Malibu Chumash Village to Host Klamath
Riverkeeper Event
• Local Groups Join Ranks with
Organizations Seeking Removal of Four Dams
The activist group Ventura Coastkeeper is
hosting a fundraiser on Saturday at the Nicholas Canyon
County Park Chumash village to support a sister
environmental organization’s fight to remove
four dams and restore one of the state’s great
rivers, the Klamath.
According to the event’s organizers,
“At stake are the traditional cultures of
California’s three largest Native American tribes as
well as the state’s commercial and sport salmon
fisheries.”
Mati Waiya, who is the head of Ventura
Coastkeeper and a member of the Chumash tribe in
the area, has spearheaded local cooperation with Klamath
Riverkeeper.
Waiya says, “It’s important
that we support one another’s struggles because all
things and all struggles for justice are connected.”
He adds that is why he is working with the
international Waterkeeper Alliance to launch a Tribal
Waterkeepers program.
Klamath Riverkeeper’s objective
is to convince PacifiCorp, which is overseen by Warren Buffet,
to remove four dams on the Klamath River that have
reportedly led to dramatic declines in the salmon
population, as well as massive blooms of toxic blue green
algae.
According to Klamath Riverkeeper’s
Regina Chichizola, “Buffet’s PacifiCorp is
creating an ecological disaster and native people and
commercial salmon fishermen are paying the price.”
Chichizola says this weekend’s event
is important to help fund the group’s actions on
“this critical concern, “Funds raised will help the
Klamath Riverkeeper and the Karuk tribes’ actions to
solve the Klamath crisis,” she said.
Recently, Klamath Riverkeeper, along
with members of the Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa tribes, disrupted
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholders’
meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, in an attempt to draw national
attention to what is happening.
According to Chichizola, PacifiCorp is
owned by Mid-American Energy, which is owned by Berkshire
Hathaway ,and Buffett is president and majority shareholder in
Berkshire Hathaway.
Chichizola says, “We want Buffett and
PacifiCorp to know that as long as there is no business as
usual for salmon fisherman on the Klamath, there will be no
business as usual for them either.”
The groups hope that additional political
and economic pressure will come from environmentalists who do
not want to see the river destroyed.
The event that will be held at
Wishtoyo Foundation’s Chumash Village at Nicholas Canyon
County Park will feature traditional songs and regalia from the
local Chumash community and the Ohlone dancers, as well as
performers from the Klamath River tribes.
Organizers say the highlight of the evening
will be a dinner of traditional fire-roasted Klamath salmon.
“Once you have a taste of what could
be lost, you quickly become a supporter of our struggle,”
said Leaf Hillman of the Karuk Tribe.
The groups taking part in the event hope to
raise $75,000 to support their campaign efforts, including the
cost of experts to assist with a nuisance lawsuit against
Buffett’s PacifiCorp that is now headed to trial.
The July 26 event is set for 5:30 to 8:30
p.m. at the site that features a reconstruction of a Chumash
village and a spectacular view of the waters the Chumash people
once traversed in numbers.
Donations to assist the Klamath campaign
are requested.
Malibuites interested in attending the
event can obtain additional information from Waiya at
805-794-1248, or Chichizola at 541-951-0126.
