Klamath Tribes announce approval of historic agreement For more information, contact the Klamath Tribes negotiating team through Jeff Mitchell at 541-891-5971, Bud Ullman at 541-783-3081 or Chairman Kirk at 541-783-2219 ext. 100 On Saturday, February 2, Klamath Tribal members braved a major winter storm to attend an historic General Council meeting in Chiloquin, where they discussed and debated whether to approve the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA). At the end of the meeting, the General Council overwhelmingly voted to "Endorse and Support" the KBRA.
Klamath Tribal Chairman Joseph Kirk remarked, "What to do with the Restoration Agreement is perhaps the most important issue for the Klamath Tribes in decades. General Council’s decision to endorse the Agreement moves the Klamath Tribes and our partners one step closer to a more sustainable future based upon cooperation among neighbors.”
The KBRA is the outcome of more than 2 years of intense negotiations among long-time opponents in the Klamath Basin. A complex Agreement, the KBRA includes major programs to restore anadromous fish to the Upper Klamath Basin, restore river and lake habitats for fish, resolve legal battles over water between the Tribes and the Klamath Irrigation Project, and improve economic conditions for Tribes and irrigators.
Jeff Mitchell, Klamath Tribal Councilman, stated "The importance of this decision to the Klamath Tribes and the rest of the Basin cannot be overstated. It certainly demonstrates to all Basin residents that the Klamath Tribes are committed to a better future for all.”
The KBRA is structured around the central assumption that an agreement to remove the lower four Klamath River Dams will be reached with PacifiCorp. Parties to the KBRA are presently engaged in fast-paced, confidential negotiations with PacifiCorp to resolve this and related issues.
In addition, work remains to resolve legal battles over water in the Basin upstream of Upper Klamath Lake. Despite serious attempts, such resolution was not achieved in the KBRA, but the Agreement lays out a new strategy for these negotiations. Mitchell said “The Klamath Tribes are waiting for irrigators above the lake to join us in negotiations to resolve the conflicts over water. All of us share the same goal of having a stable and prosperous future, and we want to pursue that goal with our neighbors above the lake, just as we have already done with irrigators below the lake.”
Klamath Tribal
Councilman Will Hatcher called on other KBRA participants to move
quickly to approve the Agreement, because little time remains for the
present Administration, which has been supportive of the KBRA process.
Asked if the KBRA participants could get the rest of the job done this
year, Hatcher responded "Well, people were saying we would never reach
the kind of Agreement we now have in the KBRA, but we proved them
wrong. Time is of the essence, but I wouldn’t underestimate the power
of this diverse group to continue to achieve the impossible."
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