"Rally for the C'waam and Koptu" brings awareness to plight of endangered Klamath fish

CHILOQUIN — Citizens of the Klamath Tribes will host a two-day community event, “Rally for the C’waam and Koptu”, highlighting the importance of these endemic fish, also known as the Lost River suckerfish and shortnose suckerfish.

This free event will take place this Friday July 22 and Saturday 23 in Chiloquin with a caravan rally to nearby Klamath Falls on Saturday.

"The survival of the C'waam and Koptu and honoring our treaty rights and our water rights [is] for the betterment of everybody, it's for all of us," said Natalie Ball, Klamath Tribes Tribal Council, Member at Large.

The rally marks the 34th anniversary since the C’waam and Koptu were placed on the Endangered Species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1864, the federal government signed a treaty with the Klamath Tribes promising hunting and subsistence on the land in perpetuity.

Event organizers and Klamath Tribal members, Charlie Wright and Natalie Ball spoke with News 10 about why the Tribes advocate to prioritize the fish species in the Klamath Basin's water management.

"We're not trying to keep it from people so they can't use it for agriculture, we are just trying to sustain our wild fish populations and our natural resources out here," said Charlie Hall, employee of the Klamath Tribes aquatics research station and Klamath Tribal member.

“These fish were a staple of our ancestors’ diet. They are a first food of the Klamath Tribes. They are important to our physical health, our spiritual wellbeing, and our cultural life," Tribal Chairman, Clayton Dumont Jr. stated.

Dumont added that the C'waam and Koptu once inhabited the Upper Klamath Lake in the millions, but today, only 4,000 Koptu and less than 20,000 C'waam remain.

"Despite decades on the Endangered Species List, they are simply not a priority for federal decision makers," Dumont said. "Anyone who doubts this should take a boat trip around Ews (Upper Klamath Lake) this summer. Our beautiful, beloved lake, once the center of a massive, diverse, thriving, community of wildlife is now a toxic death trap—fouled by ammonia and starved for oxygen. This tragedy was predictable and preventable.”

At the rally, the community group AMBODAT will be presenting about water conservation, land restoration, endangered ecosystems, and the C’waam an Koptu. The community is invited to learn about the cultural significance of the fish to the Indigenous People of the Klamath Basin, the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin people.

Tribal Council Secretary, Roberta Frost said, “The thing that is often misunderstood within our wider community is that for tribal members, being able to subsist off of our treaty resources and provide for our families from our own homeland is comparable to the agricultural communities economic efforts and their ability to pass down that way of life to their children and grandchildren. Our tribal culture and way of life is just as important to us as tribal people even though we don’t look at every resource with the eye for exploitation.”

The weekend's events will begin on Friday, July 22nd at 2 pm with a Community Art Build led by Asa Wright (Modoc/Klamath) of the Indigenous People’s Power Project at the goos oLgi gowa Community Center in Chiloquin.

At 11 am on Saturday, July 23, a Caravan Parade from Klamath Tribes Community Fitness Center in Chiloquin will travel to the “A” Canal Headgate in Klamath Falls.

Afterward, an information session and community meal will happen at 2:30 pm at the Klamath Tribes Community Fitness Center in Chiloquin. The information session will feature the C’waam story told by the Klamath Tribes Language Director, and an information session led by The Klamath Tribes Aquatics Department with food plus prize drawings.

For additional information, contact Natalie Ball or join the Facebook event page.