Klamath Salmon Upriver!
Construction of electricity producing dams in the early twentieth
century, removed about 600 miles of Klamath River Basin streambeds from
salmon and steelhead production. This has left Southeastern Oregon
without the runs that were once the third largest on the West Coast. The
long missing anadromous fish runs of the Upper Klamath Basin were
illegally destroyed; they are integral to contemporary Northwest and
Native American cultures, and must be restored to the Klamath River
drainage above Irongate dam.
“Fish Passage Conditions on the Upper Klamath River,” (FPCUKR),
is a report prepared by Fishpro for the Karuk Tribe and PacifiCorp. It
refers to Congress having passed the “Klamath Act” in October, 1986,
prescribing the 20-year restoration of Klamath River Basin fisheries to
“optimal levels.” (FPCUKR, 1-2) Ocean going, or anadromous, runs into
the upper basin have not yet been re-established to any degree. It is
now impossible to meet the provisions of the “Klamath Act”, because
salmon need at least three years to mature before returning to natal
streams to reproduce. (FPCUKR, 3-4) PacifiCorp has been in the process
of applying to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to
obtain a new license for the hydro-electric projects on the Klamath
River. The application has been submitted, and a decision is due in
2007. This decision will decide the fate of these runs that have been
missing for nearly a century.
A letter written by the Klamath Indian Agency Superintendent on
June 24, 1942 is quoted in “The Copco Dams and the Fisheries of the
Klamath Tribe.” An excerpt reads:
Clayton Kirk states that he is certain the salmon
stopped coming to the reservation waters in the year 1909 for that is
the year he married and he expected to secure a large part of his
family’s food from the salmon in the Sprague River. The disappointment
of not finding any salmon running in the river that year, he says,
definitely impresses the date upon his mind.[sic]
Misdirected fisheries management efforts resulted in construction
of racks in the Klamath River in 1910. These racks were built to
capture and preserve the last run. It was thought that runs could be
maintained, or even enhanced by artificial spawning, and placing
fertilized eggs in supposedly suitable water. It seems the fisheries
managers of the time expected the runs to be wiped out. (CDFKT, 137-138)
The first dam was built in the years between 1911 and
1918. By the time that it was completed, anadromous fish were no longer
able to pass into the upper Klamath River or into the headwater spawning
streams of the Klamath Basin. Although the builders of the dam promised
to provide fish passage facilities, none were built. Instead, in
accordance with the provisions in California law, a fish hatchery was
built downstream from the dam. There was purportedly an agreement
between the departments of fish and game of California and Oregon for
this hatchery to provide Trout and Salmon to Oregon to compensate for
the fish loss suffered by Oregon (The Copco dams and the fisheries of
the Klamath Tribes, CDFKT, pg. 1).
In 1918, Copco 1 dam was completed, finishing a seven year
project. Fish passage facilities were not incorporated. This isolated up
to 65 percent of the suitable spawning habitat in the Klamath Basin
from anadromous fish runs.
A major paradigm of pioneer society was unchecked exploitation of
what were thought to be boundless natural resources. As technology
progressed in the early twentieth century, Western-American society’s
ability to exploit natural resources increased considerably. The
exploitation mentality was so prevalent that conservation of other
resources developed more slowly than industrial technologies. The
positive effects must have seemed to overshadow environmental concerns.
This mentality is represented in the local settlers by this excerpt from
an old Klamath Falls newspaper:
Parties coming in from Keno state that the run of
salmon in the Klamath River this year is the heaviest it has ever known.
There are millions of the fish below the falls near Keno, and it is
said that a man with a gaff could easily land a hundred of the salmon in
an hour, in fact they could be caught as fast as a man could pull them
in…There is a natural rock dam across the river below Keno, which it
[sic] is almost impossible for the fish to get over. In their effort to
do so thousands of fine salmon are so bruised and spotted by the rocks
that they become worthless. There is no spawning ground until they reach
the Upper Lake as the river at this point is very swift and rocky.
[sic] (Front page article titled: “Millions of Salmon Cannot Reach Lake
on Account Rocks in River at Keno” Klamath Falls Evening Herald, 24
September 1908 qtd. in Distribution of anadromous fishes in the Upper
Klamath river watershed prior to hydropower dams- a synthesis of the
historical evidence, DAFUKR)
One of the most significant environmental and sociological
effects of hydro-electric development was loss of anadromous fisheries.
The Klamath projects were among the most destructive. A fisheries status
report states, “Prior to dam construction, anadromous fish runs
accessed spawning, incubation, and rearing habitat in about 970 km (600
miles) of river and stream channel above the site of Iron Gate Dam.”
