REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES

Return to

A critical time for the future of the Klamath River

By the Klamath Forest Alliance

The Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) will soon issue an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for long-term operation of the Klamath Irrigation Project (KIP). It is critical that a decision based on the EIS be finalized before President Clinton leaves office and that the decision fairly balance the rights and needs of irrigators, fishermen, Native Americans, recreationists, salmon, steelhead, and the riverine ecosystems on which we all depend.

The amount of water flowing into the Klamath is controlled by BuRec. In 1905, BuRec began developing the KIP by converting wetlands into irrigated agriculture, eventually diverting most of the water that once flowed into the Klamath. Reduced flows have led to a decline in salmon and steelhead stocks and water quality.

In 1999, for the first time, activists working to restore the Klamath were able to secure increased flows to the mainstem. However, upper basin irrigators will not share the water without a fight. The BuRec has again capitulated to their demands. According to the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG), the BuRec operations plan for 2000 "appears to sacrifice significant anadromous resources in favor of making nearly full water deliveries to agricultural interests."

You can help protect salmon and steelhead and restore fishing, recreation, and thriving communities in the canyons of the Klamath and its tributaries by writing to the manager of the KIP, with copies to the Secretary of Interior and Director of DFG. Ask these officials to:

1) provide flows to the Klamath that have been recommended by the Department of Interior, needed to keep salmonid healthy;

2) complete and adopt a long-term management plan that meets BuRec legal obligations, water rights of Native Americans, restore public trust resources (eg, fisheries, boating, water quality), and provide for thriving communities along the Klamath;

3) require irrigators to clean up return flows, removing nutrients and pesticides that are degrading water quality; and

4) retire newer agricultural irrigation contracts and those that required federal taxpayer subsidies, to provide stable water supplies for all legitimate users.

Address for letters: Carl Wircus, Manager, USBR Klamath Project, 6600 Washburn Way, Klamath Falls, OR 97603. For more information, contact the Klamath Forest Alliance at POB 820, Etna, CA 96027; 530-467-5405; e-mail klamath@sisqtel.net; Website www.sisqtel.net/~klamath.

For details on diversions from the Eel to the Russian River, visit foer@eelriver.org

Return to