Klamath Water Users Association 

The Klamath Tribes on Tuesday unveiled its plan to manage the forests of former reservation lands that are now part of the Winema and Fremont National Forests. The release of the plan coincides with growing community concerns that have surrounded recent public meetings hosted by the Tribes. The U.S. Department of the Interior has been working with the Tribes for over a year to develop a package-yet to be released -intended to resolve water rights disputes in exchange for a tribal land return and funding for ecosystem restoration. The return of reservation lands to the Tribes has generated a tremendous amount of controversy, particularly among private landowners adjacent to existing national forest lands and sportsmen who fear future restricted access into these lands.

The forest management plan released on Tuesday was prepared with the assistance of two prominent forestry scientists – Norm Johnson of Oregon State University, and Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington. The report is technical in nature and focuses on two basic principles of management:

• Restoration of healthy, diverse, structurally complex forest ecosystems; and
• Enhancement and protection of the forest, wildlife, water, and soil resources of the reservation.

The Tribes envision that the desired future forest conditions should reflect the complex, pine-dominated forest landscape described in historic 1921 and 1936 maps of the Klamath Reservation Forest. This landscape showed a mix of forest, wet meadows, dry meadows, "grassy glades", lodgepole pine in flats and along streams, and hardwood patches in the uplands and along streams.

The Tribes estimate that the total cost for managing the forest under this proposed management plan will run 7-9 million dollars per year. This estimate assumes that the trees removed during the restoration treatments can be commercially sold. These costs include fire management efforts, with a tribal fire suppression organization formed, modeled after an existing fire management agency developed by the Warm Springs Reservation. The Tribes envision that management of the restoration actions would transition from the U.S. Forest Service to the Tribes over a five-year period.

The Tribes’ management plan was released just three days after 100 protesters demonstrated outside a public meeting hosted by the Tribes in Klamath Falls. In the past week, petitions have been circulated by The Basin Alliance and the Klamath Bucket Brigade, two organizations who want to ensure that the Winema-Fremont National Forest is kept open to the public for hunting, fishing, trail riding, camping, and wood cutting. The Tribes sought to address some of these concerns in a paid advertisement that ran in a local paper last Friday.

The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) has been involved with informal discussions with the Klamath Tribes and upstream irrigators, seeking a potential balance to Basin-wide water needs. To date, KWUA has not endorsed or rejected any proposal of the Klamath Tribes.

"We will listen to such proposals, and those of other parties, with an open mind," said KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen. "We will require a full explanation and understanding of how those proposals would affect us and our community before taking a position."

Klamath Project irrigators and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) officials are looking to the skies for snow, and looking to local landowners for ideas on how the Upper Basin will meet the challenge of providing 75,000 acre-feet of environmental water in 2004. Next year marks the third year where an "environmental water bank" will be implemented by Reclamation in the Klamath Basin.

While December storms have blanketed the Upper Basin with snowpack that will bolster water supplies next summer, October and November were extremely dry, which has many local landowners and water managers nervous. Their concerns are exacerbated by a NOAA Fisheries-imposed flow schedule that, at times in December, was sending more water down the Klamath River than what was flowing into Upper Klamath Lake. The NOAA Fisheries flow schedule derives from a biological opinion prepared by the agency to purportedly avoid jeopardizing coho salmon, a species listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

The environmental water bank proposed by Reclamation and NOAA Fisheries was first initiated in 2002 with a target set at 30,000 acre-feet. This water was generated through groundwater pumping undertaken by Tulelake Irrigation District, as well as water leasing programs implemented above Upper Klamath Lake. In 2003, the water bank expanded to 50,000 acre-feet, and was developed through compensated land idling and groundwater substitution in the Klamath Project. Landowners above Upper Klamath Lake, such as those enrolled in a program developed by the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust, were also compensated to alter grazing practices and free up water supplies.

Despite these efforts, however, the Project was nearly shut down in late June in order to prevent Upper Klamath Lake from dropping below an elevation established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to purportedly protect endangered sucker fish. Due to the voluntary efforts of individual landowners and irrigation districts, additional wells were turned on, and deliveries cut back, to prevent a "bust" of the lake level. Approximately 35,000 acre-feet of additional water was likely developed by irrigators through these voluntary measures, which were not compensated for.

Reclamation is currently assessing what went wrong in 2003 and is preparing for next year, which presents the daunting challenge of a 75,000 acre-foot water bank. Reclamation thus far has received 17 proposals from throughout the Basin in response to its Request for Proposals on the upcoming water bank. The ideas are apparently fairly diverse, with proposals ranging from 2003-type land idling plans, to one proposal that would apparently tap Crater Lake. Reclamation Klamath Basin Area Office Manager Dave Sabo and his staff are focusing on more realistic measures that include purchase of Tulelake Irrigation District groundwater and storage of water on Project lands and the refuges. Despite near-record precipitation lows in October and November, Reclamation remains optimistic that water bank proposals, coupled with improved federal management of Klamath Project operations, will sustain Project deliveries in 2004.

Klamath Project irrigators continue to push for a more flexible approach to Project management, and are hopeful that the final report released by the National Academy of Sciences and a new Klamath River flow study can be used towards this end.

Water quality officials from California and Oregon on Wednesday met with the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) to discuss the two states’ coordinated approach to develop water quality standards in the Lost River and Upper Klamath subbasins. Both of these river systems traverse the two states, which have different standards for addressing water quality. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have developed a Memorandum of Understanding intended to develop a unified approach to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) in the Klamath Basin. Wednesday’s meeting is the first of several that will occur in the next three years as the two states develop TMDLs for the Lost River and the Klamath River.

A TMDL determines the total amount of a pollutant from all sources that can enter a specific water body without violating water quality standards. The total pollutant load is allocated to point, nonpoint, background (natural) and future sources.

"A TMDL is not an experiment and it does not propose or test hypotheses," said ODEQ’s Steve Kirk. "Rather, a TMDL uses existing data and applies existing research results to determine the pollutant loading necessary to meet water quality standards in streams and lakes."

Wasteload allocations are portions of the total load that are allotted to point sources. Load allocations are portions of the total load that are attributed to natural and nonpoint sources. A portion of the load allocation can be set aside in reserve for future uses.

Each state maintains water quality database for rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries. The term "water quality limited" is applied to water bodies that violate water quality standards. These water bodies are placed on the so-called "303(d)" list. Each state must complete a TMDL for any water body determined to be water quality limited. For the Lost River, TMDLs will be established for nutrients and temperature. On the Klamath River, from the Oregon border to the ocean, TMDLs will be set for nutrients, temperature and dissolved oxygen.

California and Oregon agency officials will continue meeting with KWUA and other local agricultural interests in the coming months. For further information, and to download TMDL documents, go to http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/ or

http://waterquality.deq.state.or.us/wq/

Klamath County Commissioner Steve West on Wednesday announced that he will not be a candidate for County Commission Position No. 3 in the 2004 election cycle. West – who is currently serving the fourth year of his second term – has been a vocal advocate for Klamath Project irrigators, particularly in his second term.

"At this time, I fully intend to serve out the fourth year of my second term," said West. "The focus of the remainder of my term in office will continue to be the successful development of a fair, equitable, and long-term solution for the water crisis we face in the Klamath Basin. My goal has always been to develop solutions that give all the people of Klamath County an opportunity to prosper."

West has thus far not identified any specific career opportunities, but has noted he will pursue those that will allow him to use the experience, knowledge and professional network he has developed in the past eight years as County Commissioner.

"At this time, the only future endeavor that we have ruled out is my running for another term as County Commissioner," said West. "My announcement today will please my critics and disappoint my supporters. Which goes to show you that in the world of politics, even not running for office won’t please everybody."

West played an important role this past year by helping water users develop relations with Governor Kulongoski’s office and state legislators.

"Commissioner West understands our issues, and he will be missed," said KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen. "I credit Steve West with opening doors in Salem that we might not otherwise have had access through."

"I am grateful to the people of Klamath County for allowing me the privilege of serving two terms as their County Commissioner," said West. "May God bless each one of you, and may God bless America."

Thursday, January 15, 2004. University of California and Oregon State University Pest Management Seminar. Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Wednesday, January 21 – Friday, January 23, 2004. Mid-Pacific Region Water Users Conference. Reno, Nevada.

Tuesday, February 24 – Thursday, February 26, 2004. Klamath Watershed Conference. Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
 

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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