Bureau of Reclamation talks lake levels and water partitioning ahead of April announcement

KLAMATH COUNTY, Ore. — The Bureau of Reclamation which has managed the Klamath Basin Water project since it built infrastructure for the irrigation district in 1902, provided an outlook on upper Klamath Lake Levels ahead of a projected announcement (scheduled for April 11) on water partitioning.

"Our water year which runs from October 1 of last year through Sept 30th of this year, the inflows during that period to upper Klamath Lake thus far are the driest in our record," said Brian Person, the federal agency's Klamath Basin advisor. "2020 in combination with 21 and 22 represented three of the driest years in a six-year coupling of the hydrological record."

The basin's irrigators, tribes, environmentalists and state agencies have been battling over the water rights of the upper Klamath Lake for decades now.

Originally part of Lake Modoc, Upper Klamath was originally connected to Lower Klamath, and Tule Lake along with other wetlands in the Klamath Basin. As the last remaining part of the water system, the lake is now the only natural environment for Lost River and Shortnose suckerfish, known to the Klamath tribes as the C'waam and Koptu (respectively).

Both fish are listed as endangered as are the Coho salmon that inhabit the downstream Klamath River, provide sustenance and are of cultural significance to Yurok, Karuk and Hoopa tribes. The Endangered Species Act requires the Bureau of Reclamation to manage the water in such a way that does not result in the further fatality of the endangered species.

The changing climate coupled with drought conditions in the basin have caused the bureau to partition less and less water to irrigators in the district in order to maintain the lake's water levels for the C'waam, Koptu and Coho downstream. The levels are determined by biological opinions issued by the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. The last one was published in 2020.

Last year was the first year that saw the A Canal, which irrigates some 130,000 acres of farmland, completely shut down and this year is not looking much better. When asked why the bureau did not provide an official answer to farmers sooner rather than later, Person noted that the bureau does give updates about the hydrology of the basin and the lake's levels to farmers once a month starting in February so that they can plan adequately.

"We are working on a methodology where we continue to evaluate and track inflows compared to our forecast, we take at biological opinions--both of them (for suckerfish and Coho)--and then also methodology for determining if there is a project (irrigation district) water supply," Person said.

He noted that though the drought conditions are not showing any signs of improvement, dam removal projects that have taken place along the Klamath River may help alleviate some stress on the amount of water partitioned from Upper Klamath Lake to the downstream Coho salmon.

"We are confident that after dam removal, that after the river has had an opportunity for several years to reach biological geomorphological equilibrium and the habitat is restored and water quality is improved and access to fish habitat is improved it will reduce--not eliminate--the diseases that are the primary driver for these releases (downstream)," Person said.

There are also other efforts in place to restore the riparian habitat of the lake's tributaries by bringing surrounding ranches into compliance with agricultural standards such as grazing distances from river banks.

Note: A previous version of this article referred to Upper Klamath Lake as "man-made." Because that descriptive terminology discounts a larger history and context that is relevant to the water rights issues in the basin, the term has since been removed and more context on the history of upper Klamath Lake has been added. We apologize for the oversight.