Ms. Vasquez:

I urge you not to destroy the Klamath River Dams. It has not been proven it will help our fall run Chinook salmon; that cannot be proven but dam removal could destroy the run – you do not know…you cannot know…because there are too many unknowns. You have no science to back up this move: NONE! In fact, there are many scientists who said exactly that (see attached example as well as concerns of the National Research Council within the past decade).

If you do this it will be tantamount to a taking, an unlawful taking, an unconstitutional taking! You will destroy green hydropower, parts of entire communities and regions, the livelihood of countless citizens — the very people our own government urged to settle in the Klamath Basin and Siskiyou County.

The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) (upon which dam destruction is based) was and still is bogus – it was never open, never transparent and was arrived at behind closed doors by a cabal of special interests who had literally black-mailed the emotionally and financially exhausted agricultural units that signed on to it. They signed on only to gain respite from the lawsuits and lead normal lives in exchange for a “certainty of water” – three other promises you cannot possibly keep.

If you try this, you will be stopped in Congress, the Courts, by your own pocketbook or an outraged public. The Federal Government is already broke. So are the states. You cannot claim dam destruction will cost less than estimated? You cannot know this. When did a government estimate ever come in low? I’ll tell you when: NEVER! The jobs you say will be created will be temporary and in their wake you will live a wave of destruction including essential agriculture and ranching that is needed to feed people and maintain already fragile economies that have been brought to their knees by the also bogus spotted owl controversy that killed the regions primary industries: logging, lumber and forest products.

In this case we must put people before fish and get focused on positive steps that will help the salmon runs. Look at the runs up the river now in California. They are on the rebound because we got a wet year and good ocean conditions. These runs are cyclic.  The salmon will return, perhaps not to pre-1900 levels but if that’s what you want stop commercial fishing, stop recreational fishing, stop tribal gill-netting, stop river pollution and start improving the habitat we’ve got. The salmon spend 83% of their lives in the ocean – that’s the nursery and Mother Nature is in charge of it, not the USBR or the Department of the Interior.

I repeat: Do not try to destroy the dams, the power they generate, the flow control they provide and the thousands of hours of recreation provided by the lakes behind the dams and the Klamath River itself below Iron Gate Dam. You will waste more of our time and money – and ultimately we will all lose.

Frank Galusha

Editor/Publisher

www.MyOutdoorBuddy.com

Producer: MyOutdoorBuddy Radio