WHERE WOLVES MAY TREAD - Voting rights in Indian Country - High Country News
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WHERE
WOLVES
MAY
TREAD
Vol. 53 / September 2021
Voting rights in Life and death in the The incredible shrinking
No. 9 • hcn.org Indian Country Klamath Basin Colorado River
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER
Greg Hanscom
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jennifer Sahn
ART DIRECTOR Cindy Wehling
FEATURES DIRECTOR McKenna Stayner
MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR
Gretchen King
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Emily Benson, Paige Blankenbuehler,
Nick Martin
PHOTO EDITOR Roberto (Bear) Guerra
ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
Luna Anna Archey
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Jessica Kutz, Anna V. Smith
STAFF WRITER Jessica Douglas
EDITOR AT LARGE Betsy Marston
COPY EDITOR Diane Sylvain
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Ruxandra Guidi, Michelle Nijhuis,
Jonathan Thompson, Christine Trudeau
CORRESPONDENTS
Nick Bowlin, Leah Sottile, Sarah Tory
EDITORIAL FELLOWS
Sarah Sax, Wufei Yu
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Kylie Mohr, Brian Oaster, Theo Whitcomb
DIRECTOR OF PHILANTHROPY The upper Williamson River snakes through the Rocky Ford Ranch, a 1,705-acre property within its former
Alyssa Pinkerton reservation that was recently repurchased by the Klamath Tribes. Paul Wilson / HCN
SENIOR DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Paul Larmer
CHARITABLE GIVING ADVISOR
Clara Fecht
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATES
Hannah Stevens, Carol Newman
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT & MARKETING
Gary Love
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Michael Schrantz
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Erica Howard
Know
FINANCE AND HR ADMINISTRATOR
Mary Zachman
BUSINESS SUPPORT ASSISTANT
Shirley Tipton
the
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER
Kathy Martinez
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Karen Howe, Mark Nydell, Pamela Peters,
Tammy York
West.
GRANT WRITER Janet Reasoner
FOUNDER Tom Bell
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Belkin, president (Colo.), Seth Cothrun,
treasurer (Ariz.), Jay Dean (Calif.),
Bob Fulkerson (Nev.), Laura Helmuth,
secretary (Md.), Samaria Jaffe (Calif.),
Fátima Luna (Ariz.), Andrea Otáñez (Wash.),
Marla Painter (N.M.), Raynelle Rino (Calif.),
Estee Rivera Murdock, vice president (Colo.), High Country News is an independent, reader-supported nonprofit 501(c)(3) media organization that covers the important
issues and stories that define the Western U.S. Our mission is to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the West’s diverse
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2 HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
Paige
Blankenbuehler
Durango, Colorado
@PaigeBlank
Maggie Doherty
Kalispell, Montana
@MNealDoherty
Good neighbors Jessica Douglas
Bend, Oregon
@Jessicadd29_
I’M WATCHING TWO MOUNTAIN LIONS slip down the trail, haunches swaying, their long, tufted
tails slung low behind them. The sight elicits in me a certain electric excitement that I can’t quite
place. They move with a kind of nonchalant ease, as if aware of their status as apex predators. Had Hillary Leftwich
I encountered them in person, I almost certainly would have been breathless, my heart racing. But Denver, Colorado
I was on my couch, staring into my iPad, watching trail-cam footage captured at night on my go-to @HillaryLeftwich
front-country trail. The video was posted on Nextdoor, where a stream of comments had accrued,
layer upon layer of surprise, wonder, appreciation and awe.
Similar clips from wildlife cams, security cams and doorbell cams proliferate on Nextdoor. A new
one appeared today: a bobcat this time, followed by a skunk. We seem to enjoy knowing who else is Surya Milner
out there and what they do when we’re not there to see it. Commenters often respond with surprise Bozeman, Montana
that such creatures are “right here in our backyard!” They will even use those words, our backyard, to @suryamilner
describe the foothills or the front country, as if the animals had somehow stumbled into the exclusive
domain of the human species. But the truth is quite the opposite: It is we who are the encroachers.
Habitat loss due to development is a major cause of threatened and endangered species across the West.
Even as new homes, subdivisions and strip malls push ever farther into the wildland-urban inter- Brian Oaster
face, enthusiasm for the wildlife “in our backyards” abounds online. I’m reminded of two black bears Portland, Oregon
whose paws were badly burned during California’s 2017 Thomas Fire, which raged for 38 days. The
bears were rescued and given temporary paw pads made of tilapia skin, so that their own paws could
heal underneath the protective covering. In January 2018, they were released back into the moun-
tains, and months later radio-collar data suggested that they seemed to be doing fine. While tracking
the details of this incident, I found a large number of stories: not just in the LA Times and Ventura Anna V. Smith
County Star, but Smithsonian, The New Republic, Mashable and Weather.com. National Geographic Boulder, Colorado
even posted a video of a veterinarian suturing fish skin to one of the bear’s paws. It’s a heartwarming @annavtoriasmith
story, a beautiful illustration of human concern for the well-being of other animals. But what gets
missed in those moments of caring are the thousand thoughtless daily decisions it took to create the
conditions for the unseasonable, unprecedented fire that burned those bears and torched 440 square
miles of habitat for all manner of creatures. Brook Thompson
Being good neighbors to wildlife — especially to apex predators — requires more than a tweet or a Stanford, California
like or an awe-inspired comment. This issue’s feature story looks at wolves in Colorado and Wyoming,
where their protected status is in flux. There is perhaps no more controversial animal neighbor in the
West. Their recent delisting as a federally protected endangered species has led to a new patchwork
of state laws, including one in Idaho that could allow the killing of 90% of the state’s wolves. Without
protective laws, it’s not clear if humans can be good neighbors to wolves, allowing them places to howl Jonathan Thompson
plaintively and bed down safely with their pups. Koukoulaika, Greece
The other night, on the same trail where the mountain lion video was captured, the animal noises @Land_Desk
grew increasingly persistent as I finished a hike after sunset. There were trills and screeches, flutters
and scampers, and even some uncharacteristically loud footfalls in the brush. For my one set of eyes,
focused mostly on the trail ahead, there were a multitude of others. Birds winged overhead, while others
roosted in trees, calling out as night fell: This is where I am. I’m happy. I am just here singing my song.
