KLAMATH BASIN WATER ISSUES--HEADLINES FROM THE PORTLAND OREGONIAN

March 15, 2001 WATER FIGHT MAY GO TO THE TOP U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton could be asked to convene the Endangered Species Act "God Squad" to decide whether to risk the extinction of two endangered fish species so the Klamath Basin's farmers can irrigate their fields this drought year.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Irrigation Project violates the federal Endangered Species Act by jeopardizing the continued existence of Lost River and shortnose suckers Full article: 805 words

March 21, 2001 KLAMATH PROJECT WOES RULE OUT COEXISTENCE OF WILD COHO, FARMS Summary: A federal agency finds fault with another's plans for irrigation that don't protect endangered species Irrigation-as-usual at the massive Klamath Project this drought year jeopardizes the survival of the Klamath River's dwindling run of wild coho salmon.

As expected, the National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday found that the Bureau of Reclamation's plans for irrigating 240,000 acres of farm fields poses an "unacceptable risk" to salmon fry in Full article: 709 words

March 22, 2001 LAWSUIT ACCUSES BUREAU OF RECLAMATION OF KILLING FISH Summary: Environmentalists say thousands of fish were killed by lack of diversion screens in the Klamath Project Environmentalists said Wednesday they are suing the federal operators of the Klamath Project irrigation system for failing to keep thousands of endangered fish from being drawn into diversions to die.

The lawsuit, sent to U.S. District Court in Medford, accuses the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of allowing thousands of juvenile Lost River suckers and shortnosed suckers, as well Full article: 387 words

March 25, 2001 MANDATED WATER DELIVERIES MADE TO KEEP WINTERING BALD EAGLES FED A RAPTOR'S FOOD SUPPLY -- AND CONTINUING SURVIVAL -- RESTS ON KEEPING THE WATERFOWL IN KLAMATH BASIN WILDLIFE REFUGES As many as 950 threatened bald eagles that nest from Arizona to Canada's Northwest Territories but spend their winters in the Klamath River Basin wildlife refuges could be harmed if drought and irrigation diversions leave marshes dry and free of waterfowl.

Last week, citing potential harm to eagles ranging from reduced reproduction to outright starvation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the first time mandated annual water deliveries from the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Full article: 1695 words

April 5, 2001 KLAMATH BASIN TOLD TO PROTECT COHO Summary: A judge orders that dam operations give priority to the needs of salmon before farmers' irrigation A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's dam operations in Southern Oregon's Klamath Basin violated the Endangered Species Act last year and ordered the agency not to deliver water to farmers this season without a "concrete plan" that better protects salmon.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in San Full article: 657 words

April 12, 2001 FARMERS IN DRY KLAMATH BASIN SUE FOR WATER DEDICATED TO FISH Summary: A court order is sought to force federal dam operators to release water for irrigation that is being saved for endangered species Farmers in Southern Oregon's parched Klamath Basin on Wednesday sought a court order forcing federal dam operators to send water to their fields -- the only way, they said, to keep their irrigated farmlands from drying up and blowing away for the sake of imperiled fish.

It is the latest attempt by farmers to wring more water from the federal Full article: 644 words

April 27, 2001 DISTRICTS SEND FARMERS WATER DESPITE JUDGE'S ORDER Summary: Both sides in the war over water face off in court today in what may decide the fate of Klamath Basin farming Federal dam operators have ordered even the trickle of water that began flowing to a few farmers in Southern Oregon's Klamath Basin this week shut off at the order of a federal judge, but the irrigation districts taking the water did not immediately halt its flow.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation had earlier announced that about 90 percent of the acreage dependent Full article: 688 words

May 1, 2001 DECISION WILL LEAVE KLAMATH BASIN DRY Summary: A federal judge upholds reserving most water for threatened and endangered fish instead of farms A federal judge on Monday sympathized with Klamath Basin farmers whose fields will go dry in this year of record drought, but she denied their last-ditch request for irrigation water withheld by the U.S. government.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken of Eugene upheld a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to reserve most water in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River for Full article: 539 words

May 6, 2001 WAR OVER WATER STRAINS KLAMATH Summary: The farms in the basin are losing out to the needs of endangered fish and the promise of too much to too many This time of year, Rod Blackman should be irrigating the farm and cattle ranch his great-grandfather staked out in Southern Oregon, south of Klamath Falls, in 1918.

Today he is watching it blow away: in swirling clouds of dust, with not a drop of water to keep it down.

Water isn't coming his way this year. Neither will it flow to more than 1,000 other farms in Full article: 1579 words

May 8, 2001 ACT ISN'T TO BLAME FOR KLAMATH FARMERS' PLIGHT Summary: Drought means there's not enough water to accommodate farmers, even at fish's expense Record drought this year poses a great threat to the fish, wildlife and the national wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin. It brings hardship to fishing communities and further challenges the depressed agricultural economy in the Upper Basin.

While nerves have worn thin and tensions are high, the Endangered Species Act is not to blame, as some say ("Bald eagles and farmers both Full article: 735 words

May 8, 2001 BUCKET BRIGADE URGES FARMS OVER SUCKER FISH Summary: Thousands pass pails of water to protest the filling of Upper Klamath Lake for fish as farmers face drought Thousands of Klamath River Basin farmers and their supporters fought the Endangered Species Act on Monday by taking the very water the law has kept from them and pouring it into a canal that usually carries irrigation water to their farms.

