Environmental law has a major influence in the Basin

By LEE JUILLERAT

H&N Regional Editor

February 15, 2008

From left, Bruno Christensen, Trisha Lapomardo, Rob Roninger, Doug Lane , Ernie Wil liamson and Brian Peck use electrofishing gear to round up endangered suckers from the A Canal near the Homedale Road bridge in 1998.

 Environmental law, especially since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, has been and remains a major influence in the struggle over the allocation and use of water along the Klamath River . 

   The ESA legislates protection of endangered and threatened species, including fish. Klamath Basin fish are included — the Lost River and shortnose sucker were declared endangered species in 1988 and coho salmon were added to the list in 1997. 

A fish ladder on the Link River Dam. Installed in 2005, the ladder for endangered suckers is the second-flattest in the United States .

   Concerns over the fish led to the cutoff of water to Klamath Reclamation Project farmers in 2001. 

   Despite some efforts to modify or even repeal the ESA, most players agree either option is unlikely. Through the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, efforts are directed at living with the ESA. 

   A new view 

   Chuck Bonham, California director and senior attorney for Trout Unlimited, believes it’s time to view the ESA differently. Until now, he says, the struggle for limited water has been seen as either “being for fish” or “being for agriculture.” 

   “If we view it that way, it’s not surprising that we have conflict.” 

   He says a goal of the agreement is to replace “or” with “and.” 

   “We can have fish and agriculture.” 

   Long-term benefits 

   Bonham believes the agreement will allow farmers, environmentalists, fishermen and others to use the ESA as a way of devising and implementing plans to protect endangered fish species while providing better long-range benefits for farmers. 

   He says environmentalists are concerned about fish survival and agriculturalists are worried about water supplies for irrigation. He says those uncertainties can be eliminated by protecting fish. “From a healthy fishery flows less regulatory pressure.” 

   Paul Simmons, a Sacramento attorney representing the Klamath Water Users Association since 1995, believes the ESA, as evidenced by 2001 events, was a motivating factor in settlement talks and the agreement. 

   On a roller coaster 

   “Let’s face it, the Klamath Project is on an ESA roller coaster. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. If you stay on that roller coaster you don’t know what it (irrigation for agriculture) is going to look like,” Simmons says. 

   Simmons emphasizes the agreement provides no guarantees that water users won’t experience another shutoff, but points to provisions he terms as “definitely significant improvements over what we have without the agreement.”

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., tosses the second bucket of water carried by the bucket brigade from Lake Ewauna to the A Canal in 2001. The bucket reads, “Amend the ESA.”

Side Bar

The Endangered Species Act

   The Endangered Species Act, signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973, provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants, fish and animals and their habitats. 

   The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a list of more than 1,500 endangered and 300 threatened species. 

   Species include birds, insects, fish, reptiles, mammals, crustaceans, flowers, grasses and trees. 

   Anyone can petition to include a species. The law prohibits any action, administrative or real, that results in a “taking” of a listed species, or adversely affects habitat.

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