Jennifer Sahn, editor-in-chief
SEPTEMBER 2021 3
Joe Sondgeroth displays a photo showing one of
the wolves that he killed in the Upper Green River
FEATURE area near his home in the Kendall Valley, outside of
Pinedale, Wyoming (above). Beth Wald / HCN
A Hostile Country 30
Visitors walk at Lone Rock Beach in Big Water, Utah,
The Green River corridor holds the promise of a pathway by Lake Powell, in an area that used to be underwater.
for gray wolves to disperse from Wyoming to Colorado. Two decades of climate change-induced drought and
rising temperatures, combined with ever-growing
So why aren’t they using it? demand, have put the entire water system in serious
BY PAIGE BL ANKENBUEHLER | PHOTOS BY BETH WALD trouble (right). Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Access to subscriber-only content:
hcn.org
hcne.ws/digi-5309
ON THE COVER
Sunrise over the Green River in the Browns Park area where Utah, Wyoming and
Colorado meet. Beth Wald / HCN Follow us @highcountrynews
4 HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
FACTS & FIGURES REFLECTION & REVIEW
The incredible shrinking 22 The making of 46
our greater selves
Colorado River Douglas Chadwick shows how
coexistence with nature and mutual
Climate change and rising demand are sucking the life flourishing remain possible.
out of the Southwest’s water supply. REVIEW BY MAGGIE DOHERT Y
BY JONATHAN THOMPSON | MAP BY ALISON DEGRAFF OLLIVIERRE
Endings from beginnings 47
Nawaaz Ahmed chronicles family,
culture, politics and heartbreak
in the modern West.
REVIEW BY HILL ARY LEFTWICH
A new Conservation Corps 48
for the climate
What it means to contribute to
the future of a place.
PERSPECTIVE BY SURYA MILNER
#iamthewest 52
Adam Campos, owner of Model
Shoe Shine Parlor, Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
BY GABRIEL A CAMPOS
Supreme Court ruling could diminish Indigenous voter turnout 7
In Brnovich v. DNC, the Supreme Court upheld two voting laws
that will make it harder for Indigenous people and communities of color to vote.
REPORTAGE BY JESSICA DOUGL AS
SPOTLIGHT ON THE KLAMATH
Water and equity in the Klamath Basin 9
Behind the effort to save Upper Klamath Lake’s endangered fish
before they disappear from the wild.
BY ANNA V. SMITH | PHOTOS BY PAUL WILSON DEPARTMENTS
Will Klamath salmon outlast the dams? 13
Four dams on the Klamath River are slated for removal in 2023, 3 EDITOR’S NOTE
but that may be too late for salmon.
BY BRIAN OASTER 6 LET TERS
The familial bond between the Klamath River 15 8 THE L ATEST
and the Yurok people
How a tribal community’s health is intimately connected to 16 DONORS / READER PROFILES
the health of the river.
PERSPECTIVE BY BROOK THOMPSON 24 BOOKS MARKETPL ACE
50 HEARD AROUND THE WEST
SEPTEMBER 2021 5
LET TERS ity and local communities. Per REASSESSING THE DAMS
Riverview spokesman Kevin Wulf: Sadly, remova l of Washing-
“Integrity is about doing the right ton’s Gorge Dam will not slow,
thing.” let alone reverse, the declin-
Daniel D. Heagerty ing nat ive sa lmon popu la-
Mill Valley, California tions that once thrived in the
m a g n i f ic ent 16 0 -plu s -m i le
High Country News is dedicated to independent Tony Davis and Debbie Wein Skagit-Cascade-Sauk-Suiattle Wild
journalism, informed debate and discourse in the garten’s article, “Sucked Dry,” is and Scenic River System (“Reas-
public interest. We welcome letters through superb reporting. I can’t thank you sessing the dams,” August 2021).
digital media and the post. Send us a letter, find us enough for such a comprehensive It’s true that “the licensing
on social media, or email us at editor@hcn.org. look at this issue, heartbreaking as process has triggered different
it is. conversations on the Skagit’s
Stevan Bosanac f uture.” Unfor tunately, t he
SUCKED DRY Petaluma, California author focused on a tiny, almost
Thank you to Debbie Weingarten “Sucked Dry” provides an import- insignificant piece of a very large
and Tony Davis for their really ant and powerful look at the mega- Thank you for the August article picture. We would be better off
excellent article, “Sucked Dry” dairy industry. The repeated about the mega-dairy coming spending money improving the
(August 2021), about Riverview disregard by Riverview LLP for to Arizona and its impact on our environmental practices of people
LLP’s mega-dairy expansion into people, water and climate is tell- water supply. This installation is and municipalities in the river
southeast Arizona. It’s one of the ing. The company is destroying representative of the larger prob- system’s riparian zone, actions
best pieces of investigative jour- water supplies across the states it lem of corporate agricultural such as diverting septic waste,
nalism I have read in High Country operates in, leaving thousands of interests exporting our resources. sewer and stormwater overflows,
News in some time. The article people with dry wells. The carbon The political powers are reluctant stopping fertilizer and petro-
provides a clear example of several and methane emissions from these to do anything about it because leum-laced road runoff, enforc-
key issues the West is facing today. mega-dairies is, arguably, immoral, the industry promises jobs and ing land- and shore-management
The lack of groundwater manage- given the long-term impacts these revenues. regulations, reforestation and
ment in rural Arizona is astounding. emissions will have on the climate It can’t go on without serious more. These are the types of
As a professional hydrologist our children will be forced to damage to the environment. I actions that might help increase
(now retired), I disagree with one endure. urge HCN to keep up the pressure salmon and steelhead runs for
statement in the article: “pinning The West will continue to expe- through coverage of the issue. tribes in Washington to catch.
