Klamath Basin Crisis esa $ toc

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$$$$$$$ Spent on ESA

Federal and State Endangered and Threatened Species expenditures, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Small fortune coming to Klamath Basin for ecosystem restoration, H&N 11/27/21. "...the funding package will allocate $162 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specifically for “Klamath Basin restoration activities...Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) secured the funding...There’s no shortage of places to work on habitat restoration,” Merkley said. ...Essentially, a plan already exists for implementing wide-scale restoration in the Klamath Basin through the Integrated Fisheries Restoration and Monitoring Plan (IFRMP), a multi-year effort that identifies key restoration priorities throughout the watershed — from recreating instream habitat for anadromous fish in the Lower Basin to reducing nutrient loading in the Upper Basin...it could make life easier for endangered C’waam and Koptu (suckers)...will help fund the expansion of Gone Fishing, the Service’s sucker hatchery operation...The Klamath Tribes, Trout Unlimited, USFWS and other restoration-focused groups are already working with federal agencies.." KBC NOTE: As we opined before, habitat restoration usually includes buying out farms and water rights.

Reclamation nets $2.7 million to help Klamath River coho, H&N 11/15/21

More than $350,000 awarded to benefit endangered Klamath sucker, H&N 10/9/19.
Phosphorus causing decline in Klamath sucker fish by David Hill, Merrill 7/25/19. "The major element causing the problem is phosphorus, which comes from the leaching of phosphorus from the volcanic ash, "pumice" in Annie Creek and numerous other streams feeding into Klamath Lake, as was found from research done in the 1970s. Klamath Lake is a euphoric lake, meaning it is a self dying lake which was noted by the Fremont Expedition as "stinking water" in the 1800s, no cattle were present then."

Wildlife Conservation Board Funds Environmental Improvement and Acquisition Projects, DFG, posted to KBC 3/1/12. "Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved $17.9 million in grants funding to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat..." Pit River, Watsonville, Willow Creek, Stanislaus County.

Salazar Announces $53 Million in Grants to Support Habitat Acquisition and Conservation Planning for Endangered Species, DOI 8/24/11

The $206,098,920 Endangered Species Act settlement agreement; Budd-Falen Law Offices 7/21/11. "On July 12, 2011, the Justice Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) announced “an historic agreement” which will require the American taxpayers to pay $206,098,920 to just process the paperwork deciding whether to include over 1000 plants, bugs, worms, and other assorted creatures on the Endangered Species list. None of this money goes to on-the-ground conservation; this taxpayer funding is just to process petitions filed by only two, out of dozens, of radical environmental groups..." and "...the Justice Department ...will pay their attorney fees..." (KBC NOTE: these same environmental groups, and USFWS, are involved in taking agriculture out of the Klamath Basin.)

"The Endangered Species Act (Section 18) requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to submit to Congress (through the Secretary of the Interior) an annual report of a cost analysis of expenditures that were made for the conservation of threatened and endangered species..."

ESA financial reports and definitiions, FWS 1/20/06

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/pubs/expenditurereports.htm

http://www.fws.gov/Endangered/pubs/index.html#expend

2007 Federal and State 2007Expenditures on endangered species, including land acquisitions. Posted to KBC 10/8/09

ESA 2005-2006 Expenditures - Federal and state endangered and threatened species expenditures for fiscal Years 2005-2006, Fish and Wildlife Service, posted to KBC 1/1/08. Includes expenditures, including land acquisitions, for birds, fish, butterflies, mice, toads, plants, etc. (Pg 149) "Lost River Sucker: $682,303,476, Shortnose Sucker: $689,978,803..." Total expense on Lost River and Shortnose Suckers as of 2006: $1,372,282,279.

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/pdfs/expenditures/expenditures_report_fy05-06.pdf Includes expenditures, including land acquisitions, for birds, fish, butterflies, mice, toads, plants, etc.

The reports are available to the public, and the information is used by the media, environmental organizations, and other interested parties.

2004 Expenditure Report [PDF] This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 2004 (October 2003 - September 2004). January 2005.
2003 Expenditure Report [PDF] This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 2003 (October 2002 - September 2003). January 2005
2002 Expenditure Report [PDF] This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 2002 (October 2001 - September 2002). Revised January 2005.
2001 Expenditure Report [PDF] This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 2001 (October 2000 - September 2001). Revised January 2005.
1998-2000 Expenditure Report [PDF]This summary report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Years 1998-2000 (October 1997 - September 2000).
1997 Expenditure Report [PDF]This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 1997 (October 1996 - September 1997).
1996 Expenditure Report [PDF]This report presents the reported expenditures for Fiscal Year 1996 (October 1995 - September 1996).

