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Williamson
River
project on schedule
Pumping
plant part of project that will end with dam removal
By
LEE JUILLERAT
H&N
Regional Editor
ABOVE: Randy Wyatt peeks out from one of the seven 14- by
5-foot openings that will have underwater fish screens.
BELOW: Crews are busy working on a new main pumping plant along the
CHILOQUIN
—A construction project easily visible along Highway 97 near the
“
We’ve had a lot of people wondering what’s going on,” said Chuck
Korson, project manager for construction of a new main pumping plant
along the river.
The
pumping plant, which includes a series of seven fish screens and a
temporary river-diverting wall, is part of a $9-million project that
will lead to next summer’s removal of the Chiloquin Dam.
Goals
for fish
The
long-range goal of dam removal is to improve passage for two species of
endangered suckers,
The
work along the Williamson is intended to ensure water users with the
Modoc Point Irrigation District can continue to irrigate about 5,200
acres of land mostly used for livestock grazing. The irrigation district
owns the dam.
“I
think it’s beneficial for us, and we’re helping to save the suckers.
It’s a win-win situation,” said Pete Bourdet, an irrigation district
member who helped negotiate the settlement between the district and the
federal Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The
district enjoyed free use of irrigation water since 1954, when the
Klamath Tribe was terminated, and the district took ownership.
The
dam was built in 1914 and diverts water into a gravity-flow canal
alongside the Sprague and Williamson rivers that carries water during
the May 1 to Sept. 30 irrigation season. In recent decades, scientists
determined the dam seriously limits passage of different fish species,
including the two suckers. Efforts to remove the dam required
negotiations with irrigation district leaders.
Crop
use
“
We don’t have high income crops. We are basically pasture and hay,”
Bourdet said, noting the land is not used for row crops. “We can’t
afford to pay as much for water” as farmers who grow potatoes and
alfalfa.
“We’re
just wanting to remain whole,” said Linda Long-Bourdet, who worked as
a liaison between the district and attorneys.
She
said the settlement includes a $ 2.45 -million payment the district will
use to offset pumping costs, pay for a plant manager and for pumping
station repairs and maintenance.
Korson, who works for the BOR’s
Those involved
“It’s been a real good project in the sense we
have a lot of stakeholders involved,” Korson said, noting the
cooperation by the irrigation district, BOR, BIA and various local and
federal agencies, including the city of Chiloquin, Klamath Tribes, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service.
Randy Wyatt, the BOR’s part-time field manager,
noted the project is on schedule for completion by April 2008. The plant
will be tested for two months and, if it meets approval, removal of the
Chiloquin Dam will begin in July.
He has high praise for Slayden Construction Group of
“Things are looking good,” Wyatt said.
Side Bars
The $9-million project includes construction of a main
pumping station a quarter-mile off Highway 97, as well as installation
of three smaller stations.
A small pump station upstream from the dam will
irrigate about 300 acres of land owned by Glen and Bonnie Kircher, while
two other small pumps will irrigate pasture owned by Roy and Debbie
Hilbert’s Lonesome Dove Resort, which fronts several miles on the
The three small pumps are being constructed through a
contract with the Klamath Watershed Partnership through the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board.
The Chiloquin Dam
The Chiloquin Dam was built in 1914 to channel water
from the
Chuck Korson of the Bureau of Reclamation said the
intent was to allow American Indians on the Klamath Indian Reservation
to irrigate lands and become self-sufficient. When the Tribe was
terminated in 1954, ownership was transferred to the Modoc Point
Irrigation District. The district has about 87 water users who irrigate
about 5,200 acres of mostly pasture.
The dam — 21 feet high and 220 feet long — is at
river mile .87, less than one mile upstream from the Sprague River’s
confluence with the Williamson River. Although it appears to be
crumbling, studies indicate the dam could last another 100 years.
The $9-million project is funded by the BIA. The
Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for the engineering design and
construction management.
New fish screens
A
series of “fish friendly” screens will prevent juvenile, sub-adult
and adult suckers, and other native fish from being entrapped in the
main pumping plant along the
Randy
Wyatt, the Bureau of Reclamation’s part-time field manager from
Willows, Calif., said the seven 14- by 5-foot screens will be about a
sixteenth-of-an-inch thick to prevent Lost River and shortnose suckers,
as well as redband trout, from passing into the pumps.
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