Bureau of Reclamation officials told Klamath Basin irrigators Friday that a June 13 assessment of Klamath Project water levels could lead to less water for them.

A wet April increased flows into Upper Klamath Lake, and led to a change of designations from "dry" to "below average." This means more water must stay in Upper Klamath Lake, and Klamath River flows must also be higher.

And Klamath Basin irrigators will get what’s left over, said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association. Keppen called the requirements of the "below average" designation "counter-intuitive."

Recent hot and windy weather has also diminished water levels in the lake, said Jeff McCracken, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation. "Our initial forecast was that we could sneak by with no changes," McCracken said. "But we found there was more evaporation from heat and wind. It didn’t look like we could make the lake level under this new designation.

"Upper Klamath Lake needed to be another six inches higher, and downstream flows increased also."

At the Friday meeting, irrigators agreed to take steps to further limit their use of Klamath Project water. Irrigators opted to reduce flows from 800 cubic feet per second to 600 cubic feet per second. "Those were the numbers that came out of that meeting," Keppen said. "Local guys are getting together to make it work." Keppen said that Klamath Basin irrigators need from 300,000 acre-feet to 500,000 acre-feet of Klamath Project water. "Some are voluntarily using well water," Keppen said.

"We’ve got to tip our hats to them," McCracken said. "They’re doing all they can to help us meet that requirement."

For example:

• The Tulelake Irrigation District will activate some of its well pumps near the state border.
• The Langell Valley and Horsefly Irrigation Districts will allow return flows generated within their services areas to supplement lands supplied out of Upper Klamath Lake.
• An assessment will be made of the Wilson Reservoir and Spring Lake as possible additional, and temporary, supplies to reduce direct demand out of Upper Klamath Lake.

This year, some 17,000 acres of farmland have been voluntarily idled. That factor, along with the use of well water, "will save 60,000 acre-feet of project water, said Keppen, who bristled at the notion that irrigators only should make sacrifices. "You can’t look to the Klamath Project to be the sole answer to the problem," he said. "irrigators use only 2 percent of the entire Klamath watershed."

Keppen added that from Crater Lake to the end of Klamath River the river basin consists of about 10.5 million acres. Irrigators dependent on Klamath Project water occupy about 200,000 acres.

"We’ll see where we are at the end of the month, and see where we are at the lake levels," McCracken said. "We think we can take care of it for the remainder of June. If we can’t resolve this by what we’re doing now, we may have to curtail water deliveries."

"Overall, in the face of horrendous regulations, farmers are stepping up to be part of the solution," Keppen said.

A report published Thursday in the Eureka Times-Standard said that salmon fry had begun showing up dead in fish traps on the Klamath River, causing some biologists concern about the possibility of a repeat of the huge juvenile fish kill of June 2000.

The report also stated that biologists had found 100 dead Chinook salmon in monitoring traps near Big Bar and in Pools near Happy Camp. However, BOR officials disagree with these reports. "We sent two of our biologists down 100 miles of the Klamath River Thursday," McCracken said. "And they found only three dead fish. We don’t believe the condition of the river is as bad as some people have alleged."