the decline of any individual well on rience significant groundwater John Krizek Anna Rudd
a neighboring well or wells is next depletions and climate-damaging Prescott, Arizona Seattle, Washington
to impossible. …” Knowledgeable industrial agriculture expan-
groundwater hydrologists can, and sions as long as states fail to act HCN’s writers frequently pound THE SKAGIT RIVER RECONSIDERED
frequently do, accurately determine in the interests of the public and on “mega corporations,” perhaps Great pair of articles about the
the effects of groundwater pumping our future generations. And this because its audience, over time, Skagit River; fascinating and
on nearby wells, groundwater levels, mega-dairy industry will soon face has self-selected to people who like something I’m deeply interested
springs and streams. Groundwater the realities of long-term droughts, that sort of thing. in across the West, but especially
hydrology is a sophisticated science, heat extremes and carbon and The concerns about water as a Seattle resident (August 2021).
and groundwater hydrologists often methane fees. Additionally, with use are legitimate, but corporate I think Washington has an inter-
serve as expert witnesses on these climate change, the public will find farms do not emit, overall, more esting opportunity to lead the way
matters. that milk and cheese products are pollution than the aggregate of and become a model for Western
Riverview LLP’s spokesper- not the best use of limited water family farms. They may produce dam removal.
sons pretend to care but speak supplies. These are not essential more waste in fewer locations, but One thing I was left curious
with forked tongues. The company foods, and the massive government smaller farms, especially when about was the cascading climate
knew it would be able to get away subsidies handed to this industry not well-run, produce problems impact on the energy sources for a
with whatever it planned to do, are not the best use of our public as well. And family farms do not growing city. Would Seattle’s share
no matter what adverse effects money. always achieve the efficiency of renewable energy be shifted
might occur to the area’s natural I suspect that Riverview will that can help reduce prices at the much? Would it need to shift to gas
resources and its residents. not operate in these locations for grocery store. or coal? Or is there enough capacity
Barbara Galloway decades, but probably long enough Neither large nor small farms in wind and solar?
Whitewater, Colorado to ruin the aquifers, water qual- are always bad or always good. I Thank you for all the great
would appreciate HCN reducing work all of your staff and writers
the amount of propaganda posing do, and for centering tribal voices.
CORRECTIONS as journalism. Loren Drummond
In August’s “Heard Around the West” column, we incorrectly cited Ron Aryel Seattle, Washington
Jonathan Thompson’s Land Letter, rather than his Land Desk publica- Reno, Nevada
tion. We regret the error.
6 HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
REPORTAGE ON JULY 1, 2021, the Supreme for Indigenous voters since Shelby Activist Allie Young takes a selfie with
Court released its decision in a County v. Holder eight years ago, her ballot after going to the polls on the
Navajo Nation last October. A recent
prominent voting rights case that voting rights attorneys say. Shelby
Supreme Court decision upheld a law
Indigenous activists and attorneys overturned a portion of the Voting that made it harder for get-out-the-vote
say will make it harder for people Rights Act, allowing state legisla- groups to collect ballots in order to
of color — especially Indigenous tures to pass voter laws without increase voter turnout. Talia Mayden
Supreme
populations — to vote. federal oversight. That paved the
In the case, Arizona Attorney way for more restrictive voter legis-
Court ruling
General Mark Brnovich v. Demo- lation, including the Arizona laws at
cratic National Committee, the the heart of Brnovich. The Supreme In Arizona, where 27% of the
could
court looked at whether a pair of Court’s decision not only could state is tribal land and about 6% of
voting policies in Arizona violated make voting harder for rural Indig- the population is Indigenous, the
diminish
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a enous voters, Indigenous voting nearest ballot box might be from
provision that prohibits voting laws advocates and attorneys say, it will 45 minutes to more than two hours
Indigenous
or practices that discriminate on also make it more difficult to chal- away. “Because of that distance, it
the basis of race, color or language. lenge new voting rules that dispro- was common practice for neigh-
voter turnout
In a 6-3 vote split between its portionately affect Indigenous bors, clan, relatives or extended
conservative and liberal judges, populations and people of color. family and otherwise people who
the court upheld Arizona’s policy “The (court) set goalposts that are considered kin in terms of tribal
In Brnovich v. DNC, the disqualifying any ballot cast in the are really hard to meet and said relations to pick up your ballot and
Supreme Court upheld two voting wrong precinct as well as a 2016 law that sometimes discriminatory return it because they were making
laws that will make it harder for that made it a felony for anyone effects can be small enough that that two-hour drive,” Torey Dolan,
Indigenous people and but a family member, household they don’t matter,” Native Amer- a member of the Choctaw Nation of
communities of color to vote. member or caregiver to return ican Rights Fund staff attorney Oklahoma and Native Vote fellow at
another person’s mail ballot — a Jacqueline De León (Isleta Pueblo) the Sandra Day O’Connor College
BY JESSICA DOUGLAS method known as ballot harvesting said. “And that is particularly of Law at Arizona State University,
or collecting, often used by get-out- disturbing to Native Americans, said.
the-vote groups to increase turnout. because in this instance they were Unmoved by this reality,
The latest decision may carry saying some Native communities the court ruled that Arizona’s
the most perilous consequences don’t matter.” ballot-collection law did not violate
SEPTEMBER 2021 7
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Until 2020, even tribal members that there has never been a case of
saying that having to identify one’s with internet access lacked a voter fraud associated with ballot
polling place and then travel there publicly available online tool to collection in Arizona.
to vote does not exceed the “usual verify precincts with nonstandard “One of the really disturb-
burdens of voting.” addresses, Dolan said. As a result, ing things that this case did was
Indigenous people first gained the ballots of Indigenous voters “One of it allowed this idea of fake voter
the right to vote in 1924 through were discarded at a rate higher fraud to serve as a justification for
the Indian Citizenship Act. But than those of non-Native, partic- the really discrimination,” De León said. “It
tribal communities’ ability to vote ularly white, voters, in the 2016 didn’t require states to prove that
has long been hindered by inten- election. disturbing there was actually a risk or even a
tional discrimination. Obstacles While the court acknowledged result of voter fraud in their states.
include a lack of polling stations that Arizona’s out-of-precinct policy things that this They just allowed the lie to be
on reservations, cumbersome trav- can burden Indigenous, Black and accepted as a justification. And
eling requirements and ballots Latino communities more than case did was that really just unburdened states
that fail to adhere to the language non-minority voters, it dismissed in a lot of ways from having to
minority requirement of the Voting the racial disparity as being “small it allowed this prove their justifications for laws
Rights Act, which holds that states in absolute terms.” “A policy that and instead put that burden on
and local election boards must appears to work for 98% or more of idea of fake litigants.”
