2. Establish a "joint restoration committee" that would
identify, evaluate, recommend and implement streamflow and habitat restoration
projects on the Sprague, Williams and Wood rivers. The committee would be made
up of three representatives from the Tribes and three from the irrigators.
3. Not seek the listing of additional species under the Endangered
Species Act.
4. Support the development of new water storage.
The agreement doesn't involve irrigators in the
Klamath Reclamation Project, and would not apply to use of groundwater.
Under the agreement, ranchers recognize the Tribes' water right, with a
priority date of "time immemorial," for maintaining high flows in
streams and rivers.
In exchange, the Tribes will agree to not exercise
its right in a way that would affect landowners with a water right dating to
before July 1, 1961 - a date arrived at through the process of negotiation,
Nicholson and Foreman said.
Harper said Nicholson and the Tribes will seek federal funding to purchase
water rights from landowners with a priority date after July 1, 1961. The
buy-out, which would be voluntary for landowners, could affect up to 15,000
acres, Harper said.
Landowners involved in the agreement announced
Friday are either members of or contributors to the Resource Conservancy, the
Fort Klamath Critical Habitat Landowners or the Sprague River Water Resources
Foundation, all nonprofit groups.
Numerous individuals and groups above the lake have already settled their
contests in other agreements, while others are still negotiating or pursuing
their interests through the contested case process.
Harper and Foreman said they have been in touch with
groups involved with the adjudication from the Klamath Reclamation Project,
and that an agreement could be forthcoming between them and the Tribes.
The Oregon Water Resources Department launched an adjudication of water rights
in the Klamath Basin in 1975. It soon became bogged down in legal issues,
including an unsuccessful attempt by the Klamath Tribes to challenge the
state's authority to administer its water rights.
Once those issues were settled, the state resumed
the adjudication, issuing a call for claims in 1996.
In 1997, the state received about 700 claims for water rights in the Klamath
Basin. That was followed by a period in which any individual or organization
could contest someone else's claim to water. About 5,600 contested cases were
filed.
Although 85 percent of the contests have been
resolved, the most difficult cases remain, said Reed Marbut, a Water Resources
Department official who has been involved in the Klamath Basin for several
years.
Even with the signatures of Foreman and irrigators, the agreement announced
Friday won't be final. State officials will need to approve it as part of the
adjudication, and federal officials will have to approve funding for the
buyout program and restoration efforts.
In their agreement, the Tribes and the irrigators
above Upper Klamath Lake agreed to the spend time and money they would have
spent in court on working on habitat restoration and developing water storage.
Foreman and Nicholson plan to go to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with
members of Oregon's congressional delegation and federal officials about the
agreement. Their goal is to get federal support and funding.
The deal hinges on the federal government supplying
money to buy out water rights dated later than July 1, 1961, and to fund
efforts of the joint restoration committee.
Harper said meetings leading to the agreement started last summer, involving
about a dozen people.
Participants included Foreman, tribal council
members Helen Crume-Smith and Bobby David, and ranchers Nicholson, Bartel and
Ambrose McAuliffe. Harper facilitated the meetings that were held in various
locations, mostly at Melita's Cafe and a conference room at Crater Lake Realty
in Chiloquin.
At the meetings there were "no lawyers and no federal bureaucrats,"
Harper said.
"If you have people who are going to live with
these decisions, and children who are going to live with these decisions, then
I think you have got something you can work with," Harper said.
Harper, who served in the Legislature from 1997 until last fall, said he set
up the meetings because he wanted to fix something that was broken in his
hometown. He said too much time has been spent talking about the issues and
not enough time has been spent resolving them.
"We've been yapping about this for twice the
length of time that it took us to get to the moon," Harper said. "It
was time to quit yapping."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Source:
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/02/28/news/top_stories/top1.txt
