Battle for the Klamath in Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival

The documentary shows on February 3rd in the evening at the Havurah Sanctuary, 185 North Mountain Street, in Ashland, Oregon. For more info, call 541-592-4459.

Klamath Summit delayed to allow parties to negotiate

Interesting article about the ongoing negotiations between all the major players concerning removing the dams on the Klamath River. If the summit ever happens it should be an interesting event.

Battle for the Klamath on PBS station KRCB

It airs on November 19th at 10:30pm and will be on again in early 2007. Check the listings here.

Battle for the Klamath on PBS stations

Battle for the Klamath airs on PBS station KEET multiple times in November as part of their programming for American Indian Heritage Month. Other western regional PBS stations will be airing the documentary over the next few months. Check back for more info.

Battle for the Klamath in the Ocean Film Festival

The documentary will screen on September 24th in Savannah, GA as part of the Whose Water is it, Anyway? section of the festival.

Fish Fight Turns Bitter

More on yesterday's lack of action for northcoast fishermen and what the impact is.

No aid from White House for Klamath fishermen

The White House refuses to provide any aid to west coast salmon fishermen impacted by the partial closure of the salmon season. The head of NOAA apparently told west coast politicians that no aid would be forthcoming until at least next February - too late for many fishermen to save their boats and for many small coastal communities to escape serious economic consequences.

Questions About Salmon Are Directed Upstream

The practice of squelching government scientists by political appointees is commonplace now in this Administration. We've seen it with global warming, various EPA policies and now salmon issues in the west. I've run into it in Oregon, California and just a couple of weeks ago, in Florida (not about salmon, but other water issues).

Scientists are threatened with demotion, or reassignment to far less desirable posts if they're career employees, or dismissal if they're not. The amazing thing is, it's commonly known and accepted that this is happening and there is no outrage from the general public or the legislative branch. These scientists are working with public tax dollars on publicly supported projects and many times their work is smothered by political appointees with an agenda.

U.S. OKs Slashing Salmon Season

Could be the last straw for a lot of commercial fishermen on the northern California coast. Check out Zeke Grader's comment (he discusses some of these issues in the documentary) that the ruling is more like a 90 percent cut in the salmon season, rather than the 60 percent that NOAA fisheries claims.

Salmon fishermen protest cuts

Here's coverage of the fishermen rally in San Francisco last Monday from the Chronicle.

Califronia Congressman Mike Thompson (D) and Senators Feinstein (D) and Boxer (D) are introducing legislation to help the fishermen and provide long term support for the Klamath River. Without Republican support though, the legislation will go nowhere.

Salmon Rally in San Francisco

From Congressman Mike Thompson’s Office:

On Monday, April 24th, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-01) will be holding a salmon rally at 10:00 a.m. on Pier 47. The purpose of the rally is to bring attention to the salmon season off the coasts of California and Oregon, and to also roll-out a disaster assistance bill that is aimed to help the communities in need. Another aspect of the bill will have a conservation component to help restore and monitor the salmon of the Klamath River.

Bush Administration to Challenge Klamath Decision

The day after restrictions are put on the salmon fishing season, the Bush Adminstration decides to appeal the decision that mandates higher water flows to help endangered salmon on the Klamath River.

Another excellent article about trouble on the Klamath

From the San Francisco Chronicle.

Go to Streamscope for a video clip on last week's rally by fishermen from up and down the Pacific coast in Santa Rosa, CA. Another protest is scheduled for April 4th in Sacramento.

Commercial fishermen rally

Hard times for the Fort Bragg Fishing Fleet

A rally for commercial fishermen is scheduled for March 28th in Santa Rosa, California to "demand real solutions to salmon declines." The Pacific Fisheries Management Council meets at 7pm to hear public comments about the 2006 salmon season and the rally is intended to bring attention to the commercial fishermen up and down the west coast. This year's salmon season is in jeopardy because of declining fish runs in the Klamath River and a lot of fishermen could face financial ruin if the season is cancelled or cut short.

My hope is to cover the rally and post some video on the Streamscope site by the end of the week.

Media attention on Klamath salmon

Lots of media attention these days on the plight of salmon fishermen, both commercial and recreational, due to the possible closure of the salmon fishing season.

This editorial was in the San Francisco Chronicle today.

The KQED radio show Forum did a show on urban salmon fisheries last week.

This AP article is a good overview of the cause of the problem.

And there may be a story on the Newshour this week.

Salmon season start in limbo

The impact of the fish kill on the Klamath River and the subsequent low returns of spawning salmon to the river and its tributaries is going to hit commercial and recreational fishermen hard this year.

Here's the latest from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Watch the trailer for the documentary

Click here to see a clip from Battle for the Klamath.

Dire times for salmon fishermen

The fish aren't there. That seems to be the bottom line for the Northern California communities that depend on Klamath River salmon in 2006. It appears there may be no commercial salmon season at all this year, due in part to the 2002 fish kill and low water flows that have created a multitude of problems for spawning salmon on the Klamath River.

Read the full story by clicking on the title above.

Load the documentary trailer onto Itunes and your Ipod

Open Itunes, click on Advanced at the top, click on Subscribe to Podcast and type http://homepage.mac.com/veriscope/BFKIpod.xml in the box. Click on OK and it will load into your copy of Itunes.

The quality is pretty impressive for such a small screen.

Battle for the Klamath in Amsterdam Festival

Battle for the Klamath was accepted into the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam's Docs for Sale program as a rough cut. The film should be finished in the next month and then begin a festival run with an eye toward a television sale.


Watch the trailer from the film.

Court tosses Bush plan for Klamath water

A federal judge says the irrigation plan for farmers doesn't help threatened fish.

ESA bill passes in the House

A scene in the the documentary takes a look at a July 2004 anti-ESA demonstration in Klamath Falls, OR where proponents of this bill held a hearing and demonstration.

The bill to "revise" the Endangered Species Act passes the House, 229 to 193. The bill's main sponsor is Richard Pombo, (CA-R), from the central valley town of Tracy, a booming bedroom community over the Oakland Hills from the Bay Area. More on the bill from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30species.html?pagewanted=print

The legislation won't get through the Senate in its current form, but the negotiations (and probable weakening) of the ESA have begun. Count how many times the phrase "best available science" is used by proponents of this bill in the coming months. That's code for "gut the ESA."

Watch a clip from the documentary

Click here to see a clip from Battle for the Klamath.

The Republican War on Science

Republican War on Science

Chris Mooney's book,The Republican War on Science, has a chapter entitled "Fishy Science" that covers many of the issues that are in Battle for the Klamath. The effort to rewrite the Endangered Species Act, Mike Kelly's whistleblower case, and the 2002 fish kill are all there in a book that lays out the systemic undermining of the scientific community under the Bush Administration.

The fight over water and fish in the Klamath River is a small story in this overall war, but it has many elements that make it the perfect example of political power colliding with regional environmental interests. Check out the book and make your own judgement about Mooney's findings.

Farmers lose court battle in Klamath Basin

A big blow to farmers in the Klamath Basin. This decision stems from the 2001 water shutoff controversy.