The dark side of Klamath Dam renewal part 2 Chrissie Reynolds 012824

Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
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						The Dark Side 
						of Klamath Dam "Renewal" part 2 

						A 
						local perspective by Chrissie Ishida Reynolds

						At 
						1:13 this afternoon I got a call from my 77 year old 
						neighbor, Al. Two deer were stuck in the mud near his 
						house. 

					
						He tried calling our local fire guys but they weren't 
						available and he needed help. He asked me to call 
						someone from fish and wildlife. 

						I 
						got out my old phone list and found a number from out of 
						the area. I gave them the name and address of where we 
						are located however the 916 area code didn't leave me 
						confident she knew where we were. I told her our dam was 
						breached a few days ago and now there is no water hoping 
						she knew now where we were at when I said Copco Lake. I 
						hung up.

						I 
						quickly called another neighbor who is friends with a 
						local game warden. I called him. We both expressed our 
						frustration with this situation as we figured out the 
						next steps. 

						He 
						told me to call the local conflict specialist and then 
						the public relations person with the renewal corpse.
						

						He 
						said he would call his lieutenant and he warned me that 
						this will be a slow process and the outcome may not be 
						good. I was already prepared. My husband said the 
						kindest and best thing to do was to put them down as 
						soon as possible as they had already been stuck in the 
						mud for awhile and the stress wasn't going to be good 
						for them and he didn't want to be involved. I also 
						understood this. Our own stress of the last 4 intense 
						days were off the charts. In fact, I was just about to 
						lay down and try to rest because we haven't been 
						sleeping well as we are adjusting to the shock and 
						trauma of watching what just a little while ago had 
						abundant diversity of wildlife. Watching that disappear 
						so rapidly has been incredibly hard. 

						Al 
						was by himself. I felt conflicted. Because of my own 
						vulnerability, my husband's feelings that we did what we 
						could do and the proper people were called.... let it go 
						....

						And 
						so I tried to detach with love. I called a friend. Al 
						and I continued to text with updates. He sent me photos, 
						I sent them to the warden. 

					
						I tried to breathe.... finally I had her on the laptop 
						and Al on the phone. Al sent me a picture of his blood 
						pressure. We told him he needed to rest and calm down. I 
						hadn't heard back from the warden for a while and Al did 
						not want to give up. My husband still didn't want to 
						go..... he knew those animals were not going to make it 
						and didn't want any part of it. I couldn't blame him and 
						I worry about his health. He had a stroke the day after 
						public comment period closed, 2 days after Easter in 
						2022. We're still dealing with our new normal since 
						then. He was 49 years old at the time. 

						I 
						made a decision to go and be with Al. I still hadn't 
						heard back from the warden. I called our friends who are 
						the fire department (and community club board members 
						and local real estate guys and trying to open the local 
						store which has been closed since the early 2000's). 
					

					
						They were on their way back from Medford and said that 
						Hornbrook Fire Dept and CalFire had been dispatched. 
						This was great news. 

						I 
						went to Al's. 

						I 
						found Al walking up from the bank outside his home. He 
						walks me down to show me where the deer are. I wonder 
						where the fire trucks are and Al is upset because they 
						are all over at Mallard Cove. On the opposite side of 
						the deer and the water..... 

						I 
						tell Al to come with me and we drive to Mallard Cove. I 
						parked out of the way. Having been a volunteer fire 
						fighter I am aware of how to conduct myself on scene.
						

						
						Immediately a woman starts towards us. She introduces 
						herself as a fish and wildlife biologist. I explain we 
						are the ones who called this in and that there is better 
						access down the road at the end... much closer....

						She 
						explains that these are specially trained personnel and 
						that the warden had already been down there and they 
						knew what they were doing. 

						Al 
						is frustrated but we get closer to the scene. I 
						recognize another local family who it turns out followed 
						the warden down there. 

						We 
						are observing. 

						The 
						deer have now been in there for a couple of hours. Now a 
						tribal truck shows up with another professional that the 
						biologist tries to engage. He says he's there to help 
						his boss and points down the ramp and brushes right by 
						her. 

						
						It's a long while as they attempt to get close. Al is 
						beside himself but no one is paying attention and I try 
						to calm him down. 

