Archive 73 - June 2008
also  see main archive page

Around 1900, Link River, between Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna, occasionally went dry before the Klamath Project was built. There was no hydropower, no hatcheries, occasionally no fish (fish need water), no artificially-raised river flows or lake levels.  HERE for more

Storm causes minor damage in Tulelake, H&N 6/30/08. "Freeman’s sources reported some mini tornadoes touched down in Tulelake."

Two rulings uphold protection for marbled murrelet, Capital Press, posted to KBC 6/30/08

Oregon approves $1 million allocation to help fishermen, Daily Astorian, posted 6/30/08

Sunday Bible lesson by Jim Foley, Acts 14, 6/29/08, on Prayer Page

Rationing signals grim times for water out West, by Dan Keppen, Executive Director of Family Farm Alliance, 2/29/08, H&N. "...government regulations and court-ordered directives favoring fish over farmers will put the screws to San Joaquin communities this summer.  Because farmland within Westlands Water District — ground zero in the current crisis — accounts for 20 percent of the $5 billion agricultural production of Fresno County (the nation’s No. 1 farm county), the potential economic impacts will dwarf the 2001 Klamath crisis."

Media Advisory - Event to be held July 2, 2008, to celebrate the planned removal of Chiloquin Dam, Mid-Pacific Region, Sacramento, Calif, posted to KBC 6/27/08. HERE for Chiloquin Dam page. (KBC NOTE: Chiloquin Dam blocks 95% of endangered sucker habitat. Rather than remove it years ago and generate more suckers, the government and The Nature Conservancy have acquired 100,000 acres of ag land to make swamps in the guise of "sucker habitat". The Klamath Tribe was reluctant to give up their swimming hole. Finally, in 2008 the dam will come out. It provides no hydropower.)

California Farm Bureau Friday Review 6/27/08. This issue covers: AB 32 – ARB Global Warming Solutions Act AB 186 – Rural Crime Prevention AB 541 – Ag biotechnologies AB 844 & SB 691 – Metal theft AB 1634 – Spay and neuter AB 2168 – Ag product sales AB 2760 & CDFA – LBAM AB  2881 – Right to farm SB 200 – Video surveillance SB 944 – Delta smelt SB 1436 – Accidental take allowances SB 1613 & SB 33 – Wireless telephone restrictions

Hearing highlights importance of hydroelectric dams, Capital Press 6/27/08

OREGON - Leaders ignore economic warning signs, grant political appointees massive pay increases, Money comes from state savings, Oregon Senate Republican Office, 6/27/08. “The absolute wrong time to increase the cost of Oregon government is while Oregon families are seeing the cost of food, fuel and housing spiral out of control, with jobs more difficult to find each week,” said Senator Doug Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls)." See Oregon Page.

Governors of California, Oregon and Washington Urge President Bush to Provide Critical Funding to Fishing Families and Businesses, posted 6/27/08, Letter by Governors to President Bush.

Feedback: BiOp Challenge And Best Available Science, CB Bulletin 6/27/08. "So the radical environmental groups are suing once again to prevent the Federal dam operators from using the best available science to protect the Columbia River salmon. Between them and Judge Redden, they are the second most deadly force to the salmon in the region. Only the predacious birds, fish, seals, and sea lions kill more juvenile salmon each year."

Bureau: (Klamath) Water supplies adequate, H&N 6/26/08

Supreme Court Strikes Down D.C. Ban on Handguns, Washington Post 6/26/08

The University of California Intermountain Research and Extension Center in Tulelake will host its annual field day from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday. The tour will include a half day tour of research plots that are in progress as well as what is planned. The event also includes a barbeque lunch prepared by the center staff. For more information contact the center at (530) 667-5117.

The Klamath Tribe and golf course owners seek a windfall from a loophole, Willamette Week 6/25/08. "The Klamaths are relying on federal legislation called the Klamath Indian Tribe Restoration Act of 1986 to argue that they can take the Willamette Valley land “into trust” or make it part of their reservation about 200 miles from their Klamath County home. Since the Klamaths are legally a sovereign nation, they are exempt from state land-use laws."  

