Klamath Basin Tribes, Conservationists and Fishermen Ask Biden Administration for $250M in Drought Relief
The Klamath River Estuary. | Photo: Pauk, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Press release:
On Friday, April 16, a coalition of three Klamath Basin Tribes joined with groups that represent conservationists and commercial fishermen to urge the Biden administration to grant significant financial relief to all Klamath Basin communities in response to what is predicted to be the driest year on record for the region.
In this joint letter to President Biden, the groups urgently called for federal help to blunt the immediate disastrous economic consequences from impacts of the drought for farmers and ranchers as well as commercial and subsistence fishermen and Tribes. The letter requested investment in short-term measures to assist native species, including fish and birds, as well as longer-term infrastructure improvements designed to prevent similar disasters in future low-water years. In all, the groups have requested more than $250 million in funding to address immediate economic losses and for helping to restore water balance to, and improve ecological conditions in, the drought-prone Klamath Basin.