http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/10/29/news/community_news/city01.txt

State report supports regulating lake levels

But science panel cautions that managing water levels alone will not prevent die-offs

published Oct. 29, 2003

By LEE JUILLERAT

A state science panel believes Upper Klamath Lake levels can be regulated to protect endangered sucker populations, but cautions that "lake level management alone will not prevent sucker die-offs."

The Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team, which spent two years studying Klamath Basin water concerns, also believes federal agencies acted reasonably when they withheld water to 220,000 acres of Klamath Basin farms in 2001.

The conclusion conflicts with an opinion released last week by the National Resource Council, a federal science panel. The Council said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service should not have cut off the water to protect two species of suckers.

The state report also concludes that a September 2002 fish kill, which resulted in the deaths of at least 33,000 adult salmon and steelhead on the Lower Klamath River, was influenced but not solely caused by reduced flows from Upper Klamath Lake.

Based on the state report, the fish kill resulted from a combination of high densities of fish from low stream flows and resulting restricted fish passage, warm water temperatures, and favorable conditions for fish diseases.

Although the federal panel said there was no relationship between Klamath River flows and coho salmon, the state panel "concludes that relationships between flows, habitat requirements and temperature support management actions to maintain minimum in-stream flows in the Klamath River basin."

The state and national panels agree on many points, such as the need for increased coordination among all state, federal and tribal agencies involved with Upper and Lower Klamath Basin water-related issues.

Based on the state report, "Management of tributary spawning habitat, using watershed approach, will be important to the survival of sucker populations."

Like the federal panel, the state group emphasized that declines in native fish, including shortnose and Lost River suckers, cannot be halted only by withholding water from the Klamath Irrigation Project, as was done in 2001.

"... Prescribed lake levels will not ensure sucker survival or prevent fish die-offs," the state report says. "... There is no strong scientific data to link fish kills with lake levels between 1990 and 2000. This lack of a clear relationship, however, does not indicate that management of lake levels is unwarranted."

The state report says regulating lake levels is "one of the few options available to management agencies to protect sucker populations ... but lake level management alone will not prevent sucker die-offs. The minimum lake levels required for protection of suckers are not exact."

Repairs to wildlife habitat, such as spawning areas for suckers in the Williamson and Sprague rivers, are needed, based on the state report.

"Assessment of the potential effectiveness of the existing fish ladder for passage of adult suckers at the Chiloquin Dam is needed and, if necessary, the ladder should be modified and made more effective for passage of suckers," says the study.

''I think we all see a need to look across the landscape for solutions,'' said Stanley Gregory, an Oregon State University professor who co-chairs the state panel.

Oregon law created the state panel to provide advice on the needs of protected salmon. In April 2001, during the Klamath Basin water shut-off, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber asked the scientists to review the science behind the decision to withhold irrigation water.

The state panel includes scientists from Oregon State University, the University of Idaho, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. It agreed on its position in April, and sent its report to Gov. Ted Kulongoski early this month.

The governor's staff is reviewing the report.

The state report is available on the Internet at www.fsl.orst.edu/imst/ under technical reports.



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