Restoration Agreement for Klamath River Basin

Restoration Agreement for Klamath River Basin



January 2008  - More than two years of 
negotiation among interest groups from farmers to fishermen to 
conservationists has produced a $400 million, 10 year restoration 
agreement for the Klamath River Basin that could put an end to at least a 
decade of wrangling over water and power management in the area. 
The deal could set the stage for a second agreement to remove four dams 
blocking salmon from their spawning grounds. 
The details of a proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement were 
released today by the Klamath Settlement Group. The group includes 
representatives from diverse Klamath Basin communities and officers from 
tribal, federal, state, and county governments that all have a stake in 
the basin. 
A program to rebuild fish populations healthy enough for sustainable 
tribal, recreational, and commercial fisheries and reliable water 
allocation to sustain the needs of the agricultural community and national 
wildlife refuges in the basin are in the agreement. 
Parties to the agreement say it could lead to removal of four dams on the 
Klamath River, but the dams' owner, billionaire Warren Buffett's 
PacifiCorp electric utility, has not signed on. 
Still, the deal includes a program to stabilize power costs in the area 
and a compensation program for counties that may be impacted if the dams 
are ever removed. 
"The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement marks a major stride forward in 
bringing peace to the Klamath River," said Brian Stranko, chief executive 
of the fishing and water quality advocacy group California Trout, one of 
the conservation groups that participated in the proposed agreement. 
"This is, however, only half of the pie. We also need success in 
negotiations with PacifiCorp to remove four mainstem dams before this 
Basin Restoration Agreement can be signed and implemented," Stranko said. 
"The two separate agreements make a non-severable package." 
Originating from Upper Klamath Lake in southern Oregon, the Klamath River 
flows 240 miles from Oregon into northern California before emptying into 
the Pacific Ocean near Klamath, California. The river drains an area of 
about 13,000 square miles. 
The Klamath Settlement Group was first formed in 2004 after PacifiCorp 
applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, for relicensing 
of five mainstem dams it currently runs on the Klamath River. 

The lower three dams block passage for salmon, steelhead and lamprey to 
over 300 of miles of spawning and rearing habitat. 
Under the federal relicensing process, parties can submit to FERC a 
preferred negotiated outcome. Negotiations with PacifiCorp on an agreement 
are still proceeding. 
"It hasn't been easy; it was a tough several years putting this proposal 
together, but I've got new found respect for all the communities involved 
from tribal to environmental and farming," said Chuck Bonham of Trout 
Unlimited. "I am also hopeful we can develop a good business deal that 
works for PacifiCorp and for the river too. We can and should do both." 
"Removing these dams makes sense," said Steve Rothert of American Rivers. 
"By releasing the proposed Basin Restoration Agreement today, we're saying 
that there is a better way, and that ongoing environmental degradation is 
no longer an option. It's time to bring disparate groups together and work 
out realistic solutions that will pave the way for a better, more 
responsible future." 
As water resources have dried, the Klamath River Basin has seen a decade 
of fierce fighting. 
In the dry year of 2001, the federal government cut back water to farmers 
and held it for endangered fish, starting a heated summer of confrontation 
that saw farmers forcing open locked water gates. 
The next year farmers got more water for irrigation, but environmentalists 
said at least 70,000 salmon died without enough water. 
By 2006, there were so few chinook salmon in the river that federal 
officials slashed the commercial fishing season, causing hardship for 
fishermen and California restaurants and diners. 
"The Klamath River was once the third greatest Pacific salmon producing 
stream in the lower 48 states," said Brian Barr of the National Center for 
Conservation Science and Policy. "Decades of degrading habitat and 
blocking fish from 300 miles of stream have caused wild salmon populations 
to drop by 90 percent. We need to build a robust future for the Klamath 
River and the communities that depend on it." 
"It's no longer just a matter of fish. It's now a human health issue," 
said Zeke Grader, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's 
Associations. "Toxic liver-damaging algae blooms and massive fish-kills 
are common day occurrences for Klamath communities." 

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