Dredge and the dams could stay, Letter to editor of H&N by Harvey Houston, posted to KBC 6/25/08

County funds likely dead, 6/20/08, H&N

Check out this website and watch the short video. Klamath is in it. http://www.greengonewildbook.com

This representative tells about the possible mandatory lightbulb in a short video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

Bureau of Reclamation water update 6/24/08

Central Valley farmers adjusting to drought, CVBT 6/24/08

Family Farm Alliance June newsletter, 6/24/08

Our people in the military - Roadside bombs decline in Iraq, USA Today 6/23/08

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Small Wetlands Program, FWS 6/24/08. "Fifty years ago an amendment to the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act of 1934 (also known as the Duck Stamp Act) authorized the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire wetlands and surrounding areas for the benefit of migratory waterfowl...Since its inception, the Small Wetlands Program has protected nearly 3 million acres of prairie habitat in the United States.... increased funding would allow for acquisition of an estimated 6,800 additional acres of migratory bird habitat and secure easements for 10,000 additional wetlands per year across the nation. 

ACTION ALERT: Mandatory Requirement for NAIS in School Lunch Program Put in House Agriculture Appropriations Bill.  CALL NOW! 6/23/08

Health effects of MSG. Other health issues go > HERE.

Gas prices fuel a renewed debate over offshore drilling, SacBee 6/23/08. "A majority of Americans – 57 percent – favor offshore exploration in now-prohibited areas to reduce gas prices, according to a Gallup Poll."

Land of the Free because of our Brave BENEFIT 6/21/08

Sunday Bible lesson Acts 13

Klamath Basin Alliance has a petition regarding the Klamath Settlement Agreement.

Tribes Start Commercial Chinook, Steelhead Fishery And Direct Sales To Public, Columbia Basin Bulletin 6/20/08. "Sales are cash only."

PLF Continues To Press Oregon Coastal Coho ESA Listing Case, CB Bulletin 6/20/08

Food grows where water flows, Capital Press 6/20/08

California Farm Bureau Friday Review, 6/20/08

Oregon Congressman Greg Walden's newsletter 6/20/08

Salmon Fishing Opens On Upper Salmon River First Time In 30 Years, CB Bulletin 6/20/08

Climate Change – a Klamath Wildcard, KlamBlog, posted to KBC 6/20/08. "But deferring an Upper Basin Climate Change Assessment that will likely find that the total amount of water which can be allocated to river flows and irrigation will shrink significantly should raise some eyebrows. The proposed Water Deal would also defer until some future time the “drought plan” which will tell us how the flows needed to prevent future fish kills will be obtained when there is not enough water to meet all water needs..."

Congress Pushes to Keep Land Untamed; Bills Could Add Millions of Acres Of Wilderness, Washington Post, posted to KBC 6/20/08

Sucker revision under way, H&N, posted 6/20/08. "...an appointed group of stakeholders, meetings and consultation from Desert Research Institute researchers will guide the revisions...A fisheries biologist from the Klamath Tribes, the Nature Conservancy and individuals from Oregon State University and the U.S. Geological Survey will participate as stakeholders...Commissioner Bill Brown was concerned to not see a representative from the irrigation community in the stakeholder group and asked if that could be changed. Buettner said the group was established by regional director Steve Thompson..."

Judge rules on toxic algae regulations, H&N, posted 6/16/08.

Hydropower: America's leading renewable energy resource has bright future, National Hydropower Association, 6/13/08. And on the Klamath River they want to destroy this capability for clean power.

Lawmakers from Western states protest proposed $70 million cut, H&N, 6/12/08.(Farm Bill $ for fishermen)

Another way to help veterans, H&N viewpoint, posted 6/11/08. LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF OUR BRAVE benefit!

Klamath Dam transfer considered, PacifiCorp talking with government officials, H&N posted 6/11/08

Leaks in Klamath levee stabilized, H&N, posted 6/11/08

Salmon win in this dam legal battle, Capital Press editorial 4/25/08. "It's a fact that some environmental groups won't be happy until every dam is removed from every salmon stream and river in the West. Whether that's practical is, for them, not a concern. They simply don't seem to be willing to accept any alternatives. For them, it's an all-or-nothing proposition."
Rogue River dams to come down, Oregonian, posted to KBC 6/11/08

Plan to help (Klamath) power rates, H&N, posted to KBC 6/10/08.(KBC NOTE: the writer here missed the point of the needed power rates. Klamath Project irrigators pump the water, reusing it, seven times, then they pump it uphill through a mountain, sending it INTO the Klamath River. It is the cost of these federal pumps,  paid for by irrigators, to divert their water into the river for power and fish. Before the Klamath Project was built, the river often went dry, and much of )this lake where we now farm had no way to reach the Klamath River.

