Are the feds sacrificing endangered salmon to help potato farmers?
SalonThis story was reported and produced in collaboration with High Country News. Reclamation's management of the river pits salmon and the Yurok and Karuk tribes that protect them in the lower Klamath basin against suckerfish and the Klamath Tribes that protect them in the upper basin. "I think it's too little, too late," said Clayton Dumont, the chairman of the Klamath Tribes, whose territory extends across the upper Klamath Basin. "Reclamation's proactive measures to adaptively manage Klamath River flows are designed to create springtime conditions that mitigate risks to species and the environment, while we also work with agricultural communities." Diverting water from the basin and leaving tribes to scramble on behalf of the fish they're duty-bound to protect continues the old colonial strategy of divisiveness, the Yurok Tribe's Vice Chairman Frankie Meyers said.
History of this topic
As removal of dams frees Klamath River, California tribes see hope of saving salmon
LA Times
‘Nobody’s winning’: Drought upends life in US West basin
Associated Press
Water crisis reaches boiling point on Oregon-California line
Associated Press
Drought in US northwest signals rising water-rights tensions
Al JazeeraDiscover Related
.jpg)
