Report looks at flows of the past

Study could change current of Klamath River controversy

Klamath Falls Herald and News

Published December 7, 2003

By Dylan Darling

Toward the end of summer, the Klamath River gets low – the source of controversy over fish and irrigation.

But a new government study says that before the Klamath Reclamation Project was developed, the water used to get a lot lower.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been trying to figure out how the water flowed in the Link River, and then into the Klamath River, before the concrete and steel of the irrigation project were added to the mix of reefs, bends and eddies.

Friday, the Bureau released a draft of its report.

It shows that the Link River would go dry some years and that, overall, flows during the summer were usually less than they are now, said Dave Sabo, project manager.

“This says that during critically dry years there were very low flows,” he said.

To illustrate the point, Sabo shows two photos hanging in the hall of the project's office.

One is of the Link River and its natural reef in May 1921. The photo next to it is of the Link River Dam once it was in place in October 1921

After blasting away much of the reef and creating a channel for water, the Bureau put the dam in at the same elevation that the reef had been. Sabo said this allowed more water to be sent downriver during low lake years because the Bureau had control of the dam while the reef had been the will of nature.

Before that, the Link River would go dry some years because no water was flowing up over the reef and on down the Klamath River system.

Once made final, the report could start a domino effect of report and policy changes that would change how much water goes down to the Pacific from Iron Gate Dam, the main flow control dam on the Klamath River.

Flows from Iron Gate now are governed by a biological opinion written by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service and designed to protect endangered coho salmon.

“I think it is going to be an important piece of the fabric of how Klamath Project operates,” Sabo said.

Sabo started as project manager in February 2002. A few months later, he asked what the natural flows of the Klamath River were before the project and the ball got rolling on the report that is now in draft form.

Before it becomes official the report is going to be reviewed by peer scientists and analysts, an independent lab and officials from the state of Oregon, he said. It also is open for public comment over the next two months.

He said the extensive reviews are to dispel any notion that the report is a product by the Bureau, for the Bureau.

“The belief is we created this thing to further our cause,” Sabo said. “And, that is why we want it to be s honest as it can be.”

Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, which has sued to have more flows sent down the Klamath, said the Bureau is doing a good job with the report by making it available to the public and putting it up for peer review.

For the report to help lead to a solution for the Klamath situation, the report must be broadly accepted and credible, Spain said.

He said it is important to remember that the report is still a draft.

“It’s too early to say that this has gotten it right, it need to go through some review, and it will obviously have some problems with it,” he said. “It’s pretty darn rare for a draft to get it right the first time.”

For the Klamath Water Users Association, the draft report comes as good news.

Executive Director Dan Keppen called the report “huge because we always are getting criticized for not sending water down,” he said.

After all the review and public comment, the report will be used by Utah State University Environmental Engineer Dr. Thomas B. Hardy, whose work on Klamath River flows has been a key element of the biological opinions.

Although the Marine Fisheries Service’s biological opinion is designed to revive coho salmon and doesn’t follow all of Hardy’s suggestions, the Bureau’s report could have a ripple affect on how much water flows down the Klamath River.

After the Bureau finishes its report, Hardy will have several months to finish his report, Sabo said.