8 NOVEMBER 15, 2002
Smoke Signals
Government Files Appeal Notice For Ancient Skeleton
PORTLAND, OR. (AP) - The U.S.
Justice Department has filed an ap
peal to a ruling that overturned
former Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt's decision to allow Northwest
Indian Tribes to rebury a rare and
ancient skeleton called "Kennewick
Man."
The filing in U.S. District Court
challenged an earlier August 30 rul
ing by U.S. Magistrate John
Jelderks, who said he studied more
than 20,000 documents and found
nothing to support Babbitt's decision.
Jelderks also said Babbitt failed to
consider scientific evidence and fol
low federal guidelines.
Earlier in the week, the Nez Perce,
Umatilla, Yakama and Colville
Tribes filed their own appeal to the
9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
after Jelderks ruled on October 21
the Tribes could intervene in the law
suit. Eight anthropologists sued the
Army Corps of Engineers and the
Interior Department after the bones
were found in 1996 along the banks
of the Columbia River near
Kennewick, Washington.
Jelderks, in August, ordered the
government to turn over the 9,000-
year-old skeleton to
the scientists to
study the bones for
clues about early
migration to North
America.
But the appeals
by the Tribes and
the Justice Depart
ment likely will de
lay any research for
at least another two
to four years, ac
cording to attor
neys for all parties
in the case.
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An aerial view shows the area of Columbia Park where
Kennewick Man was found in July 1996.
Appeals Court Considering Whaling Foes' Arguments
SEATTLE, WA. (AP) Animal welfare groups argued their Makah In
dian whaling appeal recently before a federal appellate court panel.
They hope the court will overturn a federal judge in Tacoma, who ruled
the Tribe's gray whale hunt could proceed. There was no indication when
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel would rule.
The Fund for Animals, the Humane Society of the United States and other
groups asked the court to overrule Judge Franklin Burgess. Last August he
dismissed the case, clearing the way for Indian whaling to resume.
Burgess said hunting opponents failed to prove that a federal assess
ment of the hunt was arbitrary.
The whaling foes argue that the whale hunt violates the National Envi
ronmental Policy Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Their 1855 treaty guarantees Makah whaling rights.
After a seven-decade break, the Tribe moved to resume whaling after
gray whales were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994.
Tribal whalers have killed one whale, in May 1999.
The International Whaling Commission has authorized the Tribe to kill
as many as four gray whales annually for the next five years. B
Fishing Communities Blame Bush
Administration For Salmon Kill
EUREKA, CA. (AP) Representatives of
coastal fishing communities and Indian Tribes
recently laid the blame for the massive Klamath
River salmon kill on low water controlled by the
federal government.
The representatives aimed their comments at
the Bush administration. Rep
resentatives from the federal
government declined invita
tions to take part in a hearing
before a California legislative
committee.
"We couldn't get people at
the federal level to take action
to resolve this issue before it
became a terrible tragedy,"
Humboldt County Supervisor
Jimmy Smith told the Joint Committee on Fish
eries and Aquaculture.
The hearing was intended to gather informa
tion on what caused an estimated 33,000 salmon
to die since late September in the lower 40 miles
of the Klamath River. It was also meant to ex
plore the economic and social impacts of the die
off for the North Coast and Indian Tribes.
Environmentalists, fishermen and Indian
Tribes along the river flowing from south central
Oregon through northwest California blame low
water levels for the fish kill.
But there are others, including groups repre
senting Klamath Basin farmers, who argue there
is no proof low water contributed to the kill. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating.
The kill has focused new attention on the Bush
administration's efforts to balance water from the
Klamath Reclamation Project between farms and
fish protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., Assembly
woman Virginia Strom-Martin, members of the
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, and
leaders of the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk Tribes
said the federal government had failed to meet
its obligations to sustain salmon runs in the Kla
math Basin while creating a 10-year operations
plan for the Klamath Project.
"How many years of this 10-year plan can we
sustain before the fishery is gone?" asked Thomp
son. "We lost 30 percent this year."
Strom-Martin, D-Duncan Mills, who called the
hearing, faulted the Bush administration for re
storing full irrigation deliveries last summer to
the 235,000 acres of farmland in the Klamath
Project while reducing water flows for salmon in
the Klamath River.
"To really fix this problem, we need a new presi
dent," she said. "I believe their agenda is set.
The purpose of this committee is rallying together
to come up with a strategic action plan to deal
with this problem."
Sue Masten, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said,
"We would not be here today if the federal gov
ernment had lived up to its Tribal trust obliga
tions." Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff
McCracken defended the agency's decision not to
attend the hearing.
"It's still premature to determine the outcome
of this mortality and we are simply awaiting the
biologists to finalize their findings before we can
move forward," he said, adding that the invita
tion was made informally and on short notice. "It
was an administration decision."
U.S. Department of Interior spokesman Hugh
Vickery had no immediate comment.
Jim Lecky, regional administrator for protec
tive resources for the National Marine Fisheries
Service, said neither he or other policy-level
people were available to attend the hearing. He
denied that the decision not to attend came from
the administration.
California Depart
ment of Fish and
Game Senior Biolo
gist Neil Manji said
the fish kill was first
reported September
18. He estimated the
final death toll at
33,000 fish, of which
95 percent were fall
Chinook salmon, 1.8 percent steelhead and 1.6
percent Coho salmon.
Overall about 30 percent of the fish were from
hatcheries and 70 percent were wild.
At the hearing, Manji attributed the rapid
spread of the disease to a combination of reduced
flows in the Klamath River, warm water tem
peratures, fish crowding together due to the low
water levels and diseases that are always
present.
In the summer of 2001, the bureau severely
restricted irrigation to the Klamath Project to
meet Endangered Species Act demands for wa
ter for endangered suckers in Upper Klamath
Lake and threatened Coho salmon in the Kla
math River.
The Bureau of Reclamation restored full irri
gation to the project, cutting water levels for fish,
after a review by the National Academy of Sci
ences found no scientific justification for the in
creased water levels for the fish.
After fish began dying last month, the bureau
released extra water to try to stave off the kill.
The die-off abated on its own by the time the
water reached the area, biologists have said. B