Since 2001, Sustainable Northwest has worked with rural community leaders in the Klamath Basin to design solutions that benefit both fisheries and agriculture. 

The process has resulted in two companion “settlement” agreements: A comprehensive Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA), and an agreement that could include removal of four dams on the Klamath River, the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement (KHSA).

In February 2010, both agreements were signed by leaders of more than 25 stakeholder groups representing farmers, ranchers, Native Americans, fisherman, environmentalists, and representatives from county, state and federal government.

Dam removal alone is not enough

This would be the largest dam removal in history, but without the provisions of the KBRA, dam removal will not create conditions needed to support the return of salmon to the upper reaches of the Klamath Basin.

The KBRA outlines novel solutions that have the potential to resolve conflict in the Klamath Basin, restore critical habitat for salmon, provide irrigation water to agriculture and guarantee water for wildlife refuges -- for the first time ever. (Rural unemployment is double that of urban areas and amongst the Klamath Tribes it is hovering around 40%.)

A new model for the West

These two settlement agreements are a departure from single-issue politics and short-term plans. They take a holistic approach to ecosystem restoration that benefits wildlife, the environment, local residents and economies of the region.

As opposed to a more tradition "top down" approach, the Klamath agreements create new forms of governance that empower local people from tribal, agricultural and fishing communities to take control of their shared future.

Efforts are now underway to translate the agreements into legislation that will go before Congress for approval and funding.