Farmers, politicians and others from around the region passed the water hand-over-hand from Upper Klamath Lake, through Klamath Falls Full article: 736 words

May 8, 2001 FISH CENTER OF SWIRLING CRISIS Summary: The sucker carries deep meaning for the Klamath Tribes, but others say it's undeserving of protection Upstream from Upper Klamath Lake along the Sprague River, Adrian Witcraft points at dark, muscular shapes lurking just beneath the surface.

It's a sight he's seen just three times in his life: suckers, each the size of a grown man's arm. There are dozens.

This is the fish, along with coho salmon, that dwells far downstream, that halted the flow of water to Full article: 1674 words

May 9, 2001 WATER QUALITY, FUTURE MURKY Summary: The Klamath Basin's problems, and solutions, lie in waters that have long poisoned fish and now are kept from farmers No one needs to tell folks here that every drop of water counts.

That's the tragedy of the Klamath Drain: an unglamorous waterway that funnels irrigation runoff from the basin's sprawling farmlands and wildlife refuges into the Klamath River. It contains the worst quality water in Oregon -- too polluted to do anyone, or any fish, much good. Full article: 1398 words

May 13, 2001 THE KLAMATH DUST BOWL Summary: Water crisis in the Klamath Basin isn't just about suckers vs. farmers: It's about a century of unresolved problems

A 3-year-old girl, daughter of one of Klamath Basin's desperate farmers, stood amid 8,000 people at the bucket-brigade protest in Klamath Falls thisweek clutching a sign that read simply "We need water."

The little farm girl, Peyton Hager, her family and hundreds of other families cut off from irrigation water face a bitter summer. But if Full article: 797 words

June 8, 2001 KLAMATH OFFICIALS ASK FOR STATE AID AMID WATER CRISIS Summary: County leaders tell lawmakers a federal decision to cut off irrigation has been devastating Klamath County officials pleaded with legislators and the governor Thursday to help families and farms in the drought-ridden Klamath Basin.

The federal government's decision in April to shut off irrigation water in the Southern Oregon region has left a trail of devastation, they said. Instead of delivering water for irrigation, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is reserving water in Full article: 594 words

June 16, 2001 DRY AND DESPERATE Summary: The people of the drought-stricken Klamath Basin need help: Food, water, work and a way to save their homes

Thousands of hard-working people in the Klamath Basin need help, and Oregonians and their elected officials should do all they can to deliver it.

The Klamath crisis stirs memories of the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression -- idle croplands, despondent farmers, unemployed laborers and struggling small businesses.

Oregon banking leaders are discussing how to prevent Full article: 731 words

June 16, 2001 PLAN WOULD GIVE BUYOUTS TO KLAMATH LANDOWNERS Summary: Conservationists and farmers present a proposal to provide financial aid for waterless farms Conservationists and a group of Klamath Basin landowners Friday unveiled a proposal that would provide financial relief to farmers and more water for fish and wildlife.

Under the plan, the federal government would buy land and water rights in the Klamath Irrigation Project and Upper Klamath River Watershed. Willing sellers within the Klamath Irrigation Project would be paid $4,000 an Full article: 525 words

June 17, 2001 ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT REFORM URGEDREVIEW IS PROMISED Summary: At a hearing in Klamath Falls, where irrigation water has been shut off, six congressmen say livelihoods need protection, too Western Republicans meeting in a congressional field hearing Saturday put Southern Oregon's drought-parched Klamath Basin at center stage of their drive to reform the federal Endangered Species Act.

Six Republican congressmen, four of them members of the House Resources Committee, hammered environmental groups and federal wildlife agencies for Full article: 800 words

July 6, 2001 FARMERS' FIGHT FOR WATER INTENSIFIES Summary: Protesters ask Klamath County to intervene in the battle after reopening an irrigation canal closed to aid fish Klamath basin residents continued their desperate scramble to get water for their parched farms and homesteads Thursday, appealing to Klamath County commissioners to take control of local water away from the federal government.

"They're asking the county board of commissioners to look into creating some kind of ordinance to overturn the federal government in Full article: 1085 words

July 7, 2001 A COMMUNITY DRIES AND CRACKS Summary: Klamath Basin needs fast relief and sustainable solutions to quell mounting vandalism, anger and blame

Something changed this week in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin, between vandalisms.

The first time, someone used the cover of darkness to sneak over a fence and wrench open a head gate of the basin's federal irrigation system. The second time was in broad daylight on the Fourth of July, and the head gate succumbed to torch and chainsaw as a crowd of more than 100 Full article: 551 words

July 13, 2001 KLAMATH REFUGES GO THIRSTY Summary: Critical wetlands for migrating birds are drying up at alarming rates As supervisor of the renowned national wildlife refuges of the Klamath Basin, home to bald eagles, sandhill cranes and myriad waterfowl, Phil Norton now has the task of managing some of America's premier wetlands "without the wet part."

Although they're a first stop for birds and birders along the great western migration corridor known as the Pacific Flyway, the 180,000 acres of federal Full article: 1263 words

July 13, 2001 SENATOR LOSES BID TO RELEASE WATER FOR PARCHED FARMS The Senate on Thursday narrowly turned back an effort by Sen. Gordon Smith to force water releases for farmers in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin by overriding federal biological opinions.

California Democrat Barbara Boxer charged that Smith's plan could lead to the extinction of two species of sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake that are protected under the Endangered Species Act and significant to basin tribes.

The 52-48 vote came when Boxer successfully moved to table a Smith Full article: 1109 words

July 14, 2001 FARMERS DEFY U.S., ESCALATE FIGHT Summary: Klamath Basin irrigators and supporters turn out in their most public protest so far This time, it was a group: More than 10 farmers, beset by drought and a federal ruling that reserves water for endangered fish, wedged a crowbar into the head gates of the main irrigation canal and pried them open late Friday afternoon. Water from Upper Klamath Lake rushed forward to the cheers of a crowd of perhaps 50 onlookers.

If was the fourth gate-breaching in recent weeks but by far the Full article: 1284 words

July 15, 2001 KLAMATH HEAD GATES PEACEFULLY RECLOSED Summary: Federal authorities try to avoid a confrontation with water-starved farmers, who had hoped for a firmer reaction to their defiance Federal authorities responded to the boldest illegal release of water in the Klamath Basin this summer with their strongest show of force early Saturday, as 10 federal marshals stood by while crews peacefully closed head gates opened by a defiant crowd of farmers the night before.

But it was unclear, even to farmers, who was in charge of safeguarding Full article: 936 words

July 16, 2001 KLAMATH BASIN PROTEST TAKES NEW ROUTEES Summary: Farmers lay an irrigation pipe around the canal head gates as federal officials, unwilling to provoke the residents, look on Protests at the head gates blocking water to more than 1,000 farms here hardened into a standoff Sunday as frustrated farmers started pumping water around the head gates through a makeshift irrigation line.

Nearly a dozen federal officers guarding the head gate structure took no action. To prevent erosion as the water rushed toward the Klamath Reclamation Full article: 902 words

July 18, 2001 MEDIATION EFFORTS RESUME TODAY OVER KLAMATH WATER Farmers going without water in the Klamath Basin this summer say court-led mediation of the basin's water struggle will be useless unless state and federal agencies reconcile inequities that have left them high and dry while others draw water from the same source.

The mediation will resume today in federal court in Eugene. But attorneys for farmers said in a letter to federal Judge Thomas Coffin that their clients cannot afford a process that may be futile.

Past attempts to settle Full article: 358 words

July 19, 2001 STATE SEEKS GIVE-TAKE ON WATER Summary: Gov. John Kitzhaber calls on federal agencies to aid Klamath farmers in drier years by giving them more water and fish less Gov. John Kitzhaber has asked federal agencies to turn on the water to Klamath Basin farmers -- at least partway.

His request was part of a compromise that state officials proposed Wednesday in Eugene during court-led mediation of the basin's water struggle. It calls for federal agencies to share water reserved for protected fish in extremely dry years Full article: 920 words

July 25, 2001 RELIEF TRICKLES INTO KLAMATH Summary: Interior Secretary Gale Norton orders the release of water into canals to sustain farms through the drought "We also understand the frustration of the farm families in the area. We don't want to have a federal confrontation that will lead to any more problems." -- GALE NORTON, INTERIOR SECRETARY

Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Tuesday granted Klamath Basin farmers some of the relief they had been rallying and protesting for: water to nurse their parched farms Full article: 1267 words

July 26, 2001 KLAMATH WATER EASES TENSIONS Summary: Farmers feel "a moment of joy" as water courses into irrigation canals, but they say it is too little, too late Hundreds of farmers and their supporters lined a Klamath Falls irrigation canal Wednesday morning and cheered as federal and local officials sent a badly needed slug of water toward 1,400 parched farms in Southern Oregon and Northern California.

"That water filled the canal and filled our hearts too," said Stan Thompson, a retired Union Pacific Full article: 846 words

July 29, 2001 WATER POSES TEST TO KLAMATH GROWERS Summary: Farmers in the drought-plagued basin in Southern Oregon have to decide where best to use the water and how to get it to everyone Klamath Basin farmers are practicing a kind of agricultural triage, trying to figure out where to put what little water they'll get, while also leaving some for others.

Until Interior Secretary Gale Norton freed some irrigation water last week for Klamath Basin farms thirsting for it all summer, no one here had ever contemplated starting to Full article: 1014 words

August 1, 2001 KLAMATH FARMERS BRACE FOR NEW SKIRMISH OVER WATER Summary: Federal officials say two irrigation districts' efforts to save water violate the Endangered Species Act Two Oregon irrigation districts that operate dams on the east side of the Klamath Basin have cut off water to a shallow northern California lake that holds endangered suckers, setting up a new face-off in the Klamath Basin's tense struggle for water.

The irrigation districts say they have already delivered enough water for the protected fish and must keep the rest Full article: 763 words

August 2, 2001 KLAMATH DECISIONS FACE REVIEW BY SCIENTISTS Summary: The interior secretary wants the National Academy of Sciences to assess the reasoning used in the spring to allocate water resources Interior Secretary Gale Norton will ask the National Academy of Sciences to review the biological rationale behind federal decisions to reserve water in Upper Klamath Lake for protected fish and withhold it from farmers in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin this summer.

