Foes Attack Water Plan for Klamath Basin Farmers

A federal proposal to provide farmers in the parched Klamath Basin nearly a full ration of irrigation water came under attack Wednesday from environmentalists and other foes who say it could cause a reprise of last year’s major fish kill on the Klamath River.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plan would provide farmers in the basin straddling the Oregon-California border about 75% of the water they would expect in a normal rainfall year, federal officials said.

Farmers said the plan strikes a balance between the environment and agricultural needs in what federal officials have labeled a dry year.

But a coalition of environmentalists, fishermen and Native American tribes contend the water plan, set for formal release today, could threaten salmon in the Klamath River and two endangered suckerfish species in Upper Klamath Lake while leaving wetlands and wildlife refuges in the basin high and dry.

The renewed jousting came as Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Eureka) prepared to reintroduce legislation today that would provide $200 million for water conservation in the Klamath Basin. Thompson’s bill would also provide $20 million to communities and Native American tribes along the Klamath River hit by last September’s fish kill, which left 33,000 salmon dead.

In addition, an environmental group in Washington, D.C., is set to announce today that the Klamath River is on its list of the most endangered waterways in the nation.

“It’s going to be another dog pile on the farmers this week by the environmental community,” said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Assn., which represents irrigators in the basin.

Keppen said the environmental coalition has undertaken a calculated campaign to shift public opinion against Klamath farmers in anticipation of an April 29 hearing in U.S. District Court over a lawsuit intended to shift water from farmers to the fish and wildlife refuges.

Jeff McCracken, a Bureau of Reclamation spokesman, said the agency was walking a fine line between the needs of the environment and agriculture. In a normal year, Klamath farmers would get about 400,000 acre-feet of water, but this year they will receive 300,000 if the summer doesn’t turn too hot, drying out the basin even more.

“This is about as balanced as we’re able to do,” McCracken said. “It’s going to be a tightrope walk this year.”

Environmentalists, however, said flow levels down the Klamath River will be below what is needed in the spring by juvenile salmon.

And in the fall, adult salmon migrating to their spawning grounds will be faced with warm water temperatures and crowded conditions that can spread disease.

In Upper Klamath Lake, the water level would drop low enough to expose wetlands that serve as a refuge for threatened suckerfish, they said.

In addition, the federal plan calls for the region’s half a dozen wildlife refuges to get 22,000 acre-feet of water, less than a third of the 70,000 acre-feet environmentalists believe is needed. That could harm the area’s huge winter population of bald eagles and other rare birds.

“It’s a disaster in the making that they’ve tried to mitigate with a few band-aids,” said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns.

Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court judge granted reclamation officials permission to release about 50,000 acre-feet of water from the Trinity River, a Northern California tributary that links with the Klamath about 45 miles from the sea.