Hoopa Valley Tribe Chairman Testifies in Congress in Support of Trinity River Funding

Media Contacts: Clifford Lyle Marshall (530) 625-4211 ext. 161

Mike Orcutt (530) 625-4267 ext. 13

Tod Bedrosian (916) 421-5121

HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE FEARS SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RESTORATION LEGISLATION COULD CRIPPLE TRINITY RIVER RESTORATION EFFORTS

Hoopa, Calif. – Clifford Lyle Marshall, Chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe of northern California told the House Natural Resources subcommittee the passage of Rep. Mike Thompson’s H.R. 2733 is needed to prop up the sagging efforts of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to restore the Trinity River during his testimony before the subcommittee Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

“Our strong support for H.R. 2733 should not be construed as opposition to the efforts to restore the San Joaquin River,” said Marshall. “We support river restoration throughout California, but we hope that Congress takes into consideration that the San Joaquin restoration legislation will become a billion-dollar vortex that will suck up all of the river restoration funding provided by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. The Trinity River restoration project is currently under funded by eight million dollars annually and is seven years behind schedule. Shifting the limited restoration funds in the CVPIA to San Joaquin will reduce funding for Trinity River restoration further. Funding for the Trinity needs to be identified now.”

Marshall said the Hoopa Valley Tribe will continue talks with Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s staff about supplemental funding for restoration of the Trinity River. “The Senator has been a friend to the Trinity River in the past. I think she is concerned that the Bureau of Reclamation is only committing half of the money it should on the government’s promise to restore the Trinity River. Congressman Thompson’s Bill will fix the annual funding shortfall. We hope she will introduce the same bill in the Senate.”

During the months the San Joaquin River legislation was being written by environmentalists and commercial water users in the Central Valley the Hoopa Valley Tribe expressed concerns, said Marshall. “We felt like the rug is being pulled out from under us. We are not opposed the San Joaquin River restoration in principle but are concerned about funding and priority. In the coming years of restoration of both rivers we hope the Congress remembers the decades of promises and work on the Trinity River which should be protected as a tribal trust by the U.S. Department of Interior.”

Marshall said the Trinity River is the only tributary to the Klamath River producing harvestable quantities of endangered species of salmon for local harvest. “If the Trinity River goes down, so goes fishing for native people, sports fishermen and the commercial fishing industry for 900 miles of the Northern California and Oregon coastline. The San Joaquin will take decades to restore. Funding for the Trinity will produce immediate returns on investment and immediate benefit to the coastal communities that rely on the salmon industry.”

The San Joaquin legislation settles a lawsuit that has been in the courts for 18 years, but Marshall said the Tribe's effort to restore the Trinity River has been underway for nearly 35 years. Legislation is sought because of the federal government's failure to comply with a 2002 court decision from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court that reinforced the BOR’s duty to restore the Trinity River by noting, “The federal government has a trust obligation to the Hoopa and Yurok Indian Tribes and Congress expressed its intent this obligation be finally fulfilled more than four years ago.”

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