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Continue Opposition to Tar Sands Pipelines (Keystone XL, Enbridge Northern Gateway)(excerted from http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com and http://www.350.org)On January 15, 2013, eighteen of the nation’s top climate scientists released a letter to President Obama today urging him to say no to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Back in autumn, the $7 billion Keystone XL Pipeline raised its controversial head on the eve of the first presidential debate.The pipeline would transect Native lands, primarily areas within original treaty boundaries, and it has been the subject of tribal dissent, including opposition from some Great Plains tribes and from the National Congress of American Indians.
Tom Poor Bear, Oglala Lakota vice president, stated on October 2 that the pipeline “has to be stopped at our treaty lands”. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution opposing the pipeline because it “involves accessing a 300-foot-wide corridor through unceded treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation” as represented in the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868. Other native advocates have called it a violation of prior and informed consent provisions of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.Of major concern to society at large is the exacerbation of climate change that the pipeline would enable.
What You Can Do1. Join Sierra Club, 350.org, and tens of thousands of Turtle Island citizens in Washington DC on Feb. 17
http://act.350.org/signup/presidentsday
2. Keep an eye on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which is in the approval/disapproval process and will become even more prominent as an end-run around Keystone XL in the face of successful Keystone protest. “We have great concern about Northern Gateway and tankers coming through our traditional waters,” Frank Brown, of Heiltsuk First Nation in Bella Bella, told Indian Country Today Media Network in January 2013.As hearings opened on January 14 in Vancouver, at least 1,000 protesters converged outside, rallying against the risks of Enbridge's proposal. First Nations and environmental speakers warned that a tanker accident or pipeline rupture would threaten the coastline, rivers and lands, and hurt those dependent on them. Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/01/25/enbridge-faces-rising-opposition-northern-gateway-pipeline-protests-arrests-147227
For More Information:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/10/03/keystone-xl-pipeline-faces-tribal-opposition-ahead-of-first-presidential-debate-137465#ixzz28xZNwvxY
Tom Poor Bear, Oglala Lakota vice president, stated on October 2 that the pipeline “has to be stopped at our treaty lands”. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution opposing the pipeline because it “involves accessing a 300-foot-wide corridor through unceded treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation” as represented in the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868. Other native advocates have called it a violation of prior and informed consent provisions of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.Of major concern to society at large is the exacerbation of climate change that the pipeline would enable.
What You Can Do1. Join Sierra Club, 350.org, and tens of thousands of Turtle Island citizens in Washington DC on Feb. 17
http://act.350.org/signup/presidentsday
2. Keep an eye on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which is in the approval/disapproval process and will become even more prominent as an end-run around Keystone XL in the face of successful Keystone protest. “We have great concern about Northern Gateway and tankers coming through our traditional waters,” Frank Brown, of Heiltsuk First Nation in Bella Bella, told Indian Country Today Media Network in January 2013.As hearings opened on January 14 in Vancouver, at least 1,000 protesters converged outside, rallying against the risks of Enbridge's proposal. First Nations and environmental speakers warned that a tanker accident or pipeline rupture would threaten the coastline, rivers and lands, and hurt those dependent on them. Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/01/25/enbridge-faces-rising-opposition-northern-gateway-pipeline-protests-arrests-147227
For More Information:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/10/03/keystone-xl-pipeline-faces-tribal-opposition-ahead-of-first-presidential-debate-137465#ixzz28xZNwvxY
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Hoopa raises concerns over low Klamath flows; Other agencies, tribe disagree
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After a record salmon year on the Klamath River, the Hoopa Valley Tribe is voicing concerns that low water flows this winter will harm the fish, especially the endangered coho salmon. Other Klamath agencies disagree, saying there was no choice, and proper study and precaution has been taken.
”If this is any indication of the (Bureau of Reclamation's) future water planning, I do not see how the salmon can recover,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Leonard Masten in a statement.
Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon, which feeds the Klamath River, is at an 18-year low. The lake provides water to Klamath basin farmers, wetlands, downstream reservoirs like Iron Gate, all while maintaining flows in the river itself. The Bureau of Reclamation manages flows coming out of Upper Klamath Lake, and said it has no choice but to hold back on water releases this winter. Bureau spokesman Kevin Moore said his agency consulted closely with the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure salmon go unaffected.
