Legislators seek changes to Endangered Species Act (KLAMATH FALLS)

Associated Press ^ | July 17, 2004 | JEFF BARNARD

[take]

Legislators seek changes to Endangered Species Act

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) - A House subcommittee looking for ways to change the Endangered Species Act came to the Klamath Basin on Saturday, where irrigation water was cut off to 1,400 farms in 2001 to conserve water for threatened and endangered fish.

"In 30 years, only seven species of 1,300 listed have been recovered, and those are mainly due to other conservation laws," said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power.

"At the same time, communities across the West are stopped cold in their tracks to the point where some legitimately wonder whether their way of life has become endangered." Allen Foreman, chairman of the Klamath Tribes, told the committee he was "somewhat offended" by their blaming the

Endangered Species Act

for threatening the way of life of farmers who lost water, without recognizing that Indian tribes and salmon fishermen have suffered from damage to the environment.

"Life did not begin here with the creation of the Klamath water project," said Foreman, whose tribe hopes to see restoration of its reservation as well as fish the tribe once depended on for food.

"The loss of our fishing is just as important as the loss of other things. "I view the Endangered Species Act as basically a gas gauge in your car. By taking the gas gauge out ... it does not solve the problem that you are low on gas." Foreman's statement drew an apology from Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif. "I hope you know I recognize this is a complex problem" Doolittle said. "There is more agreement here (among witnesses) than I have seen before." Witnesses representing farmers, Indian tribes, waterfowl hunters, the National Research Council, and federal agencies gave qualified support to the idea of having a scientific panel review major decisions made under the Endangered Species Act.

"Peer review can be very useful, but it can also be a burden," said William Lewis, a University of Colorado scientist who was chairman of the National Research Council review of the Klamath irrigation cutbacks. They also agreed on the need for a single forum representing all interests to look for solutions to the basin's water problems. On the minds of most of the some 350 people attending the hearing in the Ross Raglan Theater was the decision in 2001 to cut back irrigation on the Klamath Reclamation Project to conserve water for endangered suckers and threatened coho salmon.

A wholesale overhaul or repeal of the Endangered Species Act is widely considered a longshot in Congress, but two bills to amend portions of it are before the House Resources Committee. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he hoped to see his bill requiring scientific peer review of major decisions under the Endangered Species Act, such as new species listings or the 2001 Klamath water shutoff, marked up in the House Resources Committee in coming weeks. However it was uncertain whether it would reach the House floor this year. Another bill from Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., is also before the committee that would give the Interior Department more leeway in designating critical habitats for threatened and endangered species.

Walden noted that major steps have been taken in the Klamath Basin to help endangered suckers, including construction of a $15 million fish screen to keep young fish out of irrigation canals and steps toward removal of the Chiloquin Dam to open access to spawning habitat. "But it seems like at the end of the day it's never enough," Walden said. "I want a recovery plan and to hold people's feet to the fire." Steve Thompson, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that it is easier to get a species listed as endangered than it is to get it off the endangered species list.

He said his agency is preparing to conduct a five-year status review of the Lost River sucker and shortnosed sucker, two species of fish that triggered the Klamath irrigation cutbacks. The review will assess population numbers, distribution and continuing threats to the fish.

Thompson added that requiring peer review would add six months to a year to making decisions.

[The Westerner]

Same process occurred in the late 1800's when the local school boards were folded into larger and larger bureaucracies. American public education has gotten worse ever since then.

[farmfriend]

Thanks, and keep up the good work!