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Diversions to Rogue targeted
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| Lower Table Rock rises above a pear orchard in Central Point last March. Environmentalists warned the federal government on Thursday they are going to court to restore water to salmon in the Klamath Basin that is now pumped over the Cascade Range to irrigate orchards such as this one in the Rogue Valley. |
Activists threaten to sue for more study of water transfer
By DYLAN DARLING
Two environmental organizations plan to sue the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in hopes of forcing the agency to analyze whether endangered fish in the Klamath River might be harmed by diversion of water to the Rogue River basin.
The Oregon Natural Resources Council, based in Portland, and the Northcoast Environmental Center, in Arcata, Calif., on Tuesday filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Columbia Office in Portland, saying the Bureau has failed to consult with fishery agencies on how the diversion might affect endangered species.
The notice does not make any specific recommendations about how water should be managed, said Wendell Wood, Southern Oregon field representative for the ONRC.
Instead, the notice claims Reclamation should ask the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to examine the issue.
"We are not saying how much water should be released when and where. We are saying the Bureau needs to listen to what NMFS and Fish and Wildlife have to say," Wood said.
In the notice, the organizations describe what they see as the Bureau's failure to consult under the Endangered Species Act regarding the impacts of Rogue