At Odds Over Benefits of Proposed New Dam on Klamath River : Oregon Town, Rafting Buffs in a Classic Environmental Battle

When a local power company built a dam on the upper Klamath River 30 years ago, it unintentionally created some of the best white-water rafting on the West Coast.

It also set the stage for a showdown between environmentalists, who want to keep the rapids, and the City of Klamath Falls, which views them as a resource that could rebuild an economy still reeling from the 1982 recession.

About 2,500 people a year come to Klamath Canyon to bounce through the Caldera, Hells Corner and other foaming rapids that are created in the summer by surges of water released through the turbines of the John C. Boyle Dam.

“You might as well go rafting in Disneyland,” says Klamath Falls City Manager Jim Keller. “It is not a wild river. It is a river controlled by the upstream dam.”

River running is relatively new on the upper Klamath. The dam was built in 1958, but it wasn’t until 1979 that commercial outfitters discovered the white water in the 17-mile stretch of river just north of the California-Oregon state line.

But Keller and other city leaders think there is a better use for the water. They want to build another dam--the Salt Caves Project--just below the Boyle. It would divert water through a seven-mile canal to a powerhouse downstream, wiping out many of the rapids. Only a minimum flow would be left for fish.

Power to Be Sold

Klamath Falls would get no power from Salt Caves, instead selling it and dedicating the profits, about $3 million a year, to an economic recovery program that includes halving property taxes, providing capital for new industries and developing a ski resort.

City fathers call the plan “Operation Bootstrap” and predict that by the year 2000 it will generate 3,600 jobs--about the same number lost in the recession.

“It is the only thing I can see that can turn the economy around,” says Mayor George Flitcraft, who has watched 5,000 people, including his son, move away in the last five years. “I don’t think we can turn the economy around without some compromise with the environment.”

Critics contend that the dam would be an environmental disaster that would not only wipe out the rapids but destroy a third of the trout and threaten wildlife and archeological sites in the canyon.

They also point out that there is no ready market for the power in the Northwest, which now has a power surplus.

“The city’s economic projections are based on a ludicrous set of assumptions,” said John Ward, a business professor at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls. “They really don’t know if the project will make money.”

Not so, says Larry Blake, president of the institute who backs the project.

“I can give you as many studies that show there will be a brownout in the Northwest as they can show that there will be a surplus. If the benefits weren’t there, I wouldn’t back it.”

City Manager Keller said the $131-million project has been redesigned several times to overcome environmental objections.

The proposed dam site was moved upstream to a little-used portion of the canyon and the current plans include fish ladders and spawning beds for the trout, bridges for deer to cross the diversion canal and special releases of water on weekends and holidays to maintain some portion of the rafting industry.

Kent Wickham, owner of Ouzel Outfitters in Eugene, objects to that plan.

“They are making a carnival out of it,” he said. “You sit at the base of the dam and wait for the water and get flushed down a toilet.”

The plan would mitigate the loss of rafting by financing a ski resort nearby and a sportsmen’s park with shooting ranges and off-road vehicle tracks.

“That’s like telling a golfer ‘we’re going to get you skateboards . . . ‘ “ said Gary Nichols, a high school teacher and leader of an opposition group called Save Our Klamath River.

The debate extends far beyond Klamath Falls. The project has been condemned by the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, the National Wildlife Federation and numerous river groups.

Governor a Foe

It is opposed by the Oregon departments of Fish and Wildlife and Environmental Quality. Gov. Neil Goldschmidt also jumped into the fray last month, siding with the environmentalists even though he won election last year on a platform promising economic development.

“The project will forever change the unique character of one of Oregon’s remaining stretches of world-class white water,” the governor said. “Without a compelling energy need, we should not commit to any project where the trade-offs are perhaps permanent and irreversible.”

Two Oregon Democratic congressmen, Peter A. DeFazio and Les AuCoin, have introduced legislation to protect the Klamath as a wild and scenic river.

But the city has refused to back down and has launched a $200,000 statewide advertising campaign that decries Klamath County’s unemployment and complains that its chief export is “our children.”

The city is well financed for the battle. It sold $250 million in bonds in 1985 to pay for Salt Caves and then reinvested the money at a higher interest rate. The income covers the payments for the bond interest and leaves the city with $2.5 million a year to plan the project and convince the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to grant it a license.

Dean Munroe, operator of Wilderness Adventures of Redding, Calif., was looking for new rivers with commercial potential when he heard about the rapids on the Klamath and hauled a small six-man raft to Klamath Falls to give it a try.

“It’s a little scary when you don’t know what is around the next bend,” he said. “We were pretty well petrified. It took us 10 hours to go over rapids we now run in three.”

Munroe is credited with being the first to map the 48 rapids. He also named them.

What he found was an appealing weekend river trip--a one-day or two-day adventure with challenging, but not extremely dangerous, rapids. The run was made even more attractive by the fact that the upstream dam kept the rapids churning in August and September, heavy vacation months when many other Western rivers have dropped.

“It is the only Class 4 to 5 (on a scale of 6) summer white water run available in the region,” Munroe said. “It is a resource that is irreplaceable.”

Since then, about two dozen outfitters have established regular trips on the river, with business steadily growing each year. Customers come from everywhere, but nearly 40% are from California.

The outfitters charge $75-$110 per person per day for a one-day trip and up to $210 for a two-day outing that includes chuck wagon meals and entertainment around the campfire. The whole industry amounts to about $5 million a year.

Staged in California

But many people in Klamath Falls see little benefit to river running because most of the outfitters stage their trips from Ashland or at Copco Lake in California.

“About all they do is drive through Klamath County,” said Jim Allen, publisher of the Klamath Falls Herald and News, a supporter of the project. “They don’t even stop for lunch. They have that on the river.”

Wickham said he would like to stage his trips in the county, but has found the local residents downright unfriendly to the idea.

“We originally met in Keno (just above the Boyle dam), but we couldn’t find any people to work with us--nobody to shuttle cars,” he said.

Munroe said he has repeatedly suggested that Klamath County improve a dirt road that skirts the river so his customers could meet in Keno and then be quickly shuttled back after the float trip. The shuttle over paved highways now takes three hours.

“We don’t want people to end their trip with a three-hour car ride,” said Munroe.

“We would love to work with Klamath Falls, but they keep turning up their noses and going after the dam,” he added. “We are a good, clean industry.”

Ward, the business professor, believes the city should embrace the rafting business and he predicts that it could grow to a $25-million industry by the mid-1990s with proper promotion and support.

But the city fathers are just as suspicious of Ward’s projections as he is of theirs.

“We think he is out to lunch,” said Keller.

The city would rather bank on more traditional jobs. The construction of the dam would provide work for 320 people through the mid-1990s with $37 million being spent in the local economy. That would be followed by the bootstrap proposal. Keller said the dam should begin generating funding for economic development by 1995.