(DAFUKR 3)
Fish passage facilities were required, but nothing was ever done
to accommodate these requirements. Without Oregon’s official consent,
California law allowed hatchery facilities to be built instead. None of
these facilities have ever proved adequate. Very little was done
following completion of the first dam to maintain any part of Klamath
River fisheries.
An egg taking station was later added by the U.S.
Bureau of Fisheries. In 1925, the terminus for upstream fish migration
moved downstream from Copco 1 by one-quarter mile with the construction
of Copco 2 dam, an egg collecting station was constructed at Fall Creek
and conveyed to the state of California. During negotiations between the
California Fish and Game and the California Oregon Power Company
regarding the construction of Copco 1 dam, a decision was made to
construct a fish hatchery in lieu of a fish-way over the dam.”[sic]
(FPCUKR, 1-1)
“A hatchery was built on Fall Creek and operated until 1948, when
it was discontinued as uneconomical.” (qtd. FERC 1963, Opinion No. 381,
FPCUKR) A new hatchery was not constructed until 1962, seven miles
downstream, after the construction of Irongate dam. These efforts proved
severely lacking from the perspective of downriver inhabitants, as well
as upriver.
Effects of salmon and steelhead loss on the peoples of the
Klamath are hard to quantify and obscured by a century. The exploitation
mentality seemed to blind developers to the plight of the indigenous
peoples of the Klamath. Lower river tribes are left, to this day, trying
to balance their communities’ need for healthy food with dwindling,
genetically deficient, and disease stricken runs. Effects were, and are
still being, realized hundreds of miles inland. Tribes upstream of the
dams were left without a form of sustenance; one utilized for millennia.
Klamath tribal member, James Johnson, born 1887, said:
From the time I was a very small boy of the age of
seven years, I speared salmon at most of the fishing holes on the
reservation. I remember distinctly spearing salmon when I was seven
years old and having them drag me in the water. I speared salmon at
Baking Powder Grade near Chiloquin, Oregon and at the junction of the
Williamson and Sprague Rivers. I remember seeing many of the old Indians
getting salmon at the junction of the Williamson and Sprague Rivers
with willow net they prepared and dragged across the stream, stopping
the salmon from going upstream until they had secured all of the salmon
they needed for their own use and the use of their friends. Then these
old people would remove the net and let the salmon to go up the Sprague
River. I also caught salmon in the Sprague River with a spoon. I was
very fond of salmon fishing. What salmon I caught and did not need my
family would give to their friends. I would take between 300 and 400
salmon out of the reservation streams each and every fall during the
salmon runs. These salmon would weigh between 30 and 80 pounds. The runs
would generally last between 60 and 90 days, starting toward the end of
August and lasting sometimes into October. These salmon provided a
large part of the food supply consumed by Indians during the years the
salmon ran up the streams. I would say that the salmon provided half of
the food supply. [sic] (qtd. CDFKT, 60-61)
There is no evidence that any consideration was given to the fish
loss suffered by the Indians of the Upper Klamath, despite continued
protests by the Indians, and by the officials of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs on their behalf. (CDFKT, 2)
“Tribes, Fishermen, Conservationists Returning to Scotland to
Argue Against Dams,” on the website klamathbasincrisis.org, reports:
Klamath River starts in Oregon, cuts through the
Cascade Range, and flows through northwestern California to the Pacific
Ocean. It once boasted the third-largest salmon runs on the West Coast,
but now sees a fraction of those returns. Efforts to protect declining
runs have forced steep cutbacks in Pacific salmon fishing. Tribes locked
in poverty struggle to get enough fish to meet subsistence and
ceremonial needs.[sic] The Karuk contend many of their health problems
are related to the loss of salmon from their diet.
It is evident that native peoples of the Upper Klamath Basin
relied heavily on salmon for sustenance. The cultural loss to the tribes
can not be adequately quantified. Euro-American, basin residents also
felt the loss of these miraculous runs. Before the advent of
refrigeration, a delivery of fresh seafood was just what the fledgling
community of Linkville, now Klamath Falls, needed to flourish.
Photo courtesy US Bureau of Reclamation:
Oregon State Fish Commission, PacificCorp, and other interested
parties formed a committee in the sixties to examine Upper Klamath Basin
anadromous run reintroduction options. “The Steering Committee
subsequently indicated that it appeared to be biologically feasible to
reestablish spring Chinook and steelhead in the Upper Klamath Basin as
far as Upper Klamath Lake, since both species migrate at times when
water quality conditions are satisfactory. (FPCUKR, 1-2) This report
suggested sufficient spawning gravel for about 9,000 Spring Chinook, and
7,500 Steelhead. No action was taken by the committee citing downstream
losses, upstream losses, difficulty finding suitable stocks, and
difficulty establishing self-sustaining runs as insurmountable
obstacles.
If returning stocks could be established which return to Upper
Klamath and Agency Lakes; they would be likely occur during cool water
periods, so as to pass through the lake to the many tributaries. Some of
these drainages incorporate hundreds of square miles. Within these
subsystems of the Klamath are myriads of potential spawning, and rearing
areas. Many would require improvements to grant passage, just as would
the main-stem. A 1994 Winema National Forest map show the following
potential habitats:
Wood River, Crooked Creek, Agency Creek, Williamson
River, Spring Creek, Larkin Creek, Sprague River, Sycan River, Link
River, Denny Creek, Short Creek, Odessa Creek, Four-Mile Creek, Harriman
Creek, Recreation Creek, Crystal Creek, Thomson Creek, Rock Creek,
Cheery Creek, Nannie Creek, Threemile Creek, another Fourmile, Crane
Creek, another Short, and Sevenmile Creek.(USFS-USDA)
These are listed is from the northern extreme of Agency Lake, and
clockwise. It does not include all tributaries to those waterways
listed. Also excluded are the many springs and aquifers potentially
accessible to reestablished runs. Some could potentially provide for
other anadromous species requiring lake-habitat for rearing, such as
Sockeye.
The “Klamath Act” requires the government, to carryout such actions as are necessary to:
- improve and restore area habitats
- promote access to blocked area habitats
- support increased run sizes
- improve upstream and downstream migration
- remove obstacles to fish passage
- provide facilities for avoiding obstacles
Current measures to protect and restore the anadromous
fish runs of the Klamath River basin do not appear to be adequate. In
order to restore anadromous fish to optimal levels, as prescribed in the
Klamath Act, more progressive measures are needed to initiate both
immediate and long term recovery.” (FPCUKR, 1-2)
Interested parties are coming together in the last year before
this momentous decision is due from FERC. Cooperating to pressure the
powers that be to, finally, do the right thing. The major interests
include: the tribes, professional fishermen, sport anglers, power
companies, and irrigation organizations.
As the 2006 Salmon Management Plan decisions loomed, the Herald
and News reported on the Pacific Coast trawler fleets. Fishermen are
asked to abide by decisions based on computer simulations with 50
percent error rates. “If trollers push for a season during a year of low
Klamath River abundance, the industry could be blamed for harming the
overall population health of the Chinook,” said Oregon State Salmon
Commission, Advisory Panel Chairmen, Don Stevens. (Oregon Salmon Season
Still A Hope, Newport Or., March 5, 2006, A9)
The parties pushing for Upper Basin reintroduction assert that
intensive efforts would result in more robust fisheries throughout the
range of Klamath’s salmon. This idea seems perfectly obvious to those
close to the situation, but may be labeled as conjecture. Anglers and
others, who understand the stream conditions on the Klamath, will attest
to the strength and abundance of suitable habitat therein. The size and
numbers of the fresh-water fish, also hold testament to the miraculous
natural strength of the Klamath system.
Fish caught by, and photo by Ken Sandusky
The sore is from a parasitic eel. The Lamprey is another of Klamath’s
threatened landlocked species. Please notice the completely healed
lamprey scar.
Extensive changes have been effected to the Klamath Basin in the past century. The changes impacting fisheries are:
- damming of the Klamath River
- cutting off, drainage, and redirecting of the flow of lakes such as Lower Klamath and Tule
- alteration of the level of Upper Klamath Lake
- ditching and draining of marshes (Klamath Marsh from 75% to 10% open water)
- logging of basin forests
- dredging of water courses
- agricultural chemical drainage
- stream-banks damaged by livestock (CDFKT, 10-18)
Some fear the negative impacts reintroduction could have on
existing fisheries. Disease has been a problem in the lower river, and
could be transported upstream; however there is no study to be readily
found that lends credence to this opinion.
Numerous environmental circumstances have put a focus on the
Upper Klamath Basin. First, logging had to be curtailed to stem
deforestation. Communities rebounded resiliently. Recently, irrigation
restraints have brought light to water troubles in the west, especially
Klamath country. The area’s farming industry is now adapting to the
situation with unprecedented programs, which keep other people’s
interests in mind. Now the time has come for the pendulum to swing, once
again, in favor of nature and the people who would utilize anadromous
fish for their sustenance.
Positive effects would range from tribal ceremonies, to
commercial harvest; from a simple day out with the kids, to outfitter
excursions; from pictures in the family album, to nationally televised
productions. Nature’s bounty can be returned to the Upper Klamath Basin.
Anadromous runs, that were once some of the most prolific anywhere,
must be reintroduced to the best of our collective ability. Growing
awareness, changing mentalities, and a new generation will see to the
reestablishment of anadromous runs.