The Upper Klamath Water
Users Association will now sit at
the table with other groups,
including the Off-Project Water
Users, Klamath Tribes and Klamath
Water Users Association and have a
vote in decisions.
Those representing the
Tribes and on-Project water users
welcomed the new group, saying its
participation should help move
discussions along and ensure that
off-Project water users are taken
care of in the agreement.
“We feel having some new
voices at the table, and voices
willing to find common ground, are
important at this time,” said Jeff
Mitchell, Klamath Tribes council
member.
Tom Mallams, president of
the Off-Project Water Users, said he
was disappointed the group was
allowed in when not all stakeholders
agreed and when other off-Project
groups he’s sought to have at the
table have been denied spots.
“ We’re just being denied
any voice at all,” he said.
The Upper Klamath Water
Users Association
has only existed for a few months,
has a relatively small membership
and primarily serves off-Project
water users. Board members include
Becky Hyde, Karl Scronce, Bob
Sanders and Matt Walter.
Members of the group have
said they want to address the needs
of off-Project water users in the
agreement. They also have worked
closely with the Tribes and
on-Project irrigators.
“There was just some
skeletal language in the KBRA for
the off-Project and we’re just
trying to put some meat on the
bones,” Scronce said.
Mallam’s group has sought
to reopen negotiations, saying there
are too few assurances for
off-Project water users. The group
also opposes removing four
hydroelectric dams on the Klamath
River and providing the Mazama Tree
Farm to the Tribes.
Working with others
Steve Kandra, board member
on the Klamath Water Users
Association, said part of the reason
his organization welcomed the new
group was because it was willing to
work with stakeholders rather than
serve as a road block.
Mallams
said he wouldn’t have opposed
the new group’s
admittance if groups he’d
petitioned to have included, the
Sprague River Water Users and
Resource Conservancy, also were at
the table.
Instead, the new
off-Project group will only add one
more vote of approval when it comes
to controversial decisions, he said.
He also lamented how stakeholders
are no longer taking action as a
consensus but as a majority. At
least three groups opposed letting a
new organization in, he said.
“The
only thing it’s going to change
is give them a little better
public relations,” Mallams said.
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