Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
ARCHIVE 21 - February 2004
Pollution plans will take a while, cost a lot (TMDL's for Klamath and Lost River), H&N's, 2/29/04 - "The good news? The plan won't be complete until June 2005 for the Lost River, and December 2005 for the Klamath River. Then there are years of approval by higher-ups, and then most polluters have five years to design a plan and put it into effect." Bureau seeks land bids, H&N's, 2/29/04 - "The Bureau of Reclamation will accept sealed bids from those who wish to lease 27 parcels, about 4,350 acres, for agricultural purposes." U.S. should do study of dams, salmon, H&N's Editorial, 2/29/04 - "There's a lot more to the problem of depleted salmon production on the lower Klamath than the dams or, for that matter, the Klamath Reclamation Project, which is almost a sister issue to the dams. It's awfully easy for downstream interests to look upstream - and past the effects of overfishing and changing ocean conditions."
Weekly
KWUA Update for 2/26/04: Klamath Watershed Conference 2004 summary and photos THURSDAY SESSION by Barbara Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade Executive Director, Feb 26, 2004. "Marion told the story about one dairy farmer who was so excited about getting electricity that he went out and bought an electric milking machine. The first time he hooked the cows up to it and turned it on, the cows went crazy . . . they’d never heard a noise like that before nor had they ever had something mechanical attached to their udders. It seems the dairyman didn’t get much milk from his cows the next few days." Klamath Watershed Conference 2004 summary WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION by Barbara Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade Executive Director, posted Feb 26, 2004. PRESS RELEASE: Walden Given Waiver to Serve on Forest Health Subcommittee, 2/26/04 Conservation group to conduct series of meetings, H&N 2/26/04."The Natural Resource Conservation Service will conduct a series of work group meetings"
Klamath Watershed
Conference 2004 by Barbara Hall, Klamath
Bucket Brigade Executive Director, Feb 26, 2004
PRESS RELEASE: Ninth Circuit Court Sets Precedent for Science in Landmark ESA Case, 2/25/04 House Resource Committee. Oregon's coho are partying tonight, they're not going extinct after all, SouthernOregonNews.com 2/25/04 PRESS RELEASE: Walden to Visit Southern Oregon on Friday, February 27 & Monday, March 1 Klamath Watershed Conference Day 1, schedule and notes by Barb Hall, executive director of Klamath Bucket Brigade 2/24/04. Hydro relicensing sought, H&N 2/25/04 Dams, adjudication on agenda at local water conference, H&N 2/25/04 KBC's favorite article of the month of February, 2004 by Katy Coba, Oregon Dept. of Ag. ATTENTION: People of Merrill, Malin and Tulelake“THE BASIN ALLIANCE TO SAVE THE WINEMA AND FREMONT FORESTS”will host a public meeting on Wednesday February 25th go HERE Meetings set to discuss limits on lake, river pollutants Feb 26, Thursday, H&N 2/24/04 NEWS RELEASE: Pacific Legal Foundation Oregon Coast Salmon listing invalidated: Ninth Circuit dismisses appeal of Landmark Alsea Case. Bogus ESA Protections for "Wild" Salmon Must Go. 2/24/04 "Grange v. NMFS (Klamath Salmon Case) Also in the wake of today's decision, PLF predicted success in Grange v. National Marine Fisheries Service. In Grange, as in Alsea, rather than consider the prolific numbers of hatchery salmon, NMFS instead considered only "naturally spawned" populations and then determined they were "threatened." This listing is one of the factors that led to the shut off of irrigation water to Klamath area farmers in 2001. Grange v. NMFS was stayed by Judge Hogan pending a decision from the Ninth Circuit in Alsea." Conservation and Restoration
FYI, posted 2/25/04 PRESS RELEASE: Office of the Governor: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Lester Snow as director of the California Department of Water Resources, 2/24/04 PRESS RELEASE: Walden Encourages Use of Fax, Email to Speed Communication with Washington, D.C. Office, 2/24/04. Presentation by Dave Sabo, Bureau of Reclamation Area Manager, Klamath Falls office. This was from the Shilo Science Workshop 2/3/04. For more articles on workshop, go to Science Page. Report: Water savings less than hoped in payment effort, H&N posted to KBC 2/23/04."The Federal government says a $1 million project that paid irrigators above Upper Klamath Lake not to water their pastures in 2002 cut water use by only half as much as the project's sponsors estimated." PRESS RELEASE: Walden Receives "Guardian of Seniors' Rights" Award from 60 Plus Association, 2/23/04. Congratulations Congressman Walden!! and thank you! All logged out, 2/22/04, Bend Bulletin.