This comes a week after Norton overruled federal biologists by releasing Full article: 969 words

August 7, 2001 KLAMATH BASIN FACING ANOTHER WATER SHUTOFF Summary: Officials expect irrigation water to run out by Aug. 20, but conservation groups and farmers are still clamoring for relief Irrigation water that Interior Secretary Gale Norton turned on for drought-stricken Klamath farms only two weeks ago will likely run out two weeks from now, renewing the frustration of farmers and increasing the desperation of parched wildlife refuges that have not gotten a drop.

Although irrigation managers in the Klamath Basin still hope the water will Full article: 894 words

August 9, 2001 KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICTS WILL RELEASE WATER TO REFUGES Summary: The move to supply federal wildlife sanctuaries follows the filing of a lawsuit by conservation groups Two Klamath Basin irrigation districts agreed Wednesday to send stored water to federal wildlife refuges on the California-Oregon border, partially defusing the latest crisis in the months-long battle among farmers, federal agencies and conservationists.

The two irrigation districts, which supply water to about 200 farms in the eastern section of the 230,000-acre federal Full article: 728 words

August 18, 2001 DEATH THREATS REPORTED IN KLAMATH CONFLICT Summary: Farmers, environmentalists and officials condemn intimidation and threats against people on all sides of the water issue People on all sides of the struggle over water in the Klamath Basin have been intimidated and threatened with death, a committee of local farmers, government officials and other leaders working to resolve the crisis said Friday.

The approximately 30 members of the Hatfield Upper Basin Working Group voted unanimously Thursday night for a resolution condemning Full article: 626 words

August 19, 2001 KLAMATH CONVOYS MAY PACK TROUBLE Summary: Outside groups coming to support farmers say they intend to protest peacefully, but officials worry about confrontations When water flowing to Klamath farms runs out this week, there will be an audience: Perhaps thousands of farm supporters -- some allied with ardent property and states rights groups -- will gather in Klamath Falls to protest the shutoff of irrigation water as government gone awry.

Many officials fear the convergence could fuel a confrontation, inflaming Full article: 1532 words

August 22, 2001 KLAMATH WATER SEEKERS RALLY Klamath Basin farmers turned up the volume in their fight against the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday as a convoy of trucks from around the country drew about 4,000 people to downtown Klamath Falls to demand more irrigation water for farms that went without it this summer.

County commissioners, loggers, farmers, talk radio hosts and others from around the country lashed out at environmental groups, federal agencies, Gov. John Kitzhaber and others they blamed for either cutting off water to Full article: 898 words

August 23, 2001 KLAMATH FLOW ABOUT TO RUN OUT Summary: Some say they'll protest, but others urge calm as federal officials prepare to turn off the water to hundreds of farmers Federal authorities planned to shut off water to more than 1,000 Klamath Basin farms early today, even as a local faction was pledging to "take the head gates" guarded by federal officers.

Federal officials reiterated that they would not allow demonstrators inside fences surrounding the head gates, which regulate the flow of water from Upper Full article: 644 words

August 24, 2001 CLOSING THE SPIGOT THANKFULLY, COOLER HEADS PREVAIL AT TENSE KLAMATH FALLS Amid a scattering of jeers they didn't deserve, federal employees shut off the water to farmers Thursday in the parched, stressed-out Klamath Basin.

The end came quietly in predawn darkness. Officials armed with flashlights, and guarded by uniformed federal rangers, stopped the flow of murky, brackish but immensely precious water into the Klamath's hundreds of miles of irrigation canals. Then they dismantled an operating mechanism so angry farmers can't illegally open the head Full article: 470 words

August 24, 2001 WATER SHUT OFF Summary: Head gates close, ending four weeks' of spillage, but Klamath farmers keep the lid on emotions Federal authorities turned off the water to more than 1,000 farms in the Klamath Basin early Thursday as farmers and their supporters persuaded a small faction not to risk arrest by rushing the basin's main canal head gates.

It was the second time in this drought year that water was withheld from farms to aid protected fish.

Farmers and their supporters said they would Full article: 1038 words

August 25, 2001 LAWSUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT WILL SEEK UP TO $1 BILLION IN KLAMATH BASIN FIGHT Summary: The property rights attorneys involved won a similar case in California, and the filing could be pivotal in the stalemate A pair of prominent Washington, D.C., property rights attorneys plan to file a claim against the federal government next week seeking as much as $1 billion in damages for Klamath Basin farmers deprived of water in this drought year.

The case would be the largest of its kind and could be a turning point in the stalemate over Klamath Basin water, which this Full article: 675 words

August 26, 2001 RUNNING OUT OF WATER AND HOPE TO MORE KLAMATH FARMERS, A BUYOUT IS THE ONLY OPTION Growing numbers of Klamath Basin farmers are asking the U.S. government to buy them out before they lose everything. By stepping forward, however, they risk community censure and even death threats.

Yet the biggest cost may be in admitting publicly and privately that their long-held dreams are forever gone.

