A River Between Us

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For over a century along the Klamath River, injustice has reigned. Native tribes, there since time immemorial have had their human rights, their spiritual traditions, and their habitat trampled by settlers and industry. A River Between Us tells the story of the oldest and most bitterly disputed water war in the West today. The film's primary focus is the struggle for justice on the Klamath River, where forty years of bad blood between the local farmers, ranchers, Native Tribes, members of the Tea Party, state politicians and federal government have created one of this country's worst environmental crises. Most importantly, as part of the largest restoration project in American history, A River Between Us provides the solution to ending this generations-old conflict: in order to save a river, you must first heal a people.

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Main credits

Atkinson, Jason A. (film producer)
Atkinson, Jason A. (screenwriter)
Atkinson, Jason A. (host)
Martin, Jeff (film director)
Martin, Jeff (film producer)
Martin, Jeff (screenwriter)

Other credits

Director of photography, James E. Standridge; editing, J. Martin, Steve Felts, James E. Standridge; music, Sam Martin.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

water rights,resource management,river,rivers,Indigenous rights,Indigenous land,Indigenous history,conflict resolution,Klamath; "A River Between Us"; Green Planet Films

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♪ ♪Yurok Tribal Music,
female singing♪ ♪

00:00:56.625 --> 00:01:00.875
The Klamath is one of the great
rivers of, of, of the world.

00:01:00.875 --> 00:01:04.792
Um, it's still wild in most
respects.

00:01:04.792 --> 00:01:10.750
Obviously we've injured it
where we've put in dams and
oversubscribed it's water use,

00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:18.667
but I think it has the
potential, uh, to be recovered,
to be rehabilitated to once

00:01:18.667 --> 00:01:21.208
again be the great river that
it was.

00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:27.333
♪ ♪Yurok Tribal Music,
female singing cont.♪ ♪

00:01:27.333 --> 00:01:30.333
It's a treasure like our national
parks are a treasure.

00:01:30.333 --> 00:01:33.709
It's a treasure like our
national parks are a treasure.

00:01:33.709 --> 00:01:38.291
It's a treasure like our
constitution like the way we,

00:01:38.291 --> 00:01:42.375
you know, aspire to live and be
as a country.

00:01:43.375 --> 00:01:47.583
Americans should feel ownership
of the Klamath river.

00:01:47.583 --> 00:01:52.709
We want you to feel the same
way we do, that it's apart of
you

00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:56.792
and it's apart of America. It's
worth saving.

00:01:57.999 --> 00:02:02.999
Teddy Roosevelt probably said
it best: These places these
rivers belong to all of us.

00:02:02.999 --> 00:02:09.041
They're great jewels in the
crown of California, of
Oregon, of the United states,

00:02:09.041 --> 00:02:14.792
and we all have a stake in what
happens to them and the future
if those rivers.

00:02:16.208 --> 00:02:22.999
What you're seeing is the very
best of American democracy
where the Native Americans

00:02:22.999 --> 00:02:28.500
are getting together with the
farmers, getting together with
the fishermen,

00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:33.417
and creating a genuine dialogue.

00:02:33.417 --> 00:02:36.999
That's a model that has an
infinite number

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of application to different
situations in this country.

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I knew what was going on down
in the Klamath Basin; it was

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very devicive. It's, basically
so many demands on a
finite resource.

00:02:52.709 --> 00:02:59.999
And so what you want to do is
say I can actually resolve the
human side of this to

00:02:59.999 --> 00:03:03.250
getting opposing groups
together and the politics
around that,

00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:09.917
but what you're
really trying to do is give
rebirth to the river.

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♪♪Music♪♪

00:03:37.625 --> 00:03:43.083
Like so many rivers in our
country, the Klamath River
looks healthy but it isn't.

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It's been used to the limit
for the past hundred years

00:03:45.875 --> 00:03:50.667
resulting in crisis after
crisis for the people
who live here.

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It's to some extent the
story of the west.

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I mean, this is one of the big
Bureau of Reclamation projects

00:03:58.041 --> 00:04:03.250
which on the one hand brought
huge economic benefit to the
nation and provided water for

00:04:03.250 --> 00:04:09.041
irrigated agriculture, but, the
times changed and other values
were there so wildlife refuges

00:04:09.041 --> 00:04:13.917
were established and
hydroelectric dams were
established.
No one did anything wrong.

00:04:13.917 --> 00:04:17.917
These were decisions that all
made sense at the time that
they were made,

00:04:17.917 --> 00:04:24.000
but the problem is the over
allocated the basin and
created these bitter disputes.

00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.999
♪♪♪Music♪♪

00:04:26.999 --> 00:04:32.834
They were not here, neither were
the Coho.What about tribal
legend?Oh, screw the
tribal legends.

00:04:32.834 --> 00:04:37.625
What I'm trying to say Ma'am...
(Protest sounds)

00:04:37.625 --> 00:04:43.125
Anybody who's been seriously
involved in water issues in
this Basin has, for

00:04:43.125 --> 00:04:46.208
example, received death
threats.

00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:51.333
The water's been over promised
by the Federal Goverment for
years and years,

00:04:51.333 --> 00:04:55.834
and so you have all these
competing interests who
have fought forever.

00:04:55.834 --> 00:05:00.166
It's neighbor against neighbor
that really breaks my heart.

00:05:00.166 --> 00:05:09.083
I think with the water
shortage we have a lot of white
tape we have to go through.

00:05:09.083 --> 00:05:11.417
No more is it red tape.

00:05:11.417 --> 00:05:14.999
we say it's white tape.

00:05:15.208 --> 00:05:20.083
It's one of the largest rivers
in the western United States,
and yet the Klamath is

00:05:20.083 --> 00:05:25.125
barely known even by the people
who live in the two states
where it flows.

00:05:25.125 --> 00:05:29.625
It's hundreds of miles from
state capitols, and well over a
day's

00:05:29.625 --> 00:05:31.125
drive from big cities.

00:05:31.125 --> 00:05:33.333
It is home to very independent
people.

00:05:33.333 --> 00:05:38.834
Farm and ranch families have
now been here for generations,
and five unique tribes

00:05:38.834 --> 00:05:40.125
since time immemorial.

00:05:40.125 --> 00:05:44.083
The Klamath River is ground
zero to one of the most intense
debates surrounding

00:05:44.083 --> 00:05:49.959
conservation, agriculture, and
river restoration in our
country.

00:05:50.166 --> 00:05:53.750
Reduced snow in the mountains
have caused severe droughts,

00:05:53.750 --> 00:05:56.000
putting ways of life at risk.

00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.250
Providing stability and
restoring the Klamath

00:05:58.250 --> 00:06:01.000
is essential, and the people al
the river know that.

00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:05.083
With little help from their
representatives, citizen
leaders are crafting what could

00:06:05.083 --> 00:06:11.250
be the most significant
restoration project in history
in a way that could bring
people

00:06:11.250 --> 00:06:14.542
together who have been opposed
to one another for generations.

00:06:14.542 --> 00:06:20.542
By doing so there creating a
model for restoration efforts
around the world.

00:06:33.999 --> 00:06:36.999
I love this place.
I was raised here,

00:06:36.999 --> 00:06:42.625
trout fishing the head waters,
chasing salmon at the mouth,

00:06:42.625 --> 00:06:48.250
and right here in the home
riffle where my father and
grandfather taught me
to cast flies

00:06:48.250 --> 00:06:52.999
for steel head, like I'm
teaching my boy now.

00:06:52.999 --> 00:06:55.709
My idol was my grandfather,
Big Tom.

00:06:55.709 --> 00:07:00.999
He and his dad were here for
the birth of fly fishing for
steel head, and back then

00:07:00.999 --> 00:07:02.999
the Klamath was stacked with
fish.

00:07:02.999 --> 00:07:07.208
Now we steel head all day, and
we're happy for just a few
grabs.

00:07:07.208 --> 00:07:13.999
I grew up being told it was my
job to "Fix our river" and that
was a priority of mine

00:07:13.999 --> 00:07:18.250
for the fourteen years I served
in the Oregon legislature.

00:07:18.250 --> 00:07:20.000
That's my son.
I call him Pomp,

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:25.709
and he's been
taught to judge all other fish
by how they compare to

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the Klamath steel head.

00:07:26.999 --> 00:07:29.750
When Pomp was five, I took
him out of school to stand
next to

00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:35.291
two governors who would
sign a pair of agreements
called the KBRA and the KHSA,

00:07:35.291 --> 00:07:39.999
allowing California and Oregon
to take action on the Klamath.

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hasta la vista to the dams
and the Klamath River.

00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:49.667
State Senator Jason Atkinson,
who's vision of a free flowing

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Klamath river help inspire
these two agreements.

00:07:54.041 --> 00:07:56.999
Jason applause
thank you very,very much.

00:07:56.999 --> 00:08:00.625
Forty-two different
organizations compromised

00:08:00.625 --> 00:08:03.375
tribes, ranchers, farmers ,
the power company,

00:08:03.375 --> 00:08:09.458
and local leaders from the
entire length of the river.
applause applause

00:08:09.458 --> 00:08:10.333
That day we achieved something.

00:08:10.333 --> 00:08:15.250
Something most people
frustrated with politics
think is impossible.

00:08:15.250 --> 00:08:18.208
After signing we sent the
agreement on to Washington D.C.

00:08:18.208 --> 00:08:24.999
where it has stalled, a
political football in the
hands of partisan people
bent on control,

00:08:24.999 --> 00:08:29.542
whether from the
environmental left or the
political right, and while they

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toss it around the people and
my steel head suffer.

00:08:36.999 --> 00:08:37.999
Neighbors are at odds
with one another.

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Not everyone agrees with the
need to restore the river or
that there's even a problem,

00:08:43.333 --> 00:08:46.000
but all agree that the federal
government has failed.

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So I'm taking a break from
partisan politics and have gone
back to visit my friends on

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this river, people who
depend on it.

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These people are risking their
reputations and livelihoods to
learn about their

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neighbors, to find compromise,
to restore the Klamath.

00:09:02.625 --> 00:09:10.208
In a very divided country,
what they're showing us is
refreshing:

00:09:10.208 --> 00:09:12.041
if you first heal the people,

00:09:12.041 --> 00:09:14.667
they'll heal the river.

00:09:15.875 --> 00:09:20.250
River sounds ♪♪Music♪♪

00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:23.458
At mid river, living amongs the
ranchers and tribes,

00:09:23.458 --> 00:09:25.583
is a good friend of mine,
Bill Roberts.

00:09:25.583 --> 00:09:28.083
Bill knows these mountains and
people who live here.

00:09:28.083 --> 00:09:33.667
For forty years he's packed
mules in the Marble Mountains
on the Pacific Crest Trail

00:09:33.667 --> 00:09:37.417
and contemplates life
in this place.

00:09:37.417 --> 00:09:42.083
When it comes to fights like we
have on the Klamath, Bill
doesn't want to take sides

00:09:42.083 --> 00:09:46.333
between friends.
He takes the long view.

00:09:46.333 --> 00:09:48.125
What's wisdom?

00:09:48.125 --> 00:09:52.999
Huh...Well, wisdom is being
older than 25.

00:09:52.999 --> 00:09:56.208
♪♪♪Music♪♪♪♪

00:09:56.208 --> 00:10:01.375
It's seeing the big picture,
and if you're around one place
long enough you see the

00:10:01.375 --> 00:10:05.083
big picture, and if you're here
and there and here and there
you'll see what you see

00:10:05.083 --> 00:10:10.583
that day and you wont see the
big picture whether it's little
growing up to have

00:10:10.583 --> 00:10:13.208
little kids that grow up that
have little kids who grow up.

00:10:13.208 --> 00:10:17.999
Or whether its the mountains or
the woods or the river or
whatever.

00:10:17.999 --> 00:10:22.959
♪♪♪Music♪♪♪

00:10:22.959 --> 00:10:28.834
In the early days not long ago
when the Indians peopled the
land, neath a sky of

00:10:28.834 --> 00:10:33.583
blue the river ran through on
its way to the salt sea sand.

00:10:33.583 --> 00:10:37.458
Beaver valley the trappers
called it, took 3000 pelts the
first year.

00:10:37.458 --> 00:10:44.333
Then the miners came and the
army too. That's when the fort
was built.

00:10:46.166 --> 00:10:50.417
A trail was built to the ocean
to bring food,
supplies, and tools.

00:10:50.417 --> 00:10:52.250
From the coastal shore to the
Scott Valley floor,

00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:54.959
they brought it all in with
the mules.

00:10:54.959 --> 00:10:56.999
♪♪♪Music♪♪♪

00:10:56.999 --> 00:11:02.208
Miles and mountains, canvas and
leather, horses and mules and
an eye on the weather.

00:11:02.208 --> 00:11:05.291
The ranchers raised cattle and
horses and hay and hogs

00:11:05.291 --> 00:11:07.041
and sheep and cows
milked each day.

00:11:07.041 --> 00:11:09.959
There's meat on your table and
milk in your glass

00:11:09.959 --> 00:11:12.583
from them drinking the water
and eating the grass.

00:11:12.583 --> 00:11:15.500
♪♪♪Music♪♪♪

00:11:15.999 --> 00:11:17.625
Mules packed the salt to the
cows in the hills

00:11:17.625 --> 00:11:19.959
and all of the crews that
worked on the trails.

00:11:19.959 --> 00:11:22.417
So the cowboys and packers in
the good days of old

00:11:22.417 --> 00:11:27.709
when the mules all wore
diamonds while packing the gold.

00:11:30.709 --> 00:11:36.125
The summer sky is still a
clear blue, and the river still
runs to the sea.

00:11:36.125 --> 00:11:39.875
And mules are still packed in
those mountains so high.

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And there's still a few packers
like me.

00:11:46.709 --> 00:11:48.125
If you're going to understand
the Klamath,

00:11:48.125 --> 00:11:50.625
you're gonna put in some miles,
a lot of miles.

00:11:50.625 --> 00:11:57.999
It covers an area larger than
New Jersey, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut combined.

00:11:57.999 --> 00:12:03.166
The Upper basin, surrounding
Klamath Falls, is home to
cattle ranchers and farmers

00:12:03.166 --> 00:12:08.542
and is still home to it's
indigenous people,
the Klamath Tribes,

00:12:08.542 --> 00:12:11.333
in a town called Chiloquin.

00:12:11.999 --> 00:12:16.999
Siskiyou County in California
is larger than four eastern
states and straddles the

00:12:16.999 --> 00:12:19.458
divide of the upper and
lower river.

00:12:19.458 --> 00:12:23.917
It's home to the farming
community in Tule Lake.

00:12:23.917 --> 00:12:27.999
The Karuk and Hoopa live near
Orleans California ...

00:12:27.999 --> 00:12:30.999
near where the Trinity River
meets the Klamath.

00:12:30.999 --> 00:12:36.166
The Yurok Tribal home is Requa
on the Pacific coast among the
redwoods.

00:12:36.166 --> 00:12:43.834
These people, the tribes, the
farmers, the ranchers, the
small communities all depend

00:12:43.834 --> 00:12:46.917
on the water from this
enormous river,

00:12:46.917 --> 00:12:52.291
and to restore it they'll have to
undo a century of bad blood
and old history.

00:12:52.291 --> 00:12:56.041
To understand that history and
how it effects people today -

00:12:56.041 --> 00:12:59.999
you have to start in 1849
when the miners came.

00:12:59.999 --> 00:13:02.834
They found gold but also found
what was the third largest

00:13:02.834 --> 00:13:07.542
salmon run on the west coast.
The river ran thick with fish,

00:13:07.542 --> 00:13:13.208
native salmon, steel head,
chwam, trout, sturgeon,
and eels.

00:13:13.208 --> 00:13:19.542
Most of us only see fish in the
grocery store, and it's near
impossible to imagine how

00:13:19.542 --> 00:13:21.500
many fish there once were in
the Klamath.

00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:25.834
For thousands of years the trib
built their lives around an

00:13:25.834 --> 00:13:28.999
abundance of these fish and
wildlife along the river.

00:13:28.999 --> 00:13:35.333
In the late 1800's the role of
the Federal Government was
focused on taming native

00:13:35.333 --> 00:13:40.333
tribes and protecting settlers
as they expanded our country
into the region.

00:13:40.333 --> 00:13:47.291
Development along the river
started in the early 1900's:
farms and ranches in the

00:13:47.291 --> 00:13:55.667
upper basin, gold mining at mid
river, and logging from mid
river to the Pacific.

00:13:55.667 --> 00:13:59.999
In 1905 the federal government
created the Klamath Project,

00:13:59.999 --> 00:14:02.792
draining marshes to create
fertile farm land.

00:14:02.792 --> 00:14:08.417
Rivers were diverted, canals
were dug, and agricultural
runoff polluted the already

00:14:08.417 --> 00:14:11.999
phosphorus-rich water running
out of Klamath Lake.

00:14:11.999 --> 00:14:16.834
To protect the remaining
wetlands, in 1908 president
Theodore Roosevelt

00:14:16.834 --> 00:14:18.500
established the
Klamath Wildlife Refuge.

00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:24.458
Over eighty percent of all
migratory birds in the west
fly past the refuge.

00:14:24.458 --> 00:14:29.291
Following world wars one and
two, veterans were given
homesteads in the Klamath

00:14:29.291 --> 00:14:35.999
Project by lottery, and
promised an endless supply of
water for their new farms.

00:14:35.999 --> 00:14:41.999
Mining interests have been in
the mid river since the gold
rush in 1849.

00:14:41.999 --> 00:14:45.999
Prospectors came to Siskiyou
county and never left.

00:14:45.999 --> 00:14:48.834
Gold has been mined there
until just recently.

00:14:48.834 --> 00:14:53.125
During the world wars, ore
for munitions was mined
in the mountains.

00:14:53.125 --> 00:14:58.999
Water cannons melted whole
hillsides into the river,
destroying fish habitat.

00:14:58.999 --> 00:15:03.709
Where there are trees
there is a timber industry,
and the mountains

00:15:03.709 --> 00:15:06.166
surrounding the Klamath
were loaded.

00:15:06.166 --> 00:15:09.041
Trees were harvested by the
easiest means

00:15:09.041 --> 00:15:11.875
possible which means entire
forests were cleared.

00:15:11.875 --> 00:15:14.792
Soil form these clearings slid
into the streams

00:15:14.792 --> 00:15:17.999
salmon and steel head can't
spawn in mud.

00:15:17.999 --> 00:15:22.999
Before anyone points fingers at
our great grand parents,
reality is they didn't know

00:15:22.999 --> 00:15:26.709
the ultimate damage they
were doing to the river.

00:15:26.709 --> 00:15:29.500
They were focused on building a
country.

00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:36.542
From 1922 to 1962, four
hydro electric dams were built
in the river,

00:15:36.542 --> 00:15:39.999
cutting off migrating fish from
300 miles of habitat.

00:15:39.999 --> 00:15:44.000
Where there was once a flowing
river, now there are
stagnate lakes,

00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.458
producing warm and unhealthy
water for the river downstream.

00:15:50.792 --> 00:15:55.999
Complicating the story is a
cultural phenomenon in Siskiyou
county, It starts all the

00:15:55.999 --> 00:15:58.417
way back in WWI and WWII.

00:15:58.417 --> 00:16:02.792
Growing frustration with
distant, non responsive state
governments, and blatant

00:16:02.792 --> 00:16:07.166
profiteering at the expense of
river residence, resulted in a
movement to create a new

00:16:07.166 --> 00:16:15.208
state called the State of
Jefferson, and it was nearly
successful in 1941 but was

00:16:15.208 --> 00:16:18.208
stalled when the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor.

00:16:18.208 --> 00:16:22.999
The culture of the State of
Jefferson is alive and
well to this day.

00:16:22.999 --> 00:16:27.458
This enormous county and it's
fiercely independent citizens
represent the majority of

00:16:27.458 --> 00:16:32.417
the remaining opposition to
the restoration of
the Klamath River.

00:16:32.417 --> 00:16:36.458
In the 1950's the Klamath
Tribes lost,

00:16:36.458 --> 00:16:39.250
for pennies on the dollar,
their timber rich reservation.

00:16:39.250 --> 00:16:44.625
The federal government
terminated their nation in a
last ditch effort to assimilate

00:16:44.625 --> 00:16:47.083
Klamath Indians into American
society.

00:16:47.083 --> 00:16:52.000
Like poor people who win the
lottery, tribal members blew
through the cash while the

00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:58.250
new owners of the forest
harvested the trees and made
millions.

00:16:58.333 --> 00:17:03.208
1973 represents a dramatic
shift in the way Americans saw
the environment.

00:17:03.208 --> 00:17:08.125
President Richard Nixon lead
the passage of the Endangered
Species Act, and proponents

00:17:08.125 --> 00:17:12.208
of the environment were given
new legal muscle to protect
species.

00:17:12.208 --> 00:17:16.999
The first effect in the Basin
of the new law was the federal
government attempting to

00:17:16.999 --> 00:17:21.125
shut down the Yurok tribes gill
netting of salmon.

00:17:21.583 --> 00:17:26.208
We had to go ahead and put
a net out at least every night.

00:17:26.208 --> 00:17:30.041
Some sort of defiance and
exercise our sovereignty.

00:17:30.041 --> 00:17:33.667
So they closed the, uh, river
to indian fishing,

00:17:33.667 --> 00:17:37.166
the federal government did to
protect the resource, but we

00:17:37.166 --> 00:17:41.208
were the only ones who weren't
allowed to fish.The ocean sport

00:17:41.208 --> 00:17:45.166
and sport fishery were
full blown and the in river sport

00:17:45.166 --> 00:17:49.333
We actually fought 'em on the
river. Hand to hand sometimes.

00:17:49.333 --> 00:17:53.250
clubs whatever, fish clubs
against batons.

00:17:53.250 --> 00:18:01.417
they had bullet proof vests,
helmets with the visor, m16's,
and they were in large

00:18:01.417 --> 00:18:03.041
power boats and they were there
to save the salmon.

00:18:03.041 --> 00:18:12.959
Uh, we had wounded knee
veterans that helped, 1973,
that came to our, to help.

00:18:12.959 --> 00:18:16.208
I'm, I'm a wounded knee
veteran, 1973.

00:18:16.208 --> 00:18:22.834
So we would disable the US
enforcement officers boats by
putting rope or gill net up

00:18:22.834 --> 00:18:24.834
to their props and their jet
pumps.

00:18:24.834 --> 00:18:29.083
Where'd that get us?
Well, we defeated them.

00:18:29.083 --> 00:18:31.792
SO we reestablished

00:18:31.792 --> 00:18:35.083
our rights to gill net.

00:18:35.750 --> 00:18:41.667
In the 1980's forests were
closed to the timber industry
to save and endangered owl.

00:18:41.667 --> 00:18:47.667
Loggers lost their jobs,
protesters chained themselves
to trees, and lawsuits swarmed.

00:18:47.667 --> 00:18:52.792
The environmental battle lines
were drawn: you're either 100
percent on one side or

00:18:52.792 --> 00:18:54.667
you're 100 percent on the
other.

00:18:54.667 --> 00:18:59.959
People who could once agree on
environmental stewardship were
now arch enemies.

00:18:59.959 --> 00:19:06.583
The whole system fell apart in
2001 when, in a low snow year,
to save an endangered

00:19:06.583 --> 00:19:08.917
sucker fish in Klamath Lake,
the federal government

00:19:08.917 --> 00:19:13.000
shut off the water to the farme
and ranchers in the project.

00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.834
This touched off a brush
fire called The Bucket Brigade.

00:19:17.834 --> 00:19:22.583
Meant that there wasn't enough
water, somebody deemed, and
environmental opinion

00:19:22.583 --> 00:19:25.333
deemed, that there wasn't
enough water for farmers.

00:19:25.333 --> 00:19:33.458
There's no farms. Without farms,
the are no farmers. Without
farmers
there's no food.

00:19:33.458 --> 00:19:37.834
There were fifty buckets, each
with a state's name on it, and
people dipped it in the

00:19:37.834 --> 00:19:44.792
river and passed it up to the
irrigation canal as sort of a
symbolic gesture.

00:19:44.792 --> 00:19:49.333
While the sympathy of the
American public was with the
farmers, on the ground the

00:19:49.333 --> 00:19:53.834
reality was far worse than
people knew.

00:19:53.834 --> 00:19:57.166
That was truly a bankrupt year
a lot of people. .

00:19:57.166 --> 00:20:04.125
There were suicides, there were
bankruptcy, and the basin has
not been the same since.

00:20:04.125 --> 00:20:08.999
Kids moved away. The next
generation of farmers

00:20:08.999 --> 00:20:11.875
left because it seemed like
this was somewhat of a

00:20:11.875 --> 00:20:15.333
hopeless, there was a nail in
the coffin and there isn't many
left to put in it.

00:20:15.333 --> 00:20:22.333
It was a big deal, and if you
look at where we're at today, I
mean, you can trace it

00:20:22.333 --> 00:20:26.125
right back to that day.

00:20:31.959 --> 00:20:39.125
River Sounds

00:20:40.625 --> 00:20:47.999
♪♪♪Music♪♪♪♪

00:21:00.625 --> 00:21:04.999
The two centuries of settlers
were devastating to the tribes
through out America and

00:21:04.999 --> 00:21:06.875
to those along the
Klamath River.

00:21:06.875 --> 00:21:10.166
History for these people dates
time-in-memorial...

00:21:10.166 --> 00:21:12.999
Literally 1,000s of years...

00:21:13.542 --> 00:21:18.125
Their history...their religion...
their way of life...
all centered around their

00:21:18.125 --> 00:21:24.667
connection to this place...
and to their traditional ways
of providing.

00:21:25.208 --> 00:21:29.959
Understanding the native
people, how they've been
treated, and how the water,

00:21:29.959 --> 00:21:35.417
or lack of water, effects
them is essential
to healing this river.

00:21:35.999 --> 00:21:42.999
Sounds of the river.
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:21:43.999 --> 00:21:50.208
Native life on the lower
Klamath literally revolves
around the fall salmon harvest.

00:21:50.208 --> 00:21:53.834
I visited the town of Requa to
witness it.

00:21:54.333 --> 00:22:04.250
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:22:15.999 --> 00:22:18.999
Among the first people we met
were two sisters...

00:22:18.999 --> 00:22:20.834
fishing their families ancient
fishing spot.

00:22:20.834 --> 00:22:25.083
To my surprise...one of the
sisters is an environmental
justice attorney

00:22:25.083 --> 00:22:29.125
from Ashland Oregon - and she
was raised fully Yurok.

00:22:29.417 --> 00:22:31.458
See that hill right there and
that house right there?

00:22:31.458 --> 00:22:36.166
That's my grandma's house now,
but my great great grandfather
built that house, and

00:22:36.166 --> 00:22:41.875
right on cat rock right here
are our great great great
grandfather's initials cause

00:22:41.875 --> 00:22:43.999
that's one of our family's
fishing holes right there.

00:22:43.999 --> 00:22:48.875
My dad always says, is that:
these fish, we've been fishing
these exact fish for ever

00:22:48.875 --> 00:22:55.083
since Yurok people were here,
and so they have our DNA we
have their DNA; that's a way

00:22:55.083 --> 00:22:58.709
of saying that our family has
been here forever.

00:22:58.709 --> 00:23:03.583
It didn't take Amy long to
start in on the need for
justice on the river.

00:23:03.583 --> 00:23:09.500
We've got treaty rights,
executive order rights, that
say we have enough water to

00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:12.417
support this fishery, yet we
never get that.

00:23:12.417 --> 00:23:15.083
You know, in my opinion
everybody wants to eat salmon,
right?

00:23:15.083 --> 00:23:17.625
Everybody wants salmon and this
is where it comes from.

00:23:17.625 --> 00:23:20.792
If we don't have water we don't
have salmon.

00:23:21.583 --> 00:23:24.999
The water Amy is floating on is
warmer these days,

00:23:24.999 --> 00:23:26.999
polluted by the lakes behind
the dams.

00:23:26.999 --> 00:23:31.999
A healthy salmon run depends on
cold, clean water from the
whole system.

00:23:31.999 --> 00:23:38.291
Today the yurok are catching
fewer fish than they have in
generations.

00:23:39.250 --> 00:23:41.041
We are and aboriginal people.

00:23:41.041 --> 00:23:43.667
We have aboriginal territory.

00:23:43.667 --> 00:23:45.375
We have aboriginal rights.

00:23:45.375 --> 00:23:50.959
Um, importantly to the Klamath
river, that is our aboriginal
territory.

00:23:50.959 --> 00:23:56.583
We have always been in and
living on the banks of the
Klamath river.

00:23:56.583 --> 00:24:02.999
For Yurok people we view that
as a responsibility, so it's
not good enough just to

00:24:02.999 --> 00:24:08.999
be a user of the resource and
depend on the resource, we've
got a responsibility to

00:24:08.999 --> 00:24:11.375
protect and restore the
resource as well.

00:24:11.375 --> 00:24:17.333
That goes hand in hand with
being blessed by the Creator
with the location we're at

00:24:17.333 --> 00:24:21.667
and with, um, the bountiful
natural resources the

00:24:21.667 --> 00:24:23.959
Yurok people were given from
the beginning of time.

00:24:23.959 --> 00:24:29.834
The fishery is so important to
us and to who we are as a
people, to our spiritual

00:24:29.834 --> 00:24:34.542
well being, to our, you know,
to the health, our health.

00:24:34.542 --> 00:24:41.999
The Creator made, um, the
land, the water, and the
animals, and then they made the

00:24:41.999 --> 00:24:44.375
people and said, "This is all
here for you.

00:24:44.375 --> 00:24:50.625
These resources will provide
for you, but you have the
obligation of ensuring that you

00:24:50.625 --> 00:24:55.083
don't take too much so that
they can continue to live."

00:24:57.208 --> 00:25:05.291
♪♪♪Karuk Tribal song♪♪♪
Male singing

00:25:05.834 --> 00:25:09.583
2002 was another severe
drought year.

00:25:09.583 --> 00:25:15.125
After the farmer's water was
shut off the previous year,
Secretary of the Interior made

00:25:15.125 --> 00:25:18.291
sure the farmers got the water
they needed.

00:25:18.291 --> 00:25:21.999
Reduced water flows from the
Klamath and Trinity Rivers

00:25:21.999 --> 00:25:26.125
left the salmon to die in the
warm estuary.

00:25:27.792 --> 00:25:29.667
I was just thinking about the
fish kill.

00:25:29.667 --> 00:25:34.458
How that made us feel as a
people seeing that many fish.

00:25:34.458 --> 00:25:41.125
I mean, if you think twenty
miles and you think 80,000
fish, that's a lot of fish.

00:25:41.125 --> 00:25:42.959
There was really nothing we
could do, you know?

00:25:42.959 --> 00:25:52.709
It was so heart breaking to see
this and to know that this
disaster was entirely man made,

00:25:52.709 --> 00:25:56.375
and because it was
entirely man made it was
entirely preventable.

00:25:56.375 --> 00:26:01.458
I always say that it was a form
of ecocide, or ecogenocide
really, which is a way of

00:26:01.458 --> 00:26:09.999
saying: you kill the resource,
the natural resource, that a
group of people so heavily

00:26:09.999 --> 00:26:18.083
relies on for there survival
such that it's almost waging a
war against those people.

00:26:18.083 --> 00:26:19.875
Does that make sense?

00:26:19.875 --> 00:26:21.999
The thing I always compare it
to is the buffalo

00:26:21.999 --> 00:26:24.834
slaughters of the 1800's in
the, in the plains.

00:26:24.834 --> 00:26:29.999
You know, that was a time where
you had the Sioux people who
relied on the buffalo

00:26:29.999 --> 00:26:35.750
hunts that's what they did,
they were buffalo hunters and
everything about their life

00:26:35.750 --> 00:26:37.333
revolved around the buffalo
hunt.

00:26:37.333 --> 00:26:39.999
That's why they were nomadic.
When you killed the buffalo,

00:26:39.999 --> 00:26:42.000
the Sioux people had nothing
that they could live on.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.999
They couldn't do it anymore.
They couldn't be buffalo hunters,

00:26:44.999 --> 00:26:47.875
so they had to be
confined to a reservation.

00:26:47.875 --> 00:26:49.291
They had to start, you know,
farming.

00:26:49.291 --> 00:26:52.083
They had to figure out other
ways to feed their families.

00:26:52.083 --> 00:27:00.792
And so, here we were in 2002,
2002 and we are having,

00:27:00.792 --> 00:27:02.999
like, the same thing over
again, you know?

00:27:02.999 --> 00:27:09.458
Where, if that resource goes
away, we are no longer Yuroks.

00:27:09.917 --> 00:27:15.417
Every tribe, from the mouth in
California to the head waters
300 miles away in Oregon,

00:27:15.417 --> 00:27:26.625
and in fact tribes across
America, share a story of this
nature: loss, injustice,
indifference.

00:27:27.750 --> 00:27:31.375
This is, these are people that
negotiated in good faith with

00:27:31.375 --> 00:27:34.999
the Federal Government and
we blew them off.

00:27:34.999 --> 00:27:38.667
Uh, this is a people, in the
Klamath region,

00:27:38.667 --> 00:27:41.166
that had a reservation
that was taken away.

00:27:41.166 --> 00:27:44.709
They were a recognized tribe
and that tribal recognition was
taken away,

00:27:44.709 --> 00:27:46.291
so we have to do
something about that.

00:27:46.291 --> 00:27:53.041
It's not okay, and they're not,
uh, looking to go back to where
they were.

00:27:53.041 --> 00:27:54.875
They're looking to go forward.

00:27:54.875 --> 00:28:00.999
The Community that I live in,
I will very candidly say, we
have 150 years of bad

00:28:00.999 --> 00:28:05.166
baggage that we've got to deal
with. And it's the relationships

00:28:05.166 --> 00:28:08.750
that we have with the people that
were settlers coming in

00:28:08.750 --> 00:28:10.417
and the indigenous people
that were here.

00:28:10.417 --> 00:28:14.500
And then you can just take that
and take down into the Scott
and the Shasta and you

00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:18.125
look at the relationships that
people and the tensions they
have here.

00:28:18.125 --> 00:28:19.250
And you can go clear
to the coast.

00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:23.083
They have their culture yanked
out from beneath them.

00:28:23.083 --> 00:28:25.000
You know, what do you do about
that? I think there were

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.667
generations where, um, folks
decided well we need to act
like white

00:28:29.667 --> 00:28:32.375
folks cause the time of the
indian is over.

00:28:32.375 --> 00:28:35.083
There was some of that.
There was policies that came

00:28:35.083 --> 00:28:37.166
and sent peoples children to
boarding schools where they

00:28:37.166 --> 00:28:41.583
were punished, corporal
punishment, for speaking
their language.

00:28:41.583 --> 00:28:47.917
Um, ceremonies were practiced
at night to avoid, um, fish and
game wardens showing up

00:28:47.917 --> 00:28:49.083
and confiscating fish
and deer meat.

00:28:49.083 --> 00:28:59.083
My mom went to boarding school
like my grandfather did.
They were fluent.

00:28:59.083 --> 00:29:03.999
They new
this world inside and out.

00:29:03.999 --> 00:29:06.500
In two generation that was
stripped completely away.

00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:15.875
I was born into a world of
poverty with my traditional
knowledge stripped to the bone.

00:29:17.208 --> 00:29:22.291
I woke up in a society that
looked down upon me and beat me
down because I didn't have

00:29:22.291 --> 00:29:27.667
the right clothes; I didn't
talk the same way, and I didn't
act the same way.

00:29:27.667 --> 00:29:28.583
I've just seen it.

00:29:28.583 --> 00:29:34.375
I mean, I think theirs clearly
some racism that goes on, and I
don't, I don't like

00:29:34.375 --> 00:29:38.041
talking about it, to be honest
with you, because it is
uncomfortable, and I think that

00:29:38.041 --> 00:29:40.917
that's part of the problem, I
mean, I think probably more
people should talk about it.

00:29:40.917 --> 00:29:45.999
You know, I work in federal
indian law, so I work with
brown people all of the time,

00:29:45.999 --> 00:29:53.417
and there are lawyers who work
in my profession who don't
believe in racism.

00:29:53.417 --> 00:29:58.792
They think that racism is,
um, just another word for,

00:29:58.792 --> 00:30:03.959
you know, having some kind of
bias or disliking somebody.

00:30:03.959 --> 00:30:12.375
Um, but, I think to deny that
racism exists, in the context
of relations between Native

00:30:12.375 --> 00:30:22.166
Americans and white people, is
to deny a fundamental issue
that exists, that we need

00:30:22.166 --> 00:30:24.750
to address and acknowledge.

00:30:24.750 --> 00:30:29.709
Even if you just acknowledge
it and move on.

00:30:34.291 --> 00:30:44.000
♪♪♪Karuk tribal song♪♪♪
Male singing

00:31:06.291 --> 00:31:09.291
The focus of conflict on the
Klamath today,

00:31:09.291 --> 00:31:11.625
is the four main dams in the
Hydro Electric Project.

00:31:11.625 --> 00:31:15.417
Like thousands of dams across
the country, the practical life

00:31:15.417 --> 00:31:17.208
of these dams is nearing
the end.

00:31:17.208 --> 00:31:22.375
For many in the agricultural
community the dams represent
security for their way of

00:31:22.375 --> 00:31:24.999
life, and they're opposed to
their removal.

00:31:24.999 --> 00:31:30.375
For the tribes it's simple:
the dams are obsolete and it's
time to reclaim ancient

00:31:30.375 --> 00:31:34.959
spawning grounds up river,
fortifying salmon runs for

00:31:34.959 --> 00:31:36.291
future generations.

00:31:36.291 --> 00:31:42.709
What the dams create is
consistent problems not only
impeding fish passage up and

00:31:42.709 --> 00:31:47.792
down the river, or blocking
fish passage for that matter,
to habitat that would

00:31:47.792 --> 00:31:56.000
actually be helpful, but it
also, they effect water quality
and rearing habitat for the

00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:57.208
fish that do make it
up to spawn.

00:31:57.208 --> 00:32:02.750
When the dams were put in, uh,
between 1917 and 1964,

00:32:02.750 --> 00:32:04.792
it was our run of salmon that
were depleted.

00:32:04.792 --> 00:32:10.792
It was the Klamath Tribes
salmon and other native people
in the basin's fishery.

00:32:10.792 --> 00:32:16.583
And much of our reservation,
80%, was without electricity or
power, while four made

00:32:16.583 --> 00:32:20.166
power, generated power, in the
Klamath river.

00:32:20.166 --> 00:32:23.291
Dams have a reputation of
having clean energy and doing

00:32:23.291 --> 00:32:25.999
Dams have a reputation of
having clean energy and doing

00:32:25.999 --> 00:32:29.750
agriculture, and, in fact, these
dams they don't do any of that.

00:32:29.750 --> 00:32:32.542
These dams are useless.
They're old, they're useless

00:32:32.542 --> 00:32:36.625
and used as sort of an idea of
something more so than

00:32:36.625 --> 00:32:37.834
actually being for something.

00:32:37.834 --> 00:32:42.250
It represented to the
upper basin irigators security.

00:32:42.250 --> 00:32:48.458
The dams were in it is the way
it is, the way it was before,
and they could continue

00:32:48.458 --> 00:32:53.250
on the way they always
continue on, taking as much
as they wanted.

00:32:53.999 --> 00:32:58.208
Every year, late in the
summer, the river runs
low and warm.

00:32:58.208 --> 00:33:04.166
The lakes behind the dams turn
bright green with algae, and
county health departments

00:33:04.166 --> 00:33:06.166
tell people to stay
out of the river.

00:33:06.166 --> 00:33:12.959
The dams themselves right now,
they take nitrogen from the air
through the algae

00:33:12.959 --> 00:33:16.166
that grow in them, and so they
like pollution machines.

00:33:16.166 --> 00:33:17.999
Talk about water quality?

00:33:17.999 --> 00:33:22.792
Most dams, when they're taken
out, it's clean, clear water
above them.

00:33:22.792 --> 00:33:25.750
This isn't clean, clear water
that's up there.

00:33:25.750 --> 00:33:27.834
This is nasty water.

00:33:27.917 --> 00:33:29.166
Do they hurt the fish?

00:33:29.166 --> 00:33:29.999
Yes.

00:33:29.999 --> 00:33:33.208
I mean, do they make water
temperature higher?

00:33:33.208 --> 00:33:33.999
Yes.

00:33:33.999 --> 00:33:35.667
Do they have bacteria behind
them?

00:33:35.667 --> 00:33:36.625
Yes.

00:33:36.625 --> 00:33:39.041
It's been known since 2005 that
they're well over

00:33:39.041 --> 00:33:41.625
the World Health Organization
standard for toxic algae.

00:33:41.625 --> 00:33:44.999
Microcystis Aeruginosa, it'll
kill your dog; it'll dissolve
your liver.

00:33:44.999 --> 00:33:53.917
We get notices starting
usually in September, but, as
it turns out, it coincides

00:33:53.917 --> 00:33:55.333
with our world renewal
ceremony.

00:33:55.333 --> 00:33:58.999
The exact same time we need
to be in the river is the time

00:33:58.999 --> 00:34:01.750
that we get the notices saying
we can't.

00:34:01.750 --> 00:34:04.291
That's the part that, I think,
people don't understand.

00:34:04.291 --> 00:34:08.999
You talk to people they say,
"Well look at the river in
November or look at it in

00:34:08.999 --> 00:34:10.291
December it's fine.

00:34:10.291 --> 00:34:12.375
We don't need to be in it in
November and December.

00:34:12.375 --> 00:34:19.000
We need to be in it in
September and August and
October; that's when we can't
be in it.

00:34:23.667 --> 00:34:29.583
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:34:29.583 --> 00:34:33.333
Though the dams are the focus
of the debate on the Klamath
today, they are just a

00:34:33.333 --> 00:34:37.959
piece of a longer struggle over
who gets how much water.

00:34:37.959 --> 00:34:44.834
It's a war that intensified in
courtrooms and on street
corners for two decades.

00:34:45.333 --> 00:34:52.250
The debate up here is over
what has been a free resource
for a long time: water.

00:34:52.250 --> 00:34:57.542
The fact is there's too many
people that want too little
water.

00:34:57.542 --> 00:35:04.125
We took sub-marginal land that
no individual with common sense
would have created a

00:35:04.125 --> 00:35:09.834
farm on, and we created
agricultural interests
in that land.

00:35:09.834 --> 00:35:15.875
The Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals determined that the
tribes did have a priority

00:35:15.875 --> 00:35:18.999
water right, time immemorial
water right.

00:35:18.999 --> 00:35:21.834
The bottom line is the tribes w
come out first

00:35:21.834 --> 00:35:23.375
and then you would have to get
what was left.

00:35:23.375 --> 00:35:28.542
Tule Lake are in the Lost
River basin and are being dried
up systematically, on

00:35:28.542 --> 00:35:30.750
purpose in violation of the
ESA.

00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:35.166
We've been doing this for so
long, and we've been on
opposite ends of things.

00:35:35.166 --> 00:35:40.375
And every time you win one you
lose another.

00:35:40.375 --> 00:35:43.458
We're in a situation here
where we don't have

00:35:43.458 --> 00:35:45.917
carry over storage for
irrigation purposes.

00:35:45.917 --> 00:35:48.125
And it's always a perception
begins wars.

00:35:48.125 --> 00:35:53.709
And then the stronger you
become in what you feel the
water is for then the stronger

00:35:53.709 --> 00:35:55.875
the hate, and then the wars
begin.

00:35:55.875 --> 00:36:02.750
And then comes the idea of not
listening to one another.

00:36:07.542 --> 00:36:11.250
There is no easy answer to the
competing water interests on
the Klamath, but the

00:36:11.250 --> 00:36:17.083
bottom line is this: no party
has benefited from duking it
out in their own corner.

00:36:17.083 --> 00:36:23.625
After the twin disasters of
2001 and 2002, the stake
holders on the Klamath found

00:36:23.625 --> 00:36:25.333
themselves at a crossroads.

00:36:25.333 --> 00:36:30.375
A few battered soldiers began
looking for peace.

00:36:30.999 --> 00:36:35.834
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:36:35.834 --> 00:36:39.333
Up in the headwaters of the
Klamath...on the Williamson
River...there's a place

00:36:39.333 --> 00:36:45.917
called Yamsi Ranch - known for
it cattle, it's holistic
farming methods...and what may

00:36:45.917 --> 00:36:50.625
seem ironic -
Oregon's finest trout fishery.

00:36:50.625 --> 00:36:53.999
For centuries Yamsi was part of
Klamath tribal homeland.

00:36:53.999 --> 00:36:58.375
In recent years, the tribe has
sought an easement on local
ranch land, a simple

00:36:58.375 --> 00:37:03.083
settlement to ensure maximum
water flows and quality
downstream

00:37:03.083 --> 00:37:05.750
to protect their native fishery
and tribal ways.

00:37:05.750 --> 00:37:10.041
Yamsi has been owned and
operated by the hyde family for
nearly a century.

00:37:10.041 --> 00:37:16.917
Becky Hyde is married to Taylor
Hyde - her maiden name is
Hatfield - which to some in

00:37:16.917 --> 00:37:18.083
Oregon means royalty.

00:37:18.083 --> 00:37:23.417
You know, my husband's family,
we have a beautiful ranch
on the upper Williamson,

00:37:23.417 --> 00:37:26.583
but it belonged to other people
before we got here.

00:37:26.583 --> 00:37:31.166
And, I think there's a huge
discomfort in trying to,

00:37:31.166 --> 00:37:34.208
uh, for people to grapple with
that.

00:37:34.208 --> 00:37:36.166
Or, Or maybe they don't even
think about it.

00:37:36.166 --> 00:37:40.291
People don't even think about,
you know, what am I livin' on?

00:37:40.291 --> 00:37:42.208
Who's back am I livin' on?

00:37:42.208 --> 00:37:44.458
Like her famous cousin ...
Senator Mark Hatfield

00:37:44.458 --> 00:37:49.417
....Becky
naturally saw a need & hope for
settling differences

00:37:49.417 --> 00:37:53.542
between her family ranch and
the neighboring Klamath tribe.

00:37:53.542 --> 00:37:56.834
My husband's family had, we
created the first

00:37:56.834 --> 00:38:01.417
water settlement with tribes in
basin on Yamsi.

00:38:01.417 --> 00:38:09.000
It started because I was in
those meetings, hauling a
little baby around, creating

00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:13.999
relationships with tribal
people, kind of taking a fresh
perspective on it, but, at

00:38:13.999 --> 00:38:20.583
the end of the day, it came
down to my now eight three year
old, uh, you know, um,

00:38:20.583 --> 00:38:25.291
German mother in law, whose
lived on that ranch for her

00:38:25.291 --> 00:38:29.999
for most of her adult life,
agreeing to settle.

00:38:29.999 --> 00:38:33.959
When it all began, we had a
conflict, they said

00:38:33.959 --> 00:38:37.709
we had a conflict, that we had
to take care of.

00:38:37.709 --> 00:38:42.375
We didn't have such a positive
relationship with, uh, with uh,
the Gerda Hyde

00:38:42.375 --> 00:38:48.917
family, and, uh, over time, and
as we've been grappling with
these issues, in meetings

00:38:48.917 --> 00:38:53.000
and in field trips, we were
able to, uh, you know,

00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:55.083
at least explain where we're
coming from.

00:38:55.083 --> 00:38:57.500
And, what I've found, when you
get people together, uh, even
though you have, uh,

00:38:57.500 --> 00:39:03.375
maybe even a different world
view, or, uh, different
interests, and, uh, come from

00:39:03.375 --> 00:39:10.667
different perspectives,
different cultural views, uh,
we have a lot in common.

00:39:10.667 --> 00:39:18.166
And when we went and sat in
the tribal council, with them,
and, uh, we made a chart

00:39:18.166 --> 00:39:25.500
of what they wanted from us and
we put down what we wanted from
our ranch and when we

00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:26.999
looked at it it
was all the same.

00:39:26.999 --> 00:39:32.999
When that, when that was
signed, there wasn't a dry eye
in the room,

00:39:32.999 --> 00:39:36.542
and it wasn't about water.

00:39:36.542 --> 00:39:43.583
I mean, and, and then I feel
like the Klamath Tribes just
dropped like a blanket of

00:39:43.583 --> 00:39:46.083
Grace over our family.

00:39:46.083 --> 00:39:47.792
Really.

00:39:47.792 --> 00:39:52.208
And in a way what we did by
settling is we said,

00:39:52.208 --> 00:39:59.667
"Yeah, something here wasn't
right," you know.

00:39:59.667 --> 00:40:04.208
And, uh, that's one of the
things that I realized in terms
of my personal

00:40:04.208 --> 00:40:08.166
relationship with Gerda, the
more we talked, uh, the more we
shared, the more we

00:40:08.166 --> 00:40:14.208
realized we had may things in
common, so, uh, when that
happens there's, uh, it

00:40:14.208 --> 00:40:20.333
validates that, uh, you're a
part of things, uh, you have

00:40:20.333 --> 00:40:23.999
some valid perspectives, uh,
and it goes both ways.

00:40:23.999 --> 00:40:27.041
So, if you can get to that
point there's, uh, a foundation
to build from.

00:40:27.041 --> 00:40:34.083
So, and I've appreciated that
with Gerda and the Hydes.

00:40:35.875 --> 00:40:39.333
There wasn't any conflict, and
once we figured we didn't have
any

00:40:39.333 --> 00:40:47.208
conflict we settled our
so-called dispute which wasn't
really there.

00:40:53.333 --> 00:40:57.834
The Hydes making peace with
the Klamath tribes had a ripple
effect downstream.

00:40:57.834 --> 00:41:03.999
For the first time in a century
tribal members, farmers, and
some upper basin ranchers

00:41:03.999 --> 00:41:06.875
saw the need to start listening
to each other.

00:41:06.875 --> 00:41:11.875
There's a need to bring all
this together and to be able to
go in to a restaurant

00:41:11.875 --> 00:41:16.250
and to go into the cafe and go
to the fair and see

00:41:16.250 --> 00:41:19.083
friends and neighbors and not h
water divide us.

00:41:19.083 --> 00:41:24.250
For many years in the upper
basin you didn't have to care
what the Yurok tribe

00:41:24.250 --> 00:41:25.917
thought, or the Karuk tribe.

00:41:25.917 --> 00:41:32.917
Um, since, uh really the mid
nineties, but certainly 2001
when the water was shut off

00:41:32.917 --> 00:41:39.208
in the Klamath project, uh, we
do have to know what they're
thinking, we do have to be

00:41:39.208 --> 00:41:41.333
concerned about that community.

00:41:41.333 --> 00:41:45.875
One man at the center of
conflict was Karuk Tribal
leader Leaf Hillman.

00:41:45.875 --> 00:41:50.750
Even though he has been in the
water wars his whole life, he
had a change of heart.

00:41:50.750 --> 00:41:57.208
I wasn't in favor of, uh,
sitting down and talking with
irrigators.

00:41:57.208 --> 00:42:01.542
Um, because, um, I viewed
myself as about

00:42:01.542 --> 00:42:06.542
as far on the opposite polar
that you could get.

00:42:09.875 --> 00:42:14.041
In Orleans California, on the
lower river, I visited the
Hillman place.

00:42:14.041 --> 00:42:18.041
Leaf is raising his boys in the
traditions of the Karuk.

00:42:18.041 --> 00:42:21.999
In the same place his people
have been for thousands of
years.

00:42:21.999 --> 00:42:25.999
When I was twenty years old I
had never been to the upper
basin.

00:42:25.999 --> 00:42:33.250
Uh, I went, I made it to Happy
Camp when I was fourteen years
old, and that's only

00:42:33.250 --> 00:42:35.250
fifty miles up the road.

00:42:35.250 --> 00:42:39.583
So, I was born here in that bus
and I never left this place.

00:42:39.583 --> 00:42:43.999
It was not long ago that Leaf
saw the world as "us vs. them".

00:42:43.999 --> 00:42:49.458
When I was twenty years, well,
even when I was forty years
old, I had a little

00:42:49.458 --> 00:42:54.542
different mindset, but havin to
tempered my views a little bit.

00:42:54.542 --> 00:43:02.542
In order for us as Karuk
people, living in this part of
the world to, um, continue our

00:43:02.542 --> 00:43:08.291
existence here, you know, it
came a recognition that there
are outside influences.

00:43:08.291 --> 00:43:16.000
And, even though I've, sort of,
um, lived in my own little
bubble, here in this valley,

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:23.917
um, along this river, and, uh,
have resisted sorta getting
outside that bubble.

00:43:23.917 --> 00:43:27.291
I realized as the years have
went on that, um,

00:43:27.291 --> 00:43:32.000
we're influenced by things
outside this bubble.

00:43:37.709 --> 00:43:40.999
Colleague of mine, from, from
the Yurok tribe, said one day,
"You know, uh, I think

00:43:40.999 --> 00:43:48.083
that we, we have to, uh, sit
down, and um, talk to these
folks."

00:43:48.083 --> 00:43:55.041
So the next pivotpoint was that
Troy Fletcher then came up and
went to Tule Lake,

00:43:55.041 --> 00:44:01.999
uh where all the Klamath
Project farmers who had their
water shut off in 2001 live,

00:44:01.999 --> 00:44:09.875
and Troy Fletcher is the one
that said "cease fire on
the water wars".

00:44:09.875 --> 00:44:11.375
Let's work this out."

00:44:11.375 --> 00:44:16.875
And so Troy was one of the ones
was an advocate for, uh, let's
quit the media wars.

00:44:16.875 --> 00:44:22.625
Let's, let's quit the political
infighting and get to a place
where we have talks.

00:44:22.625 --> 00:44:28.750
We still had tension, but it
was finally to a realization
that what mutually what we

00:44:28.750 --> 00:44:33.875
were doing to each other was
not productive for either one
of our communities.

00:44:33.875 --> 00:44:36.959
And at the end of the day it
was apparent to me and I think
it became apparent to

00:44:36.959 --> 00:44:43.291
others that, um, Federal
Government, the United States
Congress, the administration,

00:44:43.291 --> 00:44:46.542
they're not going to be able to
solve our problems for us.

00:44:46.542 --> 00:44:52.959
Um, we're going to have to
solve the problems they created,
they created, but the best

00:44:52.959 --> 00:44:55.999
people to solve those problems
are The Yurok Tribe,

00:44:55.999 --> 00:45:03.917
Klamath Water Users Association
and others who are interested
in longer term stability.

00:45:10.959 --> 00:45:13.999
Troy wasn't the only person who
to change his mind.

00:45:13.999 --> 00:45:17.500
I think I looked at things,
the world pretty black and
white at one point in

00:45:17.500 --> 00:45:22.875
timeright and wrong, and my
views were right and everybody
else was wrong, right?

00:45:22.875 --> 00:45:28.709
Just outside Klamath Falls,in
Oregon, Greg Addington is
raising his family in the

00:45:28.709 --> 00:45:31.792
ways of his people,
on a small farm.

00:45:31.792 --> 00:45:37.500
My great grandfather
homesteaded in the Klamath
Project, um, lower Klamath Lake,

00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:39.917
and, uh, so there's, my family
a lot of history here.

00:45:39.917 --> 00:45:46.667
Wife and two kids, My wife
Monica now works out at Lost
River High School, uh, so she

00:45:46.667 --> 00:45:48.999
can keep an eye on my kids, is
my theory there.

00:45:48.999 --> 00:45:51.834
No, my daughter will be
a freshman this year,

00:45:51.834 --> 00:45:54.500
Sarah, and my son Reese is ten
years old.

00:45:54.500 --> 00:45:58.583
Lead by Greg, The Klamath
Water Users Association is
working with Troy and other

00:45:58.583 --> 00:46:04.000
Tribes to settle their
differences surrounding the
best uses for the Klamath River.

00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:08.917
Not all of Greg's neighbors
have taken kindly to his work
on the agreements.

00:46:08.917 --> 00:46:11.000
You know, my family's
wonderful and they're great

00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:13.709
and, uh, they've been nothing
but supportive.

00:46:13.709 --> 00:46:19.500
Um, but it is difficult and you
wonder what kind of things in
the community, you know,

00:46:19.500 --> 00:46:26.000
how do those things manifest
themselves with your kids, with
kids at school, with your

00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:29.500
wife at her work, do these
issues come up?

00:46:29.500 --> 00:46:30.875
And they do,
I mean they just do.

00:46:30.875 --> 00:46:34.250
The Klamath settlements have
severely divided his community.

00:46:34.250 --> 00:46:39.542
This is a good place it's a
good community, but there are
those that just want to

00:46:39.542 --> 00:46:42.417
villafy, uh, people that are
trying to,

00:46:42.417 --> 00:46:45.792
to make changes.
I'm tired of it.

00:46:45.792 --> 00:46:48.083
You talk about it at work.

00:46:48.083 --> 00:46:50.625
You talk about it at the
baseball game.

00:46:50.625 --> 00:46:52.750
You talk about it at the
football game.

00:46:52.750 --> 00:46:53.875
You talk about it at church.

00:46:53.875 --> 00:46:55.208
You talk about it in the
grocery store.

00:46:55.208 --> 00:46:57.458
It's a small community, and the
only time you don't talk about

00:46:57.458 --> 00:47:01.750
it is when you're at home but
even then people know where
you live, so.

00:47:01.750 --> 00:47:04.542
So, I don't know, I don't want
to accuse anybody of anything.

00:47:04.542 --> 00:47:08.667
It's just this feeling you get
of that's not the way it's
supposed to be.

00:47:08.667 --> 00:47:12.709
You hear it at the county fair
when your kids are trying to
sell their animals you

00:47:12.709 --> 00:47:16.542
sorta wonder, Jesus, is this
going to show up?

00:47:16.542 --> 00:47:19.750
Is anybody gonna buy
my kids steer?

00:47:19.750 --> 00:47:24.458
Of course the good guys in this
community they always step up
and they always do, but

00:47:24.458 --> 00:47:28.250
you hear things about, "Oh,
somebody said you shouldn't buy
that one.

00:47:28.250 --> 00:47:29.458
That's Addington's kid."

00:47:29.458 --> 00:47:32.999
Regardless of the personal
challenges, Greg's job is to

00:47:32.999 --> 00:47:35.041
make sure the farmers
have the water they need.

00:47:35.041 --> 00:47:40.208
The philosophical stuff has not
got us where we need to go.
We want to irrigate.

00:47:40.208 --> 00:47:41.542
We want to be here.
We want to farm.

00:47:41.542 --> 00:47:44.000
We want to raise crops and kids
and keep doing that,

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:46.999
and, um, they way
to do that is to

00:47:46.999 --> 00:47:49.458
talk to people and be
practical.

00:47:49.667 --> 00:47:54.750
Greg found a practical
partner, and friend, in
Troy Fletcher

00:47:54.750 --> 00:47:56.208
Greg Addington?

00:47:56.208 --> 00:47:57.667
He's a good guy.

00:47:57.667 --> 00:48:01.208
He's a moderate golfer.
Even if this doesn't make it,

00:48:01.208 --> 00:48:04.000
please clip that out and email
it to him.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:05.792
Laughter (Jason and crew)

00:48:05.792 --> 00:48:10.750
Well, the first time that Troy
and I ever played golf we were
still negotiating

00:48:10.750 --> 00:48:15.834
water stuff, and uh, we were a
little tentative, cause neither
one of us knew each

00:48:15.834 --> 00:48:21.792
other, but after the first hole
I suggested we play for a
thousand acre-feet a hole.

00:48:21.792 --> 00:48:29.792
Um, he didn't take that, but
Troy's gotten a lot better.

00:48:29.792 --> 00:48:36.542
I think the timing, uh, was
right when, I think, Greg and I
first met.

00:48:36.542 --> 00:48:42.166
I think the receptiveness on
all sides was ripe, as well
because

00:48:42.166 --> 00:48:43.709
all sides were tired of
fighting.

00:48:43.709 --> 00:48:46.166
And, pretty soon you end up
talking a little bit and you
find out

00:48:46.166 --> 00:48:50.583
he's got kids that play sports.
I 've got kids that play sports.

00:48:50.583 --> 00:48:52.999
I like to play golf. He likes
to play golf.

00:48:52.999 --> 00:48:54.999
He likes to fish.
I like to fish.

00:48:54.999 --> 00:48:59.999
The other thing we have in
common is, if you began to
know, um, the farming

00:48:59.999 --> 00:49:04.667
community, as I believe they
have begun to know us in the
tribal community, we're about

00:49:04.667 --> 00:49:10.000
family; we're about community;
we're about respect; we're
highly spiritual.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:13.959
Um, we care about where our kid
are at 2:00 am

00:49:13.959 --> 00:49:15.834
in the morning on Friday night,
or Saturday night.

00:49:15.834 --> 00:49:20.917
We want to see a future for our
children where our children can
continue to fish, can

00:49:20.917 --> 00:49:27.166
make a living, can fulfill
their responsibilities, um, to
the resource, and I know the

00:49:27.166 --> 00:49:34.542
farming community wants to have
future for their children as
well.

00:49:39.792 --> 00:49:43.542
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:49:43.542 --> 00:49:47.542
By taking risks to work with
one another the stake holders
and leaders along the

00:49:47.542 --> 00:49:53.208
river have made possible what
is becoming known as the
largest restoration project in

00:49:53.208 --> 00:49:55.999
our country and perhaps in the
world.

00:49:55.999 --> 00:50:02.166
People that were almost
literally at war with one
another have come together over

00:50:02.166 --> 00:50:05.625
a decade of conversation and
have become friends

00:50:05.625 --> 00:50:09.625
and neighbors and partners in
preserving this ecosystem.

00:50:09.625 --> 00:50:14.333
These efforts to resolve water
issues on the Klamath have
caught the attention of

00:50:14.333 --> 00:50:17.041
national leaders in the
conservation movement.

00:50:17.041 --> 00:50:22.667
Mike Sutton is the president of
the California Fish and Game
Commission.

00:50:22.667 --> 00:50:25.834
Mike Finley is a veteran of
large conservation efforts.

00:50:25.834 --> 00:50:30.000
While serving as the director
with the National Parks
Service, Mike oversaw the

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.458
restoration of both Yellowstone
and Everglades national parks.

00:50:34.458 --> 00:50:39.291
We had a great opportunity to
bring these leaders from both
California and Oregon to

00:50:39.291 --> 00:50:42.208
go hunt for trout on the
Klamath.

00:50:48.999 --> 00:50:52.208
The Klamath River Basin
stands to become the largest

00:50:52.208 --> 00:50:54.834
river restoration project in
United States history,

00:50:54.834 --> 00:50:58.917
bigger than the Everglades,
bigger than anything we've
attempted before.

00:50:58.917 --> 00:51:04.041
These river, I think, has the
potential to be rehabilitated

00:51:04.041 --> 00:51:06.208
and brought back
to it's majesty.

00:51:06.208 --> 00:51:14.417
It was one of the big three:
Columbia, Klamath, Sacramento,
and the opportunity is now

00:51:14.417 --> 00:51:18.875
to do the rehabilitation and do
the hard work

00:51:18.875 --> 00:51:22.709
bring the parties together and
restore this river.

00:51:22.709 --> 00:51:26.291
I really do think that if we
can succeed in

00:51:26.291 --> 00:51:30.999
the Klamath Basin,
we can succeed anywhere.

00:51:33.875 --> 00:51:39.500
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

00:51:39.500 --> 00:51:43.250
Johnathan Birdsong lives and
works in Washington D.C.

00:51:43.250 --> 00:51:46.125
He's a expert on western water
issues.

00:51:46.125 --> 00:51:48.291
He was raised in Siskiyou Count
and knows well

00:51:48.291 --> 00:51:52.458
the people and the opportunity
for our country.

00:51:52.458 --> 00:51:56.333
What's happening on the
Klamath River is a model on
which

00:51:56.333 --> 00:51:58.750
we can shape western water
policy. Why?

00:51:58.750 --> 00:52:01.041
Because you have two different
groups that have been opposed

00:52:01.041 --> 00:52:03.667
to one another for as
long as you can remember.

00:52:03.667 --> 00:52:08.500
2001, which is when you had the
water reduction for the farmers
in the upper Klamath Basin.

00:52:08.500 --> 00:52:12.291
2002 is when you had the fish
kill on the lower part of the
Klamath river.

00:52:12.291 --> 00:52:17.333
You would have never thought
those two parties would have
been able to work together.

00:52:17.333 --> 00:52:18.999
But, they've started to work
together.

00:52:18.999 --> 00:52:23.125
Not only have they started to
work together, they're arm in
arm on a revolutionary

00:52:23.125 --> 00:52:28.625
water agreement that will be
better for farmers, commercial
and recreational fishermen,

00:52:28.625 --> 00:52:32.583
tribes,
and the economy of the region.

00:52:33.250 --> 00:52:36.792
The true agreements we're
signing today do not completely

00:52:36.792 --> 00:52:38.709
put to rest this decades old
conflict.

00:52:38.709 --> 00:52:43.542
In my fourteen years as a
republican in the Oregon
legislature, I had the pleasure

00:52:43.542 --> 00:52:47.542
for eight of them to work with
democratic governor
Ted Kulingoski

00:52:47.542 --> 00:52:48.999
on the Klamath settlements.

00:52:48.999 --> 00:52:52.875
For Governor Ted, party was not
issue when collaborating

00:52:52.875 --> 00:52:55.000
on the environment or these
agreements.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:57.709
My point is, we are moving
forward.

00:52:57.709 --> 00:53:05.999
This capacity I think about a
river: as humans we do so many
things to 'em all in our

00:53:05.999 --> 00:53:09.875
own self interests, and they're
all centered around economics
generally.

00:53:09.875 --> 00:53:19.875
And it came to a head in about
2001, 2002 when there were
drought years.

00:53:19.875 --> 00:53:23.417
Of which, there are drought
years now in the basin,

00:53:23.417 --> 00:53:31.291
and we just can't do everything
we want to do with the
available water.

00:53:31.291 --> 00:53:34.250
This was a very important issue
to me.

00:53:34.250 --> 00:53:35.834
And it, it wasn't just about
that.

00:53:35.834 --> 00:53:41.208
It was more symbolic of us
being able to resolve a
difficult issue because

00:53:41.208 --> 00:53:45.999
a lot of people said,
"There is no answer,"
and I said, "That can't be.

00:53:45.999 --> 00:53:51.834
I know there has to be an
answer."And it was as difficult
as everybody said it was.

00:53:51.834 --> 00:53:54.999
Bringing forty-two often
opposed groups together to

00:53:54.999 --> 00:53:58.834
create a comprehensive
agreement is difficult, some

00:53:58.834 --> 00:54:04.458
would say impossible but
the time for agreement on the
Klamath had come.

00:54:04.458 --> 00:54:08.500
By building new relationships
the leaders on the Klamath
forged alliances that would

00:54:08.500 --> 00:54:15.458
make possible what is now
called the Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement or the
KBRA.

00:54:15.458 --> 00:54:22.458
Basically the KBRA is about
getting every drop of clean
clear water possible from the

00:54:22.458 --> 00:54:26.208
head waters down the system to
the ocean.

00:54:26.208 --> 00:54:32.625
For tribes it's all about dam
removal to open up habitat, and
the elimination of the

00:54:32.625 --> 00:54:35.583
warm, polluted water stored
behind the dams.

00:54:35.583 --> 00:54:39.999
We open up 300 hundred miles of
spawning habitat.

00:54:39.999 --> 00:54:43.999
There's no reason we couldn't
get three, four million fish
back in the river.

00:54:43.999 --> 00:54:47.959
What we're trying to
accomplish today is to get more
of our traditional food back in

00:54:47.959 --> 00:54:53.792
this river and to fix the river
so that all the communities in
the river can benefit

00:54:53.792 --> 00:54:55.625
from this extraordinary river.

00:54:55.625 --> 00:54:59.667
I mean, I think we can fix it
from the top to the bottom,one
of the few rivers in the

00:54:59.667 --> 00:55:00.709
world that we can do that.

00:55:00.709 --> 00:55:03.792
Farmers need a guaranteed
minimum of water

00:55:03.792 --> 00:55:07.166
and affordable power rates to
run their operations.

00:55:07.166 --> 00:55:12.250
If we can get some answers
that, that give security to the
farmers

00:55:12.250 --> 00:55:14.458
in this area to an amount of
water.

00:55:14.458 --> 00:55:16.999
Not everything they want but
an amount.

00:55:16.999 --> 00:55:20.959
We can all learn to farm as
long as we know what we're
farming with.

00:55:20.959 --> 00:55:25.375
If they can lock the power rate
at some rate.

00:55:25.375 --> 00:55:26.959
It doesn't have to be three
cents.

00:55:26.959 --> 00:55:33.583
It can be six or whatever, but
if we at least know what our
power rate is we can

00:55:33.583 --> 00:55:34.792
budget and learn how to farm
around it.

00:55:34.792 --> 00:55:40.458
I mean, on a normal year if we
just cut back fifteen percent,
maybe twenty percent,

00:55:40.458 --> 00:55:42.875
of the water we'd have enough
water for everybody.

00:55:42.875 --> 00:55:47.250
The linchpin in this agreement
the owner of the dams,
PacifiCorp.

00:55:47.250 --> 00:55:52.083
They're willing to support the
KBRA and remove the dams but
require liability

00:55:52.083 --> 00:55:55.166
protection from the risks
inherent in dam removal.

00:55:55.166 --> 00:56:00.667
To this end they crafted a
parallel agreement called the
Klamath Hydro Electric

00:56:00.667 --> 00:56:03.208
Settlement Agreement the KHSA.

00:56:03.208 --> 00:56:08.792
You know we set out to
license, to re license these
projects for many years, and

00:56:08.792 --> 00:56:13.999
hearing the public policy
preferences of Oregon and
California and the Federal

00:56:13.999 --> 00:56:20.999
Government, we shifted to,
really, to the Klamath Hydro
Electric Settlement Agreement.

00:56:20.999 --> 00:56:26.999
Uh, and where the possibility
of removing the dams is part of
the Klamath settlements.

00:56:26.999 --> 00:56:32.959
You know we're in a regulatory
process where, um, it was clear
that the federal

00:56:32.959 --> 00:56:38.417
agencies and the federal energy
regulatory commission was going
to require massive new

00:56:38.417 --> 00:56:41.625
construction, capitol
investment on fish ladders
there,

00:56:41.625 --> 00:56:50.333
at a very, very high price.
Uh, we also know that, uh, if
those dams were to come out,

00:56:50.333 --> 00:56:52.917
you know there's potential
liability associated with that.

00:56:52.917 --> 00:56:57.208
I think Pacificorp's position
has been, "Hey, if, if the
decision is you want to

00:56:57.208 --> 00:57:02.959
remove the dams, um, you know,
we don't necessarily agree with
that but if you're going

00:57:02.959 --> 00:57:05.999
to do it don't put us on the
hook if things go wrong.

00:57:05.999 --> 00:57:09.834
And it was the United States
who gave Pacificorp,

00:57:09.834 --> 00:57:13.417
Pacificorp's predecessor, the
permission to build them.

00:57:13.417 --> 00:57:19.250
So, uh, I think a series of bad
decisions by the United States
has put us in the

00:57:19.250 --> 00:57:23.250
predicament that we're in, and
I think it's the United State's
obligation and

00:57:23.250 --> 00:57:27.250
responsibility to do some
things to help get us out of
this situation.

00:57:27.250 --> 00:57:33.041
And I think providing liability
protection for Pacificorp is
one of those things.

00:57:41.875 --> 00:57:52.917
River Sounds

00:57:52.917 --> 00:57:57.375
Legislation as large and
comprehensive as the KBRA
is always going to

00:57:57.375 --> 00:58:01.959
draw opposition from deeply
entrenched interests.

00:58:01.959 --> 00:58:03.709
It's very easy to stop stuff.

00:58:03.709 --> 00:58:08.208
Our country is a country of
laws, and you can play with
those laws and stop stuff.

00:58:08.208 --> 00:58:13.208
And the people that oppose
this, with not too much in the
way of resource but with a

00:58:13.208 --> 00:58:16.667
lot of energy, and they're
bright capable,
committed people.

00:58:16.667 --> 00:58:19.083
They can, they can slow down
progress.

00:58:19.083 --> 00:58:23.667
Hardline people on the
environmental left take the
position that the Klamath river

00:58:23.667 --> 00:58:25.999
can not and should not
support agriculture.

00:58:25.999 --> 00:58:30.999
That like to revert what is
now highly producing
farmland back to wetlands.

00:58:30.999 --> 00:58:36.208
Well really, it isn't so much
water quantity from the upper
Klamath as it is water

00:58:36.208 --> 00:58:40.500
quality, and the marshes up
there were magnificent and the

00:58:40.500 --> 00:58:43.583
sky was black with ducks
and all the lakes
were full of fish.

00:58:43.583 --> 00:58:51.750
And now 80% of 350,000 acres of
lakes and wetlands in the upper
basin have been turned

00:58:51.750 --> 00:58:54.792
into industrial farms or at
least agricultural land.

00:58:54.792 --> 00:59:00.625
In order for us to have the
river be restored then we need
to have those marshes back

00:59:00.625 --> 00:59:05.041
because they are the water
storage and the water filter
system for the Klamath.

00:59:05.041 --> 00:59:09.417
And under the Klamath
settlement they will not be.

00:59:09.583 --> 00:59:12.999
It's a big family fight for
local people on
the political right.

00:59:12.999 --> 00:59:16.583
Three Klamath county
commissioners were recalled
and ousted for

00:59:16.583 --> 00:59:20.208
participating in and signing
the KBRA.

00:59:20.208 --> 00:59:24.333
Party loyalty and orthodoxy
rule even on a local level.

00:59:24.333 --> 00:59:28.041
These commissioners were
outflanked and easily defeated.

00:59:28.041 --> 00:59:32.041
John Elliot, Al Switzer,
Cheryl Hukill, the three county

00:59:32.041 --> 00:59:36.125
commissioners who, again, I say
stood up for the right thing

00:59:36.125 --> 00:59:39.375
That's what they did.
They looked at the big picture.

00:59:39.375 --> 00:59:41.917
I knew that was going to be
one of the most important

00:59:41.917 --> 00:59:46.291
decisions that I was going to
make within two or three months
of being office.

00:59:46.291 --> 00:59:53.625
We had a group of people who
were very vocal and spent tens
of thousands of dollars on

00:59:53.625 --> 00:59:57.500
those big yellow signs,
stop the dam scams and
all these things.

00:59:57.500 --> 01:00:02.458
And people who's knee-jerk
reaction is, "Well I like
dams," they forgot about all

01:00:02.458 --> 01:00:08.166
thee things that happened in
KBRA that were good: the,
the water to the farmers,

01:00:08.166 --> 01:00:14.333
the power rate caps, and all
they could think about was,
"I don't want those dams out."

01:00:14.333 --> 01:00:19.083
This is not a partisan issue.
It's just not. Farming,

01:00:19.083 --> 01:00:21.542
you know,fish,birds,farmers

01:00:21.542 --> 01:00:24.999
and communities which
is really what it is it's
communities.

01:00:24.999 --> 01:00:27.999
But the reality is the
opposition stems from fear.

01:00:27.999 --> 01:00:31.709
Fear that the environmental
interests from Federal and
state capitols and urban

01:00:31.709 --> 01:00:37.250
centers are hell bent on
destroying the way of life on
the farm in the rural west.

01:00:37.250 --> 01:00:43.875
Our fear with dam removal is
that there won't be enough
water in the river to

01:00:43.875 --> 01:00:48.999
support the fish when they come
back, that the people who use

01:00:48.999 --> 01:00:52.041
the river for irrigation
won't have that irrigation.

01:00:52.041 --> 01:00:57.417
The people that are farming and
ranching in the Scott and the
Shasta valley, they, the

01:00:57.417 --> 01:01:04.500
environmentalists the agencies
will say, "Gosh darn we don't
have enough water in the

01:01:04.500 --> 01:01:08.999
river, so you can't irrigate
and we're taking that water for
the river.

01:01:08.999 --> 01:01:12.917
People understand that we
shouldn't be destroying our
infrastructure.

01:01:12.917 --> 01:01:19.000
They understand that the
Klamath is a microcosm; it's a
test case; it's a crucible.

01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:24.875
There's only 124,000 people
live in the entire Klamath
Basin all the way to the coast.

01:01:24.875 --> 01:01:26.917
Who cares 124,000 people?

01:01:26.917 --> 01:01:29.041
We have two states. We have
five counties.

01:01:29.041 --> 01:01:32.583
We have indian tribes at the
mouth and indian tribes at the
head waters.

01:01:32.583 --> 01:01:36.750
We have endangered species in
the headwaters we have
endangered species in the
river.

01:01:36.750 --> 01:01:38.999
We've got everything for a test
case, and

01:01:38.999 --> 01:01:41.999
what this is about is taking
dams out of the river.

01:01:41.999 --> 01:01:46.250
When the passed senate bill 76
which provided the, that was in
2009, which provided

01:01:46.250 --> 01:01:51.417
the money, or the source of the
money to take the dams out of
the river.

01:01:51.417 --> 01:01:56.625
It was within minutes the
internet lit up with,

01:01:56.625 --> 01:02:02.125
"Yes Now were going after
the lower snake river dams."

01:02:02.125 --> 01:02:04.333
Senator Whitset makes
a great point.

01:02:04.333 --> 01:02:07.583
Our rural constituents
repeatedly face an onslaught of

01:02:07.583 --> 01:02:10.792
aggressive policies from
environmentalists far away.

01:02:10.792 --> 01:02:14.333
For these communities the
concern is simply dam removal

01:02:14.333 --> 01:02:18.792
anywhere is the beginning of
dam removal everywhere.

01:02:18.792 --> 01:02:24.959
Access to water for farmers
is everything, and dams
store water.

01:02:24.959 --> 01:02:32.125
Ironically, on the Klamath the
four dams in question store no
water for farmers at all,

01:02:32.125 --> 01:02:36.959
and while the slippery slope
argument stems from a
legitimate fear,

01:02:36.959 --> 01:02:39.999
it does not apply on the
Klamath.

01:02:41.208 --> 01:02:46.375
The slippery slope principle
for the Klamath is often times,
uh, compared to the

01:02:46.375 --> 01:02:50.834
dams on the Colombia Snake
River and they're vastly
different.

01:02:50.834 --> 01:02:54.834
The dams on the Klamath River
are privately owned and
operated.

01:02:54.834 --> 01:02:58.709
Most of the dams on the
Columbia Snake river are
publicly owned and operated.

01:02:58.709 --> 01:03:03.208
What's happening on the Klamath
is a business decision on
behalf of a private entity.

01:03:03.208 --> 01:03:07.999
What's happening on the
Klamath can hopefully be a
precedent for, you know,
solving

01:03:07.999 --> 01:03:11.999
natural resource conflicts on a
principled basis.

01:03:11.999 --> 01:03:16.458
It is not a precedent for how
all dams should be treated.

01:03:16.458 --> 01:03:23.208
Pacificorp has a lot of hydro
facilities and some we have
relicensed and, uh, others

01:03:23.208 --> 01:03:26.917
we have agreed to take out.

01:03:27.917 --> 01:03:29.834
Three of the four dams are in
Siskiyou county,

01:03:29.834 --> 01:03:33.542
the heart of the state of
Jefferson and the center of
opposition.

01:03:33.542 --> 01:03:38.999
There's a strong sentiment
down here of they don't want
the government telling them

01:03:38.999 --> 01:03:42.792
what to do, and they've dug
their heels in with these dams

01:03:42.792 --> 01:03:45.417
and there's a lot of
misinformation out there.

01:03:45.417 --> 01:03:48.999
You know, rational thought
doesn't always play into
discussions down here.

01:03:48.999 --> 01:03:53.999
What we're really looking at
here, this is more of that
United Nations stuff.

01:03:53.999 --> 01:03:58.999
What they want to do is remove
us away from these rural areas
and turn them into

01:03:58.999 --> 01:04:01.417
wildlands, take possession of
our water rights,

01:04:01.417 --> 01:04:05.959
take possession of our
propertiesand get us the
heck out of here.

01:04:05.959 --> 01:04:08.667
The dams actually improve
water quality.

01:04:08.667 --> 01:04:11.999
There's been studies shown that
the over all water quality is

01:04:11.999 --> 01:04:14.041
improved going through the
dams.

01:04:14.041 --> 01:04:17.417
I'll say this: beware because
this same issues that's an

01:04:17.417 --> 01:04:25.458
experiment here, and the
first in the United States,
will be coming to these
people home town.

01:04:25.458 --> 01:04:31.709
The details of the opposition
notwithstanding it's true that
nothing as large as the

01:04:31.709 --> 01:04:36.750
removal of the four Klamath
dams has ever been tried in
history.

01:04:36.750 --> 01:04:42.500
The sediment and the associated
impact downstream is a
legitimate concern.

01:04:42.500 --> 01:04:47.917
Since 2010 three dams have
been removed from rivers in the
north west: Gold Ray dam on

01:04:47.917 --> 01:04:53.083
the Rogue river in Oregon and
the Elwa and Condit dams in
Washington.

01:04:53.083 --> 01:04:57.542
With that many of the mysteries
about dam removal are
behind us,

01:04:57.542 --> 01:05:00.999
and addressing these concerns
is not new to Pacificorp.

01:05:00.999 --> 01:05:05.208
In 2012 they removed the
Condit Dam on the
White Salmon River.

01:05:05.208 --> 01:05:09.291
We punched a thirteen foot
diameter hole

01:05:09.291 --> 01:05:12.999
in the Condit Dam
on the White Salmon River,

01:05:12.999 --> 01:05:18.375
and let the reservoir drain
and then took that dam out.

01:05:26.667 --> 01:05:33.542
I was just up there with my
family about a month ago to see
how the restoration effort

01:05:33.542 --> 01:05:37.625
it's like that dam never
existed.

01:05:37.625 --> 01:05:41.709
It's been just two years since
Condit Dam came down.

01:05:41.709 --> 01:05:45.000
Like Pat I thought I'd see for
myself.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:50.999
PacifiCorps restoration along
the banks is spectacular.

01:05:52.041 --> 01:06:02.333
♪♪Lakota Tribal song♪♪
Male singing

01:06:25.625 --> 01:06:29.999
Nature has an extraordinary
ability to rejuvenate itself.

01:06:29.999 --> 01:06:35.959
Where dams have been removed in
the north west, the speed at
which native fish have

01:06:35.959 --> 01:06:38.834
retaken their ancient spawning
ground surpasses even

01:06:38.834 --> 01:06:43.999
the most optimistic expectation
restoration professionals.

01:06:47.999 --> 01:06:51.667
It has been five years since
the signing of the KBRA

01:06:51.667 --> 01:06:53.999
and it remains a
political football in D.C.

01:06:53.999 --> 01:06:57.667
It seems the systematic defeat
of three county commissioners
is having a chilling

01:06:57.667 --> 01:07:02.999
effect on my party in congress.
The federal piece of the
settlement has ground

01:07:02.999 --> 01:07:05.333
to a halt in the
House of Representatives.

01:07:05.333 --> 01:07:10.458
Seeing that, Oregon Senator Ron
Wyden has used his appointment
as the chairman of the

01:07:10.458 --> 01:07:13.999
Senate Natural Energy and
Natural Resources Committee to
help.

01:07:13.999 --> 01:07:17.583
He called all the players to
the Capitol.

01:07:17.583 --> 01:07:19.999
And we very much appreciate
everybody being here.

01:07:19.999 --> 01:07:24.834
The committee is holding this
round table to discuss what is
arguably the most

01:07:24.834 --> 01:07:32.834
challenging set of water
resource issues in our country,
and, of course, those issues

01:07:32.834 --> 01:07:36.999
are what the Klamath Basin is
all about.

01:07:36.999 --> 01:07:39.750
At the table were leading KBRA
opponents,

01:07:39.750 --> 01:07:43.458
including the newly elected
Klamath County commissioner.

01:07:43.458 --> 01:07:46.542
If you would, Mr. Mallams,
like you did in Klamath Falls,

01:07:46.542 --> 01:07:51.458
tell me what it means when you
say you're for most of the
agreement.

01:07:51.458 --> 01:07:55.917
I think the basis of the whole
agreement is that the parties
got together.

01:07:55.917 --> 01:07:59.000
That's where my biggest
optimism is.

01:07:59.000 --> 01:08:02.375
I'm trying to get us to talk
more specifically.

01:08:02.375 --> 01:08:04.999
Uh, I'd like to deffer to
Roger Nicholson,

01:08:04.999 --> 01:08:07.750
uh, he was involved intimately
that part of it.

01:08:07.750 --> 01:08:12.709
What was in the KBRA that you
and Mr. Mallams would like put
back?

01:08:12.709 --> 01:08:17.917
First, uh, senator, in our
Klamath Falls meeting
I said I could

01:08:17.917 --> 01:08:23.333
probably support fifty percent
not the majority of, uh, what
was in KBRA.

01:08:23.333 --> 01:08:28.999
I was quite certain and wrote
it down that you supported most
of it, but for

01:08:28.999 --> 01:08:29.709
purposes of government work...

01:08:29.709 --> 01:08:32.625
Try as they might in Washington
D.C. it would still be up to
the people

01:08:32.625 --> 01:08:39.083
of the basin to solve
the problem, and that's what
started in Merrill Oregon.

01:08:40.875 --> 01:08:46.542
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

01:08:46.542 --> 01:08:51.999
Here in the Klamath project,
potatoes are harvested like
this every October, and for

01:08:51.999 --> 01:08:54.999
three-quarters of a century,
when the crops are in,

01:08:54.999 --> 01:08:57.375
this community has gathered to
celebrate.

01:08:57.375 --> 01:09:01.999
♪♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪♪♪

01:09:01.999 --> 01:09:04.999
This is what I call small town
America, and this is

01:09:04.999 --> 01:09:10.583
the seventy sixth annual
Klamath Basin Potato festival.

01:09:10.583 --> 01:09:13.458
It's the great small town
parades, right?

01:09:13.458 --> 01:09:19.750
Plenty of semi trucks, fire
engines, and tractors.

01:09:19.750 --> 01:09:23.041
And horses.

01:09:30.333 --> 01:09:32.709
It is like a modern day
Thanksgiving.

01:09:32.709 --> 01:09:34.792
Yeah, there's all kinds of
stuff going on.

01:09:34.792 --> 01:09:35.500
There's football games going
on.

01:09:35.500 --> 01:09:40.041
You're going to see a lot of
potatoes, and you're gonna eat
potatoes, and there's a

01:09:40.041 --> 01:09:42.458
million ways you can eat a
potato, believe it or not.

01:09:42.458 --> 01:09:44.333
The community has always had a
free barbecue,

01:09:44.333 --> 01:09:47.250
and it's a big draw right?
Free lunch, it's a good lunch.

01:09:47.250 --> 01:09:54.999
I gotta tell you when we start
that parade and you have the
local fire trucks that

01:09:54.999 --> 01:10:00.709
are going down the road with
volunteers in 'em and they've
got everything spiffed up.

01:10:00.709 --> 01:10:03.291
And you have a grand marshal
who's been a friend of your

01:10:03.291 --> 01:10:10.333
family for, you know,
fifty years and you see
all those kids.

01:10:10.333 --> 01:10:11.417
It really makes you feel good.

01:10:11.417 --> 01:10:16.125
People throughout the basin,
and here in Merrill, are ready
for a solution to the

01:10:16.125 --> 01:10:19.458
old problems on the river,
including Steve Kandra.

01:10:19.458 --> 01:10:25.125
For years he was among the most
vocal and aggressive leaders in
the water wars.

01:10:25.125 --> 01:10:26.750
Then he had a transformation.

01:10:26.750 --> 01:10:32.500
Steve Kandra was at the point
of the spear on, you know,
pushing back,

01:10:32.500 --> 01:10:36.041
fighting the federal
government, legally
and otherwise.

01:10:36.041 --> 01:10:41.625
Steve showed up in the media
quite often, you know, so I had
a certain perspective

01:10:41.625 --> 01:10:44.999
about Steve and where he was on
issues.

01:10:44.999 --> 01:10:48.792
There's nothing under the sun
that hasn't been done before.

01:10:48.792 --> 01:10:53.999
It's just how stubborn we are
to listen and learn the lesson.

01:10:53.999 --> 01:10:59.999
I hope that what I've done is
I've learned that where I was
at twenty years ago,

01:10:59.999 --> 01:11:03.542
I guess I shared that I was a
symbol of conflict.

01:11:03.542 --> 01:11:07.875
Somebody told me, says, "You
are a symbol of conflict," and
I thought, well, I was

01:11:07.875 --> 01:11:11.583
leadership within a community,
point of the spear.

01:11:11.583 --> 01:11:14.999
And then when somebody from a
different perspective says
"you're the symbol of" you

01:11:14.999 --> 01:11:20.959
start thinking about, "Well
that's not what I want to be."
And so, how do you get to

01:11:20.959 --> 01:11:26.250
the other place where, uh, that
wasn't solving the pain

01:11:26.250 --> 01:11:29.166
in the communities or my
community for that fact.

01:11:29.166 --> 01:11:33.917
If I was very focused up that
wasn't solving the problem in
my community.

01:11:33.917 --> 01:11:37.917
There's this tension between
people, and I would say some of
these people like Steve

01:11:37.917 --> 01:11:44.250
Kandra or many of my farm
friends or some of my ranching
friends up here, who have

01:11:44.250 --> 01:11:47.750
kind of worked through their
own history in this place

01:11:47.750 --> 01:11:49.417
because there's a history
in this place.

01:11:49.417 --> 01:11:53.333
You sit in the pews and you're
sittin there and, you know what
do you pray for?

01:11:53.333 --> 01:11:58.999
Well, you know, I pray for
victory, or you pray for Troy
Fletcher, you know, I hope

01:11:58.999 --> 01:12:04.208
I can overcome him or I wish
he would, you know, get gout
worse, or something like that.

01:12:04.208 --> 01:12:07.000
Then you start thinking about
that's not the message

01:12:07.000 --> 01:12:08.709
because you are praying for the
wrong thing.

01:12:08.709 --> 01:12:12.250
You're praying for the pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow.

01:12:12.250 --> 01:12:15.291
You're not praying for the
right thing.

01:12:15.291 --> 01:12:19.709
And so, after a while you say,
well, ok

01:12:19.709 --> 01:12:23.125
I have to make peace with
neighbors." And its hard.

01:12:23.125 --> 01:12:30.083
So, Steve came to that
position and realized we had
quite a bit in common.

01:12:30.083 --> 01:12:32.917
And uh, you know, has changed
quite a bit.

01:12:32.917 --> 01:12:40.083
Steve's a, you know, another
guy that his involvement, he's
devoted so much of his time,

01:12:40.083 --> 01:12:42.333
just like Becky and others,
that, I think,

01:12:42.333 --> 01:12:45.875
as a result they get a bad rap.
I mean, cause they're out they're,

01:12:45.875 --> 01:12:50.999
um, they're trying to make
change, and people don't
like change.

01:12:50.999 --> 01:12:56.208
Yeah, I'm taking my lumps and I
know they're going to come and
I know all that stuff comes.

01:12:56.208 --> 01:12:57.166
I don't like it.

01:12:57.166 --> 01:12:57.999
I don't like it.

01:12:57.999 --> 01:13:02.709
I, I can't in good conscience
go back to that other place.

01:13:02.709 --> 01:13:04.583
I can't do it.

01:13:05.999 --> 01:13:07.625
Steve's wasn't the only change
of heart.

01:13:07.625 --> 01:13:11.083
Chairman Don Gentry saw the
Potato Festival as an
opportunity to reconcile his

01:13:11.083 --> 01:13:18.542
people with the project
farmers after the many years
of conflict and negotiation.

01:13:18.542 --> 01:13:21.917
Healing like this takes
courage.

01:13:21.917 --> 01:13:28.125
Because, you know, I expected
a lot of folks in the
ag community really didn't

01:13:28.125 --> 01:13:32.208
like us, so I had a certain
mind set. So when I was in
that parade

01:13:32.208 --> 01:13:36.999
and saw all the smiling faces
and people waving, and, uh,

01:13:36.999 --> 01:13:39.333
you know, uh, we were there to
represent the tribes, you know,

01:13:39.333 --> 01:13:43.125
young to old, my wife and
I older and the young people.

01:13:43.125 --> 01:13:45.667
Maybe they were won over by the
young people,

01:13:45.667 --> 01:13:48.999
you know, their smiles and
thought how wonderful that was.

01:13:48.999 --> 01:13:52.208
And I'll never forget, you
know, Don in the traditional

01:13:52.208 --> 01:13:56.458
dress with his wife in the
back of this pickup, waving and

01:13:56.458 --> 01:13:59.999
smiling because he's a happy
guy, he really is, and on

01:13:59.999 --> 01:14:06.458
the side of the pickup it says,
"The Klamath Tribes support
healthy agriculture."

01:14:06.458 --> 01:14:09.250
You Know it was just a
wonderful experience.

01:14:09.250 --> 01:14:12.291
Some of the folks that had been
really adversarial I went

01:14:12.291 --> 01:14:15.999
up and shook their hands and
talked to them, you know.

01:14:15.999 --> 01:14:20.125
Don's just one of the finest
men,period,that I've ever met.

01:14:20.125 --> 01:14:21.917
I mean he's just a good man.

01:14:21.917 --> 01:14:22.750
There's no more genuine guy.

01:14:22.750 --> 01:14:26.875
Whether you agree in his
heritage or your politics he's
just a genuine guy.

01:14:26.875 --> 01:14:30.999
You know, cause I think that's
just the best thing to do, be
honorable that way.

01:14:30.999 --> 01:14:35.166
You know they have a different
perspective, different point of
view, and, uh, that's

01:14:35.166 --> 01:14:41.667
the way I just, I believe, I
feel so deeply we're to love
our neighbor.

01:14:42.000 --> 01:14:51.999
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

01:14:51.999 --> 01:14:59.999
I started to think of the
Klamath Basin like I would my
own village, and I think

01:14:59.999 --> 01:15:04.625
that's when, you know we really
started to say, "Hey, you know,
if we're all in the

01:15:04.625 --> 01:15:07.959
same village, regardless of how
many hundreds of miles separate
us, if we all start

01:15:07.959 --> 01:15:14.166
acting like we're in the same
village." And so I thought if I
was having a problem with

01:15:14.166 --> 01:15:16.667
someone in my village, you know
if we weren't getting along,

01:15:16.667 --> 01:15:19.000
what would I do in that
circumstance?

01:15:19.000 --> 01:15:21.583
What would my grandma have me
do?

01:15:21.583 --> 01:15:23.959
And I would take fish and we'd
go eat.

01:15:23.959 --> 01:15:28.083
We'd sit down we'd come over
we'd have a dinner together.

01:15:28.083 --> 01:15:33.250
I knew they were having their
potato festival up in the upper

01:15:33.250 --> 01:15:35.417
basin, and, uh, felt
like, you know what?

01:15:35.417 --> 01:15:38.333
If they were my neighbors this
is what I'd do.

01:15:38.333 --> 01:15:40.917
I was scared at first.

01:15:40.917 --> 01:15:42.583
When we went up there it was
scary.

01:15:42.583 --> 01:15:45.041
I mean it's always scary when
we go to the upper basin.

01:15:45.041 --> 01:15:47.208
You know, you don't know how
things are going to be
received.

01:15:47.208 --> 01:15:49.999
You know, I'm going to invite a
bunch of Indians who we've been
fighting with to come

01:15:49.999 --> 01:15:53.583
up and cook salmon next to a
river that we've been fighting
over.

01:15:53.583 --> 01:15:55.500
And it was quite a spectacle.
And I think a lot of folks

01:15:55.500 --> 01:15:57.999
there didn't know what to
think.

01:15:57.999 --> 01:16:01.792
We got up there really early
in the morning, and there
wasn't a whole lot of people

01:16:01.792 --> 01:16:06.583
around, they were like giving
us weird looks, Right over here
the guys were, uh

01:16:06.583 --> 01:16:12.667
burying, um, a whole cow that
they were gonna, that they were
gonna roast, and we were

01:16:12.667 --> 01:16:15.834
starting our fire for our fish.

01:16:20.834 --> 01:16:25.917
We got our fish our and started
working it up to get it on the
sticks, and we got put

01:16:25.917 --> 01:16:29.125
in this corner by this sort of
dirty water,

01:16:29.125 --> 01:16:32.709
and were, we weren't, like,
shoved off or anything.

01:16:32.709 --> 01:16:36.917
We felt like we were at first
until we realized how people
started showing up and we

01:16:36.917 --> 01:16:40.959
realized we weren't in the
corner. We were in the middle of
everything.

01:16:40.959 --> 01:16:43.709
At first they thought we were u
there to sell our fish.

01:16:43.709 --> 01:16:45.999
And we said, "No that's not
what we're here for.

01:16:45.999 --> 01:16:49.291
We're here to cook fish and you
can have it."

01:16:49.291 --> 01:16:52.875
And you had people walking by
going what is going on here,
you know?

01:16:52.875 --> 01:16:56.417
Cause, again, these guys are
supposed to not like us, right?

01:16:56.417 --> 01:16:58.583
I mean what are they doing
here cooking salmon?

01:16:58.583 --> 01:17:01.750
We're here to share what we
have with you.

01:17:01.750 --> 01:17:02.999
This is what we fight for.

01:17:02.999 --> 01:17:05.250
This is the thing that keeps us
going.

01:17:05.250 --> 01:17:09.166
This is what's sustained us for
thousands of years, and in
order for you to really

01:17:09.166 --> 01:17:11.125
appreciate that you have to
have a piece of it.

01:17:11.125 --> 01:17:14.999
And so we're talking about you
came to my potato festival.

01:17:14.999 --> 01:17:15.750
They got a fish festival.

01:17:15.750 --> 01:17:18.375
I want to come to that. I wanna
see that.

01:17:18.375 --> 01:17:19.999
I'm not afraid to do that.

01:17:19.999 --> 01:17:23.999
And I want to tell you probably
twenty years ago I, I would,
woulda stayed away from

01:17:23.999 --> 01:17:25.999
that, but today I'm, I wanna go
see that.

01:17:25.999 --> 01:17:33.999
It takes a lot of courage,
think, for the tribes to come
up here to a conservative,

01:17:33.999 --> 01:17:39.709
rural, farming community after
all the stuff that's happened
here over the years.

01:17:39.709 --> 01:17:43.750
Um, and they show up here with
gifts.

01:17:43.750 --> 01:17:47.417
And its, uh, I don't think it's
lost on a lot of people.

01:17:47.417 --> 01:17:52.875
You know we just wanted them
to know that, uh, that we were
in the boat with them,

01:17:52.875 --> 01:17:56.542
that we were together. They
weren't our enemies.

01:17:56.542 --> 01:17:57.792
We didn't want them all dead.

01:17:57.792 --> 01:17:59.250
We didn't want them to leave
the basin.

01:17:59.250 --> 01:18:00.999
We understood where they were
coming from,

01:18:00.999 --> 01:18:04.333
and not only that but we're
willing to share what we have.

01:18:04.333 --> 01:18:10.250
It was really cool moment that
kind of felt like a big deal to
us.

01:18:10.250 --> 01:18:13.041
It felt like a big deal to us,
cause it kinda was a big deal.

01:18:13.041 --> 01:18:19.041
I mean, here we are doing our
fish and doing our traditional
thing in the middle of

01:18:19.041 --> 01:18:22.834
all these farmers and what we
felt like was going to be

01:18:22.834 --> 01:18:25.542
hostile, and it turned out that
it wasn't hostile at all.

01:18:25.542 --> 01:18:31.125
But once they started eating
fire roasted salmon you know a
lot of their negative

01:18:31.125 --> 01:18:34.500
feelings about fish and native
folks seemed to evaporate the

01:18:34.500 --> 01:18:37.041
more salmon they ate,
and, uh, that went both ways.

01:18:37.041 --> 01:18:41.583
And they were really happy to
talk to us, and they were
really excited to eat fish.

01:18:41.583 --> 01:18:47.333
And they brought us honey,
potatoes, and all these things
that they have up there.

01:18:47.333 --> 01:18:51.375
And they loved it and they came
back and uh, you know, they
asked us to come back

01:18:51.375 --> 01:18:57.999
every year and we'll keep going
back as long as uh we've have
salmon, salmon to take

01:18:57.999 --> 01:18:59.959
up there we'll take it up
there.

01:18:59.959 --> 01:19:05.999
We grow beef up here and
potatoes and we need water to
do that.

01:19:05.999 --> 01:19:12.959
They grow fish and they need
water to do that.

01:19:12.959 --> 01:19:17.999
♪♪♪MUSIC♪♪♪

01:19:23.542 --> 01:19:27.291
The relationships built and
alliances made on the Klamath
have brought restoration

01:19:27.291 --> 01:19:32.999
as close to reality as it's
ever been, but there was still
a missing piece until, on

01:19:32.999 --> 01:19:40.208
April 18th, 2014 when the upper
basin ranchers came together
with the Klamath Tribes to

01:19:40.208 --> 01:19:43.208
sign a historic water sharing
agreement.

01:19:43.208 --> 01:19:49.500
The people settling yet
another obstacle to restoring
the entire river.

01:19:49.500 --> 01:19:52.792
There's a phrase I like to use
often which is it's hard

01:19:52.792 --> 01:19:55.500
to let go of the from, if
you don't know what the to is.

01:19:55.500 --> 01:19:59.917
You cling on to what you know
because you don't know what the
future looks like and

01:19:59.917 --> 01:20:01.792
this group has redefined what
the future

01:20:01.792 --> 01:20:05.208
looks like in a way where
everyone can see themselves in
this picture.

01:20:05.208 --> 01:20:10.083
So with today's agreement
along with the KBRA and the
KHSA, we have the tools to

01:20:10.083 --> 01:20:15.999
restore the basin, to sustain
the farming and ranching
heritage form the headwaters of

01:20:15.999 --> 01:20:18.458
the Klamath right out to the
pacific ocean.

01:20:18.458 --> 01:20:22.709
We're hear to celebrate a
truly precious thing, and I
don't mean just the water that

01:20:22.709 --> 01:20:27.625
flows behind us here that's so
important to everyone in the
basin, but also, and just

01:20:27.625 --> 01:20:32.625
as importantly, the deeply held
conviction that there is much
more to be gained by

01:20:32.625 --> 01:20:37.083
working with one another, by
listening and hearing one
another, by seeking common

01:20:37.083 --> 01:20:42.208
ground and common solutions
rather than simply retreating
to well worn corners and

01:20:42.208 --> 01:20:45.166
throwing rocks at one another.

01:20:47.667 --> 01:20:51.917
That this celebration today
strikes a very personal note
with me.

01:20:51.917 --> 01:21:00.834
April 13, 2001 I was at the
fair grounds with thousands of
you I remember the anger,

01:21:00.834 --> 01:21:06.291
the bitterness, the
frustration, the despair, it
was one of the most painful

01:21:06.291 --> 01:21:09.834
experiences of my life but
also one of the saddest.

01:21:09.834 --> 01:21:15.583
And I have been humbled to have
been able to participate in a
process where I watched

01:21:15.583 --> 01:21:18.500
the people of this basin decide
that the future

01:21:18.500 --> 01:21:20.583
does not have to be dictated by
the past.

01:21:20.583 --> 01:21:25.667
And to teach us all that we
don't have to be guided by
false choices.

01:21:25.667 --> 01:21:29.375
And the fact that we can rebuild
community from conflict.

01:21:29.375 --> 01:21:34.959
And so to what you have done
today and for the lessons that
you have taught all of us,

01:21:34.959 --> 01:21:40.166
and hopefully our children for
generations beyond, I thank you
and I am deeply honored

01:21:40.166 --> 01:21:44.583
to stand here with you today.

01:21:44.583 --> 01:21:46.875
applause

01:21:46.875 --> 01:21:51.166
With the agreement in the
Upper Basin, there is again new
hope for the river.

01:21:51.166 --> 01:21:56.417
Now it is time for Congress to
get on the right side of
history, or, with a stroke of a

01:21:56.417 --> 01:21:58.999
pen the President can guarantee
water for farmers

01:21:58.999 --> 01:22:04.583
and finish the largest
conservation project in
American history.

01:22:05.125 --> 01:22:09.792
I think the only way we're
going to make progress on
conservation issues today, or

01:22:09.792 --> 01:22:12.000
restoration issues like the
Klamath Basin, is to work

01:22:12.000 --> 01:22:18.250
together and to reach across
the isle to people who wouldn't
ordinarily sit down with, and

01:22:18.250 --> 01:22:22.999
where we have seen that done,
we have seen extraordinary
results.

01:22:22.999 --> 01:22:28.999
I think the Klamath River,
hopefully, will be a model, uh,
for how we can go out and

01:22:28.999 --> 01:22:33.125
deal with other comparable or
similar resources.

01:22:33.125 --> 01:22:37.417
The model of how you've been
able to pull people

01:22:37.417 --> 01:22:40.999
together and create a genuine
dialogue.

01:22:40.999 --> 01:22:45.208
That's a model that has an
infinite amount of

01:22:45.208 --> 01:22:48.750
application to different
situations in this country.

01:22:49.083 --> 01:22:54.875
What has happened here, in
Oregon, will resonate in every
part of this country

01:22:54.875 --> 01:23:00.875
because there are tough
decisions to be made this was
not easy out here, to do this,

01:23:00.875 --> 01:23:06.291
and I think a lot of people
think that some of these issues
are just unsolvable,

01:23:06.291 --> 01:23:11.999
there's just, there's nothing
we can do about it. We can.

01:23:13.999 --> 01:23:21.125
♪♪Yurok Tribal Song♪♪
Female singing

01:23:21.125 --> 01:23:26.834
The Klamath River matters to me
because it is my church.

01:23:26.834 --> 01:23:28.667
It's my relative.

01:23:28.667 --> 01:23:31.834
The Klamath river matters
because the Klamath river has

01:23:31.834 --> 01:23:35.792
sustained our people for
thousands of years.

01:23:35.792 --> 01:23:42.333
It matters to me because I want
it here for my children and my
grand children and

01:23:42.333 --> 01:23:47.208
my great grandchildren.
That's why it matters to me.

01:23:49.959 --> 01:23:55.917
One of the things that my
father has shared with me is
that bringing a load of fish

01:23:55.917 --> 01:24:03.875
home to your family is one of
the most fulfilling things a
Yurok man can do.

01:24:03.875 --> 01:24:08.125
It, it makes them feel worthy.
It makes them feel valued.

01:24:08.125 --> 01:24:12.667
It makes them feel like they
are providing for their family,
and that is

01:24:12.667 --> 01:24:14.625
what a Yurok man is
supposed to do.

01:24:14.625 --> 01:24:22.875
When the river is so
compromised to the extent
that you can't provide
for your family

01:24:22.875 --> 01:24:29.709
that, in your heart of hearts,
hurts you and compromises

01:24:29.709 --> 01:24:32.375
you and makes you feel bad
about yourself.

01:24:32.375 --> 01:24:35.166
And, you know, once your
sort of self esteem
starts going

01:24:35.166 --> 01:24:37.999
out the window other things in
your life don't go well.

01:24:37.999 --> 01:24:43.208
We've got a lot of problems on
the reservation, but I truly
believe that when the river

01:24:43.208 --> 01:24:46.792
is restored we will see our
people heal.

01:24:46.792 --> 01:24:52.999
We will see us as a community,
um, be healthy again.

01:24:52.999 --> 01:25:03.625
♪♪Yurok Tribal Song♪♪
Female singing

01:25:23.959 --> 01:25:29.417
In many ways the divisiveness
we lived through ten years ago
on the Klamath is similar to

01:25:29.417 --> 01:25:35.999
what's happening to our country
right now, but these people, in
a place so far away from

01:25:35.999 --> 01:25:39.375
anywhere, have showed America
how to be great again.

01:25:39.375 --> 01:25:44.999
They turned their back on what
doesn't work and they fixed it
themselves.

01:25:45.999 --> 01:25:49.500
Does restoring a river have to
be partisan?

01:25:49.500 --> 01:25:52.917
Can cowboys and Indians both be
the hero?

01:25:52.917 --> 01:26:00.375
Are we big enough to finish the
largest restoration project in
America?

01:26:02.458 --> 01:26:05.458
Blessed are the peace makers,

01:26:06.166 --> 01:26:08.709
the poor in spirit,

01:26:09.875 --> 01:26:12.041
those who show mercy,

01:26:13.083 --> 01:26:15.375
here they will
inherent the Klamath.

01:26:15.375 --> 01:26:24.999
♪♪♪♪Music♪♪♪♪

01:30:13.583 --> 01:30:16.417
Hardest working dog.

01:30:16.709 --> 01:30:20.999
You know, I've never seen
dog work done this good before.

01:30:20.999 --> 01:30:23.917
Some of the best dog work
I've seen.

01:30:23.917 --> 01:30:27.417
I wish she'd calm down in
the boat tho.

01:30:27.417 --> 01:30:29.750
Calm down Lola.

01:30:29.750 --> 01:30:32.125
Good girl.

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