Jackson County warned  

January 22, 2010

     Jackson County may include itself in the ongoing process regarding the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement after an irrigator off the Klamath Reclamation Project warned the Jackson County Board of Commissioners Wednesday about the document.

   Tom Mallams, president of the Klamath Off Project Water Users, attended the board’s meeting Wednesday and discussed the restoration agreement’s potential impacts on the Rogue Valley, saying it would diminish the region’s irrigation diversions.

   Involvement unclear

   Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker said the board would meet with its watermaster next week to discuss how to approach the issue, though it’s unclear how Jackson County could be involved.  

   “We really don’t have a lot of power to make anything different,” Walker said.

   A stakeholder in support of the restoration agreement said he reached out to reassure the Jackson County commissioners, and he wasn’t surprised by Mallams’ actions.

   “There’s nothing that affects the Rogue Valley in the document,” said Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association.

   Mallams said Thursday that Jackson County commissioners were receptive to his comments. A number of irrigators in Jackson County receive their water sources from the east side of the Cascades and would be impacted by the agreement, Mallams said.

   “I went over there to mainly educate them,” he said.

   Concerns

   Walker said Mallams’ comments were geared toward what could potentially happen to the Rogue Valley if the agreement was implemented.

   The commissioner said Jackson County hasn’t been involved, and he hasn’t read the full document, but he is concerned about portions people have shown him and opposes the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River.

   “The issue to me is I don’t trust them,” he said of those advocating the agreement.

   Addington said it isn’t the first time Mallams has voiced his concerns about the restoration agreement in Jackson County.

   He’s also regularly been on radio shows saying the document would take irrigation water away from some Rogue Valley irrigators, according to Addington.

   A draft of the restoration agreement released to the public in 2008 referenced the Rogue Valley. Addington said that section was removed after irrigation district officials in that region said they’d rather not be included.