Build Clear Lake dike
Herald and News 6/1/05

I have been reading with interest the articles about Clear Lake.

Clear Lake is what you call a boondoggle. It was built much too large for the available water supply. Consequently it is much too shallow, thus allowing a large portion of the available water to be lost to evaporation, which is approximately 3.7 feet in the Basin.

At one time the Bureau of Reclamation proposed correcting the problem by building a dike across the "U," thus reducing the size of Clear Lake and, in the process, allowing the remainder of the lake to operate at a much deeper depth, thus allowing more of the water to be available for irrigation.

Unfortunately, the Fish and Wildlife Service managed to block the project.

It's time that dike is built.

It can be equipped with head gates that can be used to turn water in the dry portion of the lake in any year when extra water is available. This would take care of the sucker problem also.

It's not needed from a waterfowl standpoint. There is more than enough water areas available in the Basin than is needed for the few waterfowl and shore birds that now use the Basin.

Henry Christensen

Tulelake