Klamath River – And The Award Goes To…

Congratulations?

The first annual ‘River of Death’ award goes to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (‘KRRC’) and its CEO Mark Bransom.

Let’s face it, it really takes a lot to kill-off an entire aquatic ecosystem, and in the process, contaminate the Klamath River to the point where the County Health Department has to issue a press release warning citizens to stay out of the water! 

Klamath River water quality deemed unsafe, Siskiyou Health Division says

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — Residents should not be in or drink water from the Klamath River due to high levels of arsenic, lead and aluminum, the Siskiyou County Environmental Health said today. According to the report, heavy metals in the Klamath River have increased due to sediment buildup that happened after drawdown of the river’s three reservoirs in January. This is part of the Lower Klamath Dam Removal project.

But, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation has managed to accomplish something that is unheard of on the west coast of the United States. 

Their accomplishments in earning the ‘River of Death’ award, with the help of their contractors, have reached new heights in perpetrating ecological disaster.  Lets Review:

Planting toxic sediments listens-well, but is guaranteed to fail, here’s why:

Anyone thinking logically knows that the Klamath River floods periodically. And because KRRC’s plan failed to wash the majority of the polluted lake bottom sediments down river during their off-plan three-day dump of water and sediments, the now remaining 15-million metric yards of polluted sediments are merely a ticking time-bomb. 

The so-called plan to plant the remaining polluted sediment beds is just a fake solution that flies in the face of reality!

Let’s Assume the following scenario (best case situation):

The plantings take hold, and few years pass. Maybe some fish survive and show up in the Klamath River. At this point, hundreds of $-millions more of  California and Oregon taxes have been spent restoring the river and developing the fishery by cleaning-up and mitigating the January 23, 2024 sediment dump of 5-7-million metric yards of polluted clay sediments. 

This process will likely include the expensive dredging in numerous locations of the Klamath River to remove impacted clay from ecologically critical ‘deep pool refugia’ and spawning beds used by fish. 

Then, we have a flood.  As we all know, a flood will in fact dislodge and transport large quantities of polluted sediments remaining on the lake bottoms into the river, killing the entire River again. 

The empirically evident results of dumping just 5-7 million metric yards of that polluted clay sediment into the River easily killed all the aquatic life on the Klamath River, when it was dumped on January 23, 2024.  

Imagine the additional epic damage to the Klamath River if some or all of the remaining 15-million metric yards of polluted clay sediments (planted or not) are washed into the main-stem of the Klamath River via a flood. 

Those meager plantings, even if they take hold, cannot withstand the force of a flood-torrent rushing through the lake-bed canyons where the 15-million metric yards of polluted clay sediments currently remain.

KRRC’s failure to acknowledge this very real probability arguably brings their so-called plan into the realm of incompetence and gross negligence. 

And assuming they realize what they are doing shows a total disregard for the correct methodologies for restoring the river, which some experts might characterize as devious and sinister given the current and likely future impacts on the health, safety and economic welfare of the local people, including indigenous people, as well as the remaining wildlife.

We hope Mr. Bransom attends the March 12th Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors meeting so that he can accept the award for KRRC.

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