Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis Upholding rural Americans

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2004/04/20/news/top_stories/top2.txt

Coalition wants farming to stop on KF refuges

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 2:17 PM PDT

Published April 20, 2004

By DYLAN DARLING

Some see the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges as half-full of water.

A coalition of conservation groups released a report about the six Basin refuges last week, hoping to draw attention to what they say is the unspoken part of the Klamath water situation.

"What we tried to do is highlight the plight of the refuges," said Bob Hunter, an attorney for WaterWatch. "They tend to get ignored in the water crisis."

But others, including the manager of the refuges, have a different take on the state of the refuges.

They see refuges full of good things going on.

Ron Cole, refuges manager, said the management is doing everything within the confines of the law to maintain refuge habitat for the flocks of migratory birds that fly through during the year.

He said some of the things that the coalition calls for in its report couldn't be done under the current laws that regulate the refuges and water in the Basin.

"It is more of a philosophical exercise than a solution for wildlife at this point," Cole said.

The report compiled issues that the environmental groups - WaterWatch, Earthjustice, the Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Wilderness Society - have been raising for the past several years.

The coalition's report says the refuges need more water and more land to put it on. To get the latter, it says that the government should phase out farming on refuge land.

Last summer, environmentalists lost a lawsuit that would have stopped farming on the refuges. The lawsuit was the third on the subject in the last five years.

Both Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Lake national refuges have lease lands, where row crops are grown within their boundaries.

Although other refuges around the country have farming on them, the setup in the Basin is unique thanks to a 1964 act of Congress specific to the two refuges.

In the act, 25 percent of the land can be used for row crops, or onions and potatoes, while the other 75 percent can be used for cereal grains and hay. The lease lands make up 10 percent of the Klamath Reclamation Project in terms of acres.

The coalition calls for phasing out of commercial farming on the refuges in order to decrease demand for water.

"We wouldn't log in Yellowstone (National Park), and we shouldn't be growing onions in a national wildlife refuge," Hunter said.

But what the coalition says is harmful to the refuges and their wildlife, Cole and agricultural leaders say is beneficial.

"What they do not apparently understand is that when farms don't get water, the refuges don't get water," said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association in a press release.

He said agriculture and the refuges are intertwined because water from farmers fields ends up in the refuges' wetlands.

Strict environmental rules for the Klamath River and Upper Klamath Lake leave less water for others in the Basin, Keppen said.

"It's the Project and the refuges both that suffer when the flows go downstream to meet purported needs," he said.

The refuges are last in the line for water in the Basin. Ahead of them, in order or priority, are Endangered Species Act requirements for sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and coho salmon in Klamath River, tribal trust responsibilities and the Project's needs.

Tail water, that which goes through the Project, ends up in the refuges and some water is allotted for them each year by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Like the debate over farming on the refuges, there are also differing views on how much water the refuges need to get by.

Hunter said Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake refuges need 70,000 to 90,000 acre-feet of water per year to maintain their seasonal and permanent wetlands.

Cole said the last time the refuges got a full delivery was when it got 76,000 acre-feet in 1999.

Last year, they got about 33,000 acre-feet of water from the Bureau of Reclamation. This year, they are set to get about 25,000 acre-feet.

"Actually, last year we delivered more than the average to the Klamath refuges," said Cecil Lesley, chief of land operations for the Project. Cole said managers have figured out ways to keep the refuges going even with less water. He said when the water comes is just as important as how much comes.

"We are working with the Bureau to provide timelier spring and summer supplies," he said.

On the Net: www.onrc.org/press/086.klamath.html