Tribal protesters urge Secretary Jewell to stop Klamath River fish kill

Tribal members from the Trinity and Klamath rivers, carrying an array of colorful signs, converged on a press conference in Redding, California on Tuesday, August 12 to urge Sally Jewell, Obama's Secretary of Interior, to release Trinity River water out of Lewiston Dam to stop a massive fish kill from taking place on the Klamath. Jewell met with the protesters, including Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairwoman, Danielle Vigil-Masten, outside the press conference, but made no promises, according to a press release from Got Water and the Alliance to Stop a Klamath River Fish Kill. Slogans on the signs held by tribal members included "Free Our River," "Water + Fish = Life," and "Save the Salmon." River advocates say releasing water from the Trinity River, the largest tributary to the Klamath, could prevent a large scale Klamath adult fish kill as seen in September 2002, when over 68,000 salmon perished, due to disease fostered by low, warm water conditions. Although the press conference was focused on California fires, fishermen and Tribal members said Jewell is ignoring an even more dire looming disaster, according to Dania Colegrove, Hoopa Tribal member and activist with Got Water. “The Klamath fish kill of 2002 led to poor salmon returns devastating west coast fisheries for years afterward. Since then Tribes, scientists and the Department of Interior have worked together to avert fish kills by preventively releasing water during drought years, ” said Colegrove. Colegrove said preventively releasing water from the Lewiston Dam into the Trinity River cools water and curtails fish diseases in the Klamath River. This scientifically proven method has worked in past years. "This year Secretary of the Interior Jewell and the Bureau of the Reclamation say fish must begin to die and test positive for disease before emergency flows will be considered," explained Colegrove...more