Wednesday August 31, 2022
KTVL —
The Klamath Irrigation District has been ordered to shut off water to the Klamath Project. District leaders and farms shared concerns, but this does help endangered fish species and the Karuk Tribe.
Crag Tucker, the tribe’s natural resources policy consultant, said thousands of fish were killed when debris entered the river following the McKinney Fire. This highlights to need to make sure endangered species have enough water.
“We’re almost 20 years exactly away from this massive fish kill that happened in 2002 that left 10s of thousands of adult salmon dead along the banks of the Klamath River,” Tucker said. “For older folks who experienced that, there was a little bit of trauma sort of reliving that experience from long ago.
He said it is a challenge to make sure everyone, including the farmers, has access to water. However, these fish are valuable to the tribe’s culture and should be protected for future generations.