U.S. Ends Impasse, Halts Spill of Water Reserved for Protected Fish

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Monday closed a headgate that had been spilling water reserved for threatened and endangered fish into an irrigation canal after the local irrigation district refused.

Hoping to defuse a tense situation, the bureau backed off on an order to the Klamath Irrigation District to close the headgate that has been allowing water to flow out of Upper Klamath Lake into the “A” Canal of the Klamath Project since Friday night.

There will be no investigation into who opened the headgate, said Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken.

“We decided that it was in the best interest of everybody if we went ahead and accomplished what needed to be done, which was to close the gate,” McCracken said. “We are going to move ahead from here.”

Faced with severe drought and new findings by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on how much water was needed by endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River, the bureau had no water this year for 90% of the 240,000 acres served by the Klamath Project.

Since the water was shut off last April, Klamath Basin farms with no source of water other than the Klamath Project have been forced to sell cattle, let pastures and hay fields go brown, and give up annual plantings of potatoes, grain and other crops.

Many other farms and ranches in the Klamath Basin, which straddles the Oregon-California border east of the Cascade range, have been able to keep going, depending on wells and local irrigation districts that are not part of the federal Klamath Project.

The idea of water flowing in the “A” Canal took on symbolic significance in May when thousands of farmers staged a bucket brigade to dip water flowing out of Upper Klamath Lake and pass it hand over hand through downtown Klamath Falls to pour into the canal.

On Friday night, someone climbed over a six-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and apparently used a wrench to partially open one of the six headgates located at the south end of Upper Klamath Lake. Normally the headgates are operated remotely by radio signal and flows are regulated by computer.

“The way I look at it, it was an act of desperation by someone, either desperate to give a bad name to agriculture in opening it up, or someone so desperate to get a little bit of water,” said Dave Solem, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District. “Putting such a small amount of water into these big canal systems--we were never going to get anyone irrigated or do much.”

The Bureau of Reclamation owns the facilities, but contracts with the Klamath Irrigation District to operate them. Neither side wanted to close the gate, saying it was the other’s responsibility.

“They have historically operated the facilities based on our instructions,” said McCracken.

“This is a basic contractual issue as far as we’re concerned,” said Solem.

Solem noted that the letter ordering them to close the headgate was dated June 6, apparently in anticipation of something like this happening.

Though the flow was not enough to make a difference to anyone’s crops, which are either parched or never went into the ground, it did provide a little relief for thirsty livestock, said Solem.

The amount of water that flowed out of Upper Klamath Lake over three days was estimated at about 300 acre-feet and was not expected to have a significant impact on the endangered suckers living there, or flows into Klamath River, said McCracken.

Solem said the water flowing down the “A” Canal was diverted into Lost River, emptying into the Tule Lake Sump in California, where it would benefit fish and wildlife.

Though the bureau ordered farmers not to use any of the water, Don Russell, chairman of the Klamath Water Users Assn., said he would not begrudge anyone who drew off a little to water their livestock.

“More power to them,” he said.