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- By Neely Bardwell
On his first day in office of his second term, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum titled Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California that increases water diversions putting Indigenous communities, waterways, salmon populations, and the economy at risk.
The Memorandum’s title itself suggests water scarcity that tribes say does not exist. This memorandum prioritizes increased water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Regina Chichizola, the executive director of Save California Salmon, explains that under the last Trump presidency, his policies led to a 50%-90% decrease in salmon populations as well as serious pollution issues in California’s largest watersheds that California is still seeing today. The Save California Salmon is an organization that aims to help support tribes and the general public in engaging with public comments related to water pollution, fisheries, and beneficial use issues,
“The new Trump administration is picking up where it left off four years ago. This new memorandum continues a pattern of prioritizing industrial agriculture above the needs of urban water users,” said Chichizola. “California’s waterways are still feeling the impacts of these policies.The commercial and recreational salmon harvest has been shut down for the last three years.This has been devastating to Northern California economies.”
At this point, it doesn’t seem as though Trump engaged with any tribal nations before making his decision. This policy is only part of Trump’s fight against “radical environmentalism" to which California leaders say protecting water quality, Delta smelt, salmon, and other species is not radical.
In the memorandum, Trump cites the recent devastating fires that have been ravaging the Los Angeles area.
“The recent deadly and historically destructive wildfires in Southern California underscore why the State of California needs a reliable water supply and sound vegetation management practices in order to provide water desperately needed there, and why this plan must immediately be reimplemented.”
However, California leaders explain that the water supply issues in the Los Angeles fires were based on fire hydrant pressure, scheduled maintenance, and electricity. To address this, they are urging Trump to fund emergency preparedness and response, and every town and city in California needs to have funded community preparation plans and localized water and power supplies.
Instead of the actions taken in the memorandum, California leaders also urge the president to instead modernize urban and agricultural water use by incentivizing conservation, reuse, and efficiency measures in order to reduce waste and lessen the strain on Northern California's rivers and enhance Southern California water storage.
Most importantly, collaboration with local Indigenous Tribes and communities needs to be prioritized. Josa Talley (Karuk) of Save California Salmon explains that Salmon are more than just fish.
“The notion that water flowing into the Pacific Ocean is ‘wasteful’ ignores the livelihoods of Tribal and rural communities in Northern California. Salmon are more than simply wildlife. For Tribes, salmon are central to cultural identity, food security, and Traditional Knowledge. Salmon survival is tied to our health and the health of our rivers.”
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