"I always believed food was life. If I stayed connected to agriculture, I would be doing a good thing," said Beth Deaver, 45, whose farm joined more than 1,000 others this Full article: 1699 words

August 29, 2001 CLEARING UP WATER ISSUES ON KLAMATH BASIN Summary: Officials and the public dealt with saving farms and fish during a dry summer in Southern Oregon The drought gripping the Klamath Basin and the federal government's decision to shut off irrigation water to farmers have raised many questions about agriculture in the basin, the people affected, the degree of the impacts and the integrity of the ecosystem. Here are some answers:

Q: Why was water to farms cut off?

A: Upper Klamath Lake, a large natural lake near Klamath Full article: 1041 words

August 29, 2001 THE ECOSYSTEM OF THE KLAMATH BASIN The Klamath Basin cradles more than one crisis. This summer brought hard times for farmers who depend on water from the basin's intricate irrigation system, largely shut off this year to preserve water for protected fish. But scientists say the Klamath ecosystem also is beset by an ecological crisis that prompted federal protection for those fish under the federal Endangered Species Act. It's a problem visible only through a close look at an ecosystem that no longer operates as it Full article: 1104 words

September 5, 2001 KLAMATH WILDLIFE GETS TURN FOR WATER Summary: At least 6,300 acre-feet of water will be released this month to ease parched conditions for migrating birds and bald eagles Irrigators and Portland-based utility PacifiCorp have agreed to provide water this month for struggling national wildlife refuges in the parched Klamath Basin.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which negotiated to get the water for the refuges, is expected to announce the deal today.

The agreement among water users, the bureau and conservation groups Full article: 739 words

September 9, 2001 STRIKE WHILE KLAMATH IS HOT Summary: Klamath Basin crisis must be resolved in this Congress, or water shortages will revisit desperate farmers and wildlife

Like the water, time is trickling away for the Klamath crisis. Summer is fading, and before long so will the political attention fixed on the thirsty basin.

As Congress reconvenes, it may be now or never for legislation that would provide full disaster relief for farmers and ensure a stable, predictable supply of clean water for Klamath agriculture and wildlife Full article: 648 words

September 13, 2001 FARMERS AGREE TO END PROTEST AT HEAD GATES Klamath Basin farmers and their supporters agreed Wednesday to end their summer-long protest at the basin's primary canal head gates so federal officers guarding the head gates can be assigned elsewhere following terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

The head gates became a centerpiece of the emotional struggle over Klamath water after federal officials decided in April to reserve water in Upper Klamath Lake for protected fish instead of releasing it to drought-stricken farms. Full article: 375 words

October 24, 2001 ASSESSMENT AFFIRMS WATER CUTOFF POLICY Summary: Scientists back managers who kept Upper Klamath Lake levels high but say the water is degraded The first full scientific review of the decision that denied irrigation water to Klamath Basin farmers last summer found "general agreement" that the water should be reserved in Upper Klamath Lake for endangered fish, but it said Klamath water is so degraded that it may not help the fish.

The review by four University of California professors concluded that the hotly debated Full article: 783 words

November 19, 2001 KLAMATH BASIN FARMERS STILL WAIT FOR RELIEF FROM WEATHER, CONGRESS Summary: Some financial aid flows into the area, but farmers are concerned about a repeat of a drought next year with no solution in place Although federal aid payments have started flowing to Klamath Basin farmers left without irrigation water in the summer drought, neither Congress nor the weather has offered much sign that farmers won't be left dry again next summer.

Mediation of the basin's desperate water debate stalled when farmers pulled out, opting instead to pursue a Full article: 1353 words

December 5, 2001 WATERFOWL SURVIVE KLAMATH DROUGHT Summary: Wildlife managers note that about the usual number of migrating birds stopped in the Klamath Basin this year Though drought caused turmoil in the Klamath Basin's farming economy this year, it did little to disturb waterfowl that migrate through the Southern Oregon basin each fall on their way to wintering grounds in California.

Biologists counted about 1.6 million geese, ducks and other birds in the basin at the migration's peak in late October and early November, Full article: 860 words

December 16, 2001 SENATORS WORK OUT KLAMATH BASIN FIXES Summary: Republican Gordon Smith taps into Democrat Ron Wyden's relief plan with language favoring area's farmers Oregon's two senators have agreed on legislation to spend $175 million during the next five years to find a better balance between wildlife and agriculture in the drought-stricken Klamath Basin.

Now, all Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden need is the agreement of the rest of Congress. That probably won't be possible until early next year.

Smith, a Full article: 1100 words

December 20, 2001 TRIO ARRESTED, CHARGED IN KLAMATH BASIN SHOOTING RAMPAGE Summary: The men are accused of firing at objects while yelling at Native Americans in Chiloquin about fish Three Klamath County men have been arrested and charged with felony intimidation, conspiracy and other counts for a Dec. 1 shooting rampage in the Native American town of Chiloquin that carried racial overtones tied to the Klamath Basin's water battles.

Witnesses said the men yelled "sucker lovers" at Native Americans as they drove through Chiloquin in a pickup, Full article: 490 words

December 20, 2001 KLAMATH TROUBLES RUN DEEP, REPORT SAYS Summary: Researchers find a leadership void, lack of government work and geographic and racial rifts led to last summer's struggles The Klamath water struggles that climaxed last summer grew from decades of government inaction, lack of leadership and a community fragmented by race and geography, researchers from Oregon State University and the University of California at Berkeley say.

