Ineffective environmental practice turns off the tap
for Klamath Basin farmers during drought

SALEM, Ore. – Yesterday the Bureau of Reclamation announced that no water is to be diverted from Upper Klamath Lake for irrigation this year to over 150,000 acres of productive farmland in Klamath County.

Instead, the water will be retained in the lake to support a failed environmental practice for fish species that has yet to prove its effectiveness. In previous, similar drought conditions BOR has delivered project farmers their full allocation of water. This year BOR is using unproven environmental opinions to claim all water must be retained in Upper Klamath Lake or released downstream to California.

“The Bureau of Reclamation exists for the farmers, yet this decision will decimate the livelihood of Oregonians trying to make it through this drought,” said Representative E. Werner Reschke (R-Klamath Falls.) “We know that holding this water back for these fish will not work, and we also know that these farmers need this water to survive. Federal decision-makers must change course to help these struggling communities make it through this drought.”