Deeper, colder
lake key to solving Basin water dilemma, 2/23/04 H&N letter. Tribes have right to rebuild culture, but not at expense of other people, H&N 2/23/04. Hydrology data--river flows and lake levels, go HERE 2/23/04
Tribal members want land closed, TriCountyCourier 2/20/04. "Question No. 3 on the survey asked, "If land is acquired as reservation land, are you willing to allow for unlimited public access as it currently exists in the Winema and Fremont National Forests? Nearly 75 percent answered "No," and 24 percent answered "Yes." HERE for articles on Tribe proposals, articles and their constitution.
Weekly
KWUA update for 2/20/04. 'Root' meeting held Tuesday, TriCountyCourier 2/20/04. "We will present a package to representatives of the Bush Administration and see what they think of it," said one, who asked to remain unnamed. "We have worked very hard and come up with a solution that has a lot of potential." Potential Death Nell for Veterans Cemetary by Barry R. Clausen © February 2004, Pioneer Press 2/20/04. "Many Veterans agreed with Rocky Cantrell, President of Vietnam Veterans of America Redding Chapter 357, when he stated that the government was denying Veterans benefits to Northern California Veterans. He said, "I feel our country is making us second-hand stepchildren. It was Veterans that made this country what it is today and once again we are getting screwed by the government."
Water talks losing steam, H&N 2/20/04. "Jim Root of Medford, a board member of the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust, said the draft isn't ready for public review.'We've developed a draft that different people are going over," he said. "The draft calls for everyone to give up water for the common good.' Most recent Klamath Lake level, 4,141.15 02-20-2004 04:00. Go HERE.
Fight generating plant, 2/19/04 H&N Access could be lost, H&N 2/19/04 William Lewis, chairman of a National Research Council committee that found gaps in the scientific foundation of Klamath Basin irrigation water management, fears Upper Klamath Lake water quality can’t be fixed. Capital Press 2/19/04 Two slightly different perspectives on President Bush's recent Klamath budget request for FY 2005 by John Keys (USBR Commissioner) and Felice Pace (Klamath environmental activist). Submitted by Dan Keppen, Klamath Water Users Association 2/19/04. Please pray for Bucket Brigade director Barbara Hall and her husband Red---he survived the car accident. See your PRAYER PAGE. 2/19/04Storm swells streams, snowpack, H&N 2/18/04.USGS determines how much estimated water is saved by KBRT (Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust), posted to KBC 2/17/04. KBRT pays cattle ranchers to not irrigate with federal money, "We act as an intermediary between the government and landowners in a water marketing plan....They paid us the first 2 years $300 per acre for any acres we signed up. We had a limit of 3000 acres the first year, 9000 last year....We pay the landowners $180 and use the rest for the science to show the government they're getting what they pay for", according to Kurt Thomas, KBRT. KBRT estimated the water savings at 2 - 2 1/2 AF (acre feet) per acre. USGS estimates .9 AF per acre. Go HERE for KBRT tour partial transcript. Go HERE for more on KBRT. Comments to the Oregon Department of Energy and the Oregon Facility Siting Council on the COB Energy Facility Draft Proposed Order, posted to KBC 2/17/04 from Roger Hamilton, past Klamath County Commissioner. Don't forget agriculture in looking at Big Picture, Oregonian 2/17/04, editorial by Katy Coba, Oregon Dept. of Ag, "By volume, agriculture and food products are Oregon's largest export. By value, they rank second only to electronics at nearly $2 billion a year. A majority of the Port of Portland's total tonnage of exports -- about 60 percent -- is agriculture." Basin soaked; more coming H&N 2/17/04, "But the storm is adding to the snowpack.Crater Lake got 23 inches of new snow Monday, according to the National Weather Service. The snow brought a 5 percent rise to the mountain snowpack, pushing it from 125 percent of average Monday to 130 percent today."
No decision on Cob plant, H&N 2/17/04. Update from Congressman Walden, the voice of our people, 2/17/04 Endangered Species Act endangers rights of landowners, www.townhall .com, posted to KBC 2/17/04.
BLM fee DEMO fine goes to
$5,000, posted to KBC 2/17/04, Robert Funkhouser, President Court Sets Precedent Requiring DOI To Compensate For ESA Taking, westernroundtable, posted to KBC 2/17/04.
They aren't listening, H&N posted to KBC 2/17/04. Regarding the COB plant in Bonanza,"There appears to be overwhelming opposition - a landslide you might say - by the people" "When pressed repeatedly, however, he finally made it known that they didn't have to listen to the public and probably would not. So much for government for the people and by the people." Bald eagle's range slows delisting as endangered, AP posted to KBC 2/17/04. "The bald eagle's territory...... stretches over much of the North American continent, with tens of thousands living in Alaska and British Columbia. The most recent survey in the contiguous United States counted nearly 6,500 nesting pairs in 2000 - up from just 417 in 1963." Back on the table, H&N posted to KBC 2/17/04. "Former representative says the U.S. should get something in return for forest lands."
Letter to the editor, WAYYYY to much money, 2/15/04.
Weekly
KWUA update for 2/14/04 Holly Swanson, author of "Set Up & Sold Out" will be the featured speaker at the March 1, 2004 meeting of the Klamath County Republican Women, 2/14/04 Environmental regulation and private property rights, The San Diego Union Tribune, 2/13/04. The Tulare ruling may effect the outcome of the Klamath irrigators taking lawsuit. However, "It remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will appeal Judge Wiese's recent decision." PRESS RELEASE USDA: President's Agriculture Budget Proposes Increased Funding to Protect the Nation's Food Supply and Conserve Natural Resources, posted to KBC 2/14/04 Other places/other fish/same ecoterrorists; January Newsletter of Eat First - Fish farming in enviro crosshairs Congress likely to take up peer review in ESA reform effort, westernroundtable, posted to KBC 2/14/04. "A National Academy of Sciences review of the situation later determined the (Klamath 2001 water) shutoff was unnecessary." Tribes were paid, H&N 2/13/04. PRESS RELEASE: Walden Commends CARES Commission Recommendation on White City Dom, 2/13/04 Bureau adds KF public relations post, H&N 2/13/04. TID well water levels 2/13/04 Bush guts silvery minnow money, Albuquerque Tribune Online, 2/13/04. Farmers proposed to Gail Norton to move minnows elsewhere. In Klamath Basin's Clear Lake we have abundant, thriving suckers, but those don't seem to count. It seems our government does not want to delist them, nor do the power companies. It is the only unconstitutional way they can come up with to take our irrigation water and deplete our funds and economy in the courts. We eagerly await DOI's response on transplanting the minnow. Water rights case leaves mark on species, MSNBC 2/13/04. "Along the California-Oregon line, for example, a similar court case could leave the government with a $100 million bill for water diverted from farmers in 2001 for species protection.' Testimony to be heard on Cob facility, Friday, , H&N 2/12/04 Go HERE for more on proposed COB energy plant.
Other places, same war: ESA causes water stewards to change roles, Capital Press-Idaho Staff Writer, 2/12/04. Grants to states for endangered species conservation, 2/12/04 USFWS Letter to KBC from Lee regarding the Tribes and equality, 2/11/04. Event to focus on Klamath watershed, H&N 2/11/04. We have been told by US Bureau of Reclamation people that our figures are inaccurate regarding 94,000 acres in the Upper Basin having been taken out of farmland to make wetlands. Go HERE for breakdown and documentation, and let us know the correct figures if these are wrong. Send documentation for our readers. KBC. Plenty of water sources, H&N 2/11/04. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Justifications February 2004.
Another blow delivered
to Klamath theory,
Capital Press 2/11/04.
“We could find
no hint of relationship between lake level” and three technical factors
commonly blamed for killing sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake, said
William Lewis. The University of Colorado aquatic specialist was
chairman of a National Research Council review of federal biological
opinions designed to protect two sucker fish species and a coho salmon
run. Those opinions and a drought-shortened water supply triggered the
April 2001 denial of irrigation water to 1,100 project farms." Two file for Harper's State Senate seat, 2/11/04
Whitsett to run for Senate, H&N 2/9/04 Notes from the Upper Klamath Basin Science Workshop by Barbara Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade, 2/9/04
Water managers
call for science that is useful, H&N 2/9/04
Myth vs Fact, H&N 2/9/04 by Allen Foreman, Tribal Chairman.
