[env-trinity] 2 Articles from Times Standard on Klamath Conservation Implementation Program

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.times-standard.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,127%257E2896%257E2383878,00.html 

Klamath program to be aired before public 

Monday, September 06, 2004 - 

The Times-Standard 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will tap five communities in the Klamath River basin in the coming 
months, trying to find some consensus in an effort to put in place an ambitious federal plan. 

The Conservation Implementation Program is fashioned after one on the Colorado River, and aims to 
restore the Klamath's ecosystem and recovery of endangered suckers and threatened coho salmon. 
The bureau said the plan will also help meet tribal trust obligations -- including improvement of 
chinook salmon stocks -- and allow continued irrigation. 

Finding consensus on the Klamath River is not unlike finding water on the moon, however. Long a 
watershed used by diverse and sometimes conflicting interests, the river system became a lightning 
rod in 2001, when Reclamation shut off water to upstream farms to protect salmon and suckers. The 
next year, Reclamation delivered full irrigation supplies to farms, and up to 68,000 salmon died in 
the river. 

Both events created an uproar and generated major political interest in the river, which was once the 
third largest salmon producer on the West Coast. Dams, logging, fishing and other activities also 
affect the Klamath. 

Taking a page from the contentious Colorado River struggle, the bureau earlier this year released a 
draft plan for the Klamath's recovery. If there is any consensus, it's that most agree the Klamath's 
complicated problems will never be solved unless the basin is considered in its entirety. 

Five meetings will be held to garner ideas from various parts of the basin. 

* Sept. 16 at the Miner's Inn, 122 East Miner St. in Yreka. 

* Sept. 29 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata. 

* Sept. 30 at the Klamath Community Center in Klamath. 

* Oct. 21 at Chiloquin Auditorium, 501 Chiloquin Blvd. in Chiloquin, Ore. 

* Oct. 22 at the Klamath County Fairgrounds, 3531 South Sixth St., Klamath Falls, Ore. 

All meetings are from 6 to 9 p.m. 

The draft conservation plan can be found online at 
www.usbr.gov/mp/kbao/docs/CIP-ProgramDoc.pdf or by calling 541-883-6935. 

Written comments should be sent to Christine Karas, Deputy Area Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Klamath Basin Area Office, 6600 Washburn Way, Klamath Falls, Ore., 97603. 

                . . . . . . . . . . 

2) Humboldt Supes discuss Klamath Tuesday 

http://www.times-standard.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,127%257E2896%257E2383880,00.html 

Eureka Times-Standard 

Supervisors to hear a proposed 'solution' to Klamath water woes 
By James Tressler The Times-Standard 

Monday, September 06, 2004 - 

EUREKA -- Humboldt County supervisors Tuesday will revisit the ongoing struggle over water use on 
the Klamath River. 

John Elliot, chairman of the Klamath County Board of Commissioners, is expected to brief the 
supervisors on an idea to develop a water storage project at Long Lake Valley, located near the Upper 
Klamath Basin. 

According to the Klamath board's report, the project could store 350,000 acre-feet of water annually 
without the construction of a dam. The Long Lake project, if it ever happens, could also provide 
capability to deliver colder water to the river on demand with little adverse environmental effects, 
thus stabilizing flows on the Klamath lake and river. 

"This project may have the potential to be a significant part of the overall solution for water issues in 
the Klamath Basin," the report concludes. "However, for that to be determined, the project needs to 
be studied at a sufficient level of detail." 

According to the report, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation studied such a proposal in the 1980s, but 
their findings on whether such a project would stabilize the basin were inconclusive and called for 
more study. 

Klamath tribes, the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors are among 
some 25 agencies and groups that have supported embarking on further studies. 

The board meets at 9 a.m. in the supervisors' chambers at the county courthouse. Elliot's 
presentation is scheduled for 10 a.m. 
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