This year California is facing a drought, and the collapse of the salmon runs on the Klamath and Sacramento/San Francisco Bay Delta watersheds. This means Native People’s food and cultures are threatened, along with coastal fishing economies due to low salmon allocations. It also means many runs of California’s salmon are facing extinction.
Along with having to deal with poor salmon returns and the threat of salmon extinction, California’s drought threatens California’s rivers and drinking water supplies and river flows that are key to the survival of the salmon. The situation is especially scary as the federal Trump water plan, which is still in effect, prioritizes corporate agriculture water deliveries above all else.
California could demand more water than the Trump Water plan calls for, however California had a drought, the state government prioritized industrial agriculture such as almonds, which are mainly exported, over Native people, fishermen, and even cities. This poor prioritization led to low flows, causing the killing of up to 98% of the juvenile salmon in California’s major salmon rivers, the Sacramento and Klamath. It also led to poor water quality in cities drinking water supplies.
The government prioritizing corporate water brokers and export-based agriculture during the last drought threatened millions of Californians in cities, along with the Native people and fishermen that rely on the salmon.
We can not let California and the federal government kill our salmon again. Salmon extinction is cultural genocide for native people.