In a draft 301-page report, the subject of a public meeting in Klamath Falls on Wednesday, the Full article: 869 words

December 23, 2001 Summary: The DEQ wants the pollutant in the Klamath Basin reduced but hasn't figured out how A state draft plan aimed at remedying the Klamath Basin's poor water quality calls for reducing phosphorous, a key pollutant at the heart of the basin's water struggles, to about half its current levels.

What the Klamath water quality management plan released by the Department of Environmental Quality does not say is how that will be done or how long it will take. Those questions Full article: 433 words

January 25, 2002 GROUPS THREATEN SUIT TO SEE WATER PLAN Summary: Conservationists and fishermen warn federal agencies to release an assessment outlining summer use of Klamath Basin water Voicing much the same frustration as Klamath Basin farmers, conservation and fishermen's groups warned Thursday that they would sue federal agencies if the agencies do not quickly release a plan explaining how they will dole out the basin's water this summer.

Such a plan has been due for more than a month but remains under review at high levels of Full article: 569 words

January 29, 2002 KLAMATH PLAN BACKS IRRIGATION Summary: A draft proposal promises a nearly full allotment of water to farmers for the next 10 years and immediately draws criticism Klamath Basin farmers would get nearly a full supply of irrigation water through the next decade under a proposal unveiled Monday by the Bush administration, but they could voluntarily sell water back to the government through a "water bank" set up to help protected fish.

The draft U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plan gives farmers a leg up in the Full article: 1092 words

February 4, 2002 SCIENTISTS CRITICAL OF KLAMATH WATER BAN Summary: A panel finds no convincing evidence that endangered fish needed all the water withheld from farmers last summer There was "no sound scientific basis" for last year's federal decision to withhold irrigation water from more than 1,000 Klamath Basin farms during last summer's severe drought, a national panel of scientists has concluded.

The independent panel of 12 scientists convened by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of Interior Secretary Gale Full article: 1064 words

February 13, 2002 ANALYSIS DROUGHT OF RESEARCH FOULED KLAMATH The decision to cut off irrigation in 2001 was based on the "best available" science, but crucial information is still unknown It was a biological bombshell, perhaps the most pointed scientific repudiation of an Endangered Species Act decision ever.

But to many who have watched endangered species struggles such as the one that rocked the Klamath Basin last summer, a national panel's finding that the federal cutoff of water to Klamath farms lacked scientific basis was a sad Full article: 1457 words

February 14, 2002 KLAMATH SCIENCE INCONCLUSIVE In response to your article on the Klamath Basin and the National Academy of Sciences interim report (Feb. 4), Earthjustice would like to point out that the academy panel did not determine that the water levels in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River as determined by the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are wrong, only that the science is currently inconclusive.

This means that "future science" may well show that higher water levels are Full article: 250 words

February 28, 2002 PLAN CONTAINS WATER FOR FARMERS Summary: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials expect to meet both fish and Klamath irrigation needs this summer The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday issued a plan for water releases in Southern Oregon's Klamath Basin that makes it increasingly likely the basin's farmers will receive irrigation water this year.

The plan still must pass muster with federal biologists who last year held most water in Upper Klamath Lake for threatened suckers and the Klamath River for Full article: 767 words

March 2, 2002 BUSH CREATES KLAMATH BASIN TASK FORCE Summary: The Cabinet-level panel is charged with resolving the complex interests of the area's wildlife, tribes and farmers President Bush on Friday created a Cabinet-level task force to examine the water troubles that have gripped the arid Klamath Basin and to advise him of "immediate and long-term actions" needed to boost the quality and quantity of the basin's water.

It was the president's first formal step toward resolving the emotional water struggle that Full article: 887 words

March 9, 2002 BUSH CABINET GROUP GIVES KLAMATH BASIN QUICK HELP WITH WATER Summary: The measures, which some call inadequate, are to help farmers as well as conservation "In view of the weak actions proposed by the Klamath Task Force, passage of the Wyden-Smith amendment to the farm bill is even more critical." - Rich McIntyre, member of Klamath group commenting on legislation to aid area. A presidential working group on the Klamath Basin met for the first time Friday and announced several quick measures to help Klamath farmers who went without Full article: 553 words

March 13, 2002 KLAMATH BASIN RESIDENTS PUSH FOR AGREEMENT ON U.S. FUNDING Summary: A group seeks money to pay for measures that would help both farmers and endangered species A growing contingent of Klamath Basin residents wants Oregon lawmakers to find agreement on $175 million in federal farm bill money that many see as a key to resolving the basin's long-standing water struggles.

Last week, a basinwide working group of farmers, conservationists, land managers and biologists encouraged Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Rep. Greg Full article: 636 words

March 20, 2002 U.S. WILL NEGOTIATE WITH TRIBE Summary: Interior secretary Gale Norton will negotiate with the tribes on the potential return of their lands in Southern Oregon Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Tuesday she will open formal negotiations with the Klamath Tribes that could lead to the return of a vast tribal reservation that the U.S. government liquidated and turned into national forests decades ago.

Returning the 690,000 acres of Southern Oregon land the tribes want ultimately could help resolve the emotionally Full article: 1206 words

March 21, 2002 SCIENCE REVIEWS COULD CREATE DELAYS, ADD COSTS, OFFICIALS WARN Summary: Interior leaders say they must improve the quality of their decisions after a report questions Klamath ruling Two high-ranking Interior Department officials told Congress on Wednesday that mandating more scientific reviews on agencies that administer the Endangered Species Act could cause delays and add costs.

