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Klamath Tribes to sue federal government over 2022 irrigation project allocation


Dried-out Alfalfa crop in Malin. (Christina Giardinelli/KTVL)
Dried-out Alfalfa crop in Malin. (Christina Giardinelli/KTVL)
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The Klamath Tribes announced Wednesday, May 11 their plan to sue the Federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), saying the federal government's decision to allocate water to the Klamath Basin Irrigation Project violates the Endangered Species Act and their obligation to protect endangered fish in the Upper Klamath Lake.

"It was not an easy decision it was something we did reluctantly, we are not a rich tribe and legal fights are expensive but we really saw that we had no choice," said the tribe's newly elected chairman, Clayton Dumont during an interview on Thursday. "The Endangered Species Act is being violated repeatedly by the Bureau of Reclamation decisions, our fish populations continue to decline precipitously."

The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), which manages the Upper Klamath Lake and its outflows, announced on April 11that they will allow 50,000 acre-feet to flow from the lake through the A canal to Klamath Basin irrigators this year. BOR cited data from the National Resource Conservation Service predicting inflows into the Upper Klamath Lake and water-level recommendations from the United States Fish and Wildlife Services.

Originally part of Lake Modoc, Upper Klamath was 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 the Klamath, 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 negatively impact the endangered species.

Dumont said the BOR has allowed lake levels to drop below the level of survivability for the fish and under what the USFWS has recommended in its last (2020) biological opinion.

"The Bureau of Reclamation really has failed to meet their own biological opinions, we did do a little better last year we were happy that they (BOR) left water in the lake longer," Dumont said. "This year again we are not meeting the spawning minimums and they (BOR) have no plans, it doesn't appear, to meet the later in the year, July 15th minimums. They are calling it (the lake minimums listed in the biological opinion) an objective and we just don't have faith in them that they will actually meet that objective."

He noted that the Tribes were in talks with some of the Klamath Water Users but said those efforts ceased after the decision was made by the project users to charge the A canal (release of some water to prepare the canal for irrigation by sealing dry ground cracks),

The BOR addressed those releases in its 2022 Annual Plan for the basin noting that the estimated amount of water needed to charge the canal would be 644 acre-feet and that the amount would be considered part of the project's supply for the year.

"No Project supply was available in 2021, therefore selected canals are being charged slowly before irrigation diversions occurs," the plan notes. "The longer charging period (March 1-Aprl15) is allowing for additional monitoring to ensure canals remain in safe operating condition."

Last year, the BOR decided not to distribute water from the Upper Klamath Lake, prompting a positive response from the Klamath Tribes and disappointment from the farmers expecting to receive water to irrigate their crops. A far-right group with ties to Ammon Bundy posted a demonstration near the Klamath Project's headgates, but the Klamath Water Users organization officially declined to participate in the far-right group's demonstration.

“The Klamath Basin is experiencing prolonged and extreme drought conditions that we have not seen since the 1930s,” Reclamation Acting Commissioner David Palumbo said in a statement released on April 11 announcing the annual project water allocation. “We will continue to monitor the hydrology and adaptively manage conditions in close coordination with Project water users, Tribes and state and federal agency partners. Reclamation is dedicated to collaborating with all stakeholders to get through another difficult year and keep working toward long-term solutions for the Basin.”

Dumont said the hope is that the legal action will prompt the BOR to reconsider its basin distributions.

"We'd like for the federal government to obey the endangered species act, that is what we would really like. We are trying to save our fish," he said. "We are at the end, we certainly don't wish harm on anyone we would like everyone to be able to make a living but it's important for people the understand that the Klamath Tribes have been without this food staple for decades."

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