only in the hundreds today.

The wilderness coalition report says logging and mining in the lower water still contribute to the decline of salmon.

Craig Tucker, who recently left the environmental group Friends of the River to work for the Karuk Tribe, said Californians should care not just about the ecological problems in the rivers, but also about the cultural issues that surround them.

"Half the story, in the context of the Klamath and Salmon, is that there is a unique cultural element attached," Tucker said.

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