A Singular Chance for Upper Klamath Lake Salmon
By Jean Johnson, Indian Country Today
April 18, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. - The salmon that return to the Klamath River have been in a holding pattern of sorts since 2001, waiting on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's relicensing process.

PacifiCorps, a subsidiary of multinational energy giant Scottish Power, operates seven dams on the Klamath River. Their licenses will expire in 2006.

Those who are interested in bringing the salmon back home to the Upper Klamath Lake see the current window as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decommission or remove the most egregious hydropower obstacles so the fish can have the run of the river.

FERC, which controls the operation and fate of federal hydroelectric dams, generally authorizes licenses for 30 to 50 years at a time.

The Klamath River was once the third most productive salmon fishery in America, with as many as 1.2 million adult fish coming back upstream to their spawning grounds every year. After almost a century of dam-building, one-tenth of that number successfully return - and are relegated to the lower stretch of the river.

As Carl Ullman, longtime water attorney for the Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, and Yahoosking Band of Snake) said, ''The Klamaths have treaty rights in perpetuity to the fishery that was shut off by Copco Dam in 1917. Since then the tribes have never stopped trying to get the fish back, and now it looks like the relicensing of the dams is an opportunity to move in that direction.''

In 2001 the Klamath, Oregon's largest tribe, joined the three biggest tribes in California (Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Karuk) and representatives from a range of agencies and interest groups to form the Klamath Hydroelectric Relicensing Fish Passage Advisory Team. The group researched and provided FERC with information that supports bringing the salmon back home.

Jeff Mitchell, of the Klamath River Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission, said ''We know that dam removal won't solve all of our problems, but reopening the 350 miles of habitat upstream of the dams is a prerequisite to any other restoration programs.''

Documents filed with FERC suggest that water quality problems in the Upper Klamath Basin may be used to question whether salmon can be reintroduced there. The Klamath have pointed out that while it's true that water quality problems exist, there are areas that would support the fish even in the lake's present condition.

''Another contentious point is whether the fish really did get clear up into the upper basin in the first place,'' Ullman said. ''In that area as well, the tribe has done its research and made a solid case for the fact that the fishery used the entire Klamath Basin.''

In addition to formal FERC proceedings in which there are no oral arguments, confidential negotiations are taking place. Mediators have been hired to facilitate the process, and most of the interested parties are represented.

While FERC and the mediated group work in private, members of the Klamath tribes and the three California tribes joined a gathering of over 200 at the California Capitol in Sacramento. They called for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as ''Conan the Riparian'' and throw added clout toward his support of the Klamath River salmon.

''We need the governor to take strong steps to restore the Klamath River to benefit not only the tribes, but all Californians and Oregonians,'' said Leaf Hillman, vice chairman of the Karuk Tribe.

Off-the-record sources indicate the fish might find their way back home, but only time will tell. Come 2006, the mediated group will make its proceedings available to FERC, which ultimately will make its pronouncement on the fate of the dams and the fishery.

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