Both Hoopa and Karuk tribe representatives showed recent concern over how reduced flows will affect the record-breaking salmon season, mostly made up of chinook, and the river ecosystem on the whole. In a press release, the Hoopa tribe said the low levels violate Endangered Species Act flows for coho salmon. The two tribes also have conflicting opinions on how best to proceed this winter, given the less-than-optimal circumstances with a record-low lake.
At issue is a 2010 “biological opinion” by the National Marine Fisheries Service that stipulates a minimum flow level in the river to protect the coho. The opinion says flows for the next two months should not go below 1,300 cubic feet per second below Iron Gate Dam. The Bureau of Reclamation plans to run the flows at 1,000 CFS through December, which does not include added wintertime rain and runoff. One CFS equals 7.48 gallons per second.
Irma Lagomarsino, the National Marine Fisheries Service Northern California Office supervisor, said the 2010 biological opinion also has a term and condition allowing the Bureau of Reclamation and NMFS to drop flows below Iron Gate Dam to under 1,300 CFS, if certain conditions are met. She said both her agency and the BOR analyzed whether lowering flows would harm coho, and they determined it would not.
”We felt there are some situations where the flows could be lower,” she said.
Regina Chichizola, a spokeswoman for the Hoopa Tribe, said the tribe is especially concerned lower winter flows would have an acute effect so soon after such a prosperous salmon season. She highlighted the coho salmon as the largest potential victim.
”We have argued ecological collapse affects coho, specifically,” said Robert Franklin, a Hoopa senior hydrologist. “Baby coho are quite active this time of year. They need to be able to swim in and out of tributaries and up and down the river.”
The young coho leave the river in spring for the ocean. There, they spend one to three years before returning to spawn. Coho are about two feet long on average, and usually weigh seven to 11 pounds. They go from silver and dark blue hues while in the ocean, but turn bright red when they return to fresh water.
Chichizola said this is the second time flow agreements have been violated in the last two years. She said those actions give the river, “a continual air of lawlessness.”
'Rock-bottom levels'
A massive 2002 fish kill on the Klamath -- resulting in the death of more than 60,000 migrating Chinook salmon -- is mentioned in the Hoopa press release, and remains on some salmon advocates' minds. Chichizola and Franklin said the tribe is more concerned about dangerous, long-term effects on the fish and river, not a repeat of 2002.
”We're looking at trying to get above those rock-bottom levels,” Franklin said. He cited a late Thanksgiving-time run of Chinook that could also be affected by low flows.
The Bureau of Reclamation began releasing additional water on Aug. 15 from the Trinity River reservoir to supplement flows in the lower Klamath River. In an August Times-Standard story, Sarah Borok, and environmental scientist with Department of Fish and Game said the release has the water flowing at about 3,200 cubic feet per second. In 2002, when the fish kill occurred, the water was flowing at 1,800 cubic feet per second. Borok said fast water flows give the fish more room to avoid what she calls, “Kindergarten Syndrome.”
”When the water is running too slow, the fish will bunch in close together,” she said. “That is bad because if one of them is sick it increases the odds of them all getting sick.”
The Hoopa Tribe made their case in a recent letters to the National Marine Fisheries Service in Arcata and the Bureau of Reclamation, saying reduced flows would be “ecologically unsound,” and even illegal.
The Hoopa letter to the NMFS called the August Trinity release a “substantial investment in protecting this run against possible fish disease.”
”It seems illogical that this substantial federal investment would now be abandoned, leaving salmon to fend for themselves against unreasonably low winter flows that are scientifically known to be ecologically unacceptable.”
The letter continues, “Of all years, this is the worst possible year for reducing winter flows in the Klamath River ...”
Demanding winter flows a mistake?
Craig Tucker, a Klamath campaign coordinator for the Karuk tribe, said he has similar concerns as the Hoopa about the impacts of low-flow levels on salmon. He said the Hoopa Valley Tribe might be making a mistake in demanding more winter water.
”We're more concerned about low flows in spring,” he said. Strong spring flows are crucial, he said, especially in getting salmon juveniles flushed out of the system.
Tucker said he would rather temper flows now and fill up Upper Klamath Lake with plenty of water as an insurance policy for spring, in case of a dry winter.
