Well-known Idaho official benefited water users across the West

Patricia R. McCoy
Capital Press
June 13, 2008

Idahoans, Pacific Northwesterners and water users across the West lost a true friend last week. John W. Keys III died May 30 when the Cessna 172 he was flying crashed in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah. He was piloting a scenic flight for a local aviation company at the time.

Keys, 66, worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for 39 years. He served in Boise, Idaho for 18 of those years, 12 as director of the Pacific Northwest Region. He retired first in 1998, but was called back three years later to become commissioner of the entire bureau. He served from 2001 to 2006.

Kindness, honesty and integrity are three words that spring most readily to mind whenever anyone spoke of John Keys.

"John was a good friend. I worked with him on a number of issues," said Sherl Chapman, retired executive of the Idaho Water Users Association. "Sometimes we agreed, and at other times we disagreed, but he was one of the few government officials with whom anyone could sit down, talk through differences, and come to reasonable, equitable compromises.

"He was always honest, candid and had more integrity than just about anybody I know," Chapman said. "He was one of the finest people I knew. He had such a zest for life. Everything he did he enjoyed, and he was always interested in new horizons and trying new things, from flying to kayaking or whatever. He was just a fine man. His work ethic and integrity will be missed by all of us."

Keys was a great asset to the water community of Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. His influence will be missed, said Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg.

Raybould knew Keys well while serving on the Committee of Nine for a number of years. The committee is an advisory board to the water master in Water District 01, which covers the Snake River and its tributaries from Ashton in Eastern Idaho to Milner Dam at Twin Falls.

"John helped us solve a number of problems. One involved the Henry's Lake Reservoir when the Nature Conservancy wanted water flows for fish and other species. John went to bat to provide those flows and replace irrigation water from other sources. He was willing to work with water users, see their problems and do all he could to resolve them," Raybould said. "I especially remember the farewell party we had for him in Boise in 1998 when he retired as regional director. Water users came from all over the state. When he was appointed commissioner over the entire bureau, we were all very happy to have a friend like that working for us in Washington, D.C."

"I knew John Keys for many years. I went fishing with him, and floated the Middle Fork of the Boise River with him. He was at the oars, while I was up front getting dowsed," said Cecil Andrus, former Idaho governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior during the Carter Administration.

"Professionally, John had very few peers. He was without question one of the icons of western water. He understood the resource, the demand for it, and was unique in that he had vision to know it was going to become more and more scarce and sacred," Andrus said.

"He conducted himself accordingly. He was also a champion at reconciling different opinions. He didn't agree with them all, but he never lost his temper. John was a gentleman at all times, able to sit down with combatants on all sides and come up with a resolution," he said. "Besides all of that, he was just a nice, nice man."

Ray Rigby, a former state senator and prominent Idaho water attorney, worked with Keys on several issues.

"I had several unique opportunities to know and work with John Keys," Rigby said.

"Together we developed a water exchange agreement with the directors of the Henry's Lake Reservoir that John used as a model across America. We also established a reasonable level of participation by water users of the Upper Snake River Basin in augmenting the flow of the rivers for flushing salmon and steelhead down river.

"John firmly represented Reclamation, but realistically negotiated with us, not as a Washington bureaucrat but as one of us, with a genuine desire to be fair to all concerned. He became a wonderful friend and the nation has lost a true and loyal patriot," the attorney said. "I send my heartfelt condolences to his wife and family."

Speaking personally, I echo all those comments. Newspaper reporters come in contact with a lot of VIPs. Some are fun and friendly, others less so, depending on the issues of the day. We quickly grow cynical.

John W. Keys III stood out from the crowd.

I first interviewed Keys early in my career with the Capital Press, while he was regional director. I wasn't new to journalism, but I was very new to agriculture and irrigation issues. John, as he was known to everyone, took the time I needed to make sure I understood what I was trying to write about, smiled when I apologetically asked what I knew were some rather dumb questions, and patiently helped educate me along the way.

As commissioner, Keys visited Boise several times, most often for Idaho Water Users Association conventions. Agency staffers helped arrange press availabilities for him, and he cheerfully sat down with me each time, ready to talk about whatever issue was foremost in the water-user community.

The last time I talked to him was in March, 2006, scarcely a month before his final retirement that April 14.

In his own words, he became commissioner at a time when Reclamation was drifting, facing pressures to do a lot of things peripheral to its original mission.

When he retired, he left an agency refocused on its primary mission: to deliver water and generate power while still accommodating the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and all the other laws and regulations.

He became commissioner just after the decision was made to cut off irrigation water in Klamath Basin.

"My first assignment was to somehow find enough water to go around and get some back on the land," Keys told me. "We found about 75,000 acre feet for the irrigators that year."

Former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton next called Keys and an assistant secretary to her office to ask where else in the United States conditions might lead to similar problems. Together, they put together a map showing a number of hot spots. Most were areas where exploding municipal populations foreshadowed potential water supply problems.

Out of that grew Water 2025, which Keys regarded as one of his main accomplishments.

The program is a source of challenge grants for projects helping to fuel water conservation.

"The goal is to help irrigators conserve and find mechanisms to make water available for new needs while still protecting base irrigation water rights," he said.

In the Klamath Basin, it resulted in setting aside 100,000 acre feet of water every year for threatened and endangered species while still delivering irrigation water to area landowners.

Water 2025 also saw a new dam built in Southwest Colorado, completion of a quantification settlement agreement for the Colorado River, and storage studies under the California Bay Delta Protection Program.

Keys wanted to do more; he had his share of disappointments. Even so, he told me, he had a wife and grandchildren in the West he wanted to get back to: "It's time to go home," he said. He's truly home now. Farewell, John. We'll miss you.

Staff writer Pat McCoy is based in Boise. E-mail: pmccoy@capitalpress.com.　

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material　 herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed　 a　 prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and　 educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml