Tribes call for change in plans, H&N's - July 1, 2003 - "The Bureau of Reclamation has shown once again that their management plans can't work for  (Klamath Reclamation) Project irrigators, for agriculture above Upper Klamath Lake, or for the fisheries that are supposed to be protected under federal law and U.S. government treaties," Foreman said.

 

Klamath Basin Congressmen Seek Answers From Interior Secretary Over Near Shut-Off of Irrigation Water, Press Release from Congressman Greg Walden's Office, June 27, 2003 containing a letter written to Secretary Gale Norton and signed by Walden, Herger, and Doolittle.

 

Probe on water decision sought, H&N's - June 29, 2003 - "Three U.S. representative who represent the Klamath Basin have asked Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton for an investigation of the events that lead nearly to a shutoff of irrigation water."

 

Irrigators face an uncertain summer, H&N's - June 29, 2003 - "At the end of a tumultuous week in the Klamath Reclamation Project, irrigation managers from the federal government and water users are focusing on what to do now."

 

Dropping inflows led to project shutdown plan, H&N's - June 27, 2003 - "By Tuesday it became clear that he (Dave Sabo, manager of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office) was going to have to shut down the project to make sure that the water level of Upper Klamath Lake would meet the requirements of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's for protecting suckers in the lake."

 

July could be dicey for water, H&N's - June 27, 2003 - "By July 31, the Bureau will have to manage the project in such a way that the level of Upper Klamath Lake meets a new target."

 

 

Weekly KWUA Update for June 27, 2003 "Project irrigators reduced their diversions voluntarily late last week in anticipation of dropping lake levels. Since June 20th, when local irrigators were asked by Reclamation to reduce diversions, Project deliveries dropped by nearly one-third. Since Friday, due to groundwater pumping, rerouting of east-side Project supplies, and withdrawals from small reservoirs, irrigation districts dropped UKL diversions by approximately one-third."

 * USFWS Clarifies End-of-Month Upper Klamath Lake Elevations 
* One Very Big Inch - Project Nearly Shut Down to Prevent Lake Level Bust
     - Project Diversion Reductions Offset by Low Inflows into UKL
    - Other Activities
    - Change in Water Year Debated
    - Impacts Associated with Project Shutdown
    - Reclamation Changes Direction
    - Gearing Up for Another Change
    - A Close Call
 * OWRD to Review Water Use and Encourage Conservation Above UKL
 * House Interior Approps Committee Strips KFMC Funding
 * Trying to Take the High Road
  

White House intervened to halt water shutdown, H&N's - June 26, 2003, "As a result, water is expected to continue flowing to farmers for the time being, although farmers and bureaucrats alike are nervous about the remainder of the summer.

 

June 26, 2003 Letter from Senator Gordon Smith to The Honorable Gale Norton, "I want to thank you and your staff for working this week to avoid a complete shut-off of water to the Klamath Project irrigators.  You and your staff are to be commended for you ongoing efforts to maintain agricultural deliveries while working to recover sucker and salmon species."
 

 Disbelief, anger marked reaction to call from Bureau, H&N's - June 26, 2003, "Irrigators reacted with disbelief and frustration. The strong emotions filled the Klamath Irrigation District office and could be heard in the strained voices of water users from around the Basin."

 

Basin farmers on pins and needles, H&N's - June 26, 2003, "this week's developments highlight again the frustration among farmers that management decisions are in the hands of people far from the Klamath Basin."

 

Turmoil draws farmers back to headgates, H&N's - June 26, 2003, "Federal water managers had ordered a shutdown for shortly before noon Wednesday to allow the Upper Klamath Lake to reach the June 30 water levels established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

 

Wasn't 10-year plan supposed to end this?, H&N's Editorial - June 26, 2003, "After all, going to a 10-year plan instead of operating on a year-by-year basis was supposed to reduce the uncertainty, anger and frustration that swept through the farming community yesterday."

 

Refuges facing a shortage of water, H&N's - June 26, 2003, "Closing down water releases to the Klamath Reclamation Project, ordered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Wednesday, means the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges will face water shortages for the fourth consecutive summer."