”The problem is, you don't know whether you're going to have a wet winter or a dry winter,” he said. If flows are held back now, and it turns out to be a wetter than usual winter, Tucker said that's OK too. When the Upper Klamath Lake floods, that's healthy for downstream ecosystems.
Moore agreed. He said big releases mid-winter due to storms mimic a natural, undammed river, and are healthy for salmon. Moore questioned whether people would even notice a difference of 300 CFS down the river.
Tucker said it seems Upper Klamath Lake was mismanaged and overdrafted this year. Too much water went to other major interest groups like Klamath basin farmers, wetlands, and wildlife refuges. Moore had two explanations for the record-low lake levels. He said his department bases water deliveries to various groups off of a Natural Resources Conservation Service forecast, and that forecast was inaccurate this year. Last year's winter was particularly dry, he said, resulting in lake inflow being 76 percent of average.
He explained with a low lake, his department comes up against two competing environmental standards. On one side, they must keep flows high enough in the Klamath River to not place coho and other species in danger. Moore said the bureau also must keep enough water in the lake to mitigate any risk to two other fish species that live there -- the endangered shortnose and Lost River suckers.
”That's the whole struggle here,” Tucker said. “How you balance it all so everyone gets their needs met is unclear to me. But given the position we're in, I want to fill up that lake. We want to go along with that. If Hoopa got what they wanted, and we got a drought spring, everybody is going to be mad at Hoopa.”
Franklin, the Hoopa hydrologist, calls low spring flows an “unknown risk.” What he said he does know is that flows are too low right now, which needs to be addressed.
After an analysis, the National Marine Fisheries Service thought lower flows would both help refill Upper Klamath Lake, and help increase spring flows for coho, Lagomarsino said. She said her department also ensured lower flows would not affect coho in the short term this winter.
”I don't see it as a tradeoff,” between flows in winter or flows in spring, Lagomarsino said. “I don't see coho as even effected by this November-December period.”
She said 1,000 CFS is enough to provide “a lot of spawning habitat” for coho.
Whether decreased flows are eventually deemed ecologically harmful, a record salmon season has brought heightened awareness of flows and conditions on the Klamath.
“We've had this amazingly strong run of fish this year,” Tucker said. “I think we're trying to figure out what this means.”
Luke Ramseth can be reached at 441-0509 or lramseth@times-standard.com.
Native American tribes comprise a small percentage of the American population, but their lands can be found across the country in very different areas. Because of this spread, and native people’s dependence on the land, they are getting hit by every aspect of climate change much harder than the general population. One tribe in coastal Louisiana is experiencing rising sea levels encroaching on their islands, which soon will wash over burial grounds. At the same time, populations in Alaska are trying to adapt to faster glacial melt and changes to fishing areas.
Some tribes have had to relocate because of the impacts of climate change, whether to be closer to animals for food supply or find higher ground to escape flooding and storms. But moving an entire village is no easy task, and not every tribe can relocate due to reservation boundaries, a connection to the land, or lack of resources. Those tribes that cannot move will face more intense storms, wildfires, droughts and other weather events, causing significant damage that cannot be fully repaired due to lack of infrastructure. The high unemployment and poverty rates on reservations also make it difficult to finance any necessary repairs.
The great duration — thousands of years — tribes have inhabited certain lands allows them to immediately recognize changes in the ecosystem. Tribal leaders want more recognition at the federal level, as they believe their viewpoints could help the government develop appropriate measures to withstand climate change across the country.
Petition Letter, Chumash Wind Caves - Husahkiw.
Husahkiw’s Wind Caves houses a rare and magnificent auditory and geographical features, multi-pigment rock paintings, sacred springs and ceremonial sites held in sacred regard by Chumash peoples, past and present. The gun club activity is inconsistent with Cultural Traditional Properties and Forest Service visitor activity. We are under constant gunfire and the lead, arsenic, copper and other chemicals have turned this mountain into an industrial contamination site. www.change.org
The outbreak started in February. Migratory waterfowl heading south along the West Coast found the wetlands of northern California's Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge -- a major stopover point on the Pacific Flyway -- half dry. Nearly 2 million birds passed through the area as winter edged toward spring, many crowding into the remaining 15,000 marshy acres, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Such tight conditions are a playground for disease, and by March, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 birds had died of avian cholera -- the worst such outbreak the complex of refuges on the Oregon-California border, of which the Lower Klamath is a part, has seen in 10 to 15 years, according to the Oregonian: Snow geese were the main species affected, ... along with Ross' and white-fronted geese and northern pintail ducks, which arrived in unusually large numbers this year. ... Avian cholera strikes the refuges every year. (But) normally, said (Ron Cole, project leader for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex), the deaths are in the hundreds or low thousands.