provide adequate assistance for voters to whom it applies — minority Midterm elections are still
communities and voters that speak and non-minority alike — is unlikely voter fraud more than a year away, but Indige-
Asian, Native, Alaska Native and to render a system unequally open,” nous voting-rights activists, such as
Spanish languages. Meanwhile, Justice Samuel Alito wrote. to serve as a OJ Semans (Rosebud Sioux Tribe),
gerrymandered districts are This particular ruling is very co-executive of the Indigenous
deliberately designed to dilute the alarming, Dolan said. “When you justification for voting-rights advocacy nonprofit
impact of tribal votes. consider the court’s emphasis on Four Directions, are already hard at
After the Voting Rights Act statistics and number of voters discrimination.” work. “We’re already warning tribes,
passed in 1965, civil rights attor- impacted, the Supreme Court ‘This is coming now, we’re going to
neys and tribes were able to chal- (might say) 2,000 Native Ameri- need to prepare,’” Semans said.
lenge these discriminatory voting cans are impacted, and out of this Meanwhile, De León believes that
practices in court — and win. One really sizable Native American Congress needs to act by reforming
of the main weapons in their arse- population — that’s not enough the Voting Rights Act or passing the
nal was Section 2 of the law. But to make a difference,” Dolan said. Native American Voting Rights Act.
in Brnovich v. DNC, the Supreme “But that number could be an entire “At the end of the day, the
Court changed what Section 2 can tribe.” margins on the most consequen-
do to protect voters. The Democratic National tial elections are exceedingly
Triba l members on t he Committee argued that both small, and Native communities
Navajo Nation and in other rural Arizona laws disproportionately are the missing votes in a lot of
areas often possess nonstandard affected Black, Latino and Indige- those communities,” De León
addresses that make it difficult nous voters and were enacted with said. “That’s why all of this effort
for counties to place them in the “discriminatory intent.” Arizona is going into stopping the Native
correct precinct. In addition, unre- Attorney General Mark Brnovich vote. … They know that it would
liable internet access makes it hard welcomed the ruling as a means to change the status quo, and that’s
to find precinct information online. prevent voter fraud, despite the fact worth fighting for.”
THE LATEST Backstory Followup
Poachers began to target bigleaf maple trees In July, for the first time, tree DNA was used
in the Pacific Northwest in the early 2000s in a federal criminal trial as evidence that
for the beautiful three-dimensional illegally harvested timber had been sold to local
patterns found in some specimens’ grain. In mills, according to The Washington Post. “The
Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National DNA analysis was so precise that it found the
Forest, thieves often felled trees in the probability of the match being coincidental was
Tree DNA
middle of the night and covered the stumps approximately 1 in 1 undecillion” prosecutors
with moss to hide the damage (“Busting the told jurors — “undecillion” being a very large
Tree Ring,” 3/20/17). Then, in 2012, a U.S. Forest number consisting of 1 followed by 36 zeroes.
true crime
Service officer learned about extracting tree The defendant, Justin Andrew Wilke, was
DNA in order help track down black market convicted as a result, and could face 10 years in
lumber. prison. — Jessica Kutz
8 HIGH COUNTRY NEWS
SPOTLIGHT ON THE KLAMATH
Water and equity in the Klamath Basin
Behind the effort to save Upper Klamath Lake’s endangered fish before they disappear from the wild.
BY ANNA V. SMITH | PHOTOS BY PAUL WILSON
C’WA AM AND KOPTU FISH usually arrive eggs, which are the size of BB gun pellets. Tanikwah Lang and Jimmy Jackson of the Klamath
in early spring to spawn in the creeks and rivers Case had lived in the Klamath Basin all her Tribes Fish Hatchery conduct a fish-kill survey on
Upper Klamath Lake. Oxygen levels in the lake are low
around Upper Klamath Lake, in southern Oregon. life, but this was the first living adult c’waam
enough that they can be lethal for endangered c’waam
But this year, the fish didn’t turn up as expected. she’d seen in the wild. The fish was probably 30 and koptu.
The two dwindling species are found only in this or 40 years old, and it was breathtaking: elegant
basin, and Klamath Tribes biologists thought that in a prehistoric way, with its white belly, bony
maybe, for the first time, the worst had happened fins and a downturned mouth ideal for filter tired, too,” said Case, a Klamath Tribes descen-
— that they would not show up at all. feeding. Every year since at least 1991, almost dant and enrolled member of the Confederated
But, finally, they appeared. On a morning in all juvenile c’waam have died, because the Tribes of Siletz Indians. Her grandfather had
May, a c’waam swam into view, its thick, speckled wetlands that once acted as a nursery are largely been a fish handler in the tribes’ annual C’waam
body around two feet long. Faryn Case, a biolo- gone, and water quality has plummeted due to Ceremony, and her father regularly saw the fish
gist at the Klamath Tribes’ research facility and phosphorous loads from agriculture runoff and for years. But in Case’s lifetime, they’ve always
a Klamath tribal member, stood waiting in the cyanobacteria. As a result, the lake population been endangered; she has never tasted one.
shallows of the lake, ready to collect the c’waam’s is old and aging. “She looked so tired. I’d be Over the past few years, the Klamath Tribes
SEPTEMBER 2021 9
have embarked on a mission to collect c’waam
eggs in order to rear them in captivity, something
senior fish biologist Alex Gonyaw calls “genetic
salvage.” The tribes plan to release a small batch
of 3- to 4-year-old fish next spring. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service also began raising c’waam
and koptu in 2018, but the lack of a substantial
overlap between the wild and captive-raised
populations could make the recovery difficult.
The fish’s historic range has been reduced by 75%,
and they need more habitat and better water qual-
ity before they can survive on their own.
C’waam and koptu — also known as Lost
River and shortnose suckers — were thriving as
recently as 70 years ago, supporting tribal fishing
families and Klamath Tribes cultural practices.
Since then, however, drought, hotter tempera-
tures, dropping water levels and worsening water
quality have all increased, threatening the fish’s
survival. Given that agriculture, wildlife refuges
and endangered coho salmon all need water, too,
the Klamath Basin has long been notorious for
infighting and litigation among irrigators, tribal
nations and the federal and state governments.
But this year’s historic drought and the colossal
Bootleg Fire have brought more attention to the
need for long-term solutions. motor as the propellor churned out green water in
All the conversations around water — who the boat’s wake. “That’s crazy,” he said. “It doesn’t
gets it, how much — in the Klamath Basin are usually look like this till August.” Squiggles of
inextricable from the colonialism that resulted neon-green filaments bobbed in the water below.
in drained wetlands, new dams and irrigation Cyanobacteria and blue-green algae appear
canals and displaced the Klamath and Modoc annually in Upper Klamath; once the algae bloom
Tribes and the Yahooskin Band of Snake Indians, and die, their decomposition consumes the lake’s
which today collectively make up the Klamath oxygen, suffocating the c’waam, koptu and other
Tribes. Upholding the rights of the tribes must organisms. The algae also produce microcystins,
be as much a part of those conversations as the neurotoxins and possible carcinogens that can’t
science behind wildlife management and water be boiled or easily filtered out of the water. Swim-
allocations, said Klamath Tribes Chairman Don ming in it can cause rashes, and ingesting it can
Gentry. “We want justice. … We expect for the cause kidney failure in humans, and sicken or kill
treaties to be honored,” Gentry said in Klamath dogs and other animals.
Falls this summer. “We can’t continue doing what Off the boat’s port side, back on land, a huge
we’ve been doing. That way is not sustainable.” pivot sprinkler cast Upper Klamath Lake water
over a farm field. The c’waam and koptu’s critical
ON A BRIGHT MORNING in July, before the habitat is both a reservoir and runoff receptacle
midges started swarming, Faryn Case and tribal for the Klamath Project, a Bureau of Reclama-
fishery aquatics technician Jimmy Jackson tion irrigation operation that waters 1,200 farms
climbed into a small skiff in Pelican Bay, on the on 240,000 acres of farmland that was once
northwest edge of Upper Klamath Lake, where wetland. This year, the farms received almost
clear springs burble up through the ground. no water from the project because of drought.
They were conducting the tribes’ first fish-kill Neither did the two national wildlife refuges
survey of the year, a weekly outing to recover any in the basin, nor the endangered coho salmon
suckers that may have died in order to monitor downstream in the Klamath River. Now, even
the status of the fish population. There are an domestic wells are beginning to fail.
A pair of juvenile c’waam in a fish tank at the
estimated 24,000 c’waam left, and just 3,400 Proposed solutions range from small-scale
Klamath Tribes Fish Hatchery and Research
koptu — since 2002, the wild c’waam popula- changes on private property to landscape-level Station (above left). First light on a farm near
tion has dropped by 65%. The surveys normally riparian restoration. One example: The Klamath Barkley Spring, Oregon, along Upper Klamath
begin in August, but this year’s high tempera- Tribes are piloting a solar-powered aerator in Lake. Despite this year’s record-setting
drought, this field has remained a lush green
tures forced them to begin a month early. Upper Klamath Lake to help add oxygen to the (above right). Chairman Don Gentry of the
At an inlet called Ball Bay, Jackson slowed the water, beat back toxic algae and maintain small Klamath Tribes (above).
10 HIGH COUNTRY NEWSpockets of clear water for suckers. Eventually, ath Tribes’ treaty rights — for over 100 years due Gentry farms hemp because it requires
more aerators could be added throughout the to several dams. The agreement would have less water than other crops. This epitomizes
lake. Another example: The nonprofit Ducks helped the tribes acquire 92,000 acres of land, her ethos for farming in the basin: Instead of
Unlimited recently received funding from the started Klamath dam removal, provided water pushing for more water, simply adapt to what’s
U.S. Department of Agriculture to create the certainty for irrigators, curtailed litigation and available. “We’re farming a desert region, and
Klamath Basin Farming and Wetland Collab- led to a drought-year plan. we obliterated ecosystems to do so,” said Gentry,
orative, a program to pay farmers to flood irri- But finalizing it required congressional who is from Klamath Falls and began farming
gate fields, creating standing water to support approval, and legislators failed to pass it before in the last few years. “So now how do we protect
migrating waterfowl and revitalize the soil. it expired in 2015. The dam removal, the cost — what’s left? How do we farm with less water?”
The aerator and the flooding address some $800 million over 15 years — and the land return That has not necessarily been the prevail-
of the immediate concerns but don’t address were part of what made it controversial, said ing view of agricultural groups like the Klamath
the basin’s root problems. That would require a Chairman Gentry. Concessions were made on Water Users Association or Klamath Irrigation
measure of undoing — repairing the fractured all sides; the Klamath Tribes agreed to give up District. This year, in response to the news that
relationship between land, water and species. In their water rights to the Klamath River, for exam- irrigators would receive hardly any water from
2017, for example, the Fish and Wildlife Service, ple, while irrigators agreed to forgo a portion of the Klamath Project because of drought and prior-
a local landowner, the Klamath Tribes and nine their water allocations for ecosystem restoration. itization of sucker species, KWUA President Ben
other partners completed a 25-year project to Now, agriculture leaders like the Klamath DuVal said that “water users are extremely upset
reconnect Sun Creek, a tributary to the Wood Water Users Association (KWUA) are once again with what the federal government is doing to us,
River, which empties into Upper Klamath Lake. calling for a settlement, but the balance of power and with good reason. Taking water from project
Sun Creek had been diverted, partially filled has shifted since 2010. The state of Oregon now irrigators for ESA species is a failed experiment
in and used as an irrigation canal for 100 years, recognizes the Klamath Tribes as holding the most that has produced no benefit for the species.” But
cutting off a native bull trout population. That senior water rights in the basin, and the tribes are that response ignores the Klamath Tribes entirely,
kind of restoration, which requires buy-in from no longer willing to enter into an agreement that as well as their sovereignty and their efforts to
the landholders and federal agencies, needs to requires them to give up water. The c’waam and restore culturally critical species.
happen all over the basin. koptu, they say, can’t give up any more. “That is how racism reveals itself here, is fail-
Large-scale restoration has been on the table ure to even say our names,” said Joey Gentry; the
before, in the form of the 2010 Klamath Basin A F E W S U M M E RS AG O , Klamath tribal tribal chairman is her brother, but she does not
Restoration Agreement, signed by the Klamath member and racial justice advocate Joey Gentry speak for the tribe. It has historically shown up
Tribes, Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, governors of was out on her hemp farm in the Klamath in other ways, too: During the last bad drought
Oregon and California, ranchers, nonprofits and Project, trying to fix her MacGyvered irrigation year, 2001, three white men drove through the
the federal government. It contained plans to system, when she accidentally stumbled into the town of Chiloquin, shooting 12-gauge shotguns
reintroduce salmon, which have been absent cyanobacteria-infested water. “It was terrible,” and screaming “sucker lovers” in what the local
from the upper basin — in violation of the Klam- she said. “My legs were on fire.” sheriff called an “act of terrorism.” Tribal members
SEPTEMBER 2021 11reported being driven off the road, even beaten up. flowers and an edible bulb harvested by tribal Klamath tribal members kayak in the headwaters
These days, anti-Indigenous rhetoric members — commingle in the clear, cold water of the Wood River in 2019. Sharing an aquifer with
Giiwas (Crater Lake), the headwaters of the Wood
peppers Facebook posts in community groups. as swallows swoop to snatch bugs out of the air
River are turquoise blue and shockingly cold.
While some posts focus on the genuine frus- and birds chatter from the cottonwoods. “That is
trations of the agricultural community, others what it should all look like,” said Taylor Tupper,
attack the tribes and the suckers, linking the news department manager and former coun- There, four miles of river wind through 1,705
basin’s problems to wild conspiracy theories cilmember for the Klamath Tribes. acres of riparian meadow, wetlands and timber,
regarding government takeover. The tribes Between 1940 and 1957, landowners built a within the tribes’ former reservation boundar-
don’t put their name or emblem on their vehi- 6-foot levee separating the Wood River from the ies. The property is located near historic tribal
cles, clothing or projects around the community, surrounding wetlands. The dried-out wetlands hunting and fishing camps. The tribes have yet
out of concern of vandalism or violence. Local became ranch land, and the Wood River became to develop a management plan, but are eager to
leaders have yet to publicly acknowledge the a shallow, channelized canal. In 1995, the area lead the effort to restore the relationships among
anti-Indigeneity that tribal members experience was transferred to the Bureau of Land Manage- the land, water, wetlands and suckers. “It’s still
afresh during each drought year. “Make our fish ment. To restore it, the agency shortened the beautiful here, and that’s why there’s a hope for
go away, and then maybe the tribes will go away,” levee, dug out the fill from the historic riverbed, turning the corner,” Chairman Gentry said.
Gentry said. “It is that level of erasure.” re-created its meandering bends and floodplain Tribal biologist Faryn Case agrees. For Case,
and stabilized its banks with boulders, willows the encounter with the wild adult c’waam earlier
T H E N O RT H E A S T E R N E D G E of Upper and other vegetation. It’s a small undoing of the this year was a vision of what the fish the tribes
Klamath Lake, at the mouth of the frigid Wood damage done to a river and wetland — a world are raising will one day become, and motiva-
River, gives a glimpse into what hundreds of once nearly erased, now made visible again. tion to continue the c’waams’ lineage, unbroken.
thousands of acres once looked like. Today, over This year, the tribes completed a land trans- “Our best solutions are to try to restore what we
3,000 acres of thick stands of cattails, tule reeds action that doubled their land holdings near degraded,” Case said. “There’s not a solution
and wocus — a hardy lily with lemon-yellow the headwaters of the upper Williamson River. where we get more water.”
12 HIGH COUNTRY NEWSSPOTLIGHT ON THE KLAMATH
Will Klamath salmon outlast the dams?
Four dams on the Klamath River are slated for removal in 2023, but that may be too late for salmon.
BY BRIAN OASTER | PHOTOS BY PAUL WILSON
GREEN ALG AE BLOBS choke handmade
gill nets that should be filled with salmon. The
Klamath River is warming, heated by drought
and dams, and that allows the algae to thrive,
making it harder and harder to catch fish. Some
days, Yurok tribal members capture nothing but
green goop.
And some algae is toxic; one microscopic
blue-green variety has made the water hazard-
ous to the public. Warming conditions have also
encouraged the spread of Ceratonova shasta,
which infected 97% of juvenile salmon in the
Klamath last spring, killing 70%. The crisis
extends to the communities that depend on the
fish for sustenance.
“We’re not able to catch enough fish to feed
our people anymore,” said Barry McCovey, Yurok
tribal citizen and director of the Yurok Fisheries
Department.
Finally, after two decades of paperwork, the
dams are scheduled for demolition in 2023. Now
it’s a race between the opaque machinations of
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or
FERC, in the East, and C. shasta on the West Coast.
Before the California Oregon Power
Company (COPCO) Dam split the Klamath Basin
in 1918, anadromous chinook and coho salmon
and species like Pacific lamprey could reach the
upper tributaries to spawn and die, enriching
the ecosystem with omega fatty acids and other
marine-derived nutrients. The nutrient-rich
sediments ultimately returned to the ocean.
Later, COPCO built a companion dam,
COPCO 2, and then the John C. Boyle Dam and
the Iron Gate Dam, the lowest on the Klamath
River. COPCO evolved into PacifiCorp, and both
PacifiCorp and the dams are now owned by
Warren Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway.
Two other dams on the upper Klamath, the Keno
A toxic algae bloom in Iron Gate Reservoir
along the Klamath River. Inhabitants of nearby
communities receive annual notices to stay out of
the river during summer months because of the
public health hazards for people and animals alike.
SEPTEMBER 2021 13Iron Gate Dam, the westernmost dam on the
Klamath River, blocks salmon from swimming up
and sediment from flowing down the river below.
ically created for removing the dams. It’s a big
step forward, but not home plate.
“We have turned all of our attention now to
the surrender proceeding,” said Mark Bransom,
CEO of KRRC. But the surrender application
must be approved before removal can begin, and
FERC has no guaranteed timeline.
