Abstract:
All stakeholders in the basin
must plan more realistically for the future. Acquisition of land and water
rights from willing sellers, water conservation and other programs to reduce the
overall demand for water must occur. We support financial disaster relief that
will help keep communities intact while smoothing the transition to a more
sustainable use of water in the Klamath
Basin so that families, fish and wildlife can coexist.
WaterWatch and other conservation groups have no desire to see farmers go out of
business. But we do not wish to see this precious piece of America's natural
heritage slip away either. We need sound solutions that preserve both the fish
and the farmers of the Klamath Basin, not
shortsighted attacks on the ESA.
The government's inaction may put federal taxpayers on the hook for billions in
compensation payments to Columbia River Basin tribes if the fish go extinct and
the federal government is forced to renege on treaty obligations to the tribes.
If the tribes decide to sue, they could be entitled to more than $10 billion in
payments from the treasury. No one wants to see that come to pass, including the
Columbia River Tribes. It's time to do what's right for salmon and taxpayers,
restore the salmon populations and breach the four Lower Snake River dams.
| Full Text: | |
| Copyright Dow Jones & Company Inc Jun 5, 2001 |
In regard to your May 16 editorial about the devastating drought in the Klamath Basin: Asserting that the situation amounts to a battle between farmers and endangered fish grossly oversimplifies the issue and only serves to further divide an already volatile community.
The current record drought in the basin means that everyone is hurting -- farming families are feeling the pain that downstream fishing families and local Native-Americans have experienced for years as fishing stocks have been devastated by poor water management and unsustainable farming practices. Certainly endangered fish, millions of migratory birds that stop at the wildlife refuges to rest and feed, and the antelope, coyote and elk that call the basin home will not escape the effects of the water shortage. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 900 bald eagles alone will suffer or die without adequate water.
The unfortunate reality is that there is not enough water to go around, and that farming families in the basin will need federal assistance to make it through the year. However, no political fixes will solve what is fundamentally a biological problem. The increasing number of endangered species listings in the basin are just symptoms of this problem, and demonstrate the need for fundamental change.
All stakeholders in the basin must plan more realistically for the future. Acquisition of land and water rights from willing sellers, water conservation and other programs to reduce the overall demand for water must occur. We support financial disaster relief that will help keep communities intact while smoothing the transition to a more sustainable use of water in the Klamath Basin so that families, fish and wildlife can coexist.
Bob Freimark
Northwest Regional Director
The Wilderness Society
Seattle
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A century of federal and state mismanagement has taken a heavy toll on the Klamath: 75% of the wetlands have been destroyed, entire lakes have been drained, and fish and wildlife are suffering. Government agencies have promised farmers more water than the environment can sustain, and the bill for their mistakes is now coming due.
WaterWatch and other conservation groups have no desire to see farmers go out of business. But we do not wish to see this precious piece of America's natural heritage slip away either. We need sound solutions that preserve both the fish and the farmers of the Klamath Basin, not shortsighted attacks on the ESA.
Steve Pedery
Outreach Director
WaterWatch of Oregon
Portland, Ore.
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The destruction of the livelihood of about 1,500 farmers to (allegedly) save sucker fish illustrates what some of us have been saying for years: Environmentalism is essentially an anti-human movement. Environmentalism's leaders worship pristine nature for its own sake, and thereby seek to protect it at all costs. As expressed eloquently by David Graber (a biologist with the U.S. National Park Service): "We are not interested in the utility of a particular species, or free-flowing river, or ecosystem to mankind. They have intrinsic value, more value -- to me -- than another human body, or a billion of them." This explains why environmentalists always place preservation of nature above the needs of people.
Glenn Woiceshyn
Calgary, Alberta
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Your editorial fails to address the strong fiscal arguments for salmon recovery. The federal government has spent $20 million studying Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead to death, and more than $3 billion on failing fish recovery efforts, yet federal agencies continue to delay meaningful action. Independent scientists have declared dam removal as the cornerstone to any recovery measures and without removal, attempts to restore fish populations are futile.
The government's inaction may put federal taxpayers on the hook for billions in compensation payments to Columbia River Basin tribes if the fish go extinct and the federal government is forced to renege on treaty obligations to the tribes. If the tribes decide to sue, they could be entitled to more than $10 billion in payments from the treasury. No one wants to see that come to pass, including the Columbia River Tribes. It's time to do what's right for salmon and taxpayers, restore the salmon populations and breach the four Lower Snake River dams.
Autumn Hanna
Coordinator, Snake River Campaign
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Washington
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Thank you for helping us get the word out on the nightmare that is happening here. We are one of the farm families that have had all our irrigation water stolen by the federal government. We are hard-working, taxpaying families that don't have money to feed our families this week. This is a community that has never taken welfare and doesn't even know how to sign up for it. If the extreme environmentalists shut down the West and the farms, I wonder where the American people expect to get their food.
Nancy Kandra
Klamath River Basin, Ore.