Hage vs U.S. final decision, posted 6/10/08

EPA affirms clean water permits, EPA News Release, posted 6/10/08

County farmers could lose water, Willows Journal, posted 6/10/08

Klamath Marsh event planned, H&N 6/9/08. "It originally had 16,400 acres but was expanded to 40,646 acres following purchases in 1990 and 1998. Of that acreage, 37,023 acres, or more than 90 percent, is in wetlands." (KBC NOTE: The Marsh was taken out of agriculture, decimating the cattle industry in the Upper Basin. It evaporates 2ce the water as irrigated ag, while the federal promise was, this federal acquisition would provide more irrigation water for the rest of the irrigators, somehow...Farmers and ranchers, who grew up with hand-shake contracts, fall for this line every time, to their demise. More than 100,000 acres in the Upper Basin have been converted from private ag land to federal standing-water swamps.)

NOAA plans to implement annual catch limits to stem overfishing, Eureka Reporter, posted to KBC 6/9/08

Eminent Domain, government stealing family farm, News with Views, posted 6/9/08

Wetlands-crop rotation paying off, H&N 6/5/08

(Oregon) Timber payments hit snag, H&N 6/5/08

TriMet loses case over its (Klamath dam) ad rejection, Oregonian, posted to KBC 6/5/08

Environmental huddle riles Modoc County locals, SFChronicle 6/4/08

Modoc symposium sparks debate, Outside speakers at event that starts Thursday rub some the wrong way, H&N 6/4/08. ("Ray Page, president of the Modoc County Cattlemen’s Association, previously sent a letter to supervisors characterizing the gathering as “out-of-town folks, zealous environmental types who will pay big bucks to come and listen to ideas from out-of-town, disingenuous, environmentally oriented experts.”

Feds reduce water to Valley farms, and Westlands to ration water through summer: Unprecedented move follows dry 'rainy season.' Fresno Bee, posted 6/4/08

Dam removal advocates ignore lethal consequence, Frank Galusha, posted 6/4/08, Redding Record Searchlight

Letter sent to Senator Wyden's office from Mike Fahey of Columbia Helicopters, Inc. regarding Forest Management, posted 6/4/08

Klamath Water Update by the Bureau of Reclamation, 6/4/08

In danger of failure; Water leaking through levee at 40 gallons per minute, H&N 6/3/08

(Eminent Domain) - Important issues ahead in California’s primary by Geri Byrne, Modoc County Republican Party chair, H&N 5 28/08. "(Proposition 98 protects our farmlands and our businesses that Proposition 99 does not. Proposition 99 was put on the ballot by the municipalities that want to be able to take our land and use it for economic development. It includes a poison pill that will negate Proposition 98 if Proposition 99 gets more votes. It is important to vote yes on 98 and no on 99."

Note by Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Bob Johnson regarding death of former Commissioner John Keyes III, 6/2/08

Agreement reached in fierce timber battle, Herald and News 6/2/08. HERE for timber page

Plane crash in park claims 2 (former Bureau Commissioner Keyes), Salt Lake Tribune, posted 6/1/08

Central Valley Project - Potential for rationing program through August, 2008, followed by - Congressional Briefing On Potential Water Rationing, posted 6/1/08

Indian Matters on the Klamath, link to info by Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou Co Supervisor

Sunday Bible lesson Acts 11 & 12, 6/1/08

Letter to Craig Tucker -- Rerun: Finally the residents & property owners of Siskiyou County may have been heard. Not everyone is in favor of "your" dam removal, from N. Grant Yreka, CA. "Save these fish by stopping the pollution and poisoning of the river by all the illegal meth labs that have been dumped or are currently dumping waste into the river. Stop netting all of the salmon at the mouth of the Klamath and give them a chance to return to their spawning ground."

Ammonia from Sacramento waste could hurt Delta ecosystem, Sacramento Bee 6/1/08