Following several meetings and lengthy discussions, on Aug. 15, Klamath Water Users Association, the Klamath Tribes, the Yurok Tribe, and the Karuk Tribe signed a joint letter to the secretaries of the Departments of Interior, Commerce, and Agriculture, and Governors Kotek and Newsom, identifying nineteen mutually supported, shovel-ready restoration projects in the Klamath Basin.
“This collaboration represents a significant opportunity to work alongside other Klamath Basin stakeholders to achieve watershed-wide restoration,” KWUA President Tracey Liskey said.
These projects were identified as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed earlier this year. The Department of Interior is a signatory to the agreement, and officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including representatives from Washington, D.C., have directly led discussions among the parties.
The total funding request for these projects is over $105 million, broken down as follows:
• Yurok Tribe – eight projects totaling $63,460,147
• Klamath Tribes – three projects totaling $16,863,707
• Karuk Tribe – five projects totaling $16,351,006
• KWUA – three projects totaling $6,970,000
KWUA’s projects include Lower Klamath Reconnection, Tule Lake Flow Through, and Surface Water Management and Efficiency Enhancement. All the projects are designed around the benefits to fish and wildlife, as well as the broader ecosystem benefits that Klamath Project operations can produce.
Each of these projects include a several component tasks, like upgrading Pumping Plant D in Tule Lake and enhancing fish habitat below Anderson-Rose Dam on the Lost River.
In the most recent meeting in August, in Klamath, California, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated its initial decision to fund most of the projects on the list, including potentially all three of KWUA’s projects.
The joint letter issued by KWUA and the tribes identified the nineteen projects as their “immediate-term shared priorities.”
“Additionally, we agree that these projects warrant consideration for expedited environmental compliance and other administrative reviews,” the letter stated.
Ecosystem restoration in the Klamath Basin was part of the $1.4 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in November 2021. Specifically, the law authorized $162 million for this purpose, directed through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The ecological infrastructure of the Klamath Basin needs a wholistic approach, and this funding will help create opportunities for collaboration that, in turn, can help Basin communities come together to find lasting solutions for Tribes, agriculture and others who rely on a healthy and functional ecosystem,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Director Martha Williams, when the funding was initially announced in 2022.
“We’re grateful that representatives of the Tribes and agriculture have worked together to realize the purpose set out with these funds,” commented Matt Strickler, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, in response to the August 15 letter.
In recent discussions with federal officials, KWUA has learned that the next step will be to move these identified projects forward for approval through the Office of Management and Budget. Work plans, schedules, and more detailed budgets are being developed for KWUA’s projects, with the goal for work to get started this year.
“The key for us is agriculture resiliency,” said Liskey, in response to the question what these projects mean for farmers and ranchers. “Yes, we support refuges and the recovery of protected species and treaty resources, but through the continuity of our farming operations, not at their expense.”
The parties to the restoration MOU are scheduled to meet next in late September, to discuss funding avenues through other federal, state, and nonprofit sources. All the parties have acknowledged that their initial list of projects represents only the beginning of work necessary to achieve sustainability and resilience for the Klamath Basin.
By: Moss Driscoll, Published in Basin Ag News, Herald and News. https://www.heraldandnews.com/basin_ag_news/farmers-tribes-restoration-projects-moving-forward/article_90319404-7620-11ef-b1f2-5724c1eef41b.html