 

Water in the solution - Management strategy for wildlife refuge has many benefits, H&N's - June 25, 2003, "It's the "Integrated Land Management on Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge," a management strategy documented in October 2000 by the Integrated Land Management Working Group."

 

Typical Basin farm gets a little wetter, H&N's - June 24, 2003, "Lakeside Farms has long been a good example of agriculture in the Klamath Basin."
 

Photo by Pat Ratliff, KlamathMedia, of Bob Gasser, business owner, and Rob Crawford, Klamath Basin farmer at Klamath Water User meeting.

June 25, 2003,    by Kehn Gibson "This is outrageous and simply defies all reason," Herger said. "Sadly, this is more evidence that the Endangered Species Act is a runaway train.  We risked another shutoff of water to our farmers, and the economic harm and serious expense that such a situation would have caused, over what in the end amounts to staying within an inch or less of the arbitrarily determined lake level. Before this kind of situation can be forced on us again, we must take immediate action to assess what evidence was utilized to make this potentially harmful decision."

 

Klamath water cuts ordered, Oregonian June 26, 2003  "I can tell you, we're probably going to see crises like this all year at the end of every month," said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association.
 

Reclamation shuts down Klamath shutdown, H&N's June 25, 2003 "Water will keep flowing to irrigators in the Klamath Basin through the end of June, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials said Wednesday afternoon - a few hours after lower-level Bureau workers said they'd shut it off."  This is not the original article printed in today's Herald and News but it's the only story available on their website. KBC

 

Klamath Water Users Association:   Update on Klamath Project Operations Concerning Today's Roller Coaster Events

 

 

Klamath Project

 

 

Shut Down

 

HeraldandNews June 25, 2003.  "We will be shutting down the project until we get to the lake levels we need," Sabo (Klamath BOR) said. "I'm expecting we would start (deliveries) before or on the first of July. Additional shutdowns may be necessary through the rest of the summer, he added."

 

 

IRRIGATION WATER COULD GET SHUT OFF

GOOD NEWS …Klamath Basin had a wet spring. Bureau of Reclamation is sending 150,000AF more water down river.

BAD NEWS… the Bureau of Reclamation asks a 40% cut of agriculture. Irrigation water could be cut off! ARTICLE BY KBC 6/25/03

 

Farmers told there could be less water for farms  Change from a ‘dry’ year to ‘below average’ means more water for the lake, river, H&N 6/22/03. This year, some 17,000 acres of farmland have been voluntarily idled. That factor, along with the use of well water, "will save 60,000 acre-feet of project water, said Keppen, who bristled at the notion that irrigators only should make sacrifices. "You can’t look to the Klamath Project to be the sole answer to the problem," he said. "irrigators use only 2 percent of the entire Klamath watershed."

 

Link River, July 18, 1918 The Link River connects Upper Klamath Lake to the headwaters of the Klamath River (Lake Ewauna).  Before the dam, the Link River sometimes went dry.  The U.S. Government did not force the people to pump their aquifer or divert water from their closed basin to enhance the fishes' water.  This was NATURAL. There were no artificial water levels or committees.

 

Congressmen feuding over Klamath River - House panel moves to disband 'anti-agricultural' fishery board,

San Francisco Chronicle, June 24, 2003 --  "Two neighboring Northern California congressmen, liberal environmentalist Mike Thompson and Wally Herger, a conservative who backs farm interests, are feuding over Herger's move to kill a federal Klamath River advisory panel." . . .  

Further in the article:  "The Klamath has been the scene of a bitter dispute between farmers, who say their livelihoods are being ruined because too much of their irrigation water is being diverted downstream to protect the fish, and environmentalists, fishermen and Native Americans who say not enough is being done to protect the fish. A decision to cut the river flow resulted in the death last year of 33, 000 mature salmon but delighted growers, who said their drought-hit farms were saved from financial ruin."  Commentary:    Letter to SFC  reporter by Steve Cheyne on this article.

Congressman targets Klamath River advisory panel's funding, by Don Thompson, Associated Press Writer. June 23, 2003. "By joining the debate with official letters in October and March, Herger said the advisory council improperly injected itself into the irrigation water debate, when it was created solely to give advice on how much downstream and ocean fishing can be sustained by the river's salmon population."

Klamath farmers retool acreage, but risks of water shortage persist, Oregonian - June 10, 2003

"Farmers and other landowners are restoring wildlife habitat across the basin, including wetlands to cleanse dirtied water.   And there are promising signs for the endangered lake fish called suckers that suffered as the government replumbed the basin for agriculture.  "Everybody knows we're in a critical situation," said farmer Mike Byrne. "People never thought they'd take our water away. Now we know they will. Everybody is in the mood to do the most conservation they can do."

Is plant justified? H&N by Ann Fairclo. "This plant being considered for the Bonanza area will use a huge amount of our natural resource (water). How come the environmentalists are not complaining loudly?"

Weekly KWUA Update for June  20, 2003. "Last Friday, Reclamation changed the 2003 water year designation to "below average" rather than "dry", as forecasted earlier this spring. The change in the 2003 designation – contrary to intuition – actually puts farmers in a more precarious situation because it results in more water being held in Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) for suckers and more water flowing down the Klamath River from Iron Gate Dam for coho salmon. For the remainder of June, the new water year designation triggers UKL levels that are 0.6 feet higher and Klamath River flows that are 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) higher than the requirements for a dry year."

Lease land fight settled - for now, H&N's June 19, 2003  35 million pounds of wildlife food comes from the leased refuge farmland.  Also, Bob Hunter, attorney for WaterWatch, has previously said that there would be 'more' water if we didn't farm the refuge . . . wetlands take  2 acre feet of water more than ag production.

Bush Adm.: "Fish Don't Need Water," Something Rotten in Klamath, Source: Counterpunch, with commentary facts by KBC. This article is a typical example of 'environmental' media ignorance that deceives the general public.

House Bill 3298A is a VERY controversial bill.  It could change the adjudication process and the Takings court case. It could change the irrigators' priority  for irrigation. "These issues are complex, and many involve the federal government....These are issues that could seriously erode an irrigation district’s viability and its ability to deliver water to its patrons,"David E Filippi, attorney for OWRC (Oregon Water Resources Congress. THIS WILL EFFECT YOU!!
KWUA and OWRC oppose this bill.  See attorney memorandum for OWRC view.
Water for Life supports this bill.  See article by Doug Whitsett

KBC proudly announces the addition of the 

Klamath Bucket Brigade to the website!!                                  

Members of the Brigade have spent the last two years doing research on the Klamath Basin, the Klamath Project, Suckers and Coho, the Endangered Species Act, and many other aspects of the Klamath Water Crisis.  Some research is posted now under "You Need To Know" with much more coming!!
     KBB has used that research to produce a compelling PowerPoint presentation explaining the history of the Klamath Project and our Water Crisis.  Board Chairman Bill Ransom and other board members have shown it to many Klamath civic groups and have taken it to Hermiston and Hillsboro, Oregon along with the message that "it could happen to you."
     Meet all the Board of Trustee's, several who spent long hours at the Headgates in 2001, and helped organize the many rallies and fund raisers.  Read KBB's mission statement -- education is their primary goal now.
     You'll find the link to their sub site on the left navigation bar.

Information on the Water 2025 proposal and the Memorandum of Understanding are on-line at http://www.doi.gov/water2025. Information on relief available to farmers and ranchers is on-line at http://disaster.usda.gov.

Cutting down big water users, H&N June 17, 2003.

Sierra Club spreads untruths, yet Lease-land farming will go on report is in H&N June 13, 2003. Sierra Club, in their promotion of diminishing or eradicating lease-land farming in the Tulelake Basin, is spreading false information: See Sierra Club article    See KBC commentary.
Oregon jobless rate remains No. 1 Herald and News, Friday, June 13, 2003 "The Oregon jobless rate was more than a full two percentage points higher than the national rate of 6.1 percent for May, the highest unemployment rate for the United  States since July 1994."

Klamath Basin homeowner reports sucker fish nightmare, The Illinois Leader May 16, 2003 "And the excuse to decimate our community was the Endangered Species Act. They do not know how many endangered sucker fish there were, there are, or how many they want to have, but they are "listed." So they take the water from the farmers and raise the lake level... while the only fish kills of suckers were on HIGH water years. "

Coastal coho, a success story?, 6/14, The Oregonian.
Oregon, U.S. approve plan to delist coho, Seattle Post Intelligencer, June 14, 2003

ACTION ALERT: The Nature Conservancy is a huge landowner in the Klamath Basin. Bill S.  476 hands over to The Nature Conservancy and other massive Land Trusts a special tax break when buying land. Click here for more info and what you can do.

OFS (Oregonians for Food and Shelter) Legislative Update, week ending May 16, 2003.  "10,254 fewer Oregonians are working than in March." {Look at the 'environmentalists' plans for wildlands (where they don't want us humans), look how they've exterminated logging and much mining and farming.  Then look at the unemployment, domestic violence, suicides, state debt, gang violence, lack of school, health care, prison funding..  Look at the statistics!  Welcome to Oregon! KBC} More Oregon news

There is no KWUA weekly update for June, Friday the 13th, 2003.  KBC notes the past week's important events:
* Appeals court sides with minnow--2 articles.
* Lease land lawsuit.  Yesterday Judge Burrell ruled in favor of farming being continued on the Tulelake Lease Lands.  About the lawsuit, go here.   For Lease Land Farm Program, click here.
* VANCOUVER, B.C. - Scientists gathered for a World Summit on Salmon said Wednesday that new directions and hard choices are needed to restore declining salmon populations around the world. "Arguing that the ocean accounts for a greater degree of salmon mortality than anywhere else, Carl Walters, professor of fisheries at the University of British Columbia, said the millions of dollars spent on restoring salmon habitat in rivers and streams in western Canada were wasted."
* The U.S. BOR made official today the change from water year type 'below average' rather than 'dry'. That means that approximately 12% more water will be put in the lake for suckers and sent downriver for fish.  NO peer-reviewed science indicates that more water is needed for the fish, since all sucker deaths have occurred in high-water years. Nevertheless, more water will be unavailable for irrigation in the guise of helping fish. see article

Ex-official, unions differ on COB plant, H&N 6/13/03

Move the C.O.B  Click here for solutions.  "The energy facility would take land out of exclusive farm use.  The land would have to be rezoned for industrial.   We do not want the noise and air pollution in Langell Valley." How to  help stop the COB in Bonanza.

COB plant gives up on water, H&N 6/11/03.

Stop the generating plant., 6/10/03."Who will be required to replace the 12,145 acre-feet of water if it has historically gone down the Klamath River drainage? (discharge point of source aquifer)"

Divers probe Lake Ewana, H&N 6/10/03

Power plant meetings set for June 10, H&N 6/9/03.

Look at how much water the Basin has, then decide how much to export, H&N 6/8/03.  Don Mausshardt, P. E., is a professional engineer, consulting in the nuclear industry and is serving on an advisory board at Oregon State University, College of Engineering. A resident of Klamath Falls, he has more than 30 years experience in the environmental field, " The Klamath Basin exports more water out of the Basin than it uses for agricultural purposes."

Judge Armstrong says she's inclined to side with fish, H&N 6/6/03

Bureau could change water description conditions, H&N 6/6/03. "Such a change would mean different flow schedules downstream and different lake levels required for Upper Klamath Lake, and, possibly, different amounts for irrigation."

Keep the Water, by Nancy Roeder, 6/6/03."It is difficult for me to comprehend that a public agency would rob the farmers of necessary water to grow their crops to site a breeder electrical facility. This facility will be, of course, smack dab in the middle of farm land."

Weekly KWUA Update for June  6, 2003.
* Judge Armstrong Holds Hearing by Phone: Decision Pending
* Secretary Norton to Kick Off Water 2025 in Denver Today
* Klamath Tribes Proceeding with Assessment of Sprague, Sycan Rivers
* Key Facts - 2003 Klamath Project Pilot Water Bank

Environmentalists threaten Valley livelihoods, Fresno Bee - 6/4/03. By Frank Bigelow, Madera County supervisor, Bob Waterston, Fresno County supervisor, and Jerry O'Banion, Merced County supervisor. "Do they want the court to impose a Klamath Basin-type edict on our Valley? Why do they refuse to acknowledge that the type of water releases they are recommending will not only decimate the East Side's economy, but also cause immense flood damage along the river? In its current state, the San Joaquin River simply cannot handle the high-flow regime necessary for salmon restoration."

