have caused water quality issues, ongoing fish kills, and steep salmon population declines on the lower half of the river, with resulting conflict between salmon fishing communities including several Native American tribes on one side, and ranchers and farmers on the other. In response, commercial fishermen, environmental groups and tribes have proposed reductions in water use in the Klamath Basin, as well as the removal of at least four dams on the river to recover blocked fish habitat and reduce water quality problems. In early 2010, after a multi-year negotiation process, a group of Klamath stakeholders put forth their concerns in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. This water management plan was signed by a number of local communities, governments, tribal groups, environmentalists, and fishermen, although it was also immediately opposed by some other local tribes and conservationists, as well as some farmers and ranchers. The proposal was endorsed by the U.S. Department of the Interior but was not authorized by the United States Congress. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement expired in late 2015, but in early 2016, a separate and more broadly-supported accord known as the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement was struck. Unlike the prior settlement, this new agreement does not require support or funding from Congress, and is expected to lead to the removal of the four lower Klamath River dams in 2020. Although Atkinson was not part of the negotiations or a signatory to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, he pushed strongly for Congress to endorse it. In 2014, he produced and narrated a documentary film, A River Between Us, describing the controversy and the peoples involved. However, the plan was not endorsed before Congress adjourned at the end of 2015. Atkinson has stated his belief that members of Congress did not take the plan or the people seriously enough to realize the plan's importance to environmental restoration. Electoral history See also Oregon gubernatorial election, 2010 Oregon legislative elections, 2008 Oregon gubernatorial election, 2006 Seventy-fifth Oregon Legislative Assembly References External links Senator Atkinson's webpage from the Oregon Legislative Assembly website Voters' Pamphlet November 2, 2004 - Senator Atkinson's Bio Project Vote Smart Biography 1970 births Living people Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Republican Party Oregon state senators People from Central Point, Oregon Radio personalities from Oregon Southern Oregon University alumni Willamette University alumni 21st-century American politicians