Klamath Basin Coalition Briefing Paper

There are Real Solutions to the Problems
in the Klamath River Basin

In recent years, the drought-prone Klamath River Basin has experienced a perpetual crisis over competing demands for water. After near-record drought struck the region in 2001, federal authorities curtailed federal irrigation deliveries by nearly one-third to protect threatened salmon and endangered lake fish, and the protests of enraged irrigators filled the national media. Another dry year followed in 2002, but this time federal agencies chose to provide full irrigation deliveries at the expense of fish and wildlife, and suppressed or ignored warnings of ecological disaster from their own biologists. The grisly images of over 33,000 dead salmon clogging the Klamath River–broadcast across the country–followed soon after.

Now this year also is shaping up to be another drought year, but the many Oregon and California communities dependent upon the Klamath’s resources can little afford to continue lurching from one water crisis to the next.

In the debate over how to balance the many demands for water in the Klamath, one fact is certain: the federal government has promised too much of this precious resource to too many interests. Any long-term solution to the Basin’s woes must focus on reducing the demand for water to bring demand into balance with supply. The federal government must provide leadership and a large financial investment in the Klamath Basin to: 1) restore ecosystem health; 2) meet the needs of endangered species; 3) meet tribal trust obligations; 4) recover salmon and lake fish to harvestable levels; 5) ensure robust, year-round habitat on the Basin’s national wildlife refuges; 6) meet water quality standards; and 7) achieve a sustainable level of agriculture in a fair and equitable manner. The national significance of the Basin and its spectacular resources, as well as the many federal commitments and obligations in the region, fully justify such an investment.

The following outlines some real solutions to problems Congress must endeavor to resolve in the Klamath Basin:

Problem: Too much water has been promised to too many people, and the Klamath River Basin can no longer support current irrigation demands as well as meet the needs of fish, wildlife, and the communities and economies that depend upon these resources.

• Solution: Fund and implement voluntary demand reduction through a willing-seller land and water rights retirement program. Any long-term solution requires considerable downsizing of the Klamath Irrigation Project and selective retirement of the excessive water rights throughout the Basin. There are currently tens of thousands of acres for sale in the Klamath Basin, but no one is buying. A program to buy lands at a fair price from irrigators who wish to sell would equitably reduce demand, decrease the impacts of future droughts, and provide water security to irrigators who wish to stay in business. There is ample precedent for voluntary retirement of water rights in other regions suffering from excessive water demand.

Problem: Poor state and federal water management has degraded natural habitat and water quality throughout the Klamath Basin, jeopardizing the survival and spawning success of salmon and lake fish, while tainting public drinking water supplies.

• Solution: Restore fish and wildlife habitats and meet water quality standards. Restoration projects should include:

• A Basin-wide, 20-year restoration program under the direction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
• Reclaiming and restoring wetlands, especially those near Lower Klamath, Tule, and Upper Klamath lakes to improve and increase fish and wildlife habitat, increase water supply, and improve water quality through natural filtration and runoff reduction;
• Transferring Agency Lake Ranch and Wood River Ranch, currently managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, to the Upper Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service management;
• An equitable phase-out of commercial grazing on Clear Lake and Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuges;
• Protection and restoration of riparian areas;
• Providing fish screens and fish passage for dams and diversions, or removing dams altogether;
• Restoration of the natural water retention and flow regulation of upland forests through reforestation, canopy retention, and road removal;
• Determining the sustainable level of groundwater withdrawal, and protecting groundwater from over-drafting, and;
• Restoring and protecting the quality and quantity of the Town of Bonanza water supply.

Problem: The massive fish kill of September 2002 was not an isolated event. In most years, salmon die-offs occur in both spring and late summer in the Lower Klamath River, due primarily to insufficient deliveries of water by the Bureau of Reclamation to the lower river.

• Solution: In the spring, provide adequate flows as recommended by the best available science, and ramp down any water flows slowly so that young salmon are not stranded in riverside pools and unable to migrate to the ocean. In summer and fall, provide adequate flows based on the best available science to avoid the kind of catastrophe that occurred in fall of 2002, with more than 33,000 salmon dead in the river. River flows must be based on what fish need for survival, not on whatever is left over after federally subsidized irrigators receive full water deliveries.

Problem: Commercial agriculture on the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges contradicts the purpose of the refuges, drastically reduces essential habitat, uses toxic pesticides, harms refuge-dependent waterfowl, endangered lake fish, and other wildlife, and displaces over 100,000 acre-feet of water storage capacity needed to sustain year-round refuge habitat.

• Solution: Phase out commercial agriculture on the National Wildlife Refuges. Restoring the over 22,000 acres of former wildlife habitat displaced by agriculture would increase and improve the food supply and habitat for many waterfowl, improve habitat and water quality for endangered lake fish, reduce toxic pesticide use, permit over 100,000 additional acre-feet of water storage to serve refuge needs, and reduce refuge dependence upon polluted agricultural runoff as a water supply. This solution would also reduce irrigation-season demand for water by over 50,000 acre-feet without transferring any private lands to the public domain.

Problem: The irrigator-centric management of the federal Klamath Irrigation Project ignores the often-devastating impact of Project operations on the ecology, economies, and communities of the entire Klamath Basin.

• Solution: Reform management of the Klamath Irrigation Project. The Klamath Project’s stated purposes should reflect its responsibility to provide the water necessary to recover threatened and endangered species, recover salmon and lake fish populations to harvestable surpluses, meet the needs of other fish and wildlife, meet tribal trust responsibilities, meet the needs of the Basin’s national wildlife refuges, and meet water quality standards.

Problem: Irrigation systems in the Upper Klamath Basin waste over 60% of the water withdrawn for irrigation purposes, and there is no system to monitor water use.

• Solution: Implement water conservation measures and improve water management throughout the Basin. Opportunities for saving water, improving water conveyance systems, and encouraging on-farm efficiency should be fully assessed, funded, and implemented. Water use measuring and reporting should be required, and an active water use enforcement program should be implemented.

Problem: Large-scale out-of-basin water transfers from the Klamath to the Sacramento and Rogue basins only exacerbate water conflicts and environmental degradation in the Klamath Basin.

• Solution: Out-of-basin water transfers should be limited and gradually phased out.

Problem: Scientific studies essential for informed policy decisions in the Klamath Basin remain unfunded and uncompleted.

• Solution: Fund obtaining the best available science. The study by Dr. Thomas B. Hardy, and Mr. R. Craig Addley, entitled “Evaluation of Interim Instream Flow Needs in the Klamath River, Phase II, Final Report” should receive the necessary funding for completion and should be released. Other studies identified as necessary in the biological opinions on Klamath Project operations should be fully funded and implemented.

Problem: Two federal advisory committees currently divide the Klamath region into Upper and Lower basins, frequently work at cross purposes, and are not positioned to generate Basin-wide solutions.

• Solution: Merge the existing committees to establish one Basin-wide federal advisory committee, encompassing both Oregon and California, and including equal representation of federal and state agencies, tribes, local governments, conservationists, irrigators, and fisheries, waterfowl, and recreation interests.

Problem: The fisheries and recreation-dependent communities of the Mid- and Lower Klamath River region were hit hard by the massive salmon die-off of 2002, but have received no relief.

• Solution: Provide $20 million in federal relief for the communities and Tribes of the Mid- and Lower Klamath River region.

Problem: Despite the frequency of drought in the Klamath Basin, only about 10% of Klamath Project irrigators held crop insurance before the 2001 drought.

• Solution: Require federal crop insurance enrollment and participation in other similar risk-spreading programs for Klamath Project irrigators.

(last updated 5/15/03)