KBRA drought plan coming 

Coordinating council takes public input 

By TY BEAVER 

H&N Staff Writer

October 8, 2010

H&N photo by Ryan Pfeil  Opponents of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement gather to protest at Thursday's Klamath Basin Coordinating Council meeting

   The drought plan was just one of the topics discussed by stakeholders and government officials Thursday at a meeting of the Klamath Basin Coordinating Council, a local group advising federal agencies on implementation of the KBRA.     

   Implementation of the restoration agreement is moving slowly, stakeholders said, but, they added, they were glad to be involved in resolving water problems in the Basin.

   “This is a whole heck of a lot better than the situations of the past,” said Steve Kandra, an irrigator on the Klamath Reclamation Project.

   The KBRA and its related dam removal agreement aim to resolve water disputes in the Klamath River Basin among tribes, fisheries, irrigators and conservationists.

   The governors of Oregon and California and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed the agreement in February. It needs approval and funding from Congress before it can be fully implemented.     

   The coordinating council on Thursday also worked to establish its meeting and organization procedures and reviewed the status of the dam removal agreement with PacifiCorp.

   The drought plan is needed to address future droughts in the Klamath Basin. Irrigators from on and off the Klamath Reclamation Project, three tribes who signed the KBRA, and state and federal officials are in charge of developing it.

   The drought that hit the Klamath Basin this year, cutting Project irrigation to less than 50 percent of typical allocations, is one reason the group is behind schedule.

   “People are overwhelmed with other issues,” said Don Gentry, vice chairman of the Klamath Tribes.

   Kandra said the drought plan must be crafted carefully since irrigators will use it to make commitments for their farms and ranches.

   “We’re trying to get it right, we’re trying to understand how the system behaves,” he said of the Basin’s hydrology.  

   Ed Sheets, facilitator of the coordinating council, said despite the delay a draft of the drought plan should be available to stakeholders before the end of November.

   “They have made outstanding progress,” he said. “I believe there are only a few outstanding issues.”