Media and Press

County formally requests promised Trinity River flows By Will Houston Eureka Times-Standard May 19, 2015 The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to send a letter to the federal government making a formal request for its promised 50,000 acre-feet of Trinity River water in advance of another summer of drought and possible […]

Oregon wildlife officials eye phased-in hunting, fishing fee increases By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press May 16, 2015 Lawmakers are considering how to plug a $32 million funding gap for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife through a combination of raising hunting and fishing license fees, devoting more state revenues to the department and

State sets fish ladders at Opal Springs as top priority Steelhead show they want up the Crooked River By Dylan J. Darling The Bulletin May 10, 2015 The big effort to restore ocean-going fish runs in Central Oregon’s major rivers has put the focus on a small diversion dam a half-mile up the Crooked River

Water storage denied for Tumalo reservoirs Tumalo Irrigation District applied to transfer water to reservoirs owned by Bend development company By Ted Shorack The Bulletin May 6, 2015 Oregon regulators have denied permanent water storage at two small reservoirs near Tumalo that developers have considered using for water skiing. The Oregon Water Resources Department determined

Rivers Recover Rapidly Once Dams Are Gone, Study Finds by Cassandra Profita OPB April 30, 2015 When this photo was taken, about 3 million cubic yards of sediment had been flushed down the Elwha River since dam removal began in 2011. That’s only 16 percent of what’s expected to move downstream over five years. Katie

Artificial beaver dam bill advances Oregon House By Mateusz Perkowski Capital Press April 24, 2015 A proposal to streamline permitting for fake beaver dams has progressed in the Oregon House. A bill intended to promote artificial beaver dams in Oregon’s Malheur Lake drainage basin has crossed a key legislative hurdle despite misgivings from some environmentalists.

Tribes call for water Water shutoffs could begin as early as next week By LACEY JARRELL Herald & News April 24, 2015 Called-on streams: Crooked Creek Deep Creek Irving Creek Jackson Creek Larkin Creek Lower Sprague River Sand Creek Scott Creek Sycan River Upper Sprague River Wood River Since Monday, water calls have been made

Klamath Tribes seek parts of Fremont-Winema National Forest after failed land deal Kelly House The Oregonian April 24, 2015 The Lower Williamson River runs through the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Much of the forest was part of the Klamath Indian Reservation before the federal government terminated the tribes and took their land. After a failed private

Evans Creek dams on track for removal this summer By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune April 11, 2015 Fielder Dam and its antiquated fish ladder is targeted for removal from Evans Creek. ROGUE RIVER — Two of Oregon’s worst wild fish barriers are on track to be jettisoned from Evans Creek this summer under a plan

No water for Lower Klamath refuge By LACEY JARRELL Herald & News April 10, 2015 Parched Lower Klamath NWR, Sept. 20, 2013 Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge managers plan to make the most out of the water they have now. It’s likely they won’t get any more. According to the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) 2015

Farmers on Oregon-California border might get less water than they expect By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press Apr 8, 2015 GRANTS PASS — Farmers on a federal irrigation project straddling the Oregon-California border are slated to get 65 percent of the water they expect in a wet year this growing season due to the lack

Water Allocations Not Enough for Wildlife By Connor Giampietri KDRV News April 8, 2015 MEDFORD, Ore. – A new report shows it’s expected to be another tough year for farmers in the Klamath Basin. The report shows farmers on the federal irrigation project straddling the Oregon-California border are slated to get 65% of their full

Fake beaver dam bill divides environmentalists Mateusz Perkowski Capital Press April 1, 2015 Legislation that would encourage landowners to build artificial beaver dams as part of a pilot project has run into opposition from some environmentalists. SALEM — A bill meant to encourage the construction of artificial beaver dams in Oregon’s Malheur Lake drainage basin

Feds must create conservation plans for Lower Klamath, Tule Lake wildlife refuges By Kelly House The Oregonian March 5, 2015 Red-tailed Hawk Federal fish and wildlife managers must complete a plan to ensure commercial activities at two Northwest federal wildlife refuges do not harm wildlife, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. Magistrate Judge Mark

Water settlement comes into question Tribes remain hopeful that Congress will approve legislation By LACEY JARRELL Herald & News March 5, 2015 Three Basin tribes have begun a mediation process that could end in termination of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA). “Our concern is that legislation has not passed. We are unable to obtain

Government Whistleblowers Say Klamath Irrigators Misusing Federal Funds by Jes Burns OPB February 18, 2015 The Klamath Basin has seen many water shortages over the years. Photo by Devan Schwartz / EarthFix Two government biologists say millions of dollars in federal funds intended to secure water for fish in the Klamath Basin were instead used

ODFW commission picks Curt Melcher to run agency By Kelly House The Oregonian/OregonLive February 13, 2015 Curt Melcher, a longtime Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife employee who has led the agency on a temporary basis for the past five months, will be its next director. Melcher, 51, has spent all of his 28-year career

After the Flood Dams across the United States are being decommissioned and rivers restored to their natural flow. As scientists are learning, tearing down the barriers is just the first step in returning a river to health. BY JULIET GRABLE Earth Island Journal Winter 2014 One hundred and twenty-six miles from the Pacific Ocean, in

Central Oregon LandWatch mulls an appeal By Tyler Leeds The Bulletin December 8, 2014 A federal judge on Friday dismissed objections to a city of Bend water project west of town, but the plaintiffs are still considering whether to appeal to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Central Oregon LandWatch and WaterWatch

Judge rules Bend water project can proceed Lawsuit is over $24 million Bridge Creek pipe replacement By Tyler Leeds The Bulletin December 6, 2014 A federal judge on Friday allowed the city of Bend’s $24 million Bridge Creek pipeline project to proceed. Central Oregon LandWatch and WaterWatch of Oregon sued last year over the pipe-replacement

Klamath Basin proposal is bad for taxpayers: Guest opinion By Jim McCarthy Oregonian December 6, 2014 The Klamath River Basin and its communities need a sustainable plan to address longstanding conflicts over water. Unfortunately, the controversial and expensive Klamath agreements – currently before Congress – will not resolve these conflicts. These co-joined agreements include hundreds

Klamath objections included in committee records Not all written submissions were included in shorter printed report of June 3 hearing By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin December 4, 2014 WASHINGTON — The Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee’s “Official Committee Record” of a June hearing on the Klamath Basin water-sharing deal includes objections raised by environmental

Questions persist despite Klamath agreements by Jim McCarthy Salem Statesman Journal Op-Ed November 29, 2014 Contrary to the Statesman Journal’s Nov. 16 editorial, the Klamath Basin water agreements contain no assurances whatsoever of increased flows for Klamath River salmon. Moreover, claims that the agreements proposed in pending federal legislation will resolve the region’s water wars

Objections to Klamath deal omitted? WaterWatch of Oregon, others want objections included in formal record By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin November 27, 2014 WASHINGTON — Several Oregon groups that oppose the Klamath Basin deal pending in Congress are concerned their objections weren’t considered when members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the

OSU researchers find Rogue, Calapooia river ecosystems recovered quickly after dams removed By The Associated Press October 8, 2014 Rafters in 2009 approach the remains of the Savage Rapids Dam through 88 years of sediment build-up on the Rogue River. Scientists at Oregon State University have found that insect life quickly recovered after this dam

Oregon biologists poised to rescue Deschutes River fish as flow drops in October near Bend By The Oregonian October 7, 2014 A 2013 water draw down killed hundreds of fish stranded in a side channel of the Deschutes River south of Bend. An operation to rescue and relocate fish on the upper Deschutes River at

Low water exposes Emigrant Lake’s past By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune October 6, 2014 ASHLAND — As Jeff LaLande picks through the old spark plugs, brakes and other debris where Klamath Junction used to be, he thinks about those who worked at this highway service station inundated 54 years ago by Emigrant Lake. Travelers stopping

Watershed moment The U.S. and Canada prepare to renegotiate the 50-year-old Columbia River Treaty. By Marshall Swearingen High Country News October 6, 2014 Salmon have not been able to pass into the upper half of the Columbia River basin since Grand Coulee Dam, above, was constructed in the 1930’s. Restoring salmon to the upper basin

Judge: Water for Klamath salmon legal — this time Tribes split on reaction to federal ruling By Juniper Rose and Jeff Barnard Times-Standard and Associated Press October 1, 2014 A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a federal water agency did not violate the law when it made special reservoir releases last year to help salmon

Feds release emergency water to Trinity, lower Klamath rivers after deadly parasite found in fish The Times-Standard September 16, 2014 After several fish on the Lower Klamath River were confirmed on Monday to have contracted the deadly ich parasite that previously caused the massive fish die-off in 2002, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released emergency

Klamath bull trout in need of the most help Saving the species in Klamath watersheds will require several mitigation actions By LACEY JARRELL Herald & News September 13, 2014 Comment deadline Dec. 3 The public has 90 days to comment on the revised bull trout recovery draft, and then another draft will be issued. The

Court petition halts district water shutoff Irrigator group appeals; continues pumping water by Lacey Jarrell Herald & News September 6, 2014 Owners of a Klamath Project diversion canal, who were ordered to cease water deliveries, have filed a petition against the state and are still drawing irrigation water off the Klamath River. The Klamath Drainage

Rescue in the refuge 100 birds a day found ill or dead By LACEY JARRELL Herald & News September 2, 2014 Tracy Albro, a Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge biological technician, lifts dead ducks out of the water in Sump 1B, where the botulism outbreak first surfaced. (Photo by Lacey Jarrell) TULE LAKE — Waterfowl

Gold Hill Irrigation District Pipeline Project Underway KTVL-TV August 25, 2014 GOLD HILL, Ore. – Construction on improvements to the Gold Hill irrigation District’s Diversion Dam are underway. Crews are working to place a pipeline underground to replace nearly a century old technology. Water Watch, a non-profit organization, teamed up with the irrigation district to

Those without senior water rights left high and dry Landowners along small streams like Evans Creek are getting their irrigation water shut off based on Oregon’s water-rights law  By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune August 17, 2014 WIMER — For nearly four decades, Ed and Claudia Wagner have tended to their family orchard of about two

Basin water allocation tightens Reservoirs drawn down to their limits by Lacey Jarrell Herald & News August 6, 2014 The intense, but brief, rain events during recent thunderstorms have done little to improve the Basin’s water outlook. Marc Spilde, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Medford, said Monday night’s showers registered .12 inches