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Fish kill debate to go on in court
published August 1, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
The cause of last September's fish kill on the Klamath River is going to trial.
What caused 34,000 salmon to wash up dead on the river will be debated in court starting May 10, 2004. The date was set in a telephone conference by the different sides of a recent district court case in Oakland, Calif.
In the case, environmental groups and downstream interests, lead by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in an attempt to increase flows down the river.
On July 14, District Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled that parts of the biological opinion, which is the document the Fisheries Service wrote to guide the Bureau's management of the Klamath River, needed to be amended.
Both sides claimed victory after her decision - the Bureau because it didn't have to change flows this year and the environmental groups and downstream interests because parts of the biological opinion will need to be changed.
Armstrong wasn't able to make a decision on a claim by the Yurok Tribe, whose reservation is on the lower Klamath River, that the fish kill could have been avoided if the Bureau had put more water downstream from Iron Gate Dam, the main water regulating dam on the river. May's trial will focus in on this issue.
"The question is whether the Bureau of Reclamation caused the deaths of 34,000 salmon in 2002," said Curtis Berkey, attorney for the Yurok Tribe.
The Yurok Tribe contend that the fish kill was a result of low flows, which was the conclusion of the California Department of Fish and Game and a tribal biologist. The Bureau, and the Klamath Water Users Association, counter by saying that higher flows wouldn't have helped the fish.
Dave Vogel, a fisheries biologist from Red Bluff, submitted a declaration in the case for the water users, in which he says the fish kill was caused by warm water and an unusually timed salmon run.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
By DYLAN DARLING
The cause of last September's fish kill on the Klamath River is going to trial.
What caused 34,000 salmon to wash up dead on the river will be debated in court starting May 10, 2004. The date was set in a telephone conference by the different sides of a recent district court case in Oakland, Calif.
In the case, environmental groups and downstream interests, lead by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in an attempt to increase flows down the river.
On July 14, District Judge Saundra Armstrong ruled that parts of the biological opinion, which is the document the Fisheries Service wrote to guide the Bureau's management of the Klamath River, needed to be amended.
Both sides claimed victory after her decision - the Bureau because it didn't have to change flows this year and the environmental groups and downstream interests because parts of the biological opinion will need to be changed.
Armstrong wasn't able to make a decision on a claim by the Yurok Tribe, whose reservation is on the lower Klamath River, that the fish kill could have been avoided if the Bureau had put more water downstream from Iron Gate Dam, the main water regulating dam on the river. May's trial will focus in on this issue.
"The question is whether the Bureau of Reclamation caused the deaths of 34,000 salmon in 2002," said Curtis Berkey, attorney for the Yurok Tribe.
The Yurok Tribe contend that the fish kill was a result of low flows, which was the conclusion of the California Department of Fish and Game and a tribal biologist. The Bureau, and the Klamath Water Users Association, counter by saying that higher flows wouldn't have helped the fish.
Dave Vogel, a fisheries biologist from Red Bluff, submitted a declaration in the case for the water users, in which he says the fish kill was caused by warm water and an unusually timed salmon run.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
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