In a situation that has become too familiar, farmers of the Klamath Basin face an uncertain water situation as they enter mid-summer. To make things worse, fish species are doing poorly.
Despite high lake levels through the spring and early summer, the C’waam and Koptu populations of Upper Klamath Lake continue to fade.
Salmon and steelhead runs returning to the Klamath River will be met with unnatural quantities of abnormally warm and nutrient-laden water from the upper Klamath Basin, straining their temperature tolerance and creating environmental conditions ripe for catastrophic disease outbreaks.
Waterfowl that inhabit Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges face a return to dry conditions ripe for a devastating botulism outbreak, as seen in recent years.
In the most vulnerable part of the growing season, farmers will likely be ordered to stop diversion – yet another blow to an already battered group.
Federal actions have created conditions where every constituency that relies on its management is positioned for catastrophe. Although these outcomes aren’t certain, the people who steward the resources of the Klamath Basin are frightened by the possibilities.
My concern is greater for our fish and wildlife than for our economic interests. Yet federal policy has allowed water to become a game of who gets the most, ensuring others get nothing.
We must discuss success, not winning or ensuring the other guy loses. This can all be prevented if the federal government is honest about the conditions in the basin and takes decisive action.
Ty Kliewer, Klamath Falls
The Oregonian, July 21, 2024
https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2024/07/readers-respond-klamath-basin-demands-federal-action.html