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/pubs/expenditurereports.htm

Merkley facilitates follow-up summit on sucker recovery, H&N 1/5/2020. "Merkley has delivered $23.5 million to the Basin since 2013 to find a way toward a solution..."
KBC NOTE: Did Merkley address the fact that our government spent millions of $ to build manmade islands in our Klamath basin refuges: to lure fish-eating Caspian Terns from the Columbia that were eating millions of tiny salmon? Now tiny suckers? "...the Columbia River has been responsible for around 15 million to 20 million salmon smolts being eaten annually. The cormorant population growing on East Sand Island is estimated to be responsible for an additional 11 million young salmon each year." More articles on Refuge Page. Did he address the fact that the NRC Chairman Dr William Lewis Jr stated at a Klamath Science Workshop: "Lewis explained that the suckers were listed since 1988 because of over harvest. They stopped fishing in '87 but they did not recover. The lake has gone from 3' range under natural conditions to experiencing 6' deep in current dry years. With charts and graphs he showed the habitat and water quality, algae and chlorophyll. He said that the committee looked extensively at water levels, and they find 'no hint of a relationship'. He also said that there was no relationship between lower water levels and extreme ph levels. And "the committee cannot support the idea that water levels effect algae growth.' "It can not be achieved by lake levels." '92 was the lowest water year, and they expected it to be the least favorable for fish. 'The lowest water year produced the same amount of larvae as other years. He said that fish kill information does not support that fish are dying by changing water level." Here for KBC's Science Page

Funds ($1M) set aside for endangered species study, H&N 5/8/18

Judge clears barred owl removal study, Capital Press July 21, 2015. "Populations of the northern spotted owl, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act, have continued to decline in recent decades despite strict limits on logging...U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized an experiment to remove 3,600 barred owls over four years, typically by shooting them, to see if spotted owl recovery improves...the barred owl has consistently invaded the spotted owl’s territory since the 1970s...the removal study costs $1 million a year"

$4 million for wildfire strategy -Sage Grouse Habitat , H&N, posted to KBC 5/7/15.

Sage grouse protection - Feds spend $236M to help landowners protect grouse, H&N 5/1/14.

Tribes in 13 States Receive $4.2 Million From Service for Conservation Work, FWS 3/27/15. California and Southern Oregon Tribes Awarded Grants. "Tribal lands encompass millions of acres of important habitat for hundreds of wildlife species across the nation...Since its inception in 2003, the competitive Tribal Wildlife Grants program has awarded more than $68 million to Native American tribes, providing support for more than 400 conservation projects...Yurok Tribe ($176,771)...This project will support specific goals of the California Condor Recovery Plan. The Klamath Tribes ($200,000) The Re-introducing Extinct Populations of Endangered Suckers in the Upper Klamath Basin grant will assess and restore spawning habitat for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake Oregon."

No surprise: Salmon most expensive endangered species, Oregonian, posted to KBC 10/18/09. "...the total spent on the 13 salmon and steelhead species in the Columbia Basin since 1978 exceeds $12 billion."

Fish Habitat Benefits from Nearly $3 Million in Funding Three projects in the Pacific Region will help native trout species, FWS 8/25/09

(Yurok) Tribe hopes to return condors to Klamath; Possible release of large endangered birds could mean sightings in the Rogue Valley, new hunting regulations, Mail Tribune 3/6/09. "The tribe last spring received a $200,000 federal grant toward studying the feasibility of a reintroduction"

$740 Million Goes to States for Fish and Wildlife Projects; Pacific Region States Receive $57 Million, FWS News Release, posted 2/25/09

Columbia - NPCC Heads To Finish Line In Approving New Regional Fish & Wildlife Program, CBB posted 1/18/09. "The Bonneville Power Administration, which funds the program, provided up to $143 million in expense and $36 million for capital projects annually during the past three fiscal years and expects spending to increase to $200 million this year, $230 million in 2010 and $235 million in 2011."

Agreements propose $980.5 million for projects; support for feds' salmon strategy, CBB, posted 4/13/08

Interior grants disbursed to conservation projects, Indian Country 4/8/08. Karuk Tribe of California: $100,000 for the Bluff Creek Habitat Protection Project, Yurok Tribe: $200,000 for the Yurok Tribe Condor Release Initiative

State Wildlife Agencies To Receive over $700 Million For Wildlife And Sport Fish Restoration, Fish & Wildlife, posted 2/25/08

Money ($10 million) could have been spent better, H&N, posted 11/29/07. "...now we are paying for a $10 million levee demolition project that will give the sucker fish larval a better chance because it will provide lower water habitat?..."

Salmon plan implementation could increase federal spending $1 billion over 10 years, CB Bulletin, posted to KBC 11/4/07. For more ESA $ go HERE.

Grant to restore Basin watershed, H&N, posted 8/31/07. "Ducks Unlimited received a $789,563 federal grant to help restore the Upper Klamath Basin watershed. "Groups involved in the project include The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Watershed Council, KBEF/Klamath Basin Ecosystem Foundation, and Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust." For KBEF board of directors go HERE. KBEF and Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center are both members of Orion Network.

Bill To Extend U.S. Assistance for Dwindling Asian Elephant Population Approved By U.S. House, House Resources Committee 7/23/07. "H. R. 465 will extend the ability of the Secretary of the Interior to make conservation grants at the existing level of up to $5 million per year until September 30, 2012. Since its enactment into law, Congress has appropriated $8.3 million in federal funds..." More on Endangered Species expenditures HERE.

Pacific Northwest Wildlife Agencies Will Share $2.5 Million in Grants To Conserve At-Risk Species Grants will fund projects on private lands, FWS posted 7/20/07

PRESS RELEASE: Service Releases Draft Economic Analysis for Proposed Designation of Critical Habitat for the Marbled Murrelet, FWS 6/26/07. "potential costs related to the conservation of areas proposed for marbled murrelet critical habitat at $69.4 million to $1.4 billion over the next 20 years...The Service is proposing to designate 221,692 acres of critical habitat...(in) California, Oregon and Washington." HERE for more ESA expenses.

Yurok tribe gets funding for project, Triplicate 5/23/07

Responsibility by Jim Beers, posted to KBC 5/22/07. Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. "What about the US Fish and Wildlife Service theft of $60 Million from funds destined for state hunting and fishing programs to fund things like introducing wolves into Yellowstone and opening an endangered species office (to cater to radicals) in California - each of which Congress had refused to fund?"

FWS News Release: Fish and Wildlife Service Director Announces $8.9 Million In Grants to Tribes to Help Conserve Fish and Wildlife. Nearly $1.6 million will go to Tribes in the Pacific Northwest, posted 5/22/07

FWS News Release: Fish and Wildlife Provides Nearly $19.9 Million in the Pacific Region Through Two Grant Programs, posted to KBC 5/20/07. "Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne today awarded more than $75 million in grants through two grant programs; the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and the Private Stewardship Grants Program." (for easements and land acquisitions)

FWS: Endangered Species money to be spent for picture-winged FLIES in Hawaii, posted 1/13/07 "We estimate costs using a seven percent discount rate to range from $597,940 to $3,794,230 over 20 years"

Endangered Species Expenditure Reports. Ever wonder how much of your tax money is going into a program that has far less than one percent success rate?

Net Loss Inside the Failure Of $8 Billion Effort To Save Prized Fish Salmon, Get Tracking Devices Yet Few Survive Long Trip Through Bonneville's Dams, Protected Sea Lions Abound, Wall Street Journal, posted 9/20/06

FWS Public Comment: Designation of critical habitat for the contiguous U.S. distinct population segment of the Canada Lynx, 9/19/06 Go to http://www.lynxnothijinks.com for more Lynx input. "future costs are estimated to be from $125 million to $411 million over 20 years ($8.38 million to $27.6 million annually) using a 3 percent discount rate, or $99.9 million to $259 million over 20 years "

ESA other places: PRESS RELEASE: Jumping Meadow Mouse Draws Rebuke of Congressional Panel, posted 9/18/06. "over 31,000 acres of critical habitat was designated for the mouse and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the economic impact will cost $79 - $183 million over ten years." More on ESA TODAY

State Wildlife Agencies Receive Grants to Work With Landowners to Conserve At-risk Species, FWS8/8/06

River gets financial boost $100,000 water grant goes to Sprague River, 5/19/06

Nessie The Woodpecker, by Jim Beers, retired USFWS biologist, posted to KBC 5/1/06. "Environmentalists are calling for 5.5 Million Acres of southern bottomland woodlands to be purchased or otherwise controlled by Federal bureaucracies. But still, after three (3) years there is NO PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF A SINGLE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. Congress has appropriated Millions of dollars."

Congressional Requesters: Subject: Endangered Species: Time and Costs Required to Recover Species Are Largely Unknown, GAO-06-463R Endangered Species Recovery, Government Accountability Office, posted to KBC April 7, 2006, pdf file.

KLAMATH BASIN: Habitat restoration gets $10 million, Project to help endangered suckers on Williamson River, H&N March 31, 2006. Millions and $ and 100,000 acres have been taken from ag land to make 'sucker habitat', while Chiloquin Dam blocks 95 per cent of sucker habitat. See Chiloquin Dam page.