Why the low water? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which controls the water sources for the Lower Klamath refuge, held it back in Upper Klamath Lake from December to mid-March, blaming the Klamath Basin's dry winter and what the Oregonian describes as "projections of dismal inflows." You see, the lake stores water for irrigators and endangered fish on the Klamath River, and in the pecking order for water in the Klamath River Basin, wildlife refuges are currently last in priority, behind fish, then tribes and then farmers.
It's a sad state of affairs for a basin that once contained 185,000 acres of shallow lakes and freshwater marshes. Thanks to BuRec, much of that was replumbed and drained over the last century to support agriculture and settlement; today, less than 25 percent the historic wetlands remain, and in dry years, they often go wanting.
Click the link below to read the rest of the article, use your back button to return to this page:
<http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/last-in-line>
Such tight conditions are a playground for disease, and by March, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 birds had died of avian cholera -- the worst such outbreak the complex of refuges on the Oregon-California border, of which the Lower Klamath is a part, has seen in 10 to 15 years, according to the Oregonian: Snow geese were the main species affected, ... along with Ross' and white-fronted geese and northern pintail ducks, which arrived in unusually large numbers this year. ... Avian cholera strikes the refuges every year. (But) normally, said (Ron Cole, project leader for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex), the deaths are in the hundreds or low thousands.
Why the low water? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which controls the water sources for the Lower Klamath refuge, held it back in Upper Klamath Lake from December to mid-March, blaming the Klamath Basin's dry winter and what the Oregonian describes as "projections of dismal inflows." You see, the lake stores water for irrigators and endangered fish on the Klamath River, and in the pecking order for water in the Klamath River Basin, wildlife refuges are currently last in priority, behind fish, then tribes and then farmers.
It's a sad state of affairs for a basin that once contained 185,000 acres of shallow lakes and freshwater marshes. Thanks to BuRec, much of that was replumbed and drained over the last century to support agriculture and settlement; today, less than 25 percent the historic wetlands remain, and in dry years, they often go wanting.
Click the link below to read the rest of the article, use your back button to return to this page:
<http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/last-in-line>
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Full Article at: http://news.opb.org/article/ceremonial_fisheries_culturally_important_to_nw_tribes/
Ceremonial Fisheries Culturally Important To NW Tribes
DALLESPORT, Wash. – Columbia River Indian tribes are keeping their ancient traditions alive in the coming weeks with ceremonies to open their spring fisheries. Predictions of strong salmon runs are giving the tribes extra reason to celebrate.
To get to the Dallesport Treaty Access Fishing Site, you have to drive through town and wind down a bumpy gravel road. Eventually you’ll end up on the banks of the Columbia River. This time of year the fishery is quiet – some sturgeon swim through the waters.
FULL STORY AT:
The Klamath River in Northern California was once one of the largest spawning grounds anywhere for wild salmon. The Klamath snakes along the California-Oregon border, but near its headwaters, there is a series of dams that prevent the fish from reaching their historic breeding grounds. In this Assignment 7 report we look into the plan for removing those obstacles.
Native Americans once fished salmon along the banks of the Klamath River as far north as Oregon.
Native Americans once fished salmon along the banks of the Klamath River as far north as Oregon.
American Indians more affected by climate change
By Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Posted: 08/29/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
FARMINGTON — American Indian tribes may be disproportionately affected by climate changes as compared to the general population, a National Wildlife Federation study found.
The study, released this month, found that American Indians and Alaska Natives in North America are more vulnerable to climate changes because they are more heavily dependent on natural resources and live closer to the land than does the general population.
"Extreme weather events can be very destructive for tribes, many of whom are already suffering from lack of resources to begin with," said Amanda Staudt, a senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. "Heat waves and droughts can exacerbate plant and wildlife mortality, heighten the risk of wildfires and habitat loss and compromise tribal lands."
