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class=802030317-24022005>KLAMATH
ISSUES:</SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></o:p></P><o:p>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Klamath
council talks Trinity, hatcheries </SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Eureka</SPAN></B></st1:place></st1:City><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> Times
Standard – 2/24/05</SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">By
John Driscoll, staff writer</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:City w:st="on"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">EUREKA</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> -- The near future of
restoration on the Trinity River and talk of stepping up hatchery salmon tagging
on the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> were key topics on day one
of a Klamath Fishery Management Council meeting. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Trinity River Restoration
Program implementation branch chief Ed Solbos said the closure of a suit pressed
by <st1:place w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place> irrigators against the
river's full restoration has cleared the way for major work to begin on the
river. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Four bridges will be
replaced by April to make way for heavy flows during wet years. Heavy equipment
will be used for the next several years to widen the river in places, allowing
the river to reshape itself and increasing the area for chinook salmon to grow
before migrating to the ocean. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The earth-moving alone
won't create ideal habitat, Solbos said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">"What is the perfect
habitat is what will happen after we've taken the handcuffs off the river," he
said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Other issues remain. One
house sits in a spot that would be inundated by big water, and the federal
government is arranging to move its owner and level the house.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">This year is forecast to be
a dry or normal year, and flows from Lewiston Dam would not rise above 6,500
cubic feet per second. In wet years, 8,500 cubic feet per second would be
released. Solbos said flows that high would be increased in stages, while the
river is monitored for possible effects to people and property.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The council is an 11-member
body of agencies, sport and commercial fishermen and tribes who recommend to
regulators, among other things, how the river's fish might be divvied up among
the fishing groups. During today's meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at the Red
Lion Inn, possible quotas and seasons for 2005 based on a predicted abundance of
fish will be hashed over. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Also on Wednesday, the
council weighed possibilities for increasing the number of juvenile fish tagged
at Iron Gate Hatchery on the Klamath. Neil Manji, senior biologist for the
California Department of Fish and Game, said there is a disparity between the
percentage of hatchery fish tagged in the Klamath and at the Trinity River
Hatchery. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">About a quarter of Trinity
chinook salmon are tagged before leaving the hatchery, compared to between 3
percent and 6 percent at <st1:place w:st="on">Iron Gate</st1:place>. Some 6
million salmon are produced at <st1:place w:st="on">Iron Gate</st1:place>, and
funding a marking program that brings the number of fish tagged to 25 percent
could be expensive. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Hoopa Valley Tribe
biologist George Kautzky said during the 2002 fall fish kill, the difference
made it difficult to estimate the damage done to the Trinity versus Klamath
stocks. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Kautzky said a settlement
agreement between the federal government and the tribe could provide seed money
to boost the marking program. Building consensus among managers would be key to
keeping the program at a consistent level beyond that, he said. #
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><A
href="http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127%7E2896%7E2729870,00.html">http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127%257E2896%257E2729870,00.html</A></SPAN></P></o:p></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>