Friday, November 21, 2008

Klamath Bucket Brigade November 20, 2008 - If you follow the Klamath River about 200 miles from its ocean outlet, you will meet a 173-foot wall of cement, Iron Gate Dam. Above it are several more. If you follow the paper trail behind the dams, you will have a stack likely as tall. The newest addition: A dam removal deal between the federal government, California, Oregon and PacifiCorp, the Oregon-based multi-million dollar energy company that owns and operates four of the hydroelectric dams. If the deal makes it through a two stage process of evaluation and decommissioning, the project will be the largest dam decommissioning project in world history. Read more from yesterday's Un-dam the Klamath deal struck - Hold applause until 2012. Today's Klamath Falls Herald and News has published articles about the Walking Wetlands Program here in the Upper Klamath Basin. "Two Klamath Basin refuges are working in partnership with the Bureau of Reclamation and local irrigation districts to temporarily convert farm fields into wetlands for several years in a program called Walking Wetlands. As a wetland, the fields provide habitat for migratory birds and since the program started, the converted fields have attracted species not seen in the Basin for decades, officials say. In return, the farmland, when converted back into production, is more productive and weeds and pests are reduced or eliminated. After three seasons as a wetland, the soils qualify to be certified organic."....Go there for many more relevant links.

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