Wednesday July 12, 2023
Herald and News —
As has become a summer regularity, rising temperatures and land use-derived inputs of nutrients in Upper Klamath Lake has resulted in increased toxicity.
On June 25, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) re-issued a recreational use health advisory for the southern portion of the Upper Klamath Lake due to the presence of cyanobacteria, a harmful algae bloom. Cyanobacteria was found between Howards Bay and the Link River Dam, with the advisory still in effect.
The OHA said water monitoring has confirmed the presence of cyanobacteria and the toxins they produce in Upper Klamath Lake and that the cyanotoxin concentrations found can be harmful to humans and animals. Consuming fish caught where the blooms are found is also a possible health risk.
Alex Gonyaw, senior fisheries biologist with the Klamath Tribes’ Ambodat facility, said the impact on fish and wildlife is unknown, although there is no reason why it would not affect them in some way, he said. Ambodat is focused on the survival of the endangered suckers — koptu and c’waam — which are directly impacted by toxins in Upper Klamath Lake, inhibiting their ability to survive in the only lake they are found in Oregon in significant abundance. Gonyaw further cautioned against human food chain contamination from the toxins in the lake.