Klamath Water Users Association 

House Republican Conference Secretary John T. Doolittle (R-Rocklin, CA) announced on Wednesday that the House of Representatives has passed his comprehensive water management plan that will increase water supplies throughout his vast Northern California district.  Included in this package is $25 million for water infrastructure projects in the Upper Klamath River Basin. 

"Helping resolve the water management crisis in the Klamath Basin is one of my top priorities," Doolittle said.  "It is an honor to represent a
community that, despite misguided government priorities, continues to lead the world in water use efficiency and conservation implementation.  It is my hope these funds will continue that trend and will be a tremendous benefit to local farmers."

 Local elected leaders and water officials widely praised this landmark legislation. 

"This bill is a testament to the commitment Congressman Doolittle has made to the farming community in the Klamath Basin and his dedication to helping achieve water certainty in the Basin," commented Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Klamath Water Users Association.  "It's great to have another member in Congress who understands our needs and has the will to fight for them."

The plan - part of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) - calls for the investment of $135 million in water infrastructure improvements in communities ranging from the suburban Sacramento area to the Oregon border.
By building new facilities and renovating existing ones to improve water use efficiency, the projects funded by this legislation are expected to yield up to 100,000 acre-feet of additional water per year, enough to supply water for 100,000 families of five annually.  "This is one of the most significant
federal investments in water infrastructure our region has seen in decades," stated El Dorado Irrigation District Board President George Osborne.

"These funds will provide significant assistance to our community in recovering from the 2001 Water Crisis by providing for infrastructure
improvements and conservation measures," said Tulelake Growers Association President Marty Macy.  "We highly commend Congressman Doolittle's ongoing efforts to reestablish and protect agriculture in the Klamath Basin."

This legislation provides $25 million in Basin cost-share programs intended primarily to assist public entities with water, wastewater and ecosystem restoration projects, programs and infrastructure. High on local irrigation districts’ list of priorities are projects like canal lining, tailwater recovery pumping systems, and construction of fish passage improvements at Chiloquin Dam.

The local intent of this program was to provide public entities - particularly irrigation districts - with the same conservation / improvement opportunities currently afforded to individual private landowners via the 2002 Farm Bill conservation program.

Though the House has now completed action on the bill, the Senate has not begun consideration of any companion measure. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has said that his panel will not take up such legislation until next year.

Nearly fifty tribal leaders, Project irrigators and Upper Basin water users spent Thursday together touring the Klamath Project, the first of three tours planned this fall between the three stakeholder groups. The tours are associated with recent informal meetings between local irrigators and leaders of the Klamath Tribes.

Thursday’s tour began at the Shilo Inn in Klamath Falls, where participants were welcomed by Allen Foreman, Chairman of the Klamath Tribe, Becky Hyde, a Sprague River rancher, and Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Klamath Water Users Association.

"This is an historic occasion, and it’s the sort of thing we need to do more of to better understand each other’s concerns," said Foreman.

"We’ve tried to work our differences out before, and we haven’t been successful," said Hyde. "If it doesn’t work this time, it’s inevitable that, at some point, we will only try again."

Before embarking on a bus tour of the Klamath Project, the group was briefed by Tulelake farmer John Crawford on the historic development of the Klamath Project, and its relationship to downstream flows on the lower Klamath River (see related article on next page). Much of the ensuing tour built upon the general overview provided by Crawford. Beginning at the new $14 million A Canal fish screen, the tour bus wound its way east, following the Lost River to Tulelake, and returned to Klamath Falls after visiting the national wildlife refuges and Klamath Drainage District. Lunch was hosted by the Tulelake Growers Association and supported by Tulelake Irrigation District.

Recent events throughout the state, including the Klamath Basin, have added to the urgency for developing a system for improving water management in the neighboring Rogue River Basin. The Water for Irrigation, Streams and Economy Project (WISE) is a collaborative effort to improve the health of the Little Butte Creek and Bear Creek systems and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the three local irrigation districts. The WISE Advisory Committee, a group of concerned citizens, stakeholders, local organizations, and state and federal agencies, is continuing to work towards accomplishing its stated goals through the collaborative efforts of stakeholders in the region.

