Franklin said the last-minute nature of the bureau's decision showed the need for better advance planning in times of drought.

"The tribe has been on this since February, writing Secretary Jewell about the coming problem as the drought became very, very apparent," Franklin said. "... So we're wanting very much to have our eyes on the strategic planning and have something in place that keeps us from having to hurry up and do this with very little time."

But in a statement, Dan Nelson, the executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, blasted the water releases.

"Today, United States Bureau of Reclamation announced it will dump precious Central Valley Project water while the people of our valley suffer from well-documented and widely reported social and economic destruction as a result of government policies compounded by the drought," Nelson said.

And he questioned whether the releases are necessary to save migrating fish.

"The number of returning salmon is still well below the established level of concern. In fact, reports from field biologists, fishing guides and fishermen along the lower Klamath all indicate that the prevalent fish in the river is steelhead, not chinook salmon. There are no reports of any disease outbreak, which was the requisite condition for change Reclamation established just weeks ago. The only condition that has changed is the increase in volume in the voices of a few special interests."

In announcing the releases, David Murillo, the bureau's mid-Pacific regional director, said conditions on the lower Klamath are "unprecedented" and require the agency to take emergency action.

“This decision was made based on science and after consultation with tribes, water and power users, federal and state fish regulatory agencies, and others,” Murillo said in a statement.

The Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes have a unique role in questions surrounding the Klamath-Trinity salmon fishery. The tribes enjoy federally protected fishing rights to salmon and steelhead in the rivers and some of their tributaries, a status confirmed by an Interior Department legal opinion in 1993.

San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water AuthoritySan Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority

Feds to Release Water for Klamath and Trinity Salmon; Farm Districts Protest