Act Now to Remove Klamath River Dams!

Removing the Klamath Dams would be the largest dam removal project ever, and thus the largest river restoration project ever. It will also set a tone for future FERC processes and salmon issues in your watersheds.

Please get involved as this issue is not only an environmental issue, but effects all the salmon fishermen on the West Coast and the 3 largest tribes in California and the largest tribe in Oregon.

All the info below is available on klamathrestoration.org and I have any kind of photo you may want to post and sample letters. I also have tabling kits.

Thanks, Regina


EVENTS IN ASHLAND AND ARCATA FOR KLAMATH DAM REMOVAL
* RIverkeeper Hosts Klamath Dams Film Night: Ashland Nov. 9th
* NEC Hosts Teach In on Klamath Dam Removal: Arcata Nov.10

COME TESTIFY FOR THE KLAMATH SALMON:
* Support Dam Removal at FERC hearings in Klamath Falls, Yreka and Arcata
November 14th, 15th, and 16th
* Fill out these sample comments!

KLAMATH RIVERKEEPER HOSTS KLAMATH FILM NIGHT IN ASHLAND:
Nov. 9th 6:30
Come out to Pioneer Hall on Thursday the 9th of November and find out how you can help Undam the Klamath and Bring the Salmon Home.
We will be showing the film "Solving the Klamath Crisis, Keeping Farms and Fish Alive", which documents the struggle of Native Americans, Fishermen and Environmentalist to save the Klamath Salmon. We will also have speakers and plan car-pools to the Yreka public hearing on the 15th.

The struggle to save the Klamath Salmon and take out PacifiCorps dams on the Klamath is coming to a head. Communties of the Klamath are coming together to Fix the Klamath and to Save the Klamath Salmon. Find out how you can help with the largest river restoration project ever attemped, and help bring the Klamath Salmon Home to Oregon.
Watch the movie then join Fishermen, Native Americans and residents from throughout the Klamath in Klamath Falls or Yreka on Nov 14th or 15th.


NEC HOSTS DAM TEACH-IN: Arcata Nov.10
On Friday night November 10th beginning at 6 PM, the Northcoast Environmental Center will host a "Teach In" about Klamath Hydroelectric Project dams and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Draft Environmental Impact Statement on their relicensing. The training will prepare people to comment on the Draft EIS and to get informed before the FERC hearings in Eureka on November 16th. The event will be held at NEC headquarters at 575 H Street in Arcata. For more information see the Econews or call 822-6918.


COME OUT TO THE PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE KLAMATH DAMS:
TESTIFY FOR DAM REMOVAL AND SALMON: Nov 14th, 15th and 16th
Four public meetings, which will be recorded by an official stenographer, are scheduled as follows.

DATE : Tuesday, November 14, 2006
TIME : 9:00 a.m.-12:00 noon (PST)
PLACE : Shilo Inn ADDRESS: 2500 Almond Street : Klamath Falls, Oregon

DATE : Wednesday, November 15, 2006
TIME : 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon (PST) PLACE : Yreka Community Theatre
ADDRESS:812 North Oregon Street : Yreka, California

DATE : Wednesday, November 15, 2006
TIME : 7:00 -10:00 p.m. (PST) PLACE : Yreka Community Theatre
ADDRESS: 812 North Oregon Street Yreka, California

DATE : Thursday, November 16, 2006 TIME : 7:00 -10:00 p.m. (PST)
PLACE : Red Lion Hotel
ADDRESS: 1929 Fourth Street Eureka, California

At these meetings, resource agency personnel and other interested persons will have the opportunity to provide oral and written comments and recommendations regarding the DEIS for the Commission's public record. For further information, please contact John Mudre at e-mail address john.mudre [at] ferc.gov, or by telephone at (202) 502-8902.

Why take down the Klamath Dams?

The Klamath was once the third most productive salmon producing river in the United States. Today, because of ill conceived dams and a legacy of mismanagement, the Klamath is shadow of its former self. Before the dams, a million salmon returned to spawn each year. This year, for the third year in a row, fewer than 30,000 fish returned. That forced fisheries managers to dramatically curtail the salmon fishing season, putting fishermen up and down the California and Oregon coasts out of work.

The problem is a series of hydropower dams owned by energy company PacifiCorp. The dams were constructed without fish ladders, and they block salmon from accessing upwards of 300 miles of spawning habitat. The dams produce little power and provide no flood protection. The only thing they do is harm the Klamath river and its salmon. Additionally, the dams have devastating impacts on water quality in the Klamath River. Recent analysis of water samples from Copco and Iron Gate Reservoirs reveal extremely high levels of the toxic blue-green algae Microcystis aeruginosa, which produces a compound known to cause liver failure and promote tumor growth. Samples taken from areas frequented by recreational users of the reservoirs contained cell counts as much as 3,900 times greater than what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers to be a “moderate health risk.”

PacifiCorp is currently seeking a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the dams for another 30-50 years. Despite what some experts consider an ironclad case for the removal of PacifiCorp’s Klamath dams, FERC issued a draft environmental impact statement that recommends only modest changes to current dam operations.

FERC’s staff reccomendation ignores the mandates of agencies for fish screens and ladders, and calls for dam removal from Tribes, conservation groups, and even NOAA Fisheries. The proposal to allow PacifiCorp to drive fish around the dams not only perpetuate the damage caused by PacifiCorp’s dams, but it is illegal too.

FERC is woefully out of step with the rest of the Klamath stakeholders. Filings from the states of California and Oregon, four Klamath basin tribes, 10 environmental groups, and a host of federal agencies all support removing the Klamath dams. Even FERC’s own economic analysis shows that removing the Klamath dams will cost less than constructing the fish ladders and screens PacifiCorp will be required to install under a new license.

FERC is seeking comments from the public on the adequacy of their draft environmental impact statement. It is time FERC heard the voice of those who care for the Klamath and want to see it restored to its former glory. You can help by writing to FERC and telling them:
• To mandate the removal of the lower four Klamath Dams. FERC only evaluated removing two dams in its draft environmental impact statement. The lower four dams are where most of the problem exists. All the agencies, tribes, conservation and fishing groups agree that removing the lower four dams will improve water quality and open up a vast amount of habitat for salmon, steelhead, and other species.
• Dismiss the current FERC staff recommendation to ‘trap and haul’ fish around the dams in trucks. This preposterous idea does nothing to address the water quality degradation by the dams and gives salmon little hope for repopulating the upper Basin.
• Consider and incorporate into the final environmental impact statement the sediment study from the California Coastal Conservancy and the ruling of the administrative law judge in the Energy Policy Act hearings. The California Coastal Conservancy conducted a study of the sediment behind the dams. This study concludes dam removal could be done safely and affordably without leading to floods or exposing the river to toxins. Further, the ruling from the administrative law judge concluded “project operations have and continue to adversely affect” river health, including the resident trout fishery and riparian habitat. He also found that the measures required by the agencies would benefit threatened coho salmon and other anadromous fish, resident trout, Pacific lamprey and riparian habitat.

The deadline for comments is November 24, 2006. Please address your comments to:
Magalie R. Salas
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20426



For more information on Klamath Dam Removal call Regina the Klamath Riverkeeper at (530) 627-3280 or email klamath [at] riseup.net
Regina Chichizola,
KLAMATH RIVERKEEPER
530 627-3280
PO Box 21
Orleans, CA
95556
klamath [at] riseup.net