http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/10/20/news/top_stories/atop3.txt

Greens plot media strategy for Basin

Published October 20, 2003

By DYLAN DARLING

FORT JONES, Calif. - Huddled around a backyard campfire, key players from environmental groups and tribes shared their stories and concerns about the Klamath River Saturday.

The group of 15 tried to figure out ways to make their concern the nation's.

Ronald Reed, cultural biologist for the Karuk tribe, said people need to learn about what is going on the Lower Klamath River.

"I don't think they really know what is going on below Iron Gate Dam," he said, "and it has been overexposed above it."

The groups at the invitation-only conference are involved with restoration efforts on the Klamath River, said Richard Alves, who works for the Fish Sniffer, a weekly newspaper about sport fishing in Oregon, California and Nevada, and organized the conference at his home.

Groups involved included WaterWatch, the Klamath Forest Alliance and the North Coast Environmental Center. There was also a Humboldt County supervisor at the conference. At its peak the conference had about 30 participants.

Alves said he set up the conference to get groups focused on what they want to be done on the river.

"If you can cut through all the meetings that go nowhere, it is going to be worth it for everyone," Alves said.

Some groups - such as the Klamath Tribes - were invited but didn't send representatives, and others weren't invited and wanted to come - such as a Siskiyou County supervisor and members of the Scott Valley agricultural community.

At the start of the eight-hour conference a group of protesters, many farmers and ranchers, rallied outside of the house. Alves said he invited in two of the farmers, both young members of the local Farm Bureau, and they later gave presentations about what restoration projects they have been involved in.

Betty Eppley, a free-lance television photographer from Yreka, who was hired by the Fish Sniffer to tape the event, said the protesters were very emotional.

"Everyone doesn't want to be left out," she said.

The environmental groups talked about how to get the Klamath Basin water problems back into the national media spotlight. Dan Bacher, managing editor of the Fish Sniffer, said the coalition needs to come up with a catchy slogan and stick to it.

He said any developments tied to last year's fish kill of about 33,000 salmon could be called the "Iron Gate Scandal" after the Iron Gate Dam, which is the main flow regulating dam on the Klamath River.

"We've got to make the Klamath fish kill the Exxon Valdez," he said.

People need to see the condition the Klamath River is in, said Felice Pace of the Klamath Forest Alliance.

He said Happy Camp, a fishing town on the river, has a sign that reads: Steelehead Capital of the World.

"It's a joke now," he said.

Pace was critical of restoration programs done by members of the agriculture community and funded by the federal government.

"We have been promoting restoration, and it has been perverted," he said. "Restoration is just another way to get farmers income."

Throughout the day, representatives from seven tribes, including the Yurok, Hoopa Valley and Karuk tribes, all of which live or fish on the Lower Klamath River, came to the conference, Alves said.

In a letter to Alves, Carl "Bud" Ullman, attorney for the Klamath Tribes wrote:

"The Tribes regret their inability to send a delegation, but this is an exceptionally busy time here."

Friday, the Tribes gave irrigators from above and below Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath County Board of Commissioners a tour of forestland that used to be a part of their reservation.

Reed said he wished the Karuk Tribe had been invited to the tour and that the Klamath Tribes had come to the conference because the tribes can learn from each other. He said tribes need to be careful not to put in a policy that would affect another tribe's ability to get a resource.


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