The WISE Project Advisory Committee has developed six alternatives for meeting the project goals. All six alternatives include a dual pumping station that would allow water from the Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility to be injected into the pressurized irrigation system as well as providing access to water in Lost Creek Reservoir that is designated for agricultural use. Alternative 2 includes a fully piped irrigation delivery system and increased storage capacity in Howard Prairie and Agate Reservoirs. The remaining alternatives are all scaled down versions of Alternative 2.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared its Biological Assessment (BA) that describes and evaluates the potential effects of continued operation and routine maintenance actions of the Rogue River Basin Project (RRBP). The BA concludes that RRBP actions "may affect, but are not likely to adversely affect", coho salmon in the Klamath River Basin. Reclamation has requested a determination by NOAA Fisheries on Reclamation’s findings.

Thursday’s tour of the Klamath Project focused on little known but important facts concerning the Klamath Project’s influence on downstream flow conditions. Under pre-Project conditions, natural controls existed below both Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna which stabilized lake levels except during critical droughts. Those controls were natural reefs of hard earth material in the channel and other channel constrictions. Under these pre-Project conditions, the Klamath River flowed into Lower Klamath Lake area.

The Untied States Reclamation Services 1906 map titled "Topographic and Drainage Map, Upper and Lower Klamath Project" shows the invert elevation of the Klamath Strait approximately the same level as the Klamath River channel bottom near Keno. In addition, the Lost River terminated at Tule Lake. These flows flooded approximately 183,000 acres within Lower Klamath and Tule Lake. In general, under pre-Project conditions, Klamath River flows downstream of Keno may have occurred after a certain water level was reached in the Klamath River and Lower Klamath Lake. The exact timing and frequency of the division of flow between Klamath Straits and the Klamath River is not clear based on historical documents.

During many dry years under pre-Project conditions, there were times of little or no flow in the Link River below Upper Klamath Lake and Klamath River below Keno. These conditions occurred as a result of dry runoff conditions and were controlled by the same natural reefs identified above. During dry years and years of low runoff, evaporation from Upper Klamath Lake likely exceeded the inflow to the lake, resulting in little or no outflow. In addition to these events, high winds from the south periodically kept water from overflowing the natural reefs into the river channels, which left certain reaches of the Link River completely dry.

Under current Project conditions, greater quantities of water can be stored in Upper Klamath Lake for later beneficial use, including agriculture and in-stream flows. Also, the construction of the D Pumping Plant and the 6,600 ft concrete-lined tunnel that conveys drainage water from Tule Lake restricted sumps to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge effectively provided a consistent hydraulic connection between the Lost River and the Klamath River that did not exist prior to development of the Klamath Project.

It is not clear how much of an effect the Project has had on pre-Project downstream flows because there is insufficient data to analyze the pre-Project flows in the river or the occurrences of overflow from the river. It is likely the Project has reduced the in-stream flow during some months of some years. However, it is clear the Project has stabilized and increased downstream flows during other times. It is also clear that a critical data gap exists relative to this issue. There is a need to develop a peer-reviewed comparison of current hydrology and pre-Project conditions.

An argument can also be made that the Project changed the timing of flows but has not reduced the overall volume of flow by comparing the difference in consumptive use under pre-Project versus post-Project conditions within the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake areas. The evaporation from an open body of water in this area during March through October and/or the consumptive use of marshland tules and grasses likely exceeded the consumptive use of crops currently grown in this area.

Federal wildlife officials have decided to remove a Delta minnow- the Sacramento splittail- from the nation's list of threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced Monday. The removal of the splittail will reduce the regulatory uncertainty faced by water users in the Central Valley and southern California, who rely on waters exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The USFWS designated the splittail as threatened in 1999 after surveys indicated its numbers were declining, but state and federal water users contested this claim, and charged that the agency’s analysis was flawed.