Tribes depend on the land and natural resources to sustain economic, cultural and spiritual practices. They also face a relative lack of financial and technical resources needed to recover from extreme weather events, the study found.
"High rates of poverty and unemployment on reservations mean that tribes have limited resources to help their populations deal with weather and climate extremes, much less to adapt to a changing climate over the long term," the study states. "Because tribes are restricted by reservation boundaries, their attachment to the land and off-reservation treaty rights, moving to new areas to accommodate climate shifts is not a viable option."
Climate changes are defined as ecological shifts that can lead to weather extremes like severe drought and heat waves, wildfires and heavier rainfall and snowfall.
Locally, climate and weather changes have adversely affected individual residents on the Navajo Nation, and the population as a whole.
Ranchers who work a total of 350,000 acres of Navajo ranch land, located in New Mexico and Arizona, are struggling with drought conditions they say have stretched since 1978.
Ranchers across the Four Corners area are forced to sell their livestock earlier than usual this year because of the lack of precipitation, which ultimately means they are buying supplemental feed or losing money by selling scrawnier animals.
Although all ranchers in the Southwest are affected by one of the driest seasons in recent history, those on the Navajo Nation may be hit the hardest, said Vicki Atkinson, a brand inspector for the New Mexico Livestock Board. The reasons for that are limited resources and the isolated locations where ranchers are raising livestock.
"It's pretty normal to see livestock coming from the reservation that don't look good," said Atkinson, who is on hand every Monday at the Cow House in Kirtland, where she inspects livestock before they go to auction.
As many as 80 or 90 percent of all livestock that go through the Cow House come from ranchers on the various local American Indian reservations, Atkinson said. Ranchers have struggled with drought since 1995, she said.
"This year is especially bad," she said. "We have horses, cattle that are in critical condition, so people are selling earlier before they get too bad."
The Navajo Nation also experiences emergency weather conditions nearly every year when heavy snowfall in the winter or muddy conditions in the early spring mean residents in the most remote areas are stranded at home without passable roads or the resources to call for help.
"Power disruptions from storms, long dry spells and heavy floods can be difficult to recover from, especially for people who live close to the land and have limited economic resources," Garrit Voggesser, senior manager for the National Wildlife Federation Tribal Lands Program, said during a teleconference with journalists Aug. 3.
"Extreme weather events are destructive and recovery costs are great, which will further burden Indian tribes more than others due to their lack of infrastructure, capacity and financial support to address these challenges," he said.
Yet tribes exhibit significant resiliency and strength to meet those challenges, the study found.
"Indian tribes have an opportunity to build on their close connection to (the) land, traditions of sustainability and resilience to navigate a way for the changes of the coming decades," Voggesser said.
The National Wildlife Federation released the study in collaboration with the Tribal Lands Program, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, National Congress of American Indians, Native American Fish & Wildlife Society, National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Rights Fund and the University of Colorado Law School.
The study asks Congress to increase funding to allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to seek solutions.
It also stresses the need for the federal government to enforce tribal rights to natural and cultural resources and calls on tribes to use their sovereign authority to address climate change and plan appropriately.
"More than many other peoples, native peoples understand the importance of robust natural systems," Kim Gottschalk, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said during the teleconference. "All of us must act to prohibit the disproportionate harm to Native Americans brought on by climate change."
The study identifies these specific climate-related issues on tribal land:
Extreme droughts weaken trees. On the nation's 326 reservations, there are approximately 18.6 million forested acres. Droughts also lower water levels and impair agricultural productivity.
Water scarcity in the West further complicates tribes' unresolved water rights claims.
Because springs are warmer and summers drier, wildfires have increased four-fold since the mid-1980s, the fire season is 78 days longer and individual fires are 30 days longer.
Flooding from heavy rain, snowmelt, melting sea ice and rising sea levels destroys homes, building, and infrastructure and can increase diseases and parasites. Two U.S. General Accountability Office studies found that more than 200 Alaska Native villages were affected by flooding and erosion and 31 villages should consider relocating because of imminent threats. Yet recovery costs can be insurmountable for tribes.
Some areas like the upper Midwest and Northeast will see more record-breaking, intense snowstorms that can paralyze communities and damage homes and infrastructure.
Climate change is breaking down natural mechanisms that help wildlife and habitat survive weather variations. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has projected significant loss of stream habitat for trout and salmon.
Alysa Landry: