JUNE 25, 2003

By Kehn Gibson  

TULELAKE – Because there was more water than expected in the Klamath Basin this year, irrigators in the Klamath Project were told Wednesday their water deliveries would cease as of that afternoon.

Four hours later, after congressional leaders called the White House and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski called Kirk Rogers, the Bureau of Reclamation’s regional director, officials in the Bureau’s Klamath Falls office reversed their decision.

Staffers for Kulongoski, Rep. Wally Herger of California, and Rep. Greg Walden and Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon said the phone calls were made because of simple arguments put forward by farmers after Dave Sabo, the Bureau’s Klamath Project manager, told irrigators via a conference call the Project would shut down.

"The arguments made during that conference call had a real impact," said Dan Keppen, the executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association. "Irrigators had been asked by the Bureau last week to voluntarily reduce their water deliveries by 200 cubic feet per second and had responded by tripling it to more than 700 cubic feet per second. Despite that effort, the irrigators were being told they alone must sacrifice their crops to keep the lake levels up, and the lack of common sense in that decision was made apparent."

The series of events that preceded Wednesday’s roller coaster ride began, ironically, with heavy snowfalls in the mountains surrounding the Basin in April and May.

As that snow melted and filled the rivers feeding Upper Klamath Lake, Bureau hydrologists used the flow levels to upgrade the water year through September from "dry" to "below average." The upgrade increased the amount of water the Bureau is required to keep in Upper Klamath Lake to protect endangered sucker fish by 45,000 acre-feet, and also required higher downstream flows to help threatened coho salmon.

Altogether, the change in the water year designation increased demand on the system by 180,000 acre-feet, yet the inflows from the spring storms was estimated at 30,000 acre-feet.

"We were being made to pay for a weather anomaly," said Marty Macy, a former Marine who now works as a cropduster in Tulelake. "The Bureau was measuring the inflows as if they would last for months, and it actually lasted for just hours."

The 150,000 acre-feet had to come from somewhere, Sabo said. The voluntary cutbacks in water deliveries were not going to be enough, and Sabo said the lake was projected to be an inch below its targeted level at midnight on June 30.

"Today, the only thing we can do is shut down the system," Sabo told the irrigators in the conference call Wednesday morning. "I commend you for taking the actions you have, but I’m under explicit directions to not bust the lake level."

"We have to reevaluate the water year," said Paul Cleary, the head of Oregon’s Water Resources Department. "We must consider declaring a drought emergency."

Sabo said the water year designation was entirely within his jurisdiction, but he would not consider it. "I changed it a couple times last year, and caught heat for it," he told the irrigators. "The Tribes, the environmentalists, they all were upset."

Sabo closed the conference call by saying the headgates at the A Canal would shut down by Wednesday afternoon and stay closed until July 1, when the Bureau’s requirement on the lake level was eased by eight inches.

Immediately after the conference call ended, the irrigators began to mobilize. Calls were made to their respective congressional representatives, and plans were made to meet at 2 p.m. in Klamath Falls.

At that meeting, grim faced men and women began to plan for a disaster. Row crops like potatoes and onions were reaching a critical stage where water must be available at regular intervals. Alfalfa farmers had just completed their first cutting, and the stubbly fields had to be watered for the next cutting. Grain farmers would see the damage at the end of the year, as their yields would plummet from the induced dry period.

Then the call came.

As the group of fifty irrigators, businessmen, Klamath County commissioners and educators sat quietly, Dan Keppen’s secretary called him into his office to take a call from Washington, D.C. Keppen returned five minutes later.

"Well, here’s the latest message," Keppen said. "There will be no shutdown. The Bureau has agreed to instead send out letters asking the irrigation districts to conserve."

Keppen said the call came from Brian McDonald, chief of staff for Rep. Walden.

"It is my understanding that Congressman Walden dropped everything he was doing and worked on this issue exclusively today," Keppen said. "I also understand that Paul Cleary called Governor Kulongoski and they both spoke with Kirk Rogers of the Bureau."

Rep. Wally Herger also called the White House, and issued a statement this morning on the Bureau’s actions.

"This is outrageous and simply defies all reason," Herger said. "Sadly, this is more evidence that the Endangered Species Act is a runaway train.  We risked another shutoff of water to our farmers, and the economic harm and serious expense that such a situation would have caused, over what in the end amounts to staying within an inch or less of the arbitrarily determined lake level. Before this kind of situation can be forced on us again, we must take immediate action to assess what evidence was utilized to make this potentially harmful decision."

 As the meeting broke up, farmer John Crawford appeared resigned. This crisis was past, yet another lake level requirement will loom in July.

"This was a victory that is not a victory," Crawford said. "All we have ever asked is to share the good as well as share the burden, yet we are the only ones who give. Everybody else litigates."