July 7. 2006
Herald and News Editorial
When Jess Prosser died Saturday at the age of 91, the Klamath Basin lost another member of that remarkable group of World War II veterans who came to the Klamath Basin and helped build it.
He was one of the lucky ones. His number was drawn and he won a farming allotment on the Klamath Reclamation Project. It was a way for a grateful nation to show its appreciation.
Prosser had served in the South Pacific, was wounded and, in 1945, was honorably discharged. He came to Tulelake and raised his family.
He became another part of history in 2001, when water was cut off to the Klamath Project to provide more water for fish species protected by the Endangered Species Act.
In an act of protest, the “Bucket Brigade” was formed. Its members moved water, one bucket at a time from one person to the next, from Lake Ewauna at Veterans Park along streets lined by thousands of people to the A Canal, near Klamath Union High School. It was a technical violation of the Endangered Species Law, though never prosecuted.
Prosser, whose farm totally depended on the Klamath Project for water, was chosen to lift the first bucket of “illegal” water and send it on its way. That he was picked to do so says a lot about the regard other farmers and ranchers had for him.
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Be careful about wetlands
Let's not be too quick about the working up enthusiasm for turning into permanent wetlands the “extra” 2,000 acres of water surface created by the Geary Dike breach.
There's been no decision yet on what to do about the acreage, and it may well take a judge to sort out who's responsible for what. The break northwest of Klamath Falls along Highway 140 spread water 3 to 8 feet deep over the acreage.
There appears to be some support for creating a permanent wetlands in the area.
Wetlands are valuable. They create habitat for wildlife, and they might be beneficial to the species of suckers in the Basin that are protected by the Endangered Species Act.
But large, shallow lakes, such as Upper Klamath Lake, are also big evaporation machines.
Taking the same amount of water and spreading it thinner isn't going to increase the amount of water available from the lake, which is the origin of the Klamath River and the principal reservoir for the Klamath Reclamation Project.
According to a 2001 Oregon Water Resource Department document about Upper Klamath, the average annual evaporation per acre is 3.5 acre-feet per acre of surface water - and that surface area is now 2,000 acres bigger.
Any discussion of what to do about the flood area should include its impact on endangered salmon fisheries downstream, and agriculture upstream.