Klamath Water Users Association
Weekly Update
Oct. 17, 2003
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Klamath Water Users Association Weekly Update Oct. 17, 2003
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Klamath Tribes Host Tour of Forest Lands for Basin Irrigators The Klamath Tribes on Friday will host a tour of forest lands and provide an overview of forest and wildlife management efforts undertaken by the tribes. Approximately 25 Klamath Project irrigators will participate in the tour, which is scheduled to last all day. Klamath Tribes Tour Itinerary 8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Invocation: Vice Chairman, Joe Hobbs Chairman Foreman: Welcome –—Introductions—Opening Remarks 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Forest and Wildlife Management Presentation: Will Hatcher, Tribal Forester, and Rick Ward, Wildlife Biologist 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Aquatic Resource Restoration: Larry Dunsmoor, Chief Biologist 10:00 a.m.—10:15 p.m. Discussion, Q & A. 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Tour Leaves Chiloquin - Road 22 to Beatty, with 5 stops along the way. 1:00 p.m. Lunch at Beatty Community Center 2:00 p.m. Drew’s road to the Overlook to Sprague River highway to O’cholis Canyon. 4:00 p.m. Klamath Tribes Fish Hatchery 5:00 p.m. End of tour at Tribal Administration 5:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. Closing remarks, Q & A. The tour is the second of three planned between Klamath Project irrigators, the tribes, and upstream irrigators. EPA Proposes Federal Water Quality Standards for Oregon The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new federal water quality standards for the State of Oregon. The proposed regulations would include use designations and temperature water quality criteria for the protection of salmonids in Oregon waters, except in the Columbia River. This rule also proposes an intergravel dissolved oxygen water quality criterion to protect salmonid spawning wherever that is the designated use, and proposes methods to implement Oregon’s existing antidegradation policy. EPA is making this proposal pursuant to a court order to take such action by October 1, 2003. On August 15, 2003, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) published proposed revisions to its water quality standards. If ODEQ’s revised standards address the court’s order and EPA approves them before March 2004, EPA will not need to finalize this rule. EPA’s water quality standards regulations require states to designate uses for all water bodies within their jurisdiction. Designated uses determine what water quality criteria apply to specific water bodies. EPA, its federal partners, and the State of Oregon agreed to develop temperature criteria recommendations protective of all life stages of salmonids in the Pacific Northwest. This effort culminated in April 2003 with the publication of the EPA Region 10 Temperature Guidance for Pacific Northwest State and Tribal Temperature Water Quality Standards - available on the Internet at http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/WATER.NSF/ For more information about this proposed rule, please contact Mary Lou Soscia, U.S. EPA Region 10, 811 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204; phone: 503-326-3250; email: soscia.marylou@epa.gov. Final National Academy of Sciences Report Due for Release Next Week The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath Basin will publicly release its long - awaited final report next Wednesday, October 22nd, federal sources have indicated. In the past eighteen months since it released an interim report, the NAS committee has addressed the scientific aspects related to the continued survival of coho salmon and suckers in the Klamath River Basin. The final report will identify gaps in the knowledge and scientific information that are needed and provide approximate estimates of the time and funding needed to fill those gaps, if such estimates are possible. The committee will also provide an assessment of scientific considerations relevant to strategies for promoting the recovery of listed species in the Klamath Basin. The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) and its members in 2001 strongly advocated for an independent peer review of the 2001 Klamath Project Biological Opinions, the underlying science, and the related overall scientific process. “The final report from the NAS Committee represents a critical step towards ensuring proper assessment and maintenance of healthy fish populations,” said KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen. The NAS panel in early 2002 successfully completed an objective, unbiased initial review of the information used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to formulate the agencies’ two 2001 Biological Opinions (BOs). Despite some recent attacks on the interim report by certain advocacy groups, that report does not, in the opinion of KWUA, reflect the use of “bad science” by the USFWS and NMFS in their respective 2001 BOs. To the contrary, the independent scientific panel of national experts used the same information as USFWS and NMFS but simply derived different conclusions concerning the scientific rationale for higher or lower than historical Upper Klamath Lake levels and flows in the Klamath River. The NAS report concluded that there was insufficient scientific evidence used by USFWS and NMFS in 2001 to support changing the recent historical water operations of the Klamath Project. “We agree with the NAS interim report’s conclusions that higher or lower than recent historical lake levels or Klamath River flows are not scientifically justified based on the available information used by the USFWS and NMFS,” said Keppen. KWUA maintains that, although some individuals have attacked the NAS report for not stating conclusions supporting their interest groups’ position, the NAS panel of experts demonstrated that it used a fair and scientifically objective treatment of the available information, and not just those data to support special interest groups’ agendas. In the past two years, KWUA fisheries biologists and water quality specialists provided the NAS panel with substantial data and information on the upper and lower Klamath ecosystem collected, compiled, and analyzed by objective scientists to further the panel’s unbiased scientific review of all the available data. KSWCD Recognizes Local Conservation Leaders at Annual Meeting The Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District (KSWCD) on Tuesday evening recognized several Klamath Basin landowners and elected officials for their leadership in implementing water conservation activities. The past year was a busy one for KSWCD and the Klamath Falls field office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, agencies that have been tasked with implementing the $50 million Klamath EQIP program. KSWCD Manager Rick Woodley was the master of ceremonies for Tuesday’s annual meeting, which focused special attention on local individuals who have played an important role in EQIP and other conservation program activities. “With the assistance of District staff, landowners were grateful to be able to participate in projects that not only improved water quality and quantity on their own lands, but contributed to the general environmental health of the entire basin,” said Woodley. Those receiving recognition for their efforts at Tuesday’s meeting included: The Klamath County Board of Commissioners – for financial and political support of Basin conservation efforts. Bill Moore, Sunnyside Irrigation District – conversion of a private open ditch to a 30-inch diameter, piped system, to eliminate conveyance losses in sandy soils. Bill Kennedy, Lost River Ranch – for leadership in proactive conservation work. Jere Goss – conservation tillage and installation of more efficient sprinkler systems. Bill Worthington – improved irrigation management. Staunton Farms – for pioneering use of the “no-till drill” in the Klamath Basin. Woodley underscored the success of the no-till drill program, which was implemented on a trial basis by Staunton Farms on lands located near Tulelake. Nearly two years ago, KSWCD embarked on an “unknown journey” with the purchase of a no-till grain drill, Woodley remarked. Since that time, over sixty Klamath Basin growers have found out first hand that there are opportunities for no-till on their farms. In side-by-side field tests, the no-till option has generated improved yields, sometimes using less applied fertilizer. Increased yields have ranged from ¼ of a ton per acre to nearly one ton per acre. KSWCD staff cite several possible reasons for the increase. “Probably the most significant reason may be the quicker emergence of the plants due to the better moisture conditions at planting, which helps the seed sprout faster,” said Woodley. “From a conservation standpoint, delaying the first irrigation is a great benefit for the Basin, especially with all the growing environmental demands on the irrigation water stored in Upper Klamath Lake.” Approximately fifty people attended Tuesday’s annual meeting. Woodley provided an overview of the past year’s activities, and KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen spoke to the group on the challenges facing Klamath Project irrigators. Hearings Set on Klamath Headwaters Ag Water Quality Management Area Two local hearings slated for next week will provide the public with an opportunity to learn about and provide input on the Klamath Headwaters Agricultural Water Quality Management Area. The Klamath Headwaters Local Advisory Committee (LAC) has taken on the task of meeting a mandate from the Oregon legislature and the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) to develop a plan that is based on reason, common sense, and peer-reviewed science to explain how agriculture might potentially impact water quality and how any negative impact can be reduced or eliminated. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is required to generate a list of streams, or stream segments, which do not meet the state standards for protecting the “beneficial uses” of those waters. There will be two public hearings to present the proposed plan and rules for the areas tributary to Upper Klamath Lake next week: October 22, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. at the OSU Klamath County Extension Center, 3328 Vandenberg Road, Klamath Falls, OR. October 23, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sprague River Community Center, Sprague River Road, Sprague River, OR. For further information, contact Celina Long at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, 503-986-4779, or view the proposed plan and regulations at http://www.oda.state.or.us/nrd/water_quality/areapr.html#proposed. Lost River Ag Water Quality Hearings Set for Early 2004 The Lost River Agricultural Water Quality Management Plan is still under development, but public hearings should be set for early 2004, according to state officials. After some lingering local issues are addressed and changes are made to a draft report, hearings similar to those being held next week for the Klamath Headwaters area will be scheduled to allow the public an opportunity to review the Lost River plan. Total Maximum Daily Load levels are currently being developed for the Lost River through a partnership arrangement between the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the states of California and Oregon. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Friday, October 17th, 2003 – Klamath Tribe Tour for Irrigators. Saturday, October 18, 2003 – Old-Fashioned Hoe Down and Ice Cream Social with Rep. Greg Walden. 2:30-4:00 p.m., Maurice O’Keefe’s barn at 20853 Hill Road, Merrill, Oregon. Call 1-888-774-4734 for more details. Tuesday, October 21st – Thursday, October 23rd, 2003. Klamath Fish Passage Technical Team. Tour and meetings: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Wednesday, October 22nd, 2003 – KWUA Executive Committee Meeting. 6:00 p.m. KWUA Office, 2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3, Klamath Falls, Oregon. |
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