Klamath Basin
To restore the Everglades of the West, WaterWatch advocates to bring the demand for water back into balance with what nature can provide for the fish, wildlife, and people who depend on the Klamath’s aquatic resources.
The Klamath Basin has been called the Everglades of the West. Six spectacular Wildlife Refuges dot the basin. Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds rely on the basin wetlands. Large numbers of bald eagles forage in the basin in the winter.
Historically, the Klamath Basin supported:
- Massive concentrations of waterfowl, quite possibly the largest on the planet
- The third-largest salmon runs in the Western United States (behind only the Columbia and Sacramento rivers)
- Large populations of unique sucker fish found nowhere else
Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
Klamath River
Klamath salmon runs support tribal, commercial, and recreational fishing communities.
Unfortunately, large water withdrawals for irrigation, a series of dams on the Klamath river, commercial agriculture on the National Wildlife Refuges, and the loss of basin wetlands have seriously depleted these tremendous resources. Despite the loss of habitat, the Klamath offers perhaps the best opportunity on the West Coast to restore a major river basin.
To restore the Klamath, WaterWatch is working to:
- Bring demand for water back into balance with what nature can provide
- Assure sufficient water for fish, wildlife, wetlands and the National Wildlife Refuges in the basin
- Phase out commercial farming on 22,000 acres of Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges
- Remove PacifiCorp's four lower hydropower dams on the Klamath River
- Increase legal compliance and agency accountability on water allocation and other management decisions that affect aquatic habitat
Ongoing Work
Dam Removal
On the Klamath, a surprising win for river advocates, High Country News, February 5, 2016. Dam removals on the Oregon-California border move forward withour expensive and lopsided water deals for irrigators.
WaterWatch Welcomes Advance of Klamath Dam Removal, February 2, 2016. Oregon and California's elected leaders and the Obama Administration have prioritized the agreement to remove the four lower Klamath River dams. The long delayed restoration effort will no longer be held hostage to a failed water agreement in Congress.
WaterWatch Guest Opinion: A realistic path forward for the Klamath Basin, Bend Bulletin, December 27, 2015
WaterWatch Comments on Klamath Facilities Removal Draft Environmental Impact Statement, December 29, 2011
Water Settlement Agreements & Legislation
WaterWatch Guest Opinion: Senators put pork before Klamath Basin water, Register-Guard, February 27, 2016
WaterWatch Guest Opinion: It’s Time to Acknowledge KBRA Isn’t a Solution, Two Rivers Tribune, July 28, 2015
WaterWatch Guest Opinion: ‘Make-believe water’ bill would be disaster for Klamath, Register-Guard, July 11, 2015
WaterWatch Guest Opinion: Klamath Basin proposal is bad for taxpayers, Oregonian, December 6, 2014
WaterWatch Op-Ed: Questions persist despite Klamath agreements, Statesman Journal, November 29, 2014
WaterWatch’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources June 20, 2013 hearing on water resources issues in the Klamath River Basin.Watch the hearing here.
Klamath Irrigation Pumping Subsidy
Oregon Public Utility Commission Orders, UE 170 & 171:
Transitional Rates Established for Klamath Basin Irrigators, April 6, 2006
Rate Standard Established, November 8, 2005
Motion for Summary Judgment Dismissed, June 6, 2005
Reports:
Energy Pricing and Irrigated Agriculture in the Upper Klamath Basin, Dr. William Jaeger, Oregon State University, 2004
Hydrology, Groundwater, & Water Management
OWRD’s Klamath River Basin Adjudication Webpage
WaterWatch’s comments on draft rules for regulation of groundwater in the Klamath Off-Project area (OAR 690-25-0010), March 2, 2015
Ground-Water Hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin, Oregon and California, USGS, April 2010
Assessment of the Klamath Project Pilot Water Bank: A Review from a Hydrologic Perspective, USGS, 2005
National Wildlife Refuges
Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge by Brett Cole
Klamath Advocates Go To Court Over Wildlife Mismanagement, January 18, 2017
WaterWatch and our conservation allies have filed litigation in federal court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failure to follow federal law in the creation of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
WaterWatch, allies request emergency water for parched Klamath Basin wetlands, October 13, 2016
Seventeen organizations ask Interior Secretary Jewell to deliver the water that Lower Klamath National National Wildlife Refuge is legally entitled to in order to support fall migration on the Pacific Flyway, and reduce the risk of lethal disease outbreaks.
Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Dept. of Interior’s Audit of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Water User Mitigation Program, October 11, 2016
Report finds $32 million in taxpayer funds intended to boost water supplies for Klamath fish and wildlife instead went primarily to irrigators.
WaterWatch and Portland Audubon Guest Opinion: Wyden legislation is not what the Klamath refuges need, Oregonian, June 27, 2015
Judge Affirms Ruling Favoring Wildlife on Klamath Refuges, April 16, 2015
In a victory for the Klamath’s migratory waterfowl and other wildlife, a U.S. District Judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to complete the long overdue “Comprehensive Conservation Plan” for Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges. These plans require the USFWS to ensure commercial activities on refuge lands do not harm wildlife.
Opportunities for Improving Water Supply Reliability for Wildlife Habitat on the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges, May 2014
GOLDINWATER Consulting report, commissioned by WaterWatch
WaterWatch comments on Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex Comprehensive Conservation Plan, May 11, 2010
Refuges in Peril: Fish, Wildlife, and the Klamath Water Crisis, April 2004
Joint report by WaterWatch, The Wilderness Society, Oregon Wild, and Earthjustice