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This Website is Dedicated to
Alvin Alexander Cheyne
January
10, 1921 - June 17, 2005
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Welcome to the Klamath Bucket Brigade's
Internet Home
Thank You For Visiting!
The Klamath Bucket Brigade is adamantly
opposed to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and
to the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement as
they are currently constituted. The agreements represent
a minority of special interest groups and spreads the
cost to every U.S. taxpayer. The Klamath Bucket Brigade
Board of Trustees will support an agreement backed by a
majority of the residents of the entire Klamath River
Basin and that assures all property and water rights are
protected.
Read our
Position Paper on the
Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement
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Our Mission
Statement:
Promote individual and property
rights that are vital to the safety, social and economic
well-being of the
United States.
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What's
In The News:
January 27,
2012 -
Justice Blacksun, a member of the Klamath Tribes’
Forest Warriors, a crew that works on restoration projects
around the region and earlier this month, the crew was clearing
invasive trees from the Sycan Marsh, north of Bly.
The Forest Warriors program was
established in 2010 to create a tribal workforce for restoration and
forest management projects. It provides job training and employment
in a community where both are hard to come by. The crew works on a
contractual basis, performing restoration work for private
landowners, public agencies and environmental groups. The project at
the Sycan Marsh is a partnership between the Forest Warriors; the
Nature Conservancy, which manages a 30,000-acre
preserve there; and Lomakatsi Restoration Project,
an Ashland nonprofit that develops and oversees restoration
projects. Read more from yesterday's Klamath Falls
Herald and News article
Forest Warriors - Tribal
group conducts restoration projects, gets on-the-job training.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
January 25,
2012 -
The Interior Department yesterday
published a draft report summarizing two years of scientific and
technical studies conducted to help inform the Secretary of
the Interior on a forthcoming decision on whether to remove
four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, per the
Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA) of 2010.
The comprehensive draft report, entitled Klamath Dam
Removal Overview Report for the Secretary of the Interior: an
Assessment of Science and Technical Information (Overview Report),
and each individual study conducted on the environmental and
economic impacts of the potential dam removal, are available at
www.KlamathRestoration.gov.
The draft report presents in plain language a
summary of dozens of peer-reviewed reports that have been prepared
by the federal government and made public as part of the effort to
fill important data gaps prior to a Secretarial
Determination. Read more from Interior's Press
Release
Interior Issues Draft Overview Report
on Klamath Dam Removal Studies.
Removing
four Klamath River dams would provide $14 billion in short-
and long-term economic benefits, according to a draft economic
analysis released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of the
Interior. The
study estimates the low-range net economic benefit of $14.1 billion
over a 50-year period, even with losses that would result from the
elimination of hydropower, white water boating and other
recreational activities. Public input on the report will be
taken through Feb. 4. Copies are available online.
“Klamath Dam Removal
Overview Report for the Secretary of the Interior: An Assessment of
Science and Technical Information” was prepared as part of
an ongoing process to provide Secretary of the Interior Ken
Salazar with information on whether to recommend removal of
four Klamath River hydroelectric dams. A recommendation is expected
this spring. Read more from today's Klamath Falls
Herald and News article
Klamath River Dam Removal -
Economic benefit at least $14 billion.

A draft report
released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of the Interior
says a landmark agreement to remove dams in the Klamath Basin will
restore salmon and sustain irrigation for farmers in
Southern Oregon and Northern California. The findings seem
to support a bill recently introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkeley,
D-Oregon, and North Coast Congressman Mike
Thompson, D-St. Helena, that would authorize the Interior
Department to decide whether to remove the four Klamath River dams.
Thompson issued a statement on Tuesday urging his colleagues
in Congress to act on the bill, which dam-removal
proponents claim is being held hostage by the partisan rancor that
is enveloping the Capitol. ”The synthesis of studies released today
scientifically confirms that the agreements in place represent the
best way forward for the Klamath River Basin and its communities,”
Thompson said in the release. “Years of scientific and technical
studies have concluded that the dam removals will not only benefit
our river basin by restoring fish and wildlife habitats, it will
strengthen our economy by creating thousands of jobs. The time for
Congress to act is now.” Read more from today's
Times-Standard article
Klamath draft report
released; Thompson: 'The time for Congress to act is now'.
A series of
winter storm systems swept through the Northwest last week, dumping
snow and rain on the Klamath Basin. But the area
will need a lot more precipitation before spring, forecasters say,
to pull out of a deficit that has irrigators concerned. “This last
storm was putting things in the right direction, but we’re still a
long ways from even average,” said Greg Addington, executive
director of the Klamath Water Users Association.
Conditions affecting water usage this year could leave irrigators
“no room for error,” he said. Irrigators have no water reserves.
Additionally, government requirements on river flow and lake levels
mean irrigators are the last to see water. Read more from today's
Klamath Falls Herald and News
article
Precipitation levels leave
irrigators ‘no room for error’ - Recent storm systems turn snowpack
in right direction.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
January 23,
2012 -
The saying goes,
whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting. For
more than 35 years water stakeholders in the Klamath Basin
have been fighting for water in court as part of Klamath
Basin Adjudication. Tens of millions of dollars, 730 water
claims, 5,600 contests to those claims, and 724 settlements later,
the Basin is nearing a landmark: at the end of the year, a judge
likely will give a final order of determination, establishing water
rights for permit holders and for the first time giving the
Oregon Water Resources Department the authority to regulate
Basin water. Representatives from the Oregon Water
Resources Department, the Klamath Tribes,
Upper Klamath Water Users, and Klamath Reclamation Project
contestants on Thursday gave their perspectives on the adjudication
process. The talk was the first of PROSPER’s
Klamath Conversations speaker series. Upper Basin
contestants who were affected by the most recent adjudication in
December declined to offer a representative, organizers said. Read
more from Sunday's Klamath Falls Herald and News
article
PROSPER water talks - 35-year
adjudication process nearing end.
The past week's
Klamath River Basin USGS Flow Graphs
are posted and showing the weeks winter
weather. The Williamson River flow this morning is at 773
cubic feet per second (cfs). Upper Klamath Lake elevation
come up to 4,140.72', from 4,140.38' last week. Flows through
Link River rose to 650 cfs on Thursday and
were dropped to 540 cfs today. Releases from the Keno Dam jumped
to 1,000 cfs last Thursday, dropped to 800 cfs late Friday night,
jumped back up to over 1,000 cfs Saturday morning and dropped to 905
cfs this morning. The Klamath River below Iron Gate
Dam jumped to 1,800 cfs early Wednesday morning and slowly
dropped back down to 1,160 cfs today. The Scott River rose
to 2,500 cfs Saturday and has since dropped to 629 cfs. The
Salmon River gauge rose to near 6,700 cfs Saturday and has since
dropped to 3,210 cfs. The Trinity River gauge is showing a
jump to nearly 25,000 cfs Saturday and has since dropped to 9,120
cfs. The Klamath River at the mouth gauge is showing all the
extra water coming from up-river: over 70,000 cfs early Friday
morning, another jump Saturday to 90,000 cfs and a slow drop to
41,400 cfs this morning.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading
January 20,
2012 -
Construction of a
hydroelectric project in the Klamath
Irrigation District’s C Canal is on schedule and the
facility should be online by irrigation season.
Most of the facility’s concrete
has been poured and its generator should arrive from China early
next month, said KID manager Mark Stuntebeck.
The project — a small dam and
generator
in the irrigation canal — is
expected to produce about 3,000 megawatt -hours of power a year,
Stuntebeck said. That’s enough to power about 113 homes a year. The
plant should be generating electricity by April. Read more from
yesterday's Klamath Falls
Herald and
News article
Hydroelectric project on
schedule for April finish - KID’s C Canal project will sell power to
grid.
If there’s one accomplishment President Obama
can take credit for during his first term in office, it’s
expanding the size and reach of the federal government.