People can't return to the land and life that their ancestors had, H&N 2/9/04.
Lots of
snow but not much water, H&N 2/9/04
State OKs coho plan, 2/7/04. YREKA - "The listing of the coho salmon as a California Endangered Species became law on Wednesday to the disappointment of Siskiyou County's grassroots Save Our Shasta and Scott Valley communities (SOSS) organization that has worked for years to prevent it from happening." Congressman Walden's 2/4/04 statement on sound science before the House Subcommittee.
Weekly KWUA update for 2/6/04 Klamath Scientists Day 3, KBC (jdk) 2/5/04. "So, between today and Tuesday, I, as an irrigator who does not want to be downsized out of business, was elated. Lake level management is not justified. Project water quality is better than river water. Wetlands don't necessarily help fish or PH and use more water than ag lands. Suckers swim and eat and make babies regardless of lake levels and water quality. And "We don't have enough data to have restoration goals.'" Republicans begin effort to rewrite endangered species act, 2/5/04 Searching for sound science, HN 2/5/04 "Foreigners" in "Armed Boats" Kill Klamath Fish/Outside Magazine - by Barry R. Clausen – February 4, 2004. PRESS RELEASE: Walden Testifies on Need for Endangered Species Act Reform, 2/4/04. "We learned from the NAS that the decisions made either weren't based on adequate science or were made by misinterpreting the data they had. In either case, more than 1,000 farm families didn't receive vital irrigation water and nearly two-dozen farmers went bankrupt. I pledged then and there to pursue changes in the ESA to require outside, independent peer review of the decisions made by the government when it comes to listing or delisting a species and in formulation of recovery plans." Water, sucker science argued at conference, H&N 2/4/04. PRESS RELEASE: Forest Subcommittee Examines Job Loss in Forest Industry 2/2/04 "The forest industry has been criticized unjustly by radical environmentalists, who aided the large scale export of jobs overseas where lumber is cheap and, ironically, environmental standards are few. As a result, over 900 mills, pulp and paper plants, and other forest products plants have closed since 1990 and at least 130,000 jobs have been lost since mid-1990." PRESS RELEASE: Cubin Chairs Hearing on Impact of Science on Public Policy, 2/4/04. "A glaring example of this is taking place in Wyoming, where the supposed existence of the "threatened" Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse has caused restrictions to be placed on more than 10,000 acres in southern Wyoming. "The shoddy science collected by the Fish and Wildlife Service still stands, and folks are still going to lose some of the beneficial use of their private lands, all to recover a jumping mouse that no one has yet shown to ever exist in Wyoming," said Cubin. PRESS RELEASE: Walden Elected Co-Chairman of House Rural Health Care Coalition 2/4/04.
Lake level low, river flows cut, 2/4/04 H&N Only new legislation can secure Klamath Basin refuges, 2/3/04 The Oregonian. {Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust (KBRT) water savings: From the last 'Shilo' closed meeting, 2 attendees reported to KBC that the latest USGS study shows that .9 to 1.3 acre feet of water per acre is the water savings that has been saved in 2003 by their renting Upper Basin water. We at KBC have received nothing in writing and have no documentation, but we welcome any info from the USGS or KBRT team to clarify this issue.} KBC (jdk)
Suckers and the Chiloquin Dam, 1/1/04. this is where we have gathered related articles and press releases for the past year regarding the Suckers and the dam. We commend the Bush administration for addressing this obstruction of over 90% of the sucker habitat by the Chiloquin Dam. A local group was formed to study the problem, and funds are being proposed to impliment the solution. OREGON NEWS: Wilderness expansion proposal triggers debate, Statesman Journal 2/2/04. For more on OREGON,go HERE Farming faces competing demands for water, Farm Bureau 2/2/04.""If we destroy our agricultural industry in this country, food isn't going to be as safe and we really have a homeland security issue." FWS Press Release: PRESIDENT SEEKS MORE THAN $1.3 BILLION FOR U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE IN 2005 BUDGET 2/2/04 Green and White, we'll take all we can, H&N view 2/2/04. For more on Barnes, go HERE.
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