New law helps restore Oregon’s national treasure and supports rural communities’ economic vitality
Oregon Senate Bill 76, signed into law by Governor Kulongoski, spearheads largest river restoration effort in history.
The Oregon legislature’s leadership in passing SB 76, and today’s news that Governor Kulongoski signed the bill into law, gives a boost to much-needed settlement in the Klamath Basin and signals a new path forward in the West – one that addresses the economic needs of rural communities that steward shared resources while also tackling the urgent need for conservation.
The bill was introduced by Governor Kulongoski, supported by an unprecedented coalition of ratepayer and business groups, Indian tribes, conservation groups and fishing and agricultural organizations, and stewarded through the Capitol by Senator Jackie Dingfelder and Representative Ben Cannon.
“SB 76 marks the first concrete step to carry out a restoration effort in the West that’s at the scale of the Everglades or Chesapeake,” said Martin Goebel, President of Sustainable Northwest. “That’s how special and incredibly rich the Klamath Basin is – it’s a national, natural treasure.”
Sustainable Northwest has worked with a broad-based coalition representing farmers, fishermen, native tribes, and conservation groups who have advocated for dam removal because it expected to cost less to remove the dams than to bring them up to modern environmental standards – plus avoids years of divisive and costly litigation and helps end the water wars in the Basin.
Proponents of sustainability in Klamath Basin point out that this new fund for dam removal is just a first step in the process. The next step is a final agreement on dam removal between the states of Oregon and California and the federal government.
And dam removal is just one component of a broader agreement – the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement – that calls for increased flows for fish, widespread, coordinated habitat restoration, and salmon reintroduction in the Upper Basin, as well economic investments in the tribal and agricultural communities of the Klamath Basin. That process will require that Congress fund additional measures.
“Oregon has made its contribution to the effort and now it’s time for both California and the federal government to take on their responsibilities and invest for the health of the fishery and the Klamath’s communities,” Goebel added.