While this may be good for government bureaucrats, the policies
and regulations imposed by the Obama Administration are hurting
American businesses and impeding economic recovery. Instead of
focusing on creating new jobs, the administration has instead
allowed the federal government to insert itself in places it’s
never been and doesn’t belong. One prime example of this, which
has largely flown under the radar, is the President’s new plan
to zone and regulate our oceans. Done unilaterally through
Executive Order, the President’s National Ocean Policy
will change how all federal agencies regulate activities
impacting the ocean and Great Lake ecosystems. Without clear
statutory authority, it sets up a new level of top-down federal
bureaucracy with authority over the way inland, ocean and
coastal activities are managed. Read more of
House Natural Resources Committee
Chairman Doc Hastings
Guest Opinion: Ocean
policy reaches far beyond the sea.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
January 18,
2012 -
Agriculture holds the most senior water rights in the West
and is considered a likely source of water to meet growing municipal
and environmental demands. Unfortunately, severing water from
agricultural land makes the land less productive. Period. Policy
makers should be wary of putting additional emphasis on agricultural
water transfers, particularly in the context of growing domestic and
global food security and scarcity concerns. Read more from
Dan Keppen's, Family Farm Alliance Executive Director
Guest Opinion: The global
food reality in
today's Yreka
Siskiyou Daily News.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
January 16,
2012 -
At this week’s Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors
meeting, staff of the Five County Salmonid Conservation
Program (5C) will present the results of their most recent
reassessment of changes in county policies and procedures and the
impacts they have had on salmonid protection, management and
habitat conditions. The 5C program began in 1997 when the
counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Siskiyou and
Trinity agreed to collaborate on a proactive response to
the ESA listing of coho salmon as
a threatened species. Read more from today's Yreka
Siskiyou Daily News article Supervisors
to hear from 5C program staff.
The past week's
Klamath River Basin USGS Flow Graphs
are posted and showing a dramatic change
from the last few weeks. The Williamson River flow this
morning is at 585 cubic feet per second (cfs). Upper Klamath Lake
elevation come up to 4,140.35'. Flows through Link River
have been dropped to 473 cfs . Releases from the Keno
Dam dropped to 715 cfs last Monday afternoon and have stayed
near that mark all week. The Klamath River below Iron
Gate Dam is at 1,030 cfs. The Scott River has
dropped to 111 cfs. The Salmon River gauge dropped to 422
cfs. The Trinity River gauge has dropped to 971 cfs today.
The Klamath River at the mouth gauge has dropped to 4,750 cfs
this morning.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
January 13, 2012
- Because of a drier than usual December, the
Klamath River is being choked down to below bare minimum
flows causing a stir amongst salmon advocates who say the reduction
poses a serious threat to coho. A recently revised
Klamath Project Winter Operations Plan has less
water flowing down the river allowing more to build up in Upper
Klamath Lake to meet the irrigation demands expected this coming
growing season.A month in the making, the revised plan drops flows
below the minimum allowed under the National Marine
Services’ (NMFS) 2010 biological opinion intended to
protect coho salmon in the Klamath River. But, ironically NMFS
approved the plan proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) using
a clause of the biological opinion that allows a technical work
group to be convened to make changes. Read more from Wednesday's
Two Rivers Tribune article
Klamath River Flow Cut Back to Fill
Upper Klamath Lake.
As
winter continues with little snow falling in the region,
Klamath Basin irrigators are looking to groundwater wells
to supply water for their crops this growing season.
Local agencies have developed a
plan that calls for well owners to pump 40,000 acre-feet of water —
about 12 percent of the Klamath Reclamation Project’s
annual supply — to offset a potential lack of surface water.
Under the 2012
Groundwater Pumping Program, the Bureau of
Reclamation will pay irrigators to pump groundwater into
irrigation canals or onto their fields, if needed. Read more from yesterday's Klamath Falls
Herald and
News article
Planning for the worst winter
- Groundwater program begins signing up well owners for 2012 growing
season.
As of Jan. 10,
Pacific Power customers in Northern California
will begin seeing the company’s new dam removal surcharge on their
bills, a press release from the utility company announced. “The
California Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
notified the company on Jan. 3 that the trust accounts to receive
the Klamath dam removal surcharge proceeds from
Pacific Power’s approximately 45,000 customers in Northern
California have been established,” the release began. Read more
from today's Yreka
Siskiyou Daily
News article
Klamath dams: Surcharge
rolled out.
Articles Posted Today:
Klamath River Basin Issues:
PNW Salmon News:
Important Reading:
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