NC Water Network
Mid-Klamath TMDL scoping letter to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB):

March 10, 2006

North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
5550 Skylane Boulevard, Suite A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403, FAX: (707) 523-0135

RE: Mid-Klamath River TMDL/ scoping comments, Attn: Mr. David Leland

Dear David Leland,

Thank you so much for coming to Eureka to elicit comments on the Mid-Klamath River TMDL, the river region impaired by excess sediment, temperatures, nutrients, and low levels of dissolved oxygen. To fix the whole Klamath-Trinity River system we need to repair the broken parts. Two big parts of the problem in this region of the river involve Forest Service land use issues, and water quality problems associated with the PacifiCorp hydro-impoundments below the Link River dam.

We are concerned that the Mid-Klamath TMDL doesn't specifically address the nexus of sediment to temperature and nutrients. We think that the DEIR must address this nexus due to the vast unmaintained road network that the Forest Service has created in the Mid-Klamath River tributaries, which must affect temperature and its collateral impacts on beneficial uses. This December saw a new spate of failure on this unmaintained "system" and area residents say that the Forest Service has not yet cleaned-up after the damage done to its roads following the 1997 storms!

The DEIR must discuss the apportionment of "winners and losers" associated with the pollutants in to the Mid-Klamath. The activities leading to impairment have been a unrealized external cost to some upsteam, while the costs have been realized especially by the down stream communities dependent on salmon fisheries. See the attached documents submitted for the record [The Effects of Altered Diet on the Health of the Karuk People: A Preliminary Report, "Pounds of Salmon Landed By the Commercial Troll Ocean Fishery Four Major Klamath Management Zone (KMZ) Port Areas," and Making Unbiased TCM Benefit Estimates with Klamath River Basin TCM and Contingent Use Data]. Please discuss these issues in the context of social and environmental justice and the existing state and federal policies that promote justice in pollution clean-up.

Salmon fisheries are expected to be impacted along a 700 mile swath of the Pacific Coast between Point Sur and Cape Falcon because of weak Klamath River stocks. The spawning escapement goal of 35 thousand wild, Klamath River fall run Chinook was not met during that past two years and is not expected to be met in 2006 even if no fishing is allowed. There is a widespread belief that parasitic diseases have taken a major toll on out migrating juvenile salmonids, and that these diseases are linked to water quality.

The DEIR must address the nexus between water quality and parasitic diseases. Please also address the effect of legacy mining activity on the beneficial uses of the Mid-Klamath River--should mercury pollution be addressed by the Water Quality Control Board?

It is believed that small refugia areas up and down the Mid-Klamath are the last bastion of protection for those fish that survive in the river. The Mid-Klamath TMDL and DEIR must discuss the distribution and relative value of the refugia provided by tributaries or cold water springs and upwellings along the Mid-Klamath--and the threats to their continued existence.

Incorporation of existing Forest Service Watershed Analyses [WAs] into the Mid-Klamath TMDL should be made as appropriate and shortcomings with the existing WAs should be identified.

The Mid-Klamath TMDL should evaluate the degree to which the existing Forest Service timber sale program contributes to water quality problems.

The Mid-Klamath TMDL, as stated above, must address the role that the Keno, J.C. Boyle, Copco 1 and 2, and Iron Gate dams have had on the the Mid-Klamath River. Can the water board answer the question as to what the synergistic effects between the upper Klamath agricultural return flows and the dams are on water quality? What are the relationships between these dam/agriculture water quality issues and the salmon fish disease parasites that afflict the Klamath River salmon?

Where does the Public Trust Doctrine fit into the overarching scheme of pollution regulation in the Mid-Klamath basin? In the U.S. v. Maryland, 1852 the ruling cited an affirmative duty of government to protect fisheries as a trustee for the people.

What role can oxygenating weirs play in improving dissolved oxygen level in the Mid-Klamath River.

How do toxic algae blooms fit into the overall scheme degraded water quality in the Mid-Klamath river.

How do nitrate levels in the Mid-Klamath River region potentially impact the drinking water supplies there?

What is the interrelationship between the various Klamath basin TMDLS? What if some of the TMDLs for the Mid-Klamath sub-basins are ineffective and don't work? How would that failure impact the success of the Mid-Klamath TMDL?

Analysis of the matters detailed above should go into the development of the Mid-Klamath River technical TMDL and its dependent DEIR.

When developing the necessary implementation plan, a stakeholder group may be desirable, but that groups activities must be transparent to the general public, and the stakeholder group must be balanced between "winners and losers" [see above].

An implementation plan must include a schedule for certain actions to improve water quality conditions in the Mid-Klamath River. The action plan for cleaning up the river should include a monitoring plan to assure the TMDLs implementation and effectiveness.

The Mid-Klamath TMDL must also discuss the relationship between non-point source water quality impairment and the waste load allocations of point sources discharged into the receiving waters. Please list the point sources discharging to or upstream of the Mid-Klamath River.

Cleaning up and restoring the Klamath River is the right thing to do, and it has the potential to restore one of the few sustainable fisheries known around the Pacific Rim.

Because the Klamath salmon's freshwater habitat has taken a pounding from a century of "Development" its fisheries have declined to the point that traditional fishers have had their harvest deeply cut for almost 20 years now. This year the returns to the Klamath River are expected to be so low that fishing likely will be only a memory. The March 10 Oregonian editorial on this injustice is attached.

The loss of fish has had a profound impact on tribal, commercial and sports fisheries:

• The tribal fisheries of the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk and Klamath peoples bear directly on their well being as whole communities. The failure of the government to protect the salmon as promised reflects badly on every American. [See: "Health Effects of Altered Diet," appended]
• The decline of Klamath salmon affects the harvest of all salmon on the Pacific Coast because of "weak stock" management, as a result thousands of family wage jobs have been lost in the fishing industry between San Francisco and the Columbia River. [See: "Pounds of Salmon Landed by the Commercial Troll Ocean Fishery: Four Major Klamath Management Zone (KMZ) Port Areas," appended]
• Similarly, restrictions on sports fishing to protect Klamath River fish have sharply reduced sports fishing between Fort Bragg and Coos Bay.