(a) Yurok people have inhabited lands of the Lower Klamath and Trinity Rivers, as well as along the Pacific Coast extending from Little River to Damnation Creek, for thousands of years. These ancestral lands encompass an area of approximately 360,000 acres. The natural resources of the Klamath River, its surrounding lands, and the Pacific Ocean have been central to the lives of Yurok people since time immemorial, fulfilling subsistence, commercial, cultural, and ceremonial needs.

(b) The Tribe is the largest federally recognized Tribe in the state of California with approximately 4,500 enrolled members. With the passage of the Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act (PL 100-850), the Tribe was able to exercise its powers as a sovereign nation for the first time since non-Indian contact. The present YIR is located in northwestern Humboldt and southwestern Del Norte Counties.

(c) The Klamath River defines the exact shape of the YIR (Figure 1). The YIR consists of an approximately 59,000-acre corridor of land including the Klamath River, and extends for one mile from each side of the Klamath River. The segment of the Klamath River running through Tribal lands is approximately 46 miles long, or about 16 percent of the total length of the Klamath River measured from the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake to the Pacific Ocean. The Reservation includes two separate populated areas, generally known as the Lower Reservation (area that surrounds the lower part of the Klamath River where it flows into the Pacific Ocean near Requa) and the Upper Reservation (area that surrounds the up-river portion of the Klamath River where the Trinity River flows into the Klamath River near Weitchpec).

(d) At the present time 5,090 acres are held in trust status within the YIR. The remaining lands in the YIR are fee lands, a majority of which are owned by Simpson Resource Company (SRC), and managed intensively for timber products. A small portion of the YIR consists of public lands managed by Redwood National/State Parks (RNSP), the United States Forest Service (USFS), and a number of other private landholdings. Approximately 960 people live on the YIR with most of the remaining Tribal members living nearby in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

(e) The steep terrain, granular soil matrix, high precipitation, and historic and current land use practices have produced erodible conditions throughout the area. Landslides occur frequently. These soil conditions make road conditions difficult to stabilize and cause considerable siltation and turbidity problems in the Klamath River.

(f) The Mediterranean climate of the area is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters. The average annual temperature of the valley is 57 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average annual precipitation is around 70 inches, falling mostly between October and April. There are two distinct climates that occur within the YIR, including the coast which receives approximately 85 inches of rain and the inland valley that receives approximately 60 inches of rain. Snow usually occurs only in moderate amounts above the 2,000-foot elevation.

(g) Management of private lands in the basin, including fee land within the YIR boundaries, has been dominated by intensive timber harvest for the last 100 years. Associated road building and slope destabilization have resulted in aggradation from increased sediment input into many of the streams tributary to the Klamath River on the YIR. Some historically perennial streams now have ephemeral lower reaches and seasonal fish migration blockages because the water in low-runoff periods flows under aggraded streambed. Additionally, the lower slough areas of some of the Lower Klamath tributaries that enter the estuary experience eutrophic conditions during periods of low flow. These can create water quality barriers to fish migration when dissolved oxygen and temperature levels are inadequate for migrating fish.

(h) Nearly all of the YIR streams that have perennial flow and no physical barriers to fish migration provide spawning, incubation, and rearing habitats for anadromous fish species. Perennial tributaries also provide important thermal refugia for fish during periodic mainstem warm water episodes. Many of the streams that have ephemeral lower reaches also provide important fish habitat in their higher perennial reaches.

(i) The Lower Klamath River, many major tributaries and creeks entering the Klamath below the Trinity River confluence, and associated ground water repositories support the household water needs of YIR residents and the habitat needs of a diverse fishery and aquatic ecosystem. Fishing, hunting and gathering food and culturally significant plants are particularly important to Tribal members who have long depended on fish and wildlife for subsistence. The Yurok people have traditional and contemporary importance attached to the fisheries associated with the rivers and water. Increased flows of clean water are essential to the long-term viability of the fisheries and cultures of salmon. Salmon is a traditional staple of the Yurok diet. In contemporary times, salmon continues to be vital to the Yurok diet; however, the decrease in run size has caused a decline in its availability. The significance of salmon to Yurok people is evident in the Yurok word for salmon that has multiple meanings. The stem word nep- means “to eat.” The Yurok word nunepuy, which translates to “food and fish,” is synonymous with nepuy, which translates to “that which is eaten” and “salmon.”

(j) Yurok culture also emphasizes the significance of water through ceremonies and oral traditions. Yurok people have ceremonies that specifically seek to keep the world in balance. Traditional ceremonial practices that directly include the river are the construction of the Ke’pel Fish Dam and the Boat Dance. Contemporary ceremonial practices that indirectly relate to water are the Jump and Brush ceremonies. Ceremonies that require a purification process require that sweathouses be in close proximity to bathing areas that provide clean water.

(k) The river and ocean are such an integral part of the Yurok way of life that without them, the traditions of the Yurok people would be perceived in a radically different perspective. To take away such waters, limit Yurok access to such waters, or severely impair the quality of such waters would result in the end of the traditional Yurok way of life.

(l) As stated by Congress in the Klamath River Act (1986), the basin’s fish habitat has been greatly diminished in extent and value in the past century by the construction of dams, diversions, hydroelectric projects, and by sediment from mining, timber harvest practices, and road building. These developments and land uses had and continue to have far-reaching implications affecting the health of entire watershed habitats – from the soil stability and vegetative diversity of the highest slopes to the quantity and quality of the water in the rivers at the bottom of the basin.

(m) Water quality problems in the Upper Klamath Basin are well documented, but comparability of data among different areas and sources of collection is uncertain. The majority of water flowing through the Reservation is derived from scheduled releases of impounded water from the Upper Klamath/Trinity Basins, which is often of poor quality in relation to human needs as well as the needs of fish and wildlife. Releases from Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River tend to be warm and have low levels of dissolved oxygen, while releases from Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River are colder and have higher oxygen levels.

(n) While on-site Reservation impacts due to silviculture, road building and water diversion occur, the magnitude of cumulative off-site impacts of these same activities is far greater. It is therefore appropriate to consider current and past land use and the associated cumulative effects on all watersheds of the Klamath River which flow through the YIR and the subsequent threat to federally protected and reserved fishing rights of the Tribe.