The decision to delist the splittail is seen as a hopeful sign by many in the Klamath Basin, who are still abuzz about the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Jones, who recently ordered USFWS to reconsider its denial of a petition filed by Klamath Basin residents to remove two species of suckerfish from the Endangered Species Act list. A small group of Klamath Basin residents had filed a petition to remove the fish from the endangered species list in October 2001. The petition was based on the testimony of biologist David Vogel, who told Congress that year that either "the estimates of the sucker populations in the 1980s were in error and did not, in fact, demonstrate a precipitous decline" or "the suckers have demonstrated an enormous boom in the period since the listing and no longer exhibit 'endangered' status".

Judge Jones found that the USFWS’ denial of the petition contained "unexplained conclusions not supported by the administrative record" and ordered the USFWS either to reconsider its rejection of the delisting petition, or proceed to a full status review, the next procedural hurdle prior to delisting.

Klamath Politics to be Aired on PBS’ "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

A PBS film crew from Seattle visited Klamath Falls last week to interview local water interests for their reactions to recent charges by environmental activists and presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry that the Bush Administration improperly interfered with policy making in the Klamath Basin. Klamath Falls farmer Ed Bair and KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen were interviewed by PBS, which is preparing a segment that will be shown in the coming weeks on "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", a nationally broadcast program. PBS is interested in the role Klamath might play in the reelection and appears to be focusing on Senator Kerry’s request to a federal inspector general to investigate White House dealings with Klamath.

In October 2004, just weeks after the fish die-off on the lower Klamath River, Kerry’s office issued a press statement defending Michael Kelly, the federal biologist who last year filed for protection under the federal Whistleblower Statute. Kelly alleged a violation of law, rule, or regulation and gross mismanagement by agency employees during the 2002 formal consultation on Klamath Project operations. KWUA provided PBS with documents showing that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel five months later determined that Kelly’s allegations did not warrant further investigation and that the file for this case would be closed.

In a related matter, President Bush last week in a roundtable discussion defended his Klamath Basin record, saying the administration spent $43 million last year to make more water available, promote conservation and protect endangered fish.

"Good policy sometimes makes good politics," he said.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has measured actual inflows into Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) to determine the actual year type in early September based on those actual inflows. As of September 15, 2003 actual inflow into UKL was 320,542 acre-feet. This exceeds the lower threshold of the "below average" water year type (312,000 to 500,000 acre-feet).

Because the month of September began as a "dry" water year type and ended as a "below average" year type, the end-of-month lake elevation will be treated as an average of the two year types. This is similar to the decision that was made last June when a mid-month year type change prevented a Project shutdown to avoid "violating" the minimum UKL level established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for endangered suckers. This time, the averaging of lake levels will provide additional water for use to meet Endangered Species Act (ESA), tribal trust and national wildlife refuge needs. Specifically, the additional water will help meet needs requested by NOAA Fisheries and the Klamath Inter-Tribal Fish and Water Commission for flows at Iron Gate Dam. The new flexibility will also meet the request of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges for seasonal wetlands on the Lower Klamath Refuge in anticipation of large numbers of migrating waterfowl this year.

Reclamation has committed to further consultation with USFWS regarding development of a curve, rather than the abrupt steps that result from the changes in minimum end-of-month lake elevations for the four broadly defined water year types for UKL. KWUA alerted Reclamation of this potential problem prior to this year’s irrigation season.

            12:00 – 6:00 Water Quality

            12:00 – 6:00 Recreation

            8:30 – 4:00 Recreation

            8:30 – 4:00 Aquatics

            8:30 – 4:00 Cultural Resources

            8:30 – 4:00 Fish Passage/ Aquatics

            8:30 – 4:00 Plenary

            8:30 – 12:00 Terrestrial

            8:30 – 12:00 Socioeconomics

Saturday, October 18, 2003 – Old-Fashioned Hoe Down and Ice Cream Social with Rep. Greg Walden. 2:30-4:30 p.m., Maurice O’Keefe’s barn at 20853 Hill Road, Merrill, Oregon. Call 1-888-774-4734 for more details.

Tuesday, October 21^st – Thursday, October 23^rd, 2003. Klamath Fish Passage Technical Team. Tour and meetings: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Klamath Water Users Association
2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603
(541)-883-6100 FAX (541)-883-8893 kwua@cdsnet.net

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