I was left in the woods there above desavedolea@gmail.comcopco for dead above the power company for dead I didn’t make it out for 5 days now being charged for Berg for breaking into a RV . I need some help

Any kid in a schoolyard knows trading a dozen marbles for one is a bad deal.

In this case the ‘dam insanity’ involves wiping-out a complex interrelated system of ecosystems, which includes the rarest of all ecosystems, the freshwater shoreline ecosystem, and the rare, threatened and endangered species that live in these unique habitats, in exchange for a salmon that might be able to migrate through a trickle of polluted 80-degree water over 20-miles of black basalt rocks.

A handful of intellectually dishonest scientists and people have conjectured and asserted such an impossibility (the salmon) is the case, but we all know there are incentives for their cooperation.

However, common sense and local knowledge (see email herein below from a 4th generation rancher on the Klamath River) supported by the best science says the Klamath Dams support and greatly benefit a multitude of species ranging from endangered and rare fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, as well as humans. This is why a super-majority (79%) of voters on Siskiyou County (where 3 of 4 dams are located) said ‘NO’ to dam removal.

Like many other people, I have personally seen threatened and endangered species in and around Iron Gate Lake where I live. And so has a credible fisheries biologist working with SWCA. If this information is disregarded, plan on one of the largest environmental lawsuits ever seen is these endangered species and their habitats are destroyed by the lust for more money; the real driver of dam removal.

And lets not forget, the recent catastrophic Klamathon Wildfire, which consumed nearly 37,000 acres of Siskiyou County (including about 2,500 acres of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument), which was only stopped using hundreds of thousands of gallons of water that was drafted from Iron Gate Lake formed one of the Klamath Dams by engines, tenders and helicopters. That lake, its close proximity and readily available water along with many courageous fire fighters saved an American treasure; the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. And that is an indisputable fact. I know, since that wildfire nearly took our ranch coming 1.5 miles from it, and I spend 7-days on the Camp Creek fire line helping the commanders anyway I could. In 2014, the Oregon Gulch Fire in the Cacade Siskiyou National Monument was also stopped because of water drafted from Copco Lake (#2).

Of course the millions of cubic yards of clay based sediments that is laden with anthropogenic pollution if released from behind the dams will literally devastate the entirety of the Klamath River downstream for decades. That alone is reason enough not to proceed.

Now with recent catastrophic Klamathon Fire, the mountains and valleys have been laid bare and red clay soils covered with ash will easily erode into the creeks and streams.

The vegetation that normally stabilized the local red clay soils in the Scotch Creek drainage and Camp Creek drainage is gone. And as soon as the normal fall and winter rains come, both of these creeks flowing into Iron Gate Lake will be heavily laden with clay and ash sediments. And without the presence of the fine sediment settling effect of a lake, these clay sediments will adversely affect the fisheries in the Klamath River. Excessive turbidity is lethal for fish and fish eggs and increases the rates of mortality of both fish and fish eggs, as is stated in this study:

“EIFAC also commented that …although several thousand parts per million solids may not kill fish during several hours or days exposure such temporary high concentrations should be prevented in rivers where good fisheries are to be maintained.”… “The spawning grounds of salmon and trout require special consideration and should be kept as free as possible from finely divided solids.”

Already the mental and emotion distress created by these scant few illogical individuals and perpetrated upon the overwhelming masses of local American voters due to the potential loss of their valuable resources is most unreasonable and illogical.

William E. Simpson II