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Bureau of Reclamation Proposes 10-Year Drought for Klamath’s Struggling Fish and Refuges

Too Little Water For Fish Once Again Jeopardizes Future Fisheries; Wildlife Refuges Still Starved for Water

New water plan from the Bureau of Reclamation does the bare minimum for fish and wildlife. The plan calls for irrigation in the Klamath Basin to continue at the expense of salmon, wildlife, and waterfowl.

Aerial image of Klamath Basin

This week, the federal Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) released its 2008 through 2018 Biological Assessment for the massive Klamath Irrigation Project on the Oregon/California border. The plan, intended for use over the next decade, will dictate how much water is allowed to flow down the Klamath River to support valuable lower Klamath River salmon fisheries and fishing-dependent Tribes and communities, how much will be reserved for American bald eagles and other birds in several national wildlife refuges, and how much will be diverted to politically powerful irrigation interests.

Fish and wildlife advocates have expressed outrage over the new plan, which limits Klamath River flows to "Dry Year" bare minimums. By proposing  “Dry Year” water levels through 2018, the plan creates the risk of ten years of drought-like river conditions, which could doom threatened coho and other struggling salmon runs and the communities that rely on them.

“There have been many opportunities over the last six years to make changes in federal water policy in the Klamath Basin,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director at Oregon Wild. “Unfortunately, most opportunities for action have been ignored, and in this new plan we’re looking at more of the same fish-killing policy from the Bush administration.”

The lack of water set aside for fish highlights the need for the NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish science-based flow levels for the Klamath River and lakes that allow coho and other fish a chance to recover.

“If Klamath water were a pie, the Bureau of Reclamation has given an insufficient and tiny slice to the fish and let the irrigators eat as much as they can,” said Bob Hunter of WaterWatch. “That leaves fish and wildlife scraping the plate for whatever is left.”

The plan also places the Klamath’s endangered lake fish and spectacular national wildlife refuges at significant risk. Under the new plan, some or all of Upper Klamath Lake’s wetlands could remain dry from July through December each year, disrupting waterfowl migration and breeding, degrading water quality crucial for fish, and unfairly depriving birdwatchers, hunters, and recreation/tourism businesses opportunities for enjoyment and income.

The new plan also lacks a specified allocation for Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge marshes. The Upper Klamath Basin supports the largest seasonal concentration of bald eagles in the Lower 48 states, and Tule Lake and Lower Klamath refuges contain much of the key wintering habitat for these eagles.

The Klamath River was once the third most productive salmon fishery in the continental United States. Federal mismanagement of the river, a series of fish-killing dams, excessive water diversions, habitat destruction, and poor water quality over the last few decades have caused salmon populations to plummet to a tiny fraction of their historical levels. Fish-kills and lack of spawning habitat have decimated coastal fishing communities in Oregon and California.

“The only fair and balanced way to resolve the Klamath crisis is to bring the demand for water back into balance with supply,” said Jim McCarthy, Oregon Wild’s Klamath Wildlife Advocate. “The best way to do that is a voluntary program that works with irrigators to purchase excessive water rights and retire them.”

For more information, including a fact sheet and analysis of the USBR Biological Assessment, click here.

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