But in the wake of a National Academy of Sciences report questioning the scientific basis for last year's irrigation cutoff in the Klamath Basin, the officials Full article: 786 words

March 22, 2002 PACIFICORP OPPOSES CALL FOR INTAKE SCREENS Summary: Authorities want screens put over power plant intakes to save suckers, but the company says it's too costly PacifiCorp plans to sue federal authorities to block an expected demand that the company screen power plant intakes in the Klamath River Basin to protect the endangered fish that contributed to last summer's cutoff of farm irrigation water.

The action creates an obstacle to an approach that biologists, lawmakers, farmers and others have long advocated to resolve Full article: 568 words

March 30, 2002 KLAMATH CEREMONY FREES WATER FOR FARMERS Summary: Many growers cheer the move, but the Klamath Water Basin's water struggles appear far from being resolved, officials say The secretaries of interior and agriculture joined Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., on Friday to crank open canal head gates in Klamath Falls, delivering water to hundreds of anxious farmers who went without it for much of last summer.

But although close to 500 farmers and their supporters cheered the renewed flow, there were strong signs that the Klamath Full article: 1007 words

April 3, 2002 KLAMATH SOLUTIONS ORIGINATE IN BASIN Summary: The Bush administration embraces two homegrown proposals to ease water conflicts and to act as a model elsewhere The Bush administration on Tuesday unveiled two locally grown projects to free up precious water for Klamath Basin farmers and endangered wildlife, which spent last summer at odds because there wasn't enough water to go around.

In one project, ranchers at the upper end of the basin will stop flooding their summer cattle pastures and instead lease the water to the Full article: 933 words

April 26, 2002 AGENCY TROUBLED BY KLAMATH WATER QUALITY Summary: Fish and Wildlife biologists say restoration measures are needed to protect the endangered suckers A federal plan to deliver water to Klamath Basin farmers over the next 10 years will jeopardize the survival of endangered suckers unless the government undertakes costly restoration and protection measures to aid the fish and their habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.

The "jeopardy" finding in the draft biological opinion the agency issued Thursday Full article: 795 words

May 3, 2002 KLAMATH RIVER LEVELS STRAND YOUNG SALMON Summary: Fishing and environmental groups will ask a court to order more water into the river to help the fish Descending water levels in the Klamath River left hundreds of young, wild salmon stranded in isolated pools in California this week, which may lend strength to a lawsuit aiming to redirect water from Oregon farmers into the river for fish.

Biologists were not sure whether to blame farm diversions in Oregon and California or natural shifts in weather for stranding the fish. But Full article: 803 words

May 8, 2002 IN MY OPINION IRRIGATORS STRIVE TO LIVE IN BALANCE Summary: But Klamath Basin water users bear an unfair burden under federal species act While the Klamath Basin farmers who survived last year's disastrous water crisis tentatively begin irrigating their fields this spring, they must be wondering what they did wrong to deserve the punishment they received in 2001. The Klamath Water Users Association, known as KWUA, represents those irrigators who were denied Klamath Project water last year by regulatory agencies trying to protect sucker Full article: 673 words

June 4, 2002 AGENCY BALKS AT KLAMATH WATER PLANS Summary: The Bureau of Reclamation notifies two other agencies that it won't comply with their demands for fish Federal biologists have gone too far in mandating water for protected fish in the Klamath Basin during the next decade, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will not go along with the demands, the agency said Monday.

The message the bureau sent in letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service creates an unusual standoff between agencies Full article: 550 words

July 12, 2002 KLAMATH WATER SUPPLY SHRINKS Summary: Flows for threatened coho are being reduced and farmers are being asked to conserve as heat and low rainfall take their toll Soaring temperatures and low rainfall in Southern Oregon have prompted the federal government to reduce water flows for threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River and to ask area farmers to begin conserving water.

Federal officials said Thursday they do not expect a repeat of last year, when they cut off irrigation water to more than 1,000 farmers to aid Full article: 758 words

July 18, 2002 EFFORT TO LIMIT KLAMATH BASIN FARMING FAILS Summary: Rep. Earl Blumenauer's proposal to end alfalfa and row crops on leased land in the wildlife refuges spurs a rural vs. urban debate The U.S. House on Wednesday rebuffed an effort by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., to limit planting of commercial crops in two Klamath Basin wildlife refuges, but not before the proposal fanned an argument over urban and rural priorities.

Blumenauer, who represents the Portland area, proposed ending production of alfalfa and row crops such as Full article: 696 words

September 24, 2002 DEAD FISH TIED TO POLICY FLAWS Summary: Klamath Basin practices are a contributing factor to a large die-off of salmon Thousands of adult, migrating salmon are dying in California's lower Klamath River, victims of warm, polluted water that biologists trace in part to farming operations in the Klamath Basin on the Oregon-California line.

The die-off, the worst anyone can remember, reveals that the Bush administration's redirection of water from fish to Klamath Basin farmers may not have resolved the larger Full article: 1263 words

September 27, 2002 U.S. FREES MORE WATER FOR FISH AS DIE-OFF IN KLAMATH SOARS THE SALMON: Summary: Officials debate the cause of the salmon kill, the worst in decades THE SALMON: Activists sue, saying the federal water strategy has failed As the death toll of adult migrating salmon topped 12,000 by late Thursday, Bush administration officials pledged to release more water to the Klamath River from Southern Oregon's Upper Klamath Lake.

