Cleaner Water
Restoring the Klamath Basin
The Klamath River Basin, which straddles the Oregon and California border, is a source of water to farmers,
tribes, endangered fish, and National Wildlife Refuges. In 2001, many farmers went bankrupt when they had
their water supplies cut off in response to drought and endangered species needs, while environmental groups
filed lawsuits to prevent the Administration from turning water supplies back on. President Bush formed a
working group, led by Commerce Secretary Evans, Interior Secretary Norton, Agriculture Secretary Veneman, and
CEQ Chairman Connaughton, to pursue a cooperative approach that has led to beneficial actions and may serve as
a blueprint elsewhere in the West. This year the Reclamation Project farmers have water, several multi-million
dollar fish habitat restoration projects are underway, and a $16 million state-of-the-art fish screen is
keeping fish out of irrigation canals. In March 2003, the Natural Resources Conservation Service made an early
release of $7 million in financial and technical assistance to the basin's producers to conserve water and
improve stream quality. Farmers have implemented key irrigation management projects that save water and have
planted 41,000 acres of cover crops on land that drought had left vulnerable to erosion. So far, commitments
to the Klamath River Basin have resulted in:
- $50 million in funding to increase water quality and quantity conservation in the Klamath River Basin
through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program;
- More than $16 million to complete the A-Canal fish screen to prevent endangered sucker from entering
irrigation canals;
- Plans for conservation systems on 19,000 acres;
- Improved irrigation water management practices on 14,500 acres;
- Improved water management practices on 3,000 acres of upland;
- Creation, restoration, or enhancement of 1,600 acres of wetlands and restoration of 5,200 acres of
wildlife habitat.
Additional initiatives in the Klamath Basin include:
- The Bureau of Reclamation is providing $5.6 million for a Pilot Water Bank program this year to pay
irrigators to fallow some of their cropland or use groundwater instead of project water to irrigate
crops.
- In 2004, the Department of the Interior is also funding improvements in the quality and quantity of
flows into Agency Lake through a partnership with the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust to lease water rights from
approximately 11,000 acres of irrigated pasture, which provides water for instream flows and Agency
Lake.
- Reclamation is providing funding to the Yurok Tribe for a study of adult spring run chinook salmon and
other fishery-related investigations, and funding to the Klamath Tribes for monitoring long-term nutrient
loading in Upper Klamath Lake to benefit Endangered Species Act-listed species.
- Funds in the President's FY 2005 budget will pay to remove Chiloquin Dam, a dam on the Sprague River
that substantially blocks access to about 70 miles of spawning habitat for endangered fish from Upper Klamath
Lake.
- Reclamation expects to complete a new fish ladder on the west side of Link River Dam in 2005. The
ladder, now under construction, will replace an existing fish ladder that works poorly and will improve fish
passage, especially for endangered fish, from the Klamath River system to Upper Klamath Lake. The President's
FY 2005 budget provides more than $100 million for the Klamath Basin.
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