Over the next month, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will weigh
whether to take an estimated 10,000 acre feet of water
from the Lower Klamath Basin Refuge for use by Basin
irrigators facing a devastating drought.
Paul Souza, regional director for Fish and Wildlife’s
Pacific Southwest region said the measure is one of a
variety of ways the federal agency is trying to make
things work for irrigators who are trying to plan for
their crops this year.
Souza served as one of three panelists during a Bureau
of Reclamation-hosted meeting Friday that drew at least
180 people to the Klamath County Fairgrounds.
“There’s water in the refuge but it’s at varying depths
and so we can’t say with 100 percent certainty what the
number would be but I’m hopeful it would be in the area
of 10,000 acre feet,” Souza said, adding that the amount
would be allocated over an unspecified period of time.
“We still haven’t made that choice yet. There’s a lot of
moving parts and pieces, and we want to be sure we’re
not taking a step that would harm the refuge in a
long-term way.
“There are some elevation issues so it’s not like you
would go to a faucet and turn it on. You actually have
to pump water against elevation in some cases. It would
be not a long-term process, but it would take weeks,”
Souza said.
Refuge Complex Manager Greg Austin and Souza would make
the final call on whether to go forward.
“He and I, with my leadership team in Sacramento, will
be making that call,” Souza said. “It’s a key part of
the Pacific Flyway and it’s especially important for the
Southern migration, from the breeding grounds to the
wintering habitat.”
“It’s a jewel,” Souza added.
Souza said he’s asking his personnel to evaluate all
projected impacts to fish and wildlife at the refuge if
and when water is taken from it.
“Obviously, we need to know what those impacts would
be,” Souza said. “That’s why we’re looking at it right
now. But I’m expecting that as early as late next week,
my folks will be able to give me a briefing on that.”
“If it’s going to be a long-term negative impact, then
that’s going to give us real concern, and may lead in
our decision not to take that step,” Souza said. “If
it’s a short-term impact, that could be fixed in a
matter of months, that’s a very different scenario.”
Souza said another important consideration for the
agency is having enough water for the refuge in the
fall, when the southern migration of the Pacific Flyway
occurs.
“It would be our hope that if we provided this
generosity in this difficult time that we could receive
some water in the fall,” Souza said. “We want to be
helpful to this community.”
