Lower Klamath and the five other Klamath River Basin Refuges are key

stopover habitat for 80% of Pacific Flyway birds 

KlamBlog Alert_

Act Now To Prevent future bird deaths at Klamath Refuges

KlamBlog has learned that an Amendment to the Klamath Water Deal – the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement or KBRA – currently being negotiated in secret, would further limit the ability of Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges to secure an adequate water supply. The US Bureau of Reclamation dewatered these refuges from January until mid-March; an estimated 20,000 waterfowl and other birds died of Avian Cholera due to severe overcrowding on the few marshes which remained wet. Two to three million Pacific Flyway birds pass through the Upper Klamath River Basin each year; many overwinter on the Refuges.

The proposed amendment would prohibit all water stored in the Upper Lost River Basin from being used to supply wetlands on the Refuges. Ironically, if legislation to authorize the most controversial provisions of the KBRA becomes law, secretly negotiated amendments to the Deal - like the secret refuge-damaging amendment - would automatically be authorized by Congress. The Public would be locked out of such decisions which will only be publicly revealed after they are approved by KBRA “parties”. “Parties” are those organizations, tribes and agencies which signed the KBRA.

Ironically, adoption of the amendment would prohibit Tule Lake NWR – which is the terminus of the Lost River – from receiving water originating on the Lost River Basin’s public lands and stored in Clean Lake and Gerber Reservoir. Clean Lake is also a national wildlife refuge. 

The secret amendment process is discussed on a recent KlamBlog: here’s the refuge-damaging amendment’s text:
     "Notwithstanding any other terms of this Agreement, no call will be made for water from Clear Lake or Gerber Reservoir or the Lost River above Harpold Dam for delivery to meet the Refuge Allocation in this Agreement. This limitation with respect to the Refuge Allocation under this Agreement is subject to the first two sentences of Section 2.2.11 and any rights or privileges attendant to any water rights that may be determined".

“Parties” to the KBRA can block the refuge-damaging amendment but so far they have refused to do so. Glen Spain – who represents the Pacific Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a KBRA “party” – has specifically refused to block the amendment. Spain claims it is unlikely water from the Upper Lost River would be available for distribution to the refuges.

Glen Spain ignores the fact that the Klamath’s six national wildlife refuges are in line to have their water rights affirmed early next year in Oregon’s Klamath Adjudication. Once that affirmation occurs, the refuges will be able to make “calls” when they need water. In response to a refuge “water call”, junior right holders would have to forgo irrigation and the Bureau of Reclamation would be obligated to deliver water to the refuges.

PCFFA’s refusal to come to the aid of the Klamath Refuges is repeated by the other “parties” to the KBRA including Trout Unlimited, California Trout, the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath Tribes. When the KBRA was signed, these “parties” assured the public in press reports that the KBRA would usher in a new day when no interest would be sacrificed to advance another interest.

Those assertions ring hollow in light of the unnecessary death of an estimated 20,000 migrating and wintering birds on Lower Klamath and Tule Lake NWRs this winter. The Refuges were dewatered for 2 ½ months in order to maximize irrigation water delivery this coming summer.  Now these same organizations are supporting yet another refuge-damaging action – the proposed anti-refuge KBRA amendment.

Those who value the Klamath’s world-class wildlife refuges are encouraged to ask the governing boards of KBRA Water deal “parties” to reject the proposed KBRA refuge-damaging amendment. Below is a list of organizational presidents, CEOs, tribal chairpersons/council members and their contact information. Please take a few minutes to contact those conservation organizations and tribes which should be looking out for the refuges. Ask these contacts to share your request with all members of the governing board or tribal council and ask the governing boards to reject the proposed KBRA refuge amendment.

Please do it for the birds!
                                  _______________________

Who to contact:

PCFFA: Dave Bitts, president, dbitts@suddenlink.net; Zeke Grader, ED, zgrader@ifrfish.org,     (415)561-5080.

California Trout (CalTrout): Jeff Thompson, CEO,  jthompson@caltrout.org; Klamath lead: Curtis Knight, cknight@caltrout.org, 415-392-8887.

Trout Unlimited: Chris Wood, President and CEO, cwood@tu.org; Brian Johnson, Klamath lead,  BJohnson@tu.org, (800) 834-2419.

Yurok Tribe:  Tommy O'Rourke, Chairman,  torourke@yuroktribe.nsn.us, 707-482-1350. You can ask the Tribal Council’s assistant, Taralyn Offins (tara@yuroktribe.nsn.us), to distribute your message to all Tribal Council members.

Karuk Tribe: Russell Attebery, Chairman, battebery@karuk.us. Mike Thom, Vice Chairman, mthom@karuk.us. (800) 505 – 2785. You can also ask Tribal Secretary Joseph Waddell to distribute your message to all Tribal Council members: jwaddell@karuk.us.

Klamath Tribes: Jeff Mitchell, mohiswaqs@aol.com; Larry Dunsmoor, ldunsmoor@aol.com. (800) 524-9787.

