[env-trinity] Times Standard-Reclamation touts broad, changing Klamath plan

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~1993663,00.html

Reclamation touts broad, changing Klamath plan 
By John Driscoll The Times-Standard 


EUREKA -- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday aired an increasingly ambitious plan before county supervisors for coordinating restoration efforts in the Klamath Basin. 

It marked the first time in recent memory a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation representative from Klamath Falls, Ore., has spoken before the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. 

The Klamath Basin Conservation Implementation Program, first envisioned to involve only a handful of participants, is evolving into one that takes in anyone who wants to be a part of it, said bureau environmental specialist Dan Fritz. 

Existing councils, task forces and private groups would be involved, with the program coordinating efforts between the diverse elements. 

Fritz said the plan would work between the upper and lower basins, which are often in conflict. 

"There seems to be something of a wall that exists between the upper and lower basins," Fritz said. 

The purpose of the program is to recover suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and coho salmon in the lower river, while allowing water for irrigation and contributions to tribal trust responsibilities. 

First modeled on a program on the upper Colorado River, it initially focused only on recovering endangered fish, Fritz said. But comments to the bureau convinced it that the model was not appropriate. Species of concern, like chinook salmon, were added, and the program is conceived to later be expanded to include recovery of the entire Klamath ecosystem. 

How long that might take, Fritz couldn't say. There is no specific funding available for the program in President Bush's 2005 budget, though the bureau is providing seed money to start the program, he said. 

If enough people get on board, it will likely leverage funding in the future, he said. 

First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith called for meetings to take place locally while the program is still in draft form. 

Conflict between the upper and lower Klamath River communities came to a head in 2001, when the bureau shut off water to many irrigators on the California-Oregon border, after federal fisheries biologists said the water was needed for salmon. The next year, the bureau provided full irrigation deliveries and 34,000 salmon died on the lower river. 

The National Research Council reviewed the crisis and recommended vast efforts to restore the ecological and economic uses of the basin. 

Local river advocate Denver Nelson told Fritz it was good that he made the trip to Humboldt County, and said he understands that the bureau is caught in the middle of the struggle. 

"You may still be the villain," Nelson said of the bureau, "but you're improving your image."

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