Introduction
Unlike most basins, the headwaters of the Klamath River are in the flat desert of the Great Basin in eastern Oregon, and travel through the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Coast Mountain Range before finally draining into the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. The indigenous peoples who have lived along the Klamath River and its tributaries had livelihoods adapted to the basins varied climates and biophysical attributes.
The Klamath Tribe still inhabits the region off the shores of Klamath Lake, the headwaters the Klamath River. The Klamath Tribe is now a composite of three tribes, the Yahooskin, Modoc, and Klamath Tribes with a governing office in Chiloquin, Oregon. Historically, the tribes relied on two fish species, …show more content…
The media attention and emblematic character of the Klamath “Water Wars” (Doremus and Tarlock 2007) make it an attractive topic for academic study, both within geography and in disciplines such as conservation law, economics, and natural resource management. Recently published research by Berry, Horangic, and Wall (2016) investigates what factors determined stakeholder participation in collaborative processes in the Klamath River Basin. Their findings suggest a range of variables played an important role, including past experiences with negotiations and solidarity between communities who have experienced hardship as a result of water shortages. They also found that relationships between stakeholders were especially important, and that the development of amicable personal accords made stakeholders desire successful future collaboration. This summary does little justice to the work of Horangic, Berry and Wall and I elaborate on their findings and methods in later sections of this thesis. My research builds upon their findings by exploring participation in collaborative management in the current political climate of the KRB and the concurrent changes in water management and governance. The primary questions my research seeks to answer are:
1. What factors influence participation and exclusion in the collaborative water governance in the Klamath Basin?
2. How does participation and exclusion affect the management outcomes of collaborative
Unlike most basins, the headwaters of the Klamath River are in the flat desert of the Great Basin in eastern Oregon, and travel through the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Coast Mountain Range before finally draining into the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. The indigenous peoples who have lived along the Klamath River and its tributaries had livelihoods adapted to the basins varied climates and biophysical attributes.
The Klamath Tribe still inhabits the region off the shores of Klamath Lake, the headwaters the Klamath River. The Klamath Tribe is now a composite of three tribes, the Yahooskin, Modoc, and Klamath Tribes with a governing office in Chiloquin, Oregon. Historically, the tribes relied on two fish species, …show more content…
The media attention and emblematic character of the Klamath “Water Wars” (Doremus and Tarlock 2007) make it an attractive topic for academic study, both within geography and in disciplines such as conservation law, economics, and natural resource management. Recently published research by Berry, Horangic, and Wall (2016) investigates what factors determined stakeholder participation in collaborative processes in the Klamath River Basin. Their findings suggest a range of variables played an important role, including past experiences with negotiations and solidarity between communities who have experienced hardship as a result of water shortages. They also found that relationships between stakeholders were especially important, and that the development of amicable personal accords made stakeholders desire successful future collaboration. This summary does little justice to the work of Horangic, Berry and Wall and I elaborate on their findings and methods in later sections of this thesis. My research builds upon their findings by exploring participation in collaborative management in the current political climate of the KRB and the concurrent changes in water management and governance. The primary questions my research seeks to answer are:
1. What factors influence participation and exclusion in the collaborative water governance in the Klamath Basin?
2. How does participation and exclusion affect the management outcomes of collaborative