The KBRA’s Brave New World: Public again locked out of key decisions

“Parties” to the KBRA (the county, state and private organizations which signed it) are once again in secret meetings attempting to determine who will benefit from the Klamath River Basin’s Public Resources. KlamBlog has learned that a major amendment to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which was supposed to be ready for approval by the “parties” in February, is apparently still being negotiated. 

We suspect that federal officials are also attending those secret meetings. Federal agency officials planned, orchestrated and funded development of the KBRA but – because aspects of the Deal violate existing federal law and authorities - they cannot sign it without Congressional approval.  

KBRA current signatories include Humboldt County, the California Resources Agency, several Oregon state agencies, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Salmon River Restoration Council, Yurok Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Klamath Tribes, American Rivers, Trout Unlimited, California Trout, Northern California Federation of Fly Fishers, Reams Golf and Country Club, Winema Hunting Lodge, Klamath Water Users Association and a host of irrigation districts which receive water via the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project. 

KlamBlog learned about the proposed amendment by chance while reading minutes of the February 7th meeting of KWAPA – the Klamath Water and Power Agency. KWAPA was set up by three Upper Basin irrigation districts and has already secured taxpayer funds in order to pursue lower electric rates for Klamath Project irrigation interests. Here’s what those minutes had to say about the amendment:   
    “Shall KWAPA approve the KBRA Amendments? Greg Addington reported that this is not complete and that it will take some time to finish. The amendments include some dates in some instances and that the Power Program is another item being vetted. A copy was included in the agenda packet the Board received."

 The Tulelake Irrigation District - home to the richest of the Basin's Irrigation Elite - uses dozens of pumps to move Klamath River water to and from irrigation canals and drains

KBRA “cultural shift” leaves birds dead, basin communities more divided than ever

For those who follow news reports issuing from both the Upper and Lower portions of Klamath River Basin, recent news provides two distinctly different pictures of Klamath River Basin society and natural resources.  This post examines those news reports and analyses what they tell us about society and water management in Klamath Country under the KBRA Water Deal.

The Oregon-California border defines the Upper and Lower Basins which, for water management purposes, were for many years treated as if they were two rather than one river basin

Celebrating Victory

On March 29th the Upper Basin’s Herald and News reported on a celebratory meeting of the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) – the organization which represents Upper Basin interests receiving irrigation and landscaping water from the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Irrigation Project. Those water users – including those who own or lease 200,000 acres of farms and ranches, a golf and country club, hunting lodge and wood products plant – annually consume about 40% of the total water diverted from the Klamath River and major tributaries. Because they receive subsidized water and other advantages over non-federal water diverters, KlamBlog refers to these federal water users as the Irrigation Elite.

At their late March annual meeting, the Irrigation Elite feted Jason Phillips, Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Klamath Project manager, and Irma Lagomarcino, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) manager responsible for the protection and recovery of  Klamath River Coho Salmon. Klamath River Coho are listed as “threatened” under the California and federal Endangered Species Acts.

Speakers at the event praised the two Interior Department employees for prioritizing filling Upper Klamath Lake which – in spite of low inflows in this drought year – has already been filled even before the snowmelt season begins. Doing that required Phillips and Lagomarcino to agree to cut winter flows in the Klamath River below what is required in the 2010 Biological Opinion for Klamath Coho.

Getting federal managers to prioritizing filling Klamath Lake over all other fall/winter water uses has been a priority for the Irrigation Elite and another organization they dominate – the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce.  In its 2011 annual report, KWUA President Gary Wright acknowledged that the Irrigation Elite organized a campaign to pressure Philips and Lagomarcino to prioritize irrigation needs over the needs of fish and wildlife:                                                                     
       “That work started last fall as we pushed hard to prevent excessive releases (from Upper Klamath Lake) in order to fill Upper Klamath Lake through the winter months. We received great cooperation from Jason Phillips and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and appreciate their efforts.” 

The Big Policy Picture: Is the KHSA a good model for other rivers with obsolete hydro dams?

Beginning early in the 20th century and continuing through the 1960s thousands of hydroelectric dams were constructed on hundreds of US rivers and streams. Now portions of that vast infrastructure are reaching the end of their useful livers and will be shut down; the dams will be breached, removed or left in place. Thus, over the next decade, the current dam removal trickle is likely to become a flood.
How the US deals with this vast undertaking has implications not only for the rivers and streams on which these projects are located but also for American Taxpayers.

Removal of  Glines Canyon Dam on the Olympic Peninsula

Whether removing PacifiCorp's Klamath River dams is in the public interest continues to be publicly debated. However, broader policy implications of how Klamath dam removal would be accomplished under the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement - the KHSA - have not been discussed.

Members of Congress and taxpaying citizens should consider what sort of precedent the KHSA would set and whether it is a good and a fair approach to dam removal not just on the Klamath but nation-wide.Those questions are discussed below.