Persistent drought dries up Klamath Falls bird sanctuaries

Water heads to irrigation interests leaving refuge wetlands dry.

Cracks in the mud.

Miles after miles of dry, barren fields. Plants wanting for water.

Most years, large sections of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge - the nation's oldest waterfowl refuge - are covered with water and water-loving, early arriving migratory waterfowl.

Most years, refuge managers are channeling water to selected units for ducks, geese, swans and other birds on or preparing for their annual northward migration.

This isn't most years.

Instead, Ron Cole and Dave Mauser view conditions on the 46,900-acre refuge with a mix of dismay and frustration. Cole, the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex manager, has intermittently worked at Basin refuges since the 1980s. Mauser, a wildlife biologist, has worked in the Basin since 1991.

"This is the driest I've ever seen it," Mauser said, gazing over dried out sections of Unit 2, which most Septembers are filling with migrating pintails and other birds.

"This is such a terrible year for water," agreed Cole. "People are just starting to realize how dry we are."

Earlier this summer, Cole said, he sent a request to the Bureau of Reclamation for 15,000 acre-feet of water, enough to flood 5,000 acres of the refuge's seasonal marsh and potentially provide habitat for upward of a half-million migrating waterfowl. He and Mauser note that 80 percent of the birds traveling the Pacific Flyway use the various Klamath Basin refuges, with the majority of those using Lower Klamath.

"We've got a lot of food we've grown this year," Cole said of manipulating water to grow smartweeds, which has nutrient-rich seeds favored by migrating waterfowl. "We set the table. That's all food ready to be covered with water, and it will be a show if we get water. If we don't, the birds won't land."

Cole and Mauser say the condition of Lower Klamath is the direst on record since the 1940s, as evidenced by mud flats, cracks in the mud and miles of barren wetlands. Because the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake refuges are within the Klamath Reclamation Project, both are dependent on Bureau of Reclamation allocations.

Under the priority system, endangered species are first in line for water followed by tribal subsistence fisheries in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River. Next are Klamath Project farmers. The refuges are last, with water available only after other users receive full allotments.

Cole said Tule Lake has fewer water shortages because it serves as a collecting point for upstream agriculture lands. Lower Klamath, however, only gets water when the needs of Tule Lake are met and if water is available from the Klamath River through the Ady Canal. The naturally occurring overflows from the Klamath River were stopped in the early 1900s by the construction of the railroad, which cut off that supply.

Because of the shortages, Lower Klamath's four wells are operating when possible, but Mauser said they provide only minimal amounts of water.

Both Mauser and Cole cite the importance of Lower Klamath in providing habitat for migrating birds. While the number of waterfowl normally peaks at 500,000 to a million, the total numbers are three to fours that amount, with the bulk of those normally congregating at Lower Klamath.

"Of all the refuges," Cole said, "Lower Klamath is the premier place people go."

Bird hunters, who normally flock to Lower Klamath each fall, aren't scrambling to win permits. More than a thousand typically apply for opening day, but Mauser said only 300 have applied this year.

"There is a cost here," he said, noting the trickle-down effect to motels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses in Tulelake, Merrill, Dorris and the Klamath Basin.

"Not much hunting's going to go on out here. Not much birding is going to go on out here, either," Cole said.

He worries that the refuge's lack of status for receiving water means that problems mirroring this year's could be an annual concern. He notes that under the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, the refuge would receive 30,000 acre-feet in a dry year and 48,000 acre-feet in normal years. It's uncertain if the KBRA will be enacted, and under the timetables it could be 20 years before it takes effect.

"We don't know the outcome for refuge habitats and for the migratory birds that depend on them," Cole said, noting 60,000 mallards and another 15,000 sandhill cranes normally arrive each September.

"I'm pretty sure we're not going to see that this year," he said of mallards and sandhill cranes. "This would be home for hundreds of thousands of birds."

Cole believes the focus on endangered fish species Lost River and shortnose suckers and coho salmon is shortsighted.

"Our focus has been on just a few species, but the impact on hundreds of other species is being ignored," Cole said. "It would seem smart to achieve some kind of balance."