Klamath Water Users Association 

To a chorus of protests from downstream interests, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) on May 7^th notified NOAA Fisheries that the water year type for 2004 on the Klamath River has changed from a below average year to a dry year, based on the May 1, 2004 Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) forecast. The anticipated inflows to UKL (April to September) have dropped from 366,000 acre-feet (based on the April 1 forecast) to 284,600 acre-feet. According to Reclamation, this mirrors what is happening in other parts of the west, where precipitation patterns and runoff conditions are far below initial expectations.

Downstream tribal interests, meanwhile, reacted negatively to the decision, which results in less water being released from Iron Gate dam to meet Endangered Species Act (ESA) conditions for coho salmon. As has been the case for the last several years, tribal spokesmen are predicting that lower Iron Gate flows will harm coho salmon.

"We are going to continue to raise our concern, but it looks like they have made their mind up and decided to kill fish," said Troy Fletcher, Yurok Tribe Director, to the Klamath Herald and News.

In its May 7^th letter to NOAA Fisheries, which developed the Klamath Project biological opinion for coho salmon, Reclamation argues that, if April had begun under a different water year type, the schedule of water bank supplemented flows would also have been different. Since Reclamation has both land idling and groundwater substitution contracts, it recommended scheduling the remainder of the water bank with a modified approach. Iron Gate Dam releases were immediately modified last Friday, although Reclamation will only finalize the new schedule after consultation with tribal governments.

Because the maximum UKL this year is six inches below last year’s fill limit, Reclamation has proposed to operate the Klamath Project to meet the terms of the coho BO using an "adaptive management approach" for the river. Reclamation envisions a collaborative dialogue on river operations for the remainder of the year.

Already, tribal and environmental interests have harshly criticized this move, and are resurrecting predictions of another fish die-off, similar to the one that occurred on the Lower Klamath River in 2002.

"You can bet that these same interests will tie Reclamation’s decision to any sort of negative environmental event that might occur this year," said Dan Keppen, Klamath Water Users Association Executive Director.

In May 2002, environmentalists tried to blame Project operations for fish that were stranded near Iron Gate Dam. The Department of Interior later concluded that the fish were stranded by a localized precipitation event that caused the river’s sudden rise and descent. Other agencies agreed.

"This was all weather related. Chalk this up to Mother Nature," said Joe Walsh, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at the time.

The California Department of Fish and has begun releasing 6 million Chinook salmon fingerlings from Iron Gate Hatchery, which will continue for the next three weeks.

While Iron Gate dam releases have been cut back in response to the recent U.S. Bureau of Reclamation decision to change the water year type to "dry" on the Klamath River, Klamath Project irrigators and businesses remain nervous about this year’s water supply. Implementation of the Klamath Project water bank, now in its third year, and investments in the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) are reducing water use in the Klamath Project to help meet lake level and river flow requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

As projected near-average snowpack conditions failed to generate initially optimistic forecasted streamflows into Upper Klamath Lake (UKL), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) in recent weeks has scrambled to find ways to keep Project water supplies flowing, while meeting the lake level and river flow requirements of the current biological opinions (BOs). Ironically, Reclamation’s 2004 water bank relies more than ever on local groundwater pumping, despite recent widespread media coverage on alleged groundwater resource depletion in the Klamath Basin.

The groundwater issue, as well as alleged water supply impacts to the national wildlife refuges, has focused renewed criticism from Project detractors on agriculture’s purported impact to these resources. Recent editorials in the Medford Mail Tribune and Sunday Oregonian used the issue to renew calls for a government buy-out of Klamath Project farms.

The recent Reclamation decision to change the year type prompted the Redding Record-Searchlight to write "some irrigators are cheering the latest news since it means less water will be sent down the Klamath River toward the ocean."

Local residents have a different view.

"No one I know is cheering. This is grim news when actual inflows into Upper Klamath Lake are now 20% lower than those forecast only one month ago," said Bob Gasser, co-owner of Basin Fertilizer in Merrill, Oregon " It’s unfortunate that we have hit this dry situation, because it means less water is available to meet all the demands of the system."

This year, over 75,000 acre-feet of water that historically would go to Klamath Project farms is staying in the Klamath River because of the federal government’s mandated water bank program. In the past two years, over 80,000 acre-feet of stored water similarly were not applied to Klamath Project lands.

Several types of water conservation measures are also being used by Klamath Basin farmers, such as conversion from flood systems to more efficient sprinkler and other irrigation systems. Over 700 applications have been submitted by local irrigators to participate in the EQIP program, which was authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. Importantly, landowners are required to pay 25% of costs associated with these improvements, which is remarkable, considering that many of these farmers were severely impacted by the curtailment of Upper Klamath Lake supplies in 2001. Approximately $50 million is provided for Klamath EQIP programs.

"We are doing what we can to stretch available water supplies in the Klamath Project," said Gasser. "No one was cheering when our supplies were curtailed in 2001; no one is cheering now that all of us have less water to share."

In early April, unbeknownst to the outside world, NOAA Fisheries transmitted to Reclamation Klamath Basin Area Office Manager Dave Sabo its approach to defining Klamath Project impacts to threatened Klamath River coho salmon. Last summer, Judge Saundra Armstrong found NOAA Fisheries incidental take statement (ITS) for Klamath Project operations "arbitrary and capricious". Although Judge Armstrong found that it is difficult to determine the specific amount of incidental take of coho salmon from Klamath Project operations, NOAA Fisheries must provide a surrogate for defining the amount or extent of

incidental take resulting from implementation of the reasonable and prudent alternative, which when reached, results in an unacceptable level of take, and would trigger reinitiation of consultation. NOAA Fisheries, in its April 1, 2004 letter to Sabo, believes it has "remedied" the ITS by adopting a surrogate method for defining the amount or extent of take. KWUA transmitted a formal response to NOAA Fisheries on this matter earlier this week.

"The statement that has been developed resurrects old and unproven arguments regarding Klamath River mainstem flows that have been championed by high flow theorists," said KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen.

The NOAA Fisheries document cites six studies to justify its findings, including the CDFG draft fish die-off assessment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service die-off assessment, and the draft Hardy Phase II report. Notably, neither of the National Research Council Klamath reports, nor the draft Reclamation "undepleted natural flow study" were referenced by NOAA Fisheries.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 – KWUA Power Committee Meeting. 7:00 p.m. KWUA Office, 2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3, Klamath Falls.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 – KWUA Science Committee Meeting. 9:00 a.m. KWUA Office, 2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3, Klamath Falls.

Thursday, May 20, 2004 - Chiloquin Dam Fish Passage Collaborator Meeting. 10:00 a.m., United Methodist Church, Chiloquin, Oregon.

Friday, May 21, 2004 – Trinity River Tour. Hosted by the Association of California Water Agencies, the tour will start and finish in Redding. Contact John Chandler at (916)-441-4545 for further information.

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

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