PRESS RELEASE: FWS 3/31/06, Secretary Norton Announces Funding to States To Prevent Wildlife from Becoming Endangered
FOLLOWED BY: Secretary Norton Announces Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Apportionments to States; Both Accounts Pass $5 Billion Mark

Of Mice and Men, Wall Street Journal, 3/23/06 "31,000 acres of local government and privately owned land in the state and stretching into Wyoming--an area larger than the District of Columbia--was essentially quarantined from all development so as not to disrupt the mouse's natural habitat. Even the Fish and Wildlife Service concedes that the cost to these land owners could reach $183 million." "It turns out that not only is the mouse not endangered, but it isn't even a unique species."

ESA TODAY Doubts cast on superstar woodpecker's return, New Scientist 3/13/06. "The apparent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in 2005 – hailed as one of the great conservation triumphs of recent times – may be merely a case of mistaken identity....the US government moved quickly to appoint a recovery team and commit more than $10 million to try to rescue the species.....The problem is that the video – still the best evidence of the woodpecker's existence – contains no more than a blurry, four-and-a-half-second glimpse of a distant bird as it takes off from a tree and flies away into the forest."

WA Congresswoman Morris Introduces Legislation to Require ESA Cost Transparency, posted to KBC 3/9/06 "According to the BPA, last
summer's spill assisted between 25 to 300 adult salmon, meaning it cost
rates payers between $250,000 to $3 million per fish. By law, the agency
passes on all of these costs to its wholesale customers, who in turn forward
the costs on to the retail electricity consumer."

NOAA, state seek to maintain funding for coastal coho despite non-re-listing, posted to KBC 2/10/06

$393 Million Spent to Save Pacific Salmon, LA Times, 2/26/06

$ for ESA: Study: Over 800 Species at Risk in Calif., LA Times 11/15/05.

$ for ESA: Congress Approves $6.5 million for CA Salmon Recovery, Feinstein posted to KBC 11/15/05

Government Is Not Reporting Billions Spent on Endangered Species Act, Study Shows, Pacific Legal Foundation 11/7/05

OTHER PLACES: Service designates critical habitat for endangered Southwestern bird, El Defensor Chiefton 11/03/05 "Impacts associated for all flycatcher conservation efforts in the proposed designated areas, not just those exclusively associated with habitat designation, are estimated to range from $29.2 million to $39.5 million annually, and include costs associated with the listing of the species under the Endangered Species Act for the designated areas." HERE for more ESA expenditures.

PRESS RELEASE: Congressional budget office cost estimate, received by KBC 9/29/05

PRESS RELEASE: Grants to Benefit Endangered Species in the Pacific Region Total $17 Million, FWS posted to KBC 9/29/05. "$17 million in grants in the agency’s Pacific Region to support conservation planning and acquisition of vital habitat for threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants. The grants, awarded through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, are among $70.5 million awarded nationally to benefit species throughout the United States ranging from mussels to bull trout."

National Water Resources Association newsletter for 9/23/05. Includes Secretary Norton's additional funding for more wetlands, and ESA updates.

PRESS RELEASE: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Designates Critical Habitat For Bull Trout, posted to KBC 9/24/05. "...the Federal Columbia River Power System has spent $3.3 billion on restoration of habitat in the river system over the past 20 years, most of which benefited bull trout" "Fish and Wildlife Service today
announced its final rule designating approximately 3,780 miles of streams and 110,364 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana as critical habitat for the bull trout, a threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In Washington, 966 miles of marine shoreline also are being designated."

Funding for salmon, research approved, Statesman Journal 6/26/05 $15 million.

Report reveals cost of critical habitat designation, Chico Record posted to KBC 7/1/05, "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday that conservation for 15 vernal pool species will affect $992 million in economic activity over the next 20 years, with 97 percent of that relating to lost development opportunities."

Panel: Efforts to save salmon not enough Some $3 billion a year is spent in the Pacific Northwest to restore salmon runs, Albany Democrat-Herald 2/18/05.

PRESS RELEASE: Walden Praises President Bush for Continued Commitment to Klamath Basin, posted to KBC 2/5/05

FWS NEWS RELEASE: Regional Director Issues Call for Proposals to Pacific Tribes for Grants to Conserve Fish and Wildlife on Tribal Lands, 2/3/05

Feds propose $2 billion plan to protect seasonal pools, Corvallis Gazette Times 11/19/04

Vulnerable species could get a boost -- (vernal pools, more than $773 million) SacBee 11/19/04.

FW Program spending shows $136 million average for 2003, 2004 cb bulletin 11/19/04

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Reopens Comment Period for Santa Ana Sucker Critical Habitat Proposal and Economic Analysis, 10/27/04 USFWS "Results of the draft analysis estimate potential costs associated with conservation activities for the Santa Ana sucker could range from $21.8 to $30.5 million over the next years"

Lamprey: over $8million in 10 years for research, restoration, posted to KBC 10/19/04

Economics and the Endangered Species Act, by Jason F. Shogren, January 2002