Hint: States, feds will unite on Klamath
solutions
By TAM MOORE
Oregon Staff Writer
cappress@charter.net
7/28/04
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Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski lays out his
formula for a “lasting and comprehensive”
resolution of multi-state Klamath River
issues July 20, after pledging that he’s
working to sustain agriculture in the upper
basin.
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KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — A new Klamath River
compact between Oregon, California and the
federal government may surface within 60 days.
Hint of renewed state interest in solutions to
contentious Klamath water issues came this week
after Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski spoke at the
50th annual meeting of the Klamath Water Users
Association.
“Within the next two months we will see
partnership,” said Dan Keppen, executive
director of the association. “The two states and
the feds are forging a partnership.”
Kulongoski used the July 20 water user’s meeting
to open a two-day round of visits with key
players in Klamath disputes. The next morning he
breakfasted with the Upper Klamath Basin Working
Group — a federal advisory committee on
restoration of the watershed.
Then Kulongoski huddled with the Tribal Council
that represents three American Indian tribes who
shared the former Klamath Indian Reservation.
The tribes hold senior claims to water rights on
former reservation lands and have even broader
claims through a 1964 treaty with the federal
government.
“One thing that I have learned in the last 18
months — that has been the greatest pleasure as
being governor of this state — and that is we
are all one people. I truly believe that the
strength of this state lies in this room, and in
other meetings like this all over the state,”
said Kulongoski in his formal speech to 300
people at the water user luncheon.”
Earlier this year Mike Chrissman, appointed
resource secretary by California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, made a low-profile trip to the
basin to promise interest in solutions. Klamath
conflicts gained national attention with the
2001 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation denial of water
to 1,100 Klamath Project farms.
President George W. Bush, who in 2002 directed
federal cabinet secretaries to craft long-term
Klamath solutions, sent a letter of
congratulations to the water users’ 50th
celebration. It was read just before the Oregon
governor spoke.
Kulongoski laid out his formula for putting
aside Klamath conflicts:
n Focus on basin-wide solutions in which all
users share shortages when precipitation is
short.
n Equitable allocation of available water: “We
are making real progress.”
n View sustaining agriculture in the basin as a
benefit to Oregon’s overall economy.
n Create a forum where stakeholders in the upper
and lower Klamath guide the policy.
“We cannot continue to use groundwater as we are
now,” said Kulongoski, looking at a table of
BuRec executives who for the past three seasons
have paid farmers to pump from wells and send
that water downstream to augment flows dictated
for fish habitat.
The governor said he wants to see more water
storage capability in the upper basin,
restoration of fish passage blocked by
hydroelectric dams on both sides of the state
line, completion of the federal pledge to
restore flows in California’s Trinity River, the
largest tributary of the Klamath, and
continuation of efforts to improve water quality
and riparian habitat.
“I’ve instructed my staff and state agencies to
make the Klamath a priority,” said Kulongoski.
Keppen, in his management report delivered later
in the meeting, down-played arguments that
there’s not enough available water for farmland
under irrigation in the basin.
The acreage hasn’t increased in 50 years, Keppen
said. The new water demands have been created by
regulatory agencies seeking additional water for
fish habitat.
A consulting
hydrologist, Mark Van Camp of Sacramento, told
the water users an analysis of the draft BuRec
historic water flow study shows that downstream
flows have increased 30 percent over discharges
before settlement. That’s apparently because the
irrigated land uses less water than evaporation
loss from the thousands of acres of wetlands
that existed before the shallow lakebeds were
diked, drained and put to the plow.
Tam Moore is based in Medford, Ore. His email
address is cappress@charter.net.
