Amy Cordalis is a fisherwoman, attorney, mother, and member of
the Yurok Tribe, the largest federally recognized Tribe in
California. From 2014-2016, she was General Counsel for the
Tribe, the first woman and first Yurok tribal member to serve
in that position. She is also the principal of the Ridges to
Riffles Conservation Fund, a non-profit fund representing
Native American tribes in natural and cultural resource
matters.
Every year, on one day in October, generations of the Washoe
Tribe gather on the shores of Lake Tahoe for a day of fishing
using handmade spears, harpoons, and nets made from willow,
dogbane, and other traditional materials. The Washoe have
centered their lives around Lake Tahoe for thousands of years,
catching and drying fish in the summers to sustain them through
the winters. But in the colonialist world, the tribe of roughly
1,400 members has little access to the lake.
The simple way to think about this crisis: There’s no longer
enough water to go around to meet the needs of farmers and
Native American populations as well as fish and birds. For more
than a century, the federal government has overseen an
intricate and imperfect system of water distribution intended
to sustain an ecosystem and an economy. The whole precarious
balance was based on the assumption that enough snow would
always fall…
Every two years just before the salmon run in the fall,
ceremony leader Merv George, Jr. gathers members of the Hoopa
tribe to perform what’s called the “White Deer Skin Dance.” The
ceremony involves a 10-day canoe ride down the Trinity River in
Northern California. The White Deer Skin dance is essential to
Hoopa culture, and its origin is told through a story that
starts with a trickster. The trickster, named Coyote, wanted to
steal a woodpecker blanket from the Kahani, which are the
tribe’s spirits.
Keeping salmon in her children’s diet is “an entire job,” says
Georgiana Gensaw, a Yurok Tribe member and mother of four in
Klamath Glen, a community whose only easily accessible food
store is a fried chicken shop attached to a gas station a few
miles away. … The salmon [the Yurok people
have] long depended on as both dietary staple and cultural
cornerstone have become scarce. Combined with the lack of food
sovereignty, it has prompted the need to fight for their main
sources of nutrition and for their very way of life, they say.
Experts are “very confident” the decades-long goal of Klamath
dam removal is slated to become a reality in 2023. Removal of
PacifiCorp’s four dams along the Klamath River will open 420
miles of salmon-spawning habitat as well as improve water
quality and reduce critical temperature conditions that cause
and increase disease in fish.
Recent storms along the Northern California coastline may have
brought concerns about mudslides and scattered power outages,
but for the adult Chinook Salmon and steelheads migrating from
the ocean to the Smith River to reproduce – it’s been like
turning on the river’s vacancy sign. Thanks to some
recently-installed sonar monitoring equipment courtesy of the
Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Fisheries Division, cameras are able to
capture the moment.
States in the Colorado River Basin are adjusting to the reality
that their rights outstrip the available water by nearly
one-third, state and tribal leaders told a congressional panel
last month. The situation is likely only to worsen as the
climate changes, leaving states and tribes in competition for
their most vital resource.
In the mid-2000s, seven states, the federal government and
Mexico negotiated critical rules for the Colorado River that
established how to divvy up its water in a severe drought like
it is now facing. Thirty Native American tribes — with rights
to roughly a quarter of all the water in the river — were shut
out of those talks. Tribes want to make sure that doesn’t
happen again. The effort offers new challenges for the seven
Colorado River basin states and the Biden administration, which
has repeatedly pledged to be more inclusive in regulatory
efforts that affect Native Americans.
On Oct. 27, in a victory for tribes in Northern California,
Fresno County Superior Court Judge D. Tyler Tharpe rejected a
Trump-era water contract between the federal Bureau of
Reclamation and Westlands Water District, the public entity in
charge of distributing water to farms in California’s San
Joaquin Valley. … The contract would have given
Westlands permanent access to 1.15 million acre-feet of water
from the Trinity River … without ensuring that Westlands paid
an estimated sixth of the $400 million it owed the Bureau of
Reclamation for ecosystem restoration.
Yesterday, Save California Salmon, the Pacific Coast Federation
of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), and 12 California
environmental organizations joined Klamath River Tribes in
asking the California State Water Resources Control Board to
establish permanent instream flow requirements for the Scott
and Shasta Rivers, two of the Klamath River’s largest
tributaries, according to a press release from the groups and
Tribes.
The Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge looks very different
today than it did 35 years ago. About 45 miles north of Klamath
Falls along the Williamson River, it’s natural waterways are
limited. And over the last few decades it has spent more and
more of the year in drought conditions with parts nearly or
fully drying up. Alex Gonyaw, senior fisheries biologist for
the Klamath Tribes, said these are the impacts of man-made
calamities on the marsh that span more than 200 years.
The Paiute tribes of eastern California have a deeply alarming
insight into the future. We must listen to their story, for
soon it may be our story too. The indigenous people here are
being encircled by three inter-connected threats: drought, dust
storms and wildfires. The history of the Paiute is already one
of heartbreak and betrayal. In the 19th century, their land was
stolen. In the 20th century, their water was stolen. Now in the
21st century, their environment is being stolen – by the
relentless forces of climate change and by political
indifference to their plight.
A new water management program is being proposed for the
Trinity River to help dwindling salmon populations. The Yurok
Tribe helped develop the plan through its participation in the
Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP), which is comprised of
tribal, state, and federal agencies, and then submitted it to
the Bureau of Reclamation for approval where it currently lies.
The new water release plan will shift some of the water
normally released from Lewiston Dam in late spring to the
winter and early spring, which will create conditions that more
closely mimic a free-flowing river.
The group Save California Salmon is taking many approaches to
fulfilling its name. Those include a new podcast about water
justice, a continually hot topic in California and elsewhere.
The most recent episode of the West Coast Water Justice podcast
features Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, the Chair of Native American
Studies at Humboldt State University (she is Hupa, Karuk,
Yurok, and enrolled in the Hoopa Valley Tribe). We discuss
water justice in the context of the Klamath Basin with Dr.
Baldy and with Regina Chichizola, Co-Director of Save
California Salmon.
Chances are slim to none that a group of Northern California
agencies, known as the Two-Basin Partnership, will raise the
funds required to take over the license for the Potter Valley
Project — a water diversion system in the Eel River basin — by
April 2022 but the organization remains undeterred. The
Two-Basin Partnership — California Trout, Humboldt County, the
Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission, the Round
Valley Indian Tribes and Sonoma County Water Agency
— requested an extension on its license transfer
application to provide agencies additional time to work out a
water plan and to develop strategies for dam removal and
restoration of the Eel and Russian river basins.
Hoping to step up the federal government’s response to
long-standing water issues facing Native American communities,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released an “action
plan” earlier this month that will seek solutions to the many
barriers tribes have to running water and wastewater services.
The plan will guide the EPA Office of Water as it works with
federally recognized tribes to implement the plan, which was
prepared with input from the National Tribal Water Council, an
EPA-funded advisory group.
The Klamath Tribes recently received 2 separate grants totaling
over $250,000 dollars. They’re coming to the tribes from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. One of the grants will
invest $99,992 into purchasing and installing a solar-powered
water pump. It will help minimize external nutrient loading
from agricultural properties around Upper Klamath Lake. The
other grant, worth around $152,000, will go towards phase 2 of
the groundwater and surface-water monitoring study for the
Klamath Marsh.
Tensions rose close to the boiling point early this summer amid
a historic water shutoff in the Klamath Basin. Since then,
irrigators in the Klamath Project have spent the growing season
trying to make the most of a summer with no surface water from
Upper Klamath Lake. Jefferson Public Radio spoke with farmers
leading up to the Klamath Water Users Association’s annual
harvest tour last month. As the town of Merrill hosts the 84th
annual Klamath Basin Potato Festival this weekend, JPR looks at
the harvest for the Project’s driest year on record.
For millennia, Native Americans watched [salmon] enter the
Klamath River. The tribes celebrated them as a gift from the
gods, but the fish numbers dwindled…. Huge dams … blocked
the fish from their upstream spawning grounds and slowed the
Klamath in torpid reservoirs. Now humanity is set to surrender
much of the river back to nature. Four large dams on the
Klamath River are due to be torn down in what is called the
largest dam removal project in American history.
This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
The Colorado River is arguably one
of the hardest working rivers on the planet, supplying water to
40 million people and a large agricultural economy in the West.
But it’s under duress from two decades of drought and decisions
made about its management will have exceptional ramifications for
the future, especially as impacts from climate change are felt.
We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.
~John Wesley Powell
Powell scrawled those words in his journal as he and his expedition paddled their way into the deep walls of the Grand Canyon on a stretch of the Colorado River in August 1869. Three months earlier, the 10-man group had set out on their exploration of the iconic Southwest river by hauling their wooden boats into a major tributary of the Colorado, the Green River in Wyoming, for their trip into the “great unknown,” as Powell described it.