FERC has scheduled the completion of its
environmental impact statement for September
2022. That’s not soon enough for the 2023 time-
line, Bransom said, as it would delay removal for
another year. Still, Bransom remains hopeful that
FERC will be on an expedited schedule. FERC did
not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Dismantling will happen in stages. First,
the reservoirs will be drained down to existing
riverbeds, discharging the 5 million to 20 million
cubic yards of sediment that has been trapped
behind the dams for 100 years. Because sedi-
ment can smother salmon eggs and even suffo-
cate juveniles, removal has to be done in the
winter, after the fall runs and before the spring
out-migration of fry.
In May or June, once the risk of signifi-
cant flooding has passed, the concrete dams —
COPCO 1 and 2, and part of J.C. Boyle — will be
drilled and packed with controlled explosives to
break them into removable chunks. Iron Gate is
a clay-core earthen dam, so its material will be
returned to the nearby “borrow site” to fill the
crater from which it came. The newly exposed
and the Link River, are not slated for removal, in The push for removal began in 2001, when reservoir beds will then be stabilized with native
part because they have fish ladders and provide the George W. Bush administration diverted so trees, shrubs and grasses; a Yurok seed collec-
irrigation for farms. much water for irrigation that it sparked the larg- tion crew has been gathering and germinating
The four lower dams confine the salmon to est fish kill in Northwest history. PacifiCorp’s seeds for two years in preparation.
the basin’s lower half and keep sediment in the dam licenses were up for renewal, and Tucker By the end of December, in whatever year
upper half. “If you look at the river below Iron Gate saw it as the perfect time to reassess whether this finally ends up happening, the salmon
Dam, it is sediment-starved,” said Mike Belchik, the dams were serving the public interest. At should be returning. Jason Jackson, the Hoopa
the Yurok Tribe’s senior water policy analyst. The first, Belchik said, their suggestions for removal Valley Tribe’s administrative assistant to the
result is an “armored bed condition,” perfect for weren’t taken seriously. But the Yurok and Karuk chairman, is hopeful, but skeptical about the
annelid worm colonies. “It turns out that these persisted, along with partners and allies, hoping timeline. “In 2023, the Klamath will be free,” he
worms are secondary hosts for this fish disease.” for a 2010 removal date. When PacifiCorp real- said, adding, “but we’ll see.”
The four dams provide no irrigation and ized updating the dams for environmental But this story is not just about the fish.
are unconnected to the upper Klamath’s irri- compliance would be more expensive than Restoring salmon, Jackson explained, is a way
gation crisis. They only produce hydroelectric removing them, the company agreed to talk. The of caring for elders and youth. “It reduces the
power. But new wind farms more than offset the first agreement set a target removal date of 2015. risk of diabetes, high blood pressure. It’s brain
amount of power the dams currently generate, That date slipped to 2020. Bureaucratic delays development food for our youth.
enough to power 70,000 homes, so their removal pushed it to 2021, then 2022, and now to 2023. If “We don’t manage for just the next genera-
will not affect the grid. it slips again, it could be too late. tion, but the next seven generations,” Jackson
“They’re not particularly good at making The dams’ titles first need to be transferred added.
electricity,” said Craig Tucker, the Karuk Tribe’s to new owners and then surrendered before Yurok tribal member Tenayah Norris, who is
natural resources policy consultant. There’s removal can begin, and both processes require raising two babies in a small community about
no economic reason to keep the dams, he said. FERC’s approval. In June, FERC approved title 60 miles inland, said she relies on the relation-
“There’s no argument that really holds water. No transfer from PacifiCorp to the Klamath River ship with the river: “We share emotions.” The
pun intended.” Renewal Corporation (KRRC), a nonprofit specif- Yurok officially recognized the personhood of
14 HIGH COUNTRY NEWSthe Klamath in 2019. Norris said it’s hard seeing SPOTLIGHT ON THE KLAMATH
the current conditions. “We still check it out, say
hi,” she said. “We’re helping these places when
we go there and show it love and clean it up.”
The Yurok Reservation is a food desert,
without any kind of supermarket, McCovey said,
so “to be able to go into your backyard and catch
one of the finest protein sources that exists in the
world is pretty special.”
The tribe needs 11,000 fish, minimum, to
feed its people. This year, they’ll get only about
6,500. “We’re keeping the fish on life support,”
said McCovey. “One of the main things we can
do is get those dams out and open up 400 more
miles of spawning habitat.”
McCovey believes there will still be fish in
2023. “Salmon are extremely resilient. They’ve
been through a lot, and they’re a lot stronger
than we think.” The current juvenile run is over,
but with temperatures rising and the dams still
in place, the salmon remain under threat.
Belchik agreed that they won’t disappear
overnight. “If you start getting below too low a
number of returning fish, individual tributar-
ies will start winking out. It’s not that we’ll lose
every salmon in the entire basin all at once.” But
the situation is dire. “If we have one more event,
then we’re really screwed here.” PERSPECTIVE
“If we keep putting in this effort,” said
McCovey, “the fish will see all we’re putting into
it, and they’ll see the love that we have.”
Salmon get attention because they’re iconic. The familial bond between the
“If we say we’re fixing this river for lamprey, no
one’s going to listen,” McCovey laughed. “It’s Klamath River and the Yurok people
just another way that the salmon are helping us.
They’ve kept us alive since the beginning of time, How a tribal community’s health is intimately connected to
and now here they are helping us again, restor- the health of the river.
ing an entire ecosystem because we’re using
their good name to get our message out there.” BY BROOK THOMPSON
He said the fish won’t remember the
upper tributaries, but they’re evolutionarily
programmed to find their way up them anyhow.
Salmon usually spawn where they were born, but FOR THOSE WHO LIVE on the Klamath water for salmon survival and ceremonies
about 5% wander into nearby waterways instead. River, its health reflects the people, position- might seem almost frivolous, a mere “want”
It’s how they repopulate rivers after other disas- ing us on the precipice of life or death. The compared to the “practical needs” of agricul-
ters, like volcano eruptions. McCovey has faith in Klamath is magical and meandering, a river ture. Most media coverage fails to express the
that 5% to come through and restore the salmon surrounded by towering redwoods and moun- implications of dam removal for Indigenous
population. “They never fail us,” he said. tains. But the controversy over its water has people.
