Over 70 Years of Representing Farmers and Ranchers of the Klamath Project

loader-image
7:43 pm, Feb 14, 2025
temperature icon 30°F
scattered clouds

‘Need for collaboration’: KWUA calls on Reclamation to mitigate, prevent wildlife, ag disasters

Local irrigators are asking the Bureau of Reclamation to “take immediate action” in an effort to prevent or reduce disastrous damages caused by insufficient water.

The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) voiced local concerns in a letter to Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimim Touton, describing the “exigent issues” the Klamath Project may face again in the coming months.

“We’re sounding an alarm for action. There are solutions readily available if we can get past treating water like tug of war,” said KWUA Executive Director Paul Simmons.

WILDLIFE AT RISK

Wildlife refuges in the Klamath Project received water for the first time in four years earlier this year, bringing waterfowl back to the land in droves.

Tulelake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges are the current homes to hundreds of thousands of waterfowl raising their still flightless fledglings.

With flows no longer being pumped onto the refuges, the recent extreme heat in the region has left waters hot and shallow, the letter said, inciting fear of another deadly botulism outbreak could kill off the young generation of waterfowl.

“A similar situation in 2020 led to an avian botulism outbreak that killed approximately 60,000 ducks,” the letter reads, noting that should such a disaster happen again this year, the death toll could be much higher.

Already endangered fish species are also expected to suffer the consequences of recent heat waves and water levels.

The Klamath River, a necessary habitat for the protected C’waam and Koptu fish species, has reached water temperatures as high as 78 degrees in recent weeks, according to the KWUA.

“The elevated water temperatures are a well-known driver of fish disease,” the letter reads.

The fish disease “Ich” was sited as a serious concern. A mass fish die-off in 2002 caused by Ich was the result of shallow, overheated waters in Lower Klamath River.

According to KWUA, ongoing monitoring of the native endangered species are showing signs that suggest a “precipitous decline over the last year.”

KWUA Director of Water Policy Moss Driscoll said the water users have provided Reclamation with a set of proposed operations for the remainder of the water year.

“We believe (the proposed operations) represent a sound, measured approach to addressing the immediate needs, including for farms and ranches in the Klamath Project,” Driscoll said. “The need to get to the end of the growing season and crops to harvest is just as pressing a concern.”

AG CURTAILMENTS

Though the Basin experienced an unusually fortuitous year of precipitation, Project irrigators are still faced with water allocation curtailments.

Having received “little or no water for three years in a row,” the letter explains, more than 50,000 acres of farmland with standing Warren Act contracts were granted only 0.6 acre-feet of water.

Warren Act irrigators — referring to those with standing irrigation contracts with the Interior — in the Klamath Project hold water rights to irrigate 3.5 acre feet, KWUA said.

Water users ask that Reclamation increase the allocation immediately.

If current hot, dry weather conditions continue or return, KWUA fears that their current allotted water allocations of 260,000 acre-feet total are likely to be exhausted by September.

“Just as we need to avoid a disaster for the Refuges, we need to avoid disaster for agricultural communities and bring this year’s crops to full production and harvest,” Driscoll said.


Herald and News, July 18, 2024
https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/need-for-collaboration-kwua-calls-on-reclamation-to-mitigate-prevent-wildlife-ag-disasters/article_498102c6-438d-11ef-9e7c-b34a8a0b994c.html
By, Molly O’Brien

Image cover: Hundred of thousands of adult and fledgling waterfowl inhabit the Tulelake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. Molly O’Brien/Herald and News.

Share News: 

Scroll to Top