Senate passes eco-terror bill, AP in H&N 6/3/03. "In theory, he said, that could include the farmers in southern Oregon's Klamath Basin who in 2001`cracked open government-controlled head gates that blocked the flow of water to their parched fields."  I remember July 4, 2002, standing at the headgates watching my teary-eyed neighbors---homesteaders---farmers and their wives in their 70's and 80's, standing, watching, as the head gates were being opened.  They had been given their farms and an old barracks as a thank-you for their service in foreign wars. They paid for the Klamath Project (including the head gates).  Some were in Pearl Harbor when Japan bombed it.  Some were POW's. They watched their brothers die for our freedom. Then they committed the rest of their lives to providing food for America.  Their fields were parched.  Their cattle had to be slaughtered.  The water, promised to them in their deeds--to them and their heirs forever--had been taken away by ecoterrorists.  This law would make these veterans criminals for defending freedom that they fought to defend. KBC

See article and prayer request by Monty Fisher, Tonkin Gulf North Vietnam 66/67. Submitted June 1, 2003

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Supplemental information related to the notice of intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement. "Reclamation is initiating a formal scoping period of 120 days following the publication of this supplemental NOI. Reclamation invites all interested parties to submit written comments or suggestions during the scoping period."

Weekly KWUA Update for May 30, 2003.

Interior Department is seeking delays in protecting endangered species, ENN,  "'Starting this month, the Fish and Wildlife Service also began inserting new language into its critical habitat action plans that are published in the Federal Register. It begins with a disclaimer: "Designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection to species.'"

Check out this great link:  www.allianceforamerica.org It is now on our link page.

Interior Dept wants to find the next Klamath, 5/30/03, H&N. "John Keys, commissioner of the Bureau, said he wants water users, environmentalists, tribal members, water recreationists and community leaders to come to the conferences. To avoid crisis, he said, groups will need to pool their efforts."
Then read the following article by Frank King, What about sucker fish, "A big meeting was held in Redding the first part of May to discuss the management of the 50,000 acre-feet of water purchased from the agricultural people of the Basin. Present were the Bureau, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the concerned Tribes. Interestingly, not there were farmers who supplied the water from the ground they will not cultivate."  If the DOI wants 'water users' to be involved to avoid 'another Klamath', why aren't they invited to the current meetings?  Why, after the DOI requested that the water users form a water bank to retire farmland and water and to pump our untested aquifer (in exchange for more certainty for the remaining farmers), --why were their efforts thrown out the window after water users worked on it for hundreds of hours? BOR scrapped it and used their own plan (providing NO certainty).  Maybe that's the new meaning of 'come to conferences' and 'pool their efforts'.

Large Klamath Basin Landowner--"protector of the US countryside' is in trouble: Wilderness bewilderment, "Nature Conservancy felled trees, allegedly drilled for gas beneath the last breeding-ground of an endangered bird and sold unspoilt land at discounted prices to its trustees so they could build luxury homes in some of America's most beautiful landscapes, according to the Washington Post, which spent two years investigating its activities,"  May 29, 2003, The Guardian.
 
EPA, Notice of availability for the Draft Upper Klamath River Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendments,  "In California, the segment of the Klamath River within the planning area was determined to be eligible for inclusion as a scenic river under the Wild and Scenic River Act, and is currently under interim protective management until a designation decision is made. This plan considers management of land both within and adjacent to the scenic river corridor." 

Crappo believes ESA is broken, 5/30/03 NWRA daily report

They've been waiting on the weather, H&N May 28, 03.  Waterfowl on and about Tule Lake love the Kandra's alfalfa, which each year eats about $20,000 worth. And that's okay. "We love having the birds," she said. "We are feeding Honker babies right now. They're very cute. Plus deer herds come in and birth in the alfalfa. They like the camouflage."