“Everything is interconnected,” McCovey lasted for decades, and the big questions — I grew up on the Klamath in Northern Cali-
added. “We know this. And when you put a dam whether to remove four dams, who gets the fornia, a member of the Yurok Tribe, canning
in a river, you block that connection.” The dam’s water during drought years — often put farm- fish with my father and grandfather, pulling
less-studied impacts ripple out at least as far as ers and Natives at odds. Meanwhile, blue- in salmon and basking in the thought of doing
the orca, who also depend on salmon. Before green algae blooms make the river unsafe for what my ancestors did, thousands of years
European contact, McCovey said, the tribal swimming and spread deadly diseases among before me. But those days faded as the dams
people of the basin worked to maintain balance. fish. To outsiders, the tribes’ desire to have and drought took their toll. I was 7 during the
“And now we’re working on restoring balance.” 2002 fish kill, a day forever ingrained in my
Someday, he hopes, they’ll get back to main- Yurok tribal attorney Amy Bowers, a friend of the
mind — the eye-watering, nose-puckering
taining balance again. “We’re always going to be author, watches her gill net while fishing for salmon on stench of thousands of dead rotting salmon in
working towards that.” the Klamath River earlier this year. Brook Thompson (continued on page 20)
SEPTEMBER 2021 15HCN readers:
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16 HIGH COUNTRY NEWSKylie Mohr Brian Oaster Sarah Sax Theo Whitcomb Wufei Yu
and the intersection of environmental issues publication Counterbound. Born in Ashland,
with systemic structures. Oregon, and now living in Portland, Whitcomb
Dear
For intern Kylie Mohr (she/her), three is eager to cover natural resource politics in the
years in the greater Yellowstone region report- Klamath-Siskiyou region. “I want to challenge
ing for the Jackson Hole News&Guide catalyzed the harmful stereotypes about whose place this
Friends
her interest in Western landscapes. Mohr, who is, how land is supposed to be treated and how
grew up in Spokane, Washington, has since writ- we engage with each other.”
ten for National Geographic and Hakai Maga- A side benefit of this great program is that
zine and recently earned a master’s degree in sometimes we get to hire graduates; five current
environmental journalism at the University of staffers and three part-timers are former interns.
IT ’S A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL arrange- Montana. At HCN, Mohr wants to “be holistic This issue, we welcome Jessica Douglas, who
ment: In exchange for six months’ training as about the stories I get to write, mainly to help has just completed a year as an intern and fellow,
full-fledged members of our editorial team, people care about Western communities and as a staff writer for Indigenous Affairs. For the
HCN’s interns and fellows produce an astound- environments that are new or different to them.” next 10 months, she’ll fill in for Anna V. Smith,
ing array of stories. In many ways, this program She reports from Missoula. who just begun a prestigious Ted Scripps
— which has nurtured more than 240 individuals Indigenous Affairs desk intern Brian Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the
— is HCN’s secret sauce. As Executive Director Oaster (they/them), a citizen of the Choctaw University of Colorado. Smith isn’t just on holi-
Greg Hanscom says, “If all HCN ever did was its Nation of Oklahoma, has always been a story- day in Boulder, she assures us: “I will be taking
intern and fellow program, we’d still be making teller. Raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains and media theory and Indigenous studies classes
a great contribution.” Colorado’s Front Range, they were initially and working on a project to center Indigenous
We’re proud to help launch the next gener- attracted to animation, because “it brings voices within media, starting with sourcing!”
ation of service-minded journalists and now, together so many forms of art into a story-mak- We don’t just hire interns and fellows.
thanks to your contributions to our 50th Anni- ing bundle.” After graduating from the Rocky Outgoing staffer Laura Dixon came to us five
versary Campaign, we’ve expanded the program. Mountain College of Art and Design and spend- years ago with deep experience in nonprofits,
This summer, we welcomed three new interns ing several years wandering Cambodia and and she tackled every project we threw her way,
and two new fellows. Wufei Yu (he/him), our Costa Rica, Oaster settled in Portland and wrote from selling advertising and syndicating stories
newest Virginia Spencer Davis fellow, just about Indigenous issues for outlets like Indian to organizing board meetings and executing
completed his HCN internship in Albuquerque, Country Today. “While animation is very imagi- events, including our online 50th Anniversary
New Mexico. native,” Oaster said, “journalism is intellectually Celebration this past June. We will miss Laura,
Climate justice fellow Sarah Sax (she/ rigorous and allows me to participate in mean- but are thrilled that she’s enjoying her retire-
they) took a roundabout route to journalism. ingful change.” Oaster wants to spotlight colo- ment in her new hometown, Bend, Oregon.
Her post-college bike trip from Vancouver down nialism’s environmental consequences, while And we say hello to Shirley Tipton, who
the Pacific Coast ended unexpectedly in Santa helping Native people tell their own stories. takes over some of Laura’s duties with HCN’s
Cruz, California, with a knee injury. Eight years A Fulbright fellowship teaching English board of directors, while providing administra-
in academia followed, eventually leading to and creative writing at a community college tive support for Hanscom and our Paonia, Colo-
an environmental reporting job at VICE News in southeast India led intern Theo Whitcomb rado, office. Shirley, a former executive director
Tonight. Sax fell in love with journalism because (he/him) to journalism. Writing about how the of the Colorado Department of Higher Educa-
“it had everything academia didn’t. At its core, restoration of India’s Couum River is displacing tion, also served as a La Plata County (Colorado)
journalism is about trying to make information poor locals “really hooked me,” said Whitcomb, commissioner and successfully fought to regu-
accessible in a coherent way.” Sax, based in rural a 2019 graduate of the University of Redlands late the oil and gas industry. We remain amazed
Washington, aims to produce intriguing stories in California, who has written for Undark at the rich human constellation HCN attracts!
about climate justice, biodiversity conservation and The Baffler and co-founded the literary —Paul Larmer, for the staff
SEPTEMBER 2021 17You can also read
