by Sibyl Walski, part 2 of 2   January 24, 2007, Mt. Shasta News

This smart map of the Klamath Watershed, constructed to scale, is located at the Collier Information and Interpretive Center on the bank of the Klamath River south of Hilt. An inconvenient truth for those who live and work in the Klamath River Watershed is that the EPA has declared it the second most endangered river in the United States.

An unfortunate truth is that most people know very little about the forces that created and maintain the watershed and how manmade influences have disturbed the delicate balance.

A cooperative effort by various state and federal agencies is tackling the complicated ecological realities.

A Siskiyou County coalition called the Joint Powers Authority is addressing the need for public education at its Collier Information and Interpretive Center on the bank of the Klamath River south of Hilt.

After nearly a decade and and half of planning and study, their answer is an innovative, one of a kind combination topographical map and movie screen.

Illustrated and explained on its face are geologic history, weather patterns, human settlement and industry, bird and fish migration, animal habitat, and many other factors.

To heal a sick river system

A group called the Klamath Basin Fisheries Task Force was formed in 1987, as the result of the federal Klamath Fisheries Act, to develop a comprehensive long term habitat reclamation plan for 170 to 180 miles of the Klamath stretching from the ocean to Irongate Dam.

The original group consisted of representatives from the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk tribes, Oregon and California Departments of Fish & Game (appointed by their respective governors), and representatives of the counties through which that portion of the river flowed.

They gathered data from every source they could to explain the river's importance to “anadromous” fish like salmon, which divide their life cycles between fresh and salt waters, and to help them identify specific problems that had to be addressed to restore the river's health.

To educate the public

Public education was an important component of the plan, but where and how to present mountains of information in a palatable form to the public remained problematic.

They began looking for a site at about the same time (1982) that Caltrans approached the Associated Chamber of Commerce of Siskiyou County with a proposal for them to man an information kiosk at the Collier roadside rest stop, in the belief a human presence would stop repeated vandalism.

Because the local chambers of commerce were also exploring ways to encourage travelers to linger and explore Siskiyou County, a marriage of objectives, talents and resources seemed the way to go.

Alternative plan

The Associated Chamber manned an information kiosk until 1989, when the Collier group task force took over to develop an interpretation, information and education center.

When Caltrans announced a plan to commercialize rest areas, the Collier group knew it would hurt businesses in their respective towns along the I-5 corridor and offered an alternative.

JPA replaces Chamber

They got nine incorporated towns and the county to agree on a task force and endorse a master plan for the center's volunteer staff to continue their work.

These 10 became the nonprofit 501 (c) (3) Joint Powers Authority in 1994, at which time the Associated Chamber handed over the kiosk and withdrew from the Collier group.

“If we were going to make the master plan happen, we needed money. This was the only way we would be able to be a grant recipient,” explained Bob Rice, a retired veteran of the US Forest Service and the county's representative on the JPA board.

It also allows them to receive donations from private parties.

Planning the approach

“We landed a simple planning grant through the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service for that phase before we even became the JPA,” recalled Rice.

The JPA promptly invited those with a responsibility for Collier and a stake in the wellbeing of the Klamath watershed and its fish to partner with it as consultants. As owner of the rest area, Caltrans was already an involved stakeholder.

Becoming contributing partners, but not members of the JPA were the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife, the California Department of Fish & Game, the Forest Service, the California Highway Patrol, College of the Siskiyous, and the California Department of Conservation (Deadwood).

Because of its work on the Upper Klamath ecosystem, the Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls was added in 2006.

Making it happen

The JPA also got state recognition under the California Administrative Code, making it an official entity with the power to pursue state-backed funds and grants.

They then concentrated on applying for grants and clearing the other bureaucratic hurdles: an official study, site plan development, environmental reviews, funding, permits, and leases - the list was long and complicated.

“When we get an idea, it takes us seven years to make it happen,” said Rice. “This is because we need to get financing, permits, etc. It usually takes us five years to get a financial grant.”

One by one, they saw the obstacles go down under their persistence. Caltrans agreed to a 20 year lease to replace the yearly renewable one. Its Redding-based director met with the JPA to discuss placement of buildings.

The CIIC project, as it became known, obtained Transportation Enhancement Act funds, McConnell Foundation grants, private donations and money from other sources to pay for each step in the process.

The TEA gave them a challenge grant to build the central building. To meet their obligation, Collier sold advertising to raise cash, and the county council supplied a matching grant, which together made up the 10 percent required of local entities toward total construction costs.

The building was completed by a Mount Shasta contractor in 2002. Inmates from the Deadwood Conservation Camp built and installed the city displays for the cost of the materials.

Those displays, representing nine incorporated towns in the county, are arranged on one side of the center to encourage travelers to explore the possibilities of each town. However, the centerpiece and piece de resistance is certainly the innovative interpretive map.

Seeing the river as a whole

The seed concept behind the map's message is what Rice calls “river harmonics.” But one cannot discuss the river without including the 10 million acre watershed that spreads over two states and nine counties, encompassing all possible terrain to the ocean.

Then there are all the geophysical, meteorological, biological and political influences that shape the watershed's peculiar strengths and weaknesses.

Elaborating on what he means by “river harmonics,” he said that “legal decisions are often focused on one segment of the river, which cause negative impacts on other parts of the river.

“This way we are looking from a holistic viewpoint at the entire 220 miles of the Klamath River and its adjacent land base.”

Rice explained that there was so much information to convey in a time and space-restricted presentation that the “lesson plan” developed in stages.

The group gathered ideas from every possible source, brainstormed at countless meetings, including an intensive two day workshop, and hired a professional conceptual designer from Oregon.

From concept to reality

Concept books circulated repeatedly among member towns and the individuals who were knowledgeable about the watershed in all its aspects.

At last, the whole concept went to production. Because the planners had no precedent from which to work, the finished product is the first of its kind in the nation - a three dimensional topographical “smart” map of the 10 million acre Klamath River watershed set in its geographical context. This is the canvas upon which successive layers of history and science can be projected.

The smart map relief was designed to scale in Portland, constructed in Utah and the audiovisual CD's done in Los Angeles.

Phase I of the interpretive map of the Klamath River Watershed is the newest addition, unveiled last November. The next two phases will use the same map, but with more advanced information.

Rice described Phase II as being directed to an eighth grade level of understanding and above. Both levels are intended to educate not only travelers, but area students.

Phase III is envisioned as a sophisticated program which hydrologists and other experts can manipulate to simulate water flows in drought, flood and average years.

Weather patterns and fuels, global warming, and the probable impacts of forest fires and “silviculture” (forest management) are some of the ideas Rice has in mind for other Phase III programs, but those are far in the future, their development constrained by finances.

The JPA has architectural plans for a viewing platform to be built out over the Klamath River that will allow visitors to look down into the river.

Site plans are in progress for botanical gardens arranged along paved walkways on the riverbank, with native plants arranged according to color, type of ecological niche, uses - such as Karuk medicine plants - and other groupings yet to be determined.

“There'll be an elevated viewing platform over the river itself with a camera focused on the water that can transmit live pictures inside the center, plus another camera at Irongate, so visitors can watch activities at the hatchery,” he explains.

For now, the Phase I program is available. Rice particularly encourages teachers and school administrators to use it as a field trip destination.

“They don't even have to schedule it,” he said. “They can just come up anytime during the center's regular hours. And it's free.”