Hoopa Valley Tribe Praises Thompson's Bill to Fund Trinity River Restoration

HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE LAUDS LEGISLATION FOR PROTECTION OF TRINITY RIVER RESTORATION

by Dan Bacher

Hoopa, Calif. – The Hoopa Valley Tribe lauded north coast Congressman Mike Thompson for his introduction Thursday of a bill to adequately fund the restoration of the Trinity River, which bisects the tribe’s reservation, and has been the focal point of decades of fishery restoration studies, litigation and bureaucratic short-changing. Thompson decided to introduce the bill (H.R. 2733) after a Hoopa delegation visited him to express concern that Trinity River restoration funding was being diminished by a plan to restore the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley.

“The Hoopa Valley Tribe is supportive of river restoration throughout California, but legislation to restore the San Joaquin River has a funding plan that will significantly reduce environmental restoration funding from the Central Valley Project restoration fund,” said Clifford Lyle Marshall, Chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. “The Hoopa Valley Tribe sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. to alert Congressman Thompson of the potential harm to the fishery based communities dependent on the Trinity River, and he reacted to our concerns.”

Marshall anticipates working with San Joaquin River restoration advocates to support tandem legislation to benefit both rivers. “We will gladly be part of a coalition to restore both rivers, but after three decades of legislation, litigation and cooperative studies that have produced the solid science for restoring the river, we cannot agree to new legislation that will undermine the federal government’s promise to restore the Trinity River.”

Click here to read more: http://www.nativebiz.com/community/News,op=visit,nid=15725.html