						
						After another 20 minutes or so? they decide their idea 
						isn't going to work and once again we try to tell them 
						that the house at the end is unoccupied and that the 
						owner would want them to use her home as a staging area. 
						And that's what they do. 

						We 
						get back in the car, go back to where we were and talk 
						to the warden and his coworker. He says he's just as 
						frustrated and is not in charge and has to wait to be 
						told what to do. 

					
						Meanwhile Al tells me he has a key to the neighbors gate 
						if they need to drive down there as a passthrough and I 
						tell the warden who tells me to talk to the battalion 
						chief. 

						I 
						talk to the battalion chief about options because we are 
						losing daylight and a call needs to be made....

						We 
						watch these other professionals go up to their thighs in 
						mud before they too decide it's time to dispatch these 
						animals. 

						I 
						begin calling in the ancestors and setting up sacred 
						space for what is about to happen. I pray loudly and 
						with intention and apologize for our inadequacy. I pray 
						for the young deer who I didn't know but had been stuck 
						next to his mother who had already been dispatched 
						earlier. I missed that part somehow although I think the 
						warden was trying to explain to me that he tried to 
						shoot around her to scare her out but she went the wrong 
						way. It didn't dawn on me that he'd had to dispatch her 
						and she was already dead until later. 

						As 
						I was praying the other personnel were walking away when 
						the gun went off and the young fawn mewed out and I 
						dropped to my knees sobbing. Another shot fired another 
						mew and it was over. I couldn't stop sobbing.

						I 
						felt arms trying to lift me up. It was the other game 
						warden and she just wrapped me into her chest and hugged 
						me. She said to let them have this. It was theirs too 
						carry not me.....

						I 
						calmed down enough to walk back to the place where
						
						Marrilyn Crom's dock used to be. It 
						was the safest path up to the driveway.

						I 
						am looking for Al but cannot find him. I start the car 
						and get back out to try and find Al. The game warden who 
						had to kill the deer calls out to me. He says, 
						"Chrissie, I need a hug. I am soooooo sorry!" and I cry 
						into his chest, thank you, I'm sorry. We all are upset 
						because they weren't prepared, none of these agencies, 
						for what we are facing in real time. 

						
						While we were at Mallard Cove I asked everyone there if 
						they knew what happened to the eagle. Everyone knew 
						about the eagle but no one knew what happened. I asked 
						if they believed the story that the bird was captured 
						and was being rehabbed. No one did. 

						And 
						here's the thing..... These are local people. Local to 
						Siskiyou County and yet, they feel like we do and 
						because of their paychecks and pensions they must abide 
						by their agencies policies and procedures and protocols. 
						I know that is they weren't bound by this they would 
						have done what my husband said hours before if they 
						could have. If they were free to exercise their common 
						sense. The other thing I saw was a lot of egos trying to 
						pound on their chests and wasting time and daylight. 
						Just my impression, please forgive me....

						No 
						one was prepared for this. They don't have the resources 
						to deal with this. The largest dam removal project in 
						world history. 

					
						They could have done so much more. This is on the KRRC.
						

						On 
						January 25 
						
						
						William Simpson II sent out an email 
						to all of the agencies entitled "Critical Deer Wintering 
						Habitat and Historic Open Range Grazing and Natural 
						Water Sources. In that email it clearly shows that 
						communications were sent as early as January 14 asking 
						for fencing and livestock tanks for watering. 
					

						
						My/our frustration is that the local residents and 
						landowners have talked for 2 decades about their 
						concerns to our local wildlife due to this project. We 
						have all sent letters and asked questions and been 
						pushed and brushed aside when the experts who are paid 
						by the People and are footing the bill for this project 
						and are not being compensated as of yet for any of the 
						harms already suffered, and we know this is only the 
						beginning of the losses that we have to bear. 
					

						In 
						just a few weeks the pelican are going to arrive and 
						think they've landed in hell. I know because that's how 
						we feel. It's apocalyptic what has become of our homes, 
						our lives, our wildlife. 

