Little decisions add up during drought 022514

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Little decisions add up during county drought

Letter to editor by James R. Ottoman, Klamath Falls
Herald and News 2/25/14

During this historic drought, it might be the time to review some projects that could be viewed as mistakes.

The first: Army Corps of Engineers projects on the Sprague and Lost Rivers that drained the flood water of their valleys by dredging the river beds into canals.

The second: Bureau of Reclamation’s project on the Clear Lake dams spillway that cost millions of dollars. This money may have been better spent on developing the Boundary, Clear Lake and Refuge plans. The dam at Clear Lake was designed to store ag water, refuge betterment and to evaporate stored water to protect the developing Klamath Project lands. This shallow valley was ideal for that concept, even in dry cycles.

These past decisions are small compared to those being made today by managers who have the unbelievable task of managing water during a drought that some are calling a 500-year drought. We all hope and pray that forecast will be wrong.

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