“Federal funding is available to the Hoopa Valley Tribe and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation.
Federal funding is also available to the Tribe on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures.
Robert J. Fenton, Acting Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Timothy J. Scranton as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the Hoopa Valley Tribe and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.”
The disaster declaration comes in the wake of major legal victory against the federal government by the Hoopa Valley Tribe, Yurok Tribe, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), Institute for Fisheries Resources, and the Klamath Riverkeeper.
On February 8, a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal agencies to immediately take steps to protect juvenile coho salmon after several years of deadly disease outbreaks in the Klamath River. Klamath River coho salmon are listed as threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. These fish are central to the cultural identity and survival of Tribes along the river, and commercial fishermen rely on California’s second largest salmon producer for their livelihoods.
The Hoopa Valley Tribe, who initiated the lawsuit, welcomed the decision challenging the government’s inaction given two years of high disease rates and poor adult salmon returns. The Tribe’s reservation is located on the Trinity, the main tributary of the Klamath River.
“The Hoopa Valley Tribe depends on salmon for our livelihood and will not stand idle while our people’s culture is jeopardizes,” said Ryan Jackson, Chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. “This decision is a win for the Tribe and all communities that depend on Klamath salmon.”
In his ruling, Jackson said Judge Orrick directed the Bureau of Reclamation to implement flow measures that were developed by the Tribe and supported by the best available science. These include having more frequent peak flows and higher spring flows that are the components of a more natural hydrology for the Klamath River.
“These peak flows and spring flows are intended to reduce unnaturally high levels of parasites and protect juvenile fish in the mainstream Klamath,” said Mike Orcutt, Fisheries Director of the Tribe. “Given the poor runs in recent years, this will provide a much needed rebalancing of the water towards the needs of the fish.”
Last year’s Chinook salmon run was one of the lowest in history, according to Orcutt.
To protect the young salmon during the renewed biological review, Judge Orrick ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to:
(1) Release sufficient water in the next few months to flush out organisms from the Klamath river bed that host an intestinal parasite known as C. shasta, which causes illness and death in salmon. Such flushing flows, which used to be commonplace in the Klamath River, have become rare over the past 16 years due to overly restrictive management.
(2) Reserve water to provide flows in the spring/early-summer to further flush out C. shasta if a disease outbreak occurs.
(3) Have their technical experts submit to the court the parameters of these mitigation measures by March 9, 2017.
“Today’s ruling will give the Klamath salmon a fighting chance until we can get the lower four dams out. Untold numbers of juvenile salmon died from this disease in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and this judgment will help us to protect fish stocks from another serious outbreak. The Court recognized that scientifically supported decisions in favor of fish are not only legally required, but that the tribes should have a primary role in working with the government in reaching those decisions,” said Thomas P. O’Rourke Sr, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe.