On Sunday, October 26 2008, 74 people signed a guest opinion to the editor of the Herald and News in support of the Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement. Many of the signatories are those who have been intimately involved in the secret drafting of this agreement. In the opinion piece they speak of the pain felt by the community during the water shut-off of 2001 but they really don’t address the pain that will be felt by those who are left on the periphery if this agreement becomes an actuality.

Many Siskiyou County residents who own private property along the Copco and Irongate dams will see their land devalued thus incurring an unknown monetary loss to Siskiyou County. Local ranchers and farmers above the Klamath Lake who are asked to give up 30,000 acre feet of water in order to inflate stream flows and lake levels above what is available in most years. This is in addition to nearly 100,000 acres already acquired by government agencies and the Nature Conservancy and taken off our tax rolls. Klamath Project irrigation would also be considerably downsized which affects our local economy. There is the possibility of the loss of our national forest if The Tribes choose to place the Mazama Tree Farm into a tax-exempt tribal trust that can then be traded for said forest without congressional approval. And, without the dams, 70,000 households will see an increase in their electrical rates. These issues are some of the main factors why many oppose the agreement.

The Klamath Basin Alliance, Inc. has recently collected over 600 petitions in opposition to the KRBRA and these petitions will be presented in the near future to our elected officials. These petitions are in addition to more than 1100 petitions presented by KBA to officials in the past 5 years against a federally funded tribal land gift alone, land that the tribes previously sold. This does not include over 1000 petitions collected and presented by the late Dr. Calvin Hunt. Those who have signed the current petitions in opposition to the KRBRA are NOT the “silent” majority. They are those who are not afraid to voice their opinion in opposing something they believe is not only harmful to them personally, but also to the communities that would fall under this agreement. But, there are other “silent” voices out there that are afraid to speak up for fear of retribution.

The voices of many have been left out of the billion-dollar KRBRA “agreement” as it was hammered out in secret behind closed doors. Remember, for an agreement to be an agreement, it needs to be agreeable to all parties.

The Klamath Basin Alliance, Inc.
3255 Washburn Way, Suite 153
Klamath Falls, OR 97603

Al Bowa, Board Member, et al.