For
Immediate Release:
September
13, 2001
Contact:
Tulelake Growers Association
Rob Crawford
(541) 892-6685
Deb Crisp
(530) 667-5214
Farmers
Deliver Water to Klamath Refuge
The
heart of Tulelake’s agricultural community goes out to those who have
lost loved ones in the recent terrorist assault.
No words can express the loss that has occurred.
This act of terrorism confirms the need to keep U.S. farmers on
the land. Food production
within our own borders is an integral part of our national security.
Today,
Tulelake Irrigation District and local farmers sent the first of
approximately 4,300 acre-feet of water to the Lower Klamath National
Wildlife Refuge. Despite an unprecedented water shortage to local farms
and the refuge in the Klamath Basin this year, Tule Lake farmers have
committed a portion of their newly developed groundwater resource to the
refuge. This water will
immediately begin to replenish the wetlands and marshes vital to
waterfowl, shorebirds and bald eagles that rely upon them for resting
and feeding opportunities.
Conservation
groups such as California Waterfowl Association and Ducks Unlimited are
applauding today’s action by Tulelake Irrigation District and local
farmers to protect the region’s waterfowl and wildlife. Over the
years, these interests have worked to take meaningful steps to benefit
the refuges and the wildlife that relies upon them. Over the past
decade, Klamath Basin agricultural interests supported the conversion of
more than 25,000 acres of farmland into wildlife habitat, and in March
recommended steps to alleviate the water supply shortages facing the
refuges (see attached letter). Earlier this year, the California Waterfowl Association,
Tulelake Irrigation District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
completed the Integrated Land Management Plan for the Tule Lake National
Wildlife Refuge “lease lands” that includes a marsh crop rotation
program to maximize waterfowl habitat values and farming. Also, in late
April, out of serious concern over the substantial loss of refuge
wetlands and agricultural habitat, California Waterfowl Association
filed to intervene as plaintiffs with the farmers in the current lawsuit
challenging the federal water allocation actions.
“Farmers in the Upper Klamath Basin have
long been true friends of our Pacific Flyway waterfowl,” stated Bill
Gaines, Director of Government Affairs for California Waterfowl
Association (CWA). “The
Upper Klamath Basin is the most important waterfowl staging area in all
of North America. Each
year, millions of migrating waterfowl depend upon the habitat provided
by wildlife-friendly agriculture to meet their energetic needs.
The critical importance of these fields to our waterfowl resource
is a primary reason why CWA has intervened on the side of the farmers in
the current lawsuit challenging the shutoff of water to agriculture,”
Gaines added. “This year, these growers have taken a huge hit. Yet,
regardless of their own significant problems, they continue to keep the
needs of waterfowl close to their hearts.
Their willingness to release 4,300 acre-feet of water to the
parched refuge is a clear indicator of their commitment to the Pacific
Flyway resource.”
A number of landowners, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Refuge Complex
have been restoring wetlands in the Klamath Basin over the past ten years.
“Ducks Unlimited is extremely
pleased that the Tulelake Irrigation District and local farmers have
taken such a positive approach to the serious water situation on Lower
Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. The
farmer’s willingness to take such practical short-term action sets a
fine example for others to follow.
We are keenly aware of the importance of both the refuge and
small grain agriculture to Pacific Flyway waterfowl populations and we
see this as a significant first step towards long-term solutions that
will assure the economic, ecological, cultural and social health of the
Basin” said Mark Biddlecomb, Ducks Unlimited Director of Conservation
for the Intermountain West.
Authorized
by President Roosevelt under an Executive Order in 1908, Lower Klamath
National Wildlife Refuge is the most important waterfowl refuge in the
National Wildlife Refuge System. Along with the Tule Lake National
Wildlife Refuge, these two refuges provide critical staging and nesting
habitat for up to 80% of California’s wintering waterfowl and well
over 20% of North America’s waterfowl population. Klamath Refuge
Complex wetlands also play host to a variety of other wetland-dependent
species, many of which are of “special concern” -- including the
largest wintering population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states.
For
nearly a century, local farmers, the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake refuges
received their water supplies from the federal Klamath Irrigation
Project. But this year, the refuges and local farms were denied their
water supplies due to regulatory requirements for endangered fish
species, including the Lost River Sucker and shortnose sucker in Upper
Klamath Lake and adjacent areas, and threatened coho salmon in the
Klamath River. Late this summer, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton
ordered the release of 75,000 acre-feet of water for cover crops so the
region’s fertile soil would not be irretrievably lost to wind
erosion.
Lower
Klamath Refuge gained national attention in September of last year when
its wetland water deliveries were reduced for two weeks to maintain
specified lake levels in Upper Klamath Lake to protect endangered
suckers, and to meet minimum fishery flows for coho salmon. With only
one-third of Lower Klamath Refuge wetlands flooded-up for the much
anticipated early October waterfowl season opener, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service reduced the number of permits issued to hunters and
restricted the refuge area open to waterfowl hunting – raising serious
concerns among duck hunters. Full
deliveries were soon resumed and the refuge received its full annual
entitlement.
Last
year, Tulelake Irrigation District collaborated with Ducks Unlimited and
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Sump 1B project, a long-term
project to transform standing lake water into valuable marsh habitat and
seasonal wetlands. The three organizations also worked on federal
legislation authored by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Ron Wyden
(D-OR), and Congressmen Greg Walden (R-OR) and Wally Herger (R-CA) to
augment the Klamath Basin’s water supplies (P.L. 106-498). \
