Klamath Water Users Association
2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603
Phone (541) 883-6100
FAX   (541) 883-8893  
kwua@cvcwireless.net 

Community Prepares for Hearing and Klamath Falls Rally (Cont’d from p. 1)

The final NRC report reaffirms the findings of an earlier NRC report, which concluded that insufficient scientific evidence existed to justify the higher lake and river levels to protect coho salmon and sucker fish. The final NRC report is remarkable for two other key reasons:

1. The report clearly indicates that recovery of endangered suckers and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath Basin cannot be achieved by actions that are exclusively or primarily focused on operation of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR) Klamath Project.

2. The NRC determined the operation of the Klamath Project was not the cause of the 2002 Klamath River fish die-off and that changes in the operation of the project at the time would not have prevented it.

Despite the NRC findings and a 2003 court decision which found no link between Klamath Project operations and the unfortunate die-off of 33,000 salmon on the lower Klamath River, vocal critics of Klamath Project operations and Bush Administration environmental policy continue to use this unfortunate event to renew their now-familiar arguments. Even though the fish die-off occurred 200 miles downstream from the Project, at a location below the confluence of the main stem Klamath River and the Trinity River, traditional advocates for higher river flows quickly assigned blame to Klamath Project farmers and ranchers.

Some of these same interests and radical environmentalists have even attempted to directly

Community Prepares for Hearing and Klamath Falls Rally (Continued)

link the fish die-off to political maneuvering orchestrated by senior policy officials in the Bush Administration. As a result, presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry called on the U.S. Interior Department's Inspector General (IG) to look into whether "political pressure from the White House is intimidating staff and influencing policy" in Klamath River management decisions. Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney’s report – released last March - found "no evidence of political influence affecting the decisions pertaining to the water in the Klamath Project."

"The NRC report is consistent with what we have been saying for years – the Klamath Project cannot solely bear the burden for species recovery in this basin," said Dan Keppen, KWUA Executive Director economy. The NRC final report can be downloaded at: www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/
 

Klamath Water Users Association
2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603
Phone (541) 883-6100
FAX   (541) 883-8893  
kwua@cvcwireless.net 

The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) next week will launch the official website of the organization: www.kwua.org. The first website of the association was started during the 2001 water crisis but was never completed. As the events of 2001 unfolded, nationwide attention allowed another website – klamathbasincrisis.org – to flourish and serve as a forum for up-to-date news and on-line discussion regarding the water cutoff. The KWUA Board of Directors earlier this year authorized the development of an independent website that will provide the public with the association’s perspectives. Meanwhile, klamathbasincrisis.org will continue to serve as a separate, grass-roots forum managed by Jacqui Krizo of Tulelake.

"KBC, Klamath Basin Crisis, is the grass roots website of the Klamath Basin irrigators and their community," said Krizo. "The night our water was shut off in 2001, I emailed the world in total disbelief and despair.  A friend, Ronnie DeShon, an old neighbor whose father also was a Tulelake homesteader, called and ask what he could do to help, and within a week he created www.klamathbasincrisis.org."

"In 2001, KBC was our voice, our informational resource, and our place to go for information," she said. "In the midst of the crisis there was minute-by-minute news. Ronnie acquired a team of a couple dozen people to do different jobs, including having a laptop and live cams at the headgates. Ronnie also created a discussion forum where the latest information was shared.  It also became, and still is at times, a place where anti-agriculture folks vent their anger at our existence."

Numerous individuals and organizations, including KWUA, the Klamath Bucket Brigade and Water for
 

Life, Inc. have contributed information that can be viewed on KBC. For example, the KWUA "Weekly Update" is posted every week on Krizo’s website. Like the Bucket Brigade, KWUA made the decision to develop an independent website to ensure that the association message and policy positions were clear to the local community and website visitors from outside the Klamath Basin. KWUA will continue to contribute information to KBC, but the new website, www.kwua.org, will focus solely on Klamath River watershed and Klamath Project issues that the association is engaged with.

The new site will include:

• Association Background Information

• Information on Directors and Staff

• Weekly Updates

• Letters

• News Articles and Press Releases

• Speeches

• An Awards Summary

• Fact Sheets

• Conservation Information

• Legal, Power and Science Updates

• Legislation and Regulatory Information

• Links to Other Websites

The site will be regularly updated and will also include stunning photography developed by local camera buffs.

"We are excited about offering this new forum for the public to learn about our association and our community," said KWUA Executive Director Dan Keppen.

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) today in Crescent City will consider
 

Klamath Water Users Association
2455 Patterson Street, Suite 3
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603
Phone (541) 883-6100
FAX   (541) 883-8893  
kwua@cvcwireless.net 

whether to add coho salmon on the Klamath River to the list of state threatened species. The Klamath Water Uses Association (KWUA), landowners in the Scott and Shasta Valleys, commodity associations and timber interests have all urged the Commission to consider new information before adopting new regulations for coho salmon protection. At a hearing in Crescent City, the Commission will discuss both the petition for reconsideration of the finding and the rule making based on the finding. 

In a June 23, 2004 letter, KWUA urged the Commission not to adopt the proposed amendment to section 670.5, title 14, California Code of Regulations, which would add coho salmon populations between Punta Gorda and the northern border of California to the list of threatened species under CESA.

"In addition to our belief that additional, new information must first be considered before new regulations are adopted, we strongly urge the Commission to consider the possible negative effects that new regulations may have on landowners’ motivation to participate in truly effective salmon restoration efforts," KWUA wrote to the Commission.

The KWUA letter outlined the extensive and proactive efforts undertaken by Klamath Basin irrigators in the past decade, in an effort to get ahead of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) curve. Because these efforts have not yet provided any relief to Project irrigators towards meeting the ESA-driven requirements imposed by NOAA Fisheries

and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, local irrigators have assumed a more reluctant stance in recent years to support further, similar efforts. The disastrous water cut-off of 2001 – after years of proactive actions taken by local water users – contributed largely to this current perception

"It is our fear that imposition of new regulation on irrigators in the Scott and Shasta Valleys may have similar negative effects," KWUA noted in its letter.

History buffs, irrigators and local residents are invited to a historic potluck picnic social at the Pacific Power Keno Recreation Area Park on July 27, 2004 from noon to 3:00 p.m. The Klamath River Watershed Working Group has organized the event to share historical perspectives, practices, anecdotes, and reminiscences of the Klamath River.

Pacific Power representatives will provide back-ground information on the Keno Dam, generating facilities, and the irrigation project. Some of the information gathered at this event may be incorporated into a watershed assessment collection to show how historical uses around the river have changed over time. For further information on the Potluck Picnic Social, contact Danette at (541) 883-7131 or Anita at (541) 884-2015.