Some water might reach Project

The region is expected to have a water shortage due to below average snowpack and inflows and low water levels in Upper Klamath Lake. The biological opinion is the document that determines how much water in the Klamath River watershed is needed for endangered species — especially salmon and suckers.

Irrigators in Klamath County said they haven’t heard details about the new biological opinion, but say it is expected to be released today at meetings in Klamath Falls.

Receiving some water for the Project would be a positive, irrigators said, but the Hoopa Tribe says the revised biological opinion is another example of fish and wildlife suffering to meet the water needs of agriculture.

“This is exactly what happened in 2002. The result — the largest die-off of adult salmon in history,” said Daniel Jordan, Hoopa Valley tribal self-governance coordinator, in a press release.

New opinion

The new biological opinion would be in effect from 2010 to 2018 and uses a water supply index to establish river flows and lake levels, according to Kevin Moore, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Falls office.

In previous years, that water supply index was based on the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s forecast of river inflows between April and September.

Under the new opinion, that data along with the amount of water stored in Upper Klamath Lake will be considered in the index, along with the possibility of modification every two weeks, Moore said.

Moore said he could not comment on how much water would come to the Project as a result, though that information could be available this week.

Reaction

Luther Horsley, Project irrigator and president of Klamath Water Users Association, said he heard federal agencies were considering revising the biological opinion, but “everything is speculation because we really don’t know.”

Even though any water is good for the Project, Horsley said, about 450,000 acre-feet is likely needed this year for all Project irrigators, and receiving only a portion of that could lead to some internal conflicts among irrigators.

Horsley said the amount that the Project could receive would be well below what is needed for agriculture, but it would still more than that allowed under previous biological opinions.

Hoopa tribal leaders believe the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which seeks to resolve disputes over water in the Basin but is not yet in place, is being used by federal agencies to deliver water to the Project.

“The KBRA hasn’t gone into effect yet, but we are witnessing, first-hand, the parties’ commitment to deliver water to the Project at the expense of the fishery,” Jordan said.

Greg Addington, executive director of Klamath Water Users Association, refuted the Hoopa’s allegation the Project was unfairly benefiting from a revised biological opinion.

“If the KBRA were being used we’d be getting 380,000 acre-feet,” he said.

Calls to National Marine Fisheries Service based in Santa Cruz, Calif., and to Larry Dunsmoor, fisheries biologist for the Klamath Tribes, were not immediately returned.