The Yurok and Hoopa Valley Indian Tribes celebrated a major victory on Thursday, July 17 when a federal judge ruled that the United States government is failing to protect endangered salmon in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon and northern California. The victory, however, is only the latest development in an escalating conflict between irrigation and salmon preservation to continue despite the court’s ruling.
The dispute first reached significant heights during a major drought in the summer of 2001 when the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) decided to cut off irrigation to 1,400 farmers in the Klamath Basin. The irrigation shutoff triggered an agricultural uproar causing the department to overcompensate farmers the following year. During the summer of 2002, the DOI drastically increased irrigation water, reducing downstream flows and killing over 33,000 endangered salmon in the Lower Klamath River.
Resistance to the intense irrigation and massive fish kill quickly materialized. The Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes, which have inhabited the region and relied on its salmon population since time immemorial, were furious. They joined with other concerned fishermen, environmental groups, and California Democratic Congressman Mike Thompson to file a lawsuit against the federal government that fall.
While the suit was in court, state and federal plans to deal with the water shortage came into conflict, inhibiting any productive changes and frustrating tribes experiencing similar problems throughout the western United States. CALFED, California’s state-wide multibillion dollar water program, began in 1995 with enthusiastic federal support and extensive funding. Recently, however, the program has struggled due to the federal government’s drastic decrease in funding as it attempts to sponsor its own national water program, Water 2025.
Instituted by the DOI this past June, Water 2025 seeks long-term goals for the western United States through conservation efforts, water trading between states, and improvement in water treatment technology. The plan has already received harsh criticism for being developed with little to no consultation of state or tribal governments and failing to immediately address a situation that is quickly spiraling out of control.
Water 2025 met its strongest opposition yet at a DOI conference in Sacramento on Thursday, July 10. California Resources Secretary Mary Nichols was quoted in the Sacramento Bee to say, “This administration is not at the table when key decisions are made. What makes it even more galling is they are coming to town for this Water 2025 thing. What about water in 2003?”
Tribal governments voiced even louder concern, staging a protest outside the Hilton Hotel where the conference was held. The Yurok Tribe organized the protest and was met on the scene by Hoopa Valley Tribe members, environmentalists, and fishermen. Protesters held signs criticizing the federal government for 2002’s massive salmon kill and Yurok Tribe Chairperson Susan Masten called DOI water policy “environmental racism.” The tribes were irritated at the department’s lack of consultation. No Native Americans were present at the conference.
The July 17 ruling will now force the federal government to adjust its management of the Klamath Basin much sooner than 2024. U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing the death of so many endangered salmon without devising an explicit plan to prevent future losses. This may mean cutting back irrigation water to farmers in the future, but Armstrong refused the tribes’ plea for immediate action, instead allowing current irrigation levels to continue for the rest of the summer.
Exactly how soon changes must take effect was left a bit ambiguous in the judge’s ruling. Armstrong focused on a government schedule to reach water flow targets by 2010, comforting farmers and government officials who expressed relief at having plenty of time to make the required changes. However, the tribes and conservationists interpreted the ruling differently. Earthjustice lawyer Kristen Boyles, representing the tribes, environmentalists, and fishermen, threatened further legal action if changes do not at least begin by next year. The Oregonian quoted her as saying, “They are not going to be able to proceed with business as usual until 2010. We’ll be going back to court for clarification on this.”
Regardless of the ruling’s specifics, the government is already considering to appeal the decision. It now seems as though the Klamath water war is far from over, leaving in limbo the fate of the region’s salmon and the tribes that depend on them.