Officials said they acted in hopes of halting a salmon die-off that has quickly escalated into the worst seen in decades. One Full article: 1093 words

September 27, 2002 BILL REIMBURSES KLAMATH FARMERS FOR IRRIGATION COSTS A bill reimbursing Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers for $4 million in irrigation expenses is headed to President Bush for his signature.

The measure is a payback after federal officials curtailed water releases from Upper Klamath Lake during last year's drought in a controversial decision to protect endangered sucker fish and threatened coho salmon.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said farmers and ranchers were required by law to pay for operations and maintenance costs of the Bureau of Full article: 290 words

September 28, 2002 BELLY UP ON THE KLAMATH Summary: The salmon carcasses littering lower Klamath River powerfully demonstrate a failed water policy upriver The elected officials who rushed to Klamath Falls last summer to support irrigation-starved farmers aren't hurrying to the lower Klamath River now to help tally the dead salmon floating in the bathtub-warm water.

They could, if they wished, even organize something of a bucket brigade, as they did last summer to symbolically dump water in a closed irrigation canal. This Full article: 711 words

September 28, 2002 SCIENTISTS LINK SALMON DIE-OFF TO TISSUE-EATING BACTERIA, PARASITE Summary: Officials say abnormally low flows likely left thousands of Klamath River fish more vulnerable to disease Thousands of adult salmon dying in the lower Klamath River probably are being killed by bacteria that eat gill tissue and by a parasite that destroys the digestive tract, federal scientists said Friday.

Although they're still uncertain exactly what triggered the outbreaks of disease, scientists think they were linked to low river flows. Lower than normal flows in the Full article: 870 words

September 29, 2002 SALMON DIE-OFF FEARS BECOME HARSH REALITY Summary: Although the cause of the Klamath kill is unclear, tribes and others say warnings went unheeded The warnings were plain and powerful.

Staff scientists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service said months ago that the Bush administration's plan to shift water from fish to farmers in Southern Oregon's Klamath Basin would harm salmon downstream in the Klamath River. Tribal biologists joined in.

Now those salmon are dying in Full article: 1857 words

October 1, 2002 INCREASED FLOW MAY HARM DYING KLAMATH SALMON Summary: A two-week increase of water for the lower Klamath isn't enough, and may create a warmer, more polluted river, biologists say A two-week slug of new water expected to reach the lower Klamath River late Monday will be too brief and of such poor quality it might do more harm than good for salmon dying in the river, state biologists in California said.

The release of extra water must continue through the fall and spring, they said, because cutting it off after two weeks could Full article: 870 words

October 6, 2002 WITH DEEP TIES TO FISH, TRIBES MOURN DIE-OFF Dead chinook salmon began washing up on the rocky banks of the Klamath River about the time the Yurok Tribe completed its Jump Dance, a ceremony held every two years to send away evil and call for harmony in the world.

The irony isn't lost on Fred Simms, a 67-year-old member of the Yurok Tribe who once stood up for Native American fishing rights against armed state and federal officers.

"It's a wake-up call," Simms said of the bloated carcasses, which began showing up Full article: 982 words

October 27, 2002 TAPPING THE TRINITY Summary: The nation's largest-known salmon die-off leads biologists and the Bush administration to consider cutting off California and keeping more water in the Klamath River system's largest tributary

More water from the Klamath River system flows to the rich vegetable, cotton and nut fields in California's Central Valley than to farms in the Klamath Project on the Oregon-California line.

It moves through immense tunnels and canals from the Klamath's biggest Full article: 2105 words

October 27, 2002 WHERE THE WATER GOES The Klamath River marks the start of a vast plumbing system that extends clear to Southern California and affects thousands of farms, millions of homes and legions of wildlife. Reservoirs, tunnels and canals move billions of gallons from the Trinity, the Klamath's largest tributary, toward parched California farms and cities. That leaves less for the Klamath, where more than 33,000 salmon died last month. 1. Large, shallow Upper Klamath Lake stores water for Oregon and California farms Full article: 384 words

November 2, 2002 KLAMATH FINDINGS FAIL TO GET INTO PRINT. The Bush administration withheld reports that concluded buying out farms in the Klamath Basin and leaving their irrigation water in the Klamath River would create a thriving downstream fishery and expanded recreation with a value that far exceeds that of the farms, a co-author of the reports said Friday.

Three reports by U.S. Geological Survey economists and other researchers were completed last year and went through review by outside scientists. But their submission to scientific journals has been delayed by high administration officials Full article: 959 words

November 14, 2002 REPORT SAYS KLAMATH PANEL ERRED A national science panel's finding that the 2001 federal decision to withhold water from Klamath Basin farms was unjustified is laden with errors and has mainly served to fuel resentment of environmental laws, two Oregon State University researchers say.

The science panel chose data selectively to support its rushed conclusions, and in one instance its chairman referred to a species of fish that does not exist in the Klamath, the Oregon researchers said in a paper submitted for publication in the journal Fisheries. Full article: 769 words