Even as stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin celebrate the recent completion of an unprecedented drought plan intended to stave off a crashing Lake Mead, there is little time to rest. An even larger hurdle lies ahead as they prepare to hammer out the next set of rules that could vastly reshape the river’s future.
Set to expire in 2026, the current guidelines for water deliveries and shortage sharing, launched in 2007 amid a multiyear drought, were designed to prevent disputes that could provoke conflict.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour.
Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
As the Colorado River Basin becomes
drier and shortage conditions loom, one great variable remains:
How much of the river’s water belongs to Native American tribes?
Native Americans already use water from the Colorado River and
its tributaries for a variety of purposes, including leasing it
to non-Indian users. But some tribes aren’t using their full
federal Indian reserved water right and others have water rights
claims that have yet to be resolved. Combined, tribes have rights
to more water than some states in the Colorado River Basin.
Amy Haas recently became the first non-engineer and the first woman to serve as executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in its 70-year history, putting her smack in the center of a host of daunting challenges facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.
Yet those challenges will be quite familiar to Haas, an attorney who for the past year has served as deputy director and general counsel of the commission. (She replaced longtime Executive Director Don Ostler). She has a long history of working within interstate Colorado River governance, including representing New Mexico as its Upper Colorado River commissioner and playing a central role in the negotiation of the recently signed U.S.-Mexico agreement known as Minute 323.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
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4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
Rising temperatures from climate change are having a noticeable
effect on how much water is flowing down the Colorado River. Read
the latest River Report to learn more about what’s
happening, and how water managers are responding.
This issue of Western Water discusses the challenges
facing the Colorado River Basin resulting from persistent
drought, climate change and an overallocated river, and how water
managers and others are trying to face the future.
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
The American River, with headwaters
in the Tahoe and Eldorado national forests of the Sierra Nevada,
is the birthplace of the California Gold Rush. It currently
serves as a major water supply, recreational destination and
habitat for hundreds of species. The geologically diverse
North, Middle and South forks comprise the American
River or the Río de los Americanos, as it was called during
California’s Mexican rule.
This 109-page publication details the importance of protecting
source water – surface water and groundwater – on reservations
from pollution and includes a step-by-step work plan for tribes
interested in developing a protection plan for their drinking
water. The workbook is designed to serve as a template for such
programs, with forms and tables for photocopying. It also offers
a simplified approach for assessment and protection that focuses
on identifying and managing immediate contamination threats.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
This 30-minute DVD explains the importance of developing a source
water assessment program (SWAP) for tribal lands and by profiling
three tribes that have created SWAPs. Funded by a grant from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the video complements the
Foundation’s 109-page workbook, Protecting Drinking Water: A
Workbook for Tribes, which includes a step-by-step work plan for
Tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their
drinking water.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven
Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The
Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
and the country of Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch
map, which is suitable for framing, explains the river’s
apportionment, history and the need to adapt its management for
urban growth and expected climate change impacts.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to
Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of
California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the
authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a
faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of
California water rights.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4
million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000
square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page
Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the
river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the
items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of
significant Colorado River events.
The Coachella Valley in Southern California’s Inland Empire is
one of several valleys throughout the state with a water district
established to support agriculture.
Like the others, the Coachella Valley Water District in Riverside
County delivers water to arid agricultural lands and constructs,
operates and maintains a regional agricultural drainage system.
These systems collect drainage water from individual farm drain
outlets and convey the water to a point of reuse, disposal or
dilution.
This printed issue of Western Water explores the
historic nature of some of the key agreements in recent years,
future challenges, and what leading state representatives
identify as potential “worst-case scenarios.” Much of the content
for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth
panel discussions at the Colorado River Symposium. The Foundation
will publish the full proceedings of the Symposium in 2012.
This printed issue of Western Water explores some of the major
challenges facing Colorado River stakeholders: preparing for
climate change, forging U.S.-Mexico water supply solutions and
dealing with continued growth in the basins states. Much of the
content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth
panel discussions at the September 2009 Colorado River Symposium.
This issue of Western Water examines the challenges facing state,
federal and tribal officials and other stakeholders as they work
to manage terminal lakes. It includes background information on
the formation of these lakes, and overviews of the water quality,
habitat and political issues surrounding these distinctive bodies
of water. Much of the information in this article originated at
the September 2004 StateManagement Issues at Terminal Water
Bodies/Closed Basins conference.