						So 
						I left the scene, stopped by Al's who it turns out 
						walked home and I found him outside on his front porch 
						with a chainsaw cutting branches... He says, "oh, 
						Chrissie, I need to do something with my energy. These 
						people know nothing. They don't listen. This should 
						never have happened. That is Sin!" 

						I agree. 

						I thank him again for trying. I know he wouldn't have 
						quit without knowing he did everything. I know because 
						that's how I feel. 

						I 
						got in the car and started towards home. As I turned the 
						corner, and started down the road something catches my 
						eye on the road...

					
						I back up a little and get out, grab my phone for the 
						flashlight and walk back. 

						
						It's a little toad/frog. I don't know exactly. I'm not a 
						professional biologist. It goes a little bit further and 
						stops, waiting for me. I try to find it in the dark with 
						my camera and apologize to it because I am not techy 
						like that and it waits patiently for me... I finally get 
						one kinda clear. I thank it and realize I need to do 
						something. 

						I 
						turn around and head back to Marrilyn's house. On the 
						way I see the other warden and stop and ask her who I 
						should talk to about what just happened and she said I 
						could tell her and as I related to her my thoughts she 
						says go tell them and so I thanked her again, said 
						goodbye and headed back down the road. I found the 
						tribal guys had left but the firefighters were gathered 
						up and so I told them once again how much I appreciated 
						them and that I needed to say something. 

						I 
						don't know what you guys have planned for those two deer 
						but I am asking that you use this situation as a 
						training scenario. That you try all three options of 1) 
						boat 2) skids and 3) plywood sheets laid down and then 
						slid out and so forth like a snow shoe and time what 
						works best. That they not let those deer have died for 
						nothing and that hopefully they can use that as a 
						learning experience to save something else. Everyone 
						said they would and were doing that and were trying to 
						figure out when they could come back because we all know 
						that something else is going to try to get those deer 
						and it may be not a friendly animal that may also need 
						to be rescued. No one wants to try a mountain lion or 
						such.... And everyone agreed this is only the beginning.
						

						No 
						one was prepared. Today was the first time they 
						exchanged phone numbers. 

					
						Initially Al asked for a helicopter and the warden 
						replied immediately they didn't have one and the 
						biologists didn't have one. The tribes have planes but a 
						helicopter would be better.

						So 
						many agencies, not enough resources, not enough 
						planning. And once again I thanked them but I told them 
						they were all getting paid. Al and I are not and yet we 
						pay the price for it emotionally, mentally, and with the 
						physical stress of it. 

						I 
						paid $150 out of pocket yesterday for a two hour massage 
						and literally cried for over an hour and a half. Poor 
						wonderful woman kept saying, no sorry.... as I just 
						sobbed and apologized again..... I recommend Alice at 
						the Chinese massage place in town by the way. We didn't 
						speak the same language. We needed an app to translate 
						our communications. It wasn't until I turned over and 
						she wiped the tears from my eyes and said long time ago 
						she sad. I tried to reassure her this wasn't just 
						sadness..... I asked for my phone and showed her the 
						lake and I said this is my home. And then the video of 
						them blowing out the tunnel. Oh my God, she said. Then 
						the eagle flapping in the mud. Oh my God she says again. 
						She knew that much English. And then I show her my 
						daughter at the edge of what used to be one of our 
						favorite views.... 

						I 
						started crying again. She says you here now, and dries 
						my eyes again. She was like my personal Quan Yin..... So 
						compassionate. 

						I 
						know this is long. I know it's a lot. I know I am in 
						shock and should go to bed, drink some water, take some 
						deep breaths. It's been over 12 hours since Al first 
						called me, but the cortisol and need to get this out 
						keeps me going...

						I 
						can't thank my personal angel
						
						Sherri Kaye Thurner enough. She was 
						there when my mother in law's house burned down, when
						
						Pete Brays dog was rescued and after 
						that horrible time at the Siskiyou Fire Chiefs 
						meeting.... I appreciate you so much!!!!

						I 
						know I did everything I could and it didn't save those 
						deer. I did everything I could and it hasn't saved the 
						lake...

					
						I know I haven't failed. It just feels like it....

						I 
						have more pictures but they're on the camera. That's for 
						another time and another edition of the Dark Side of 
						Renewal 

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