December 23, 2010

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     TULELAKE — Ron Cole, manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges complex, remains frustrated because this year’s water shortage left two key refuges, Lower Klamath and Tule Lake, dry for extended periods.

   Because the refuges have guaranteed water, he is anxious about prospects for 2011.

   This fall, 90 percent of the Lower Klamath refuge was dry. As a result, Cole said, most migrating waterfowl along the Pacific Flyway flew over the Klamath Basin in search of food and places to rest.

   “Depriving the refuge of water for most of 2010 creates an even greater risk for birds during the upcoming spring migration,” he cautioned, noting water shortage problems likely will extend into 2011.

   “The refuge is even more important to migratory birds in the spring as they feed and rest to prepare for they long journey north to their nesting grounds. Lower Klamath now faces a severe water deficit. Even with the recent snow and rain, we estimate it will take about 55,000 acre-feet of water to fill the remaining dry wetlands and meet the needs of millions of spring migrating birds in 2011. The next generation of waterfowl depends upon a healthy Lower Klamath refuge next spring,” Cole said.  

   Strategies to help

   Cole believes some short term strategies can help prevent problems experienced this year from happening next year. If precipitation this winter exceeds required volumes for the Klamath River, he’d like to see some of that water stored in Upper Klamath Lake, on farmlands used to pre-irrigate fields or in the Lower Klamath refuge’s wetlands.  

   “Portions of this water at all three of these locations would be returned back to the Klamath River later in the spring to maintain river flows for salmon at that critical time of year,” he said. “Storing water in those three locations in the winter, then releasing water to the river in the spring would reduce Klamath Irrigation Project demands later in the year.”

   Kevin Moore, spokesmen for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Falls office, said the Bureau works directly with refuge managers to address water concerns.

   “These requests are discussed with other stakeholders and Reclamation considers their concerns in the decision making process,” he said. “This helps ensure that the trust and cooperation that is vital in a tough water year is not violated and there are no surprises for the parties involved.”

   “(The refuges) definitely got shorted,” said Matt Barry, assistant field manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Klamath Falls office, which basically deals with regulatory issues. “This was a hard year on bird migration.”

   Cole believes successful solutions, “whether they are for the long term or the short term, are solutions that use a balanced approach. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement attempts to do this. The KBRA is society’s attempt to fix something the Endangered Species Act was never designed to address. The KBRA is the most comprehensive, balanced strategy to solve the Basin water issues ever assembled.”

   Until authorizing legislation for the KBRA is passed, Cole says 2010 “taught us that balance must be arrived at soon, otherwise Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and the birdlife of the Pacific Flyway will be but the first of many casualties, in time followed by the agricultural and fishing industries, rural and tribal communities, and the outdoor legacy the Basin is famous for.”