Klamath Project - No Water

NWU Radio Script

4-30-01

A record drought and two endangered species are combining to hammer the family farmers of the Klamath basin in southern Oregon. In an unprecedented action, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has announced that due to a combination of the requirements of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and a "critically dry water year," the Bureau will not be able to make any water available from the Upper Klamath Lake for this irrigation season.

Current projections are that the Basin will receive only 29 percent of its average annual water supply.

According to the Family Farm Alliance's April 2001 "Water Review," the Klamath Project serves 1,400 farms and 210,000 acres. The Klamath Basin produces a variety of crops including alfalfa, barley, oats, wheat, potatoes and sugar beets.

Unfortunately this action will also dry up the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge, winter nesting site for a large number of bald eagles.

Some farms on the east side of the Klamath Basin that receive water from Clear Lake and Gerber Reservoir will receive some water, up to 70,000 acre-feet. However, that amount will completely drain all reserves, leaving local officials extremely concerned about water availability next year.

Two Family Farm Alliance members, Horsefly Irrigation District and Langell Valley Irrigation District, receive water from Clear Lake. A full supply for the Klamath Project would be 500,000 acre-feet.

The Klamath Project is one of Reclamation's oldest projects, authorized in 1905. An extremely efficient irrigation system was developed, one that also has enormous flood control benefits.

Even though the Klamath Basin typically receives only 6-8 inches of precipitation each year, the system worked well and was fairly free of water use conflicts until droughts in 1992 and 1994 when competition arose between irrigators, Indian tribes and environmental interests.

For most of the past decade the Klamath Basin has been torn by the effects of the listing of the suckerfish and the coho salmon.

An Alternative Dispute Resolution process was seriously damaged when the Indian tribes recently filed suit to reopen the Basin's water rights adjudication process.

Bureau officials based the zero water supply declaration on biological opinions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Wildlife Service (NWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on water needs of endangered shortnosed suckers and Lost River suckers and threatened coho salmon under the ESA.

The USFWS and NMFS biological opinions concluded that release of more water for irrigation would imperil the survival of the salmon and two species of suckerfish.

As a result of the extraordinary decision, water in Upper Klamath Lake, the project's largest reservoir, will be devoted solely to threatened and endangered fish populations.

U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Oregon), Rep. Greg Walden (R-0regon) and Rep. Wally Herger (R-California) asked the USFWS to hold up the biological opinion on the suckerfish due to serious questions about the data used to estimate fish populations.

Estimates of population numbers in the biological opinion vary widely. For example, in 1996, the Shortnose Sucker population was estimated at 250,000 fish (plus or minus 175,00 at the 95 percent confidences level).

In a letter to President Bush, Senator Smith notes, "there are no biological justifications or goals given for the actions being required by the agencies."

He asked the President to "do everything you can to avoid a regulatory drought in the Klamath Basin that will destroy a way of life forever."

The Klamath Basin situation is volatile. A recent visit by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber drew 5,000 people to a town hall meeting at the local fairgrounds.

Testimony from local leaders highlighted inequities inherent in the ESA and the need for reform of the law and the way it is administered.

The situation is even scarier when one realizes this could occur almost anywhere in almost any water project in the Western United States.

It is for this very reason that Nebraska Water Users continues to maintain its presence in Cooperative Agreement discussions and meetings. The parallels to the Klamath Basin and what could happen because of endangered species issues in the Platte River Basin are too strong to ignore.

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