Friday October 21, 2022
Capital Press —
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is extending its interim water management plan for the Klamath Project, despite objections from both irrigators and tribes working to protect endangered fish.
It is a delicate situation in the drought-stricken basin straddling Southern Oregon and Northern California, where there simply has not been enough water to go around in recent years under the government’s current arrangement.
Reclamation oversees the Klamath Project, which provides irrigation water for roughly 200,000 acres of farmland diverted from Upper Klamath Lake, near Klamath Falls, Ore.
At the same time, Reclamation must regularly consult with two other agencies — the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — to ensure there is adequate water for several species of fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.