Farmers, fish advocates, tribes and government officials are headed to federal court in California on Wednesday to argue who will get water — and when — in the Klamath Basin. Federal dam operators are asking to open the irrigation season next week in lieu of holding back water to benefit fish. In recent years, salmon in the Klamath River have suffered from high rates of disease. Warm water and low flows on the dam-controlled river helped a parasite ravage juvenile fish at rates far higher than federal protections allow. Klamath coho salmon are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The biological opinion that governs how they are managed says disease rates cannot top 50 percent. But infection rates ballooned to more than 80 percent of fish in both 2014 and 2015. Local tribes blamed the Bureau of Reclamation,which is required to manage water in a way to keep disease rates in check. Local tribes and fish advocates sued. In 2017, a judge ordered federal dam operators to hold back a large chunk of water in Upper Klamath Lake through late spring in case the parasite concentrations once again got too high and needed to be diluted downstream. But that, along with requirements to keep a certain amount of water in Upper Klamath Lake to protect endangered sucker fish, means basin farmers can’t get irrigation water until early summer. “It really puts our backs against the wall to where we’re not even able to start. And really, there should be water in the canals by now,” said Scott White of the Klamath Water Users Association. Irrigator concerns are heightened this year because of the coming tight water year.Snowpack is at 45 percent of average for the Klamath Basin...MORE
3 comments:
That is what happens when irrigation water is not allocated to the land which is farmed by state law. Every one wants the water even though beneficial use is not in the definition for their particular use. Even if irrigation water is in the state statutes keeping it is getting more and more risky since state legislatures are increasingly made up of "out of staters".
It is a warning to all of the people working in agriculture to get off the sofa, turn off the TV and start running for office or you will be looking for a job washing windows. The new crowd doesn't care that their last meal was raised by a farmer or rancher. They only want what they want and they want your water!
And yet... I dragged my feet again and let another good deal slip away on a ranch ...due to my concern about the possibility of the Klamath dam being torn down.
Complacency... if farmers & ranchers don't resonate with each other better ...how can we expect to resonate with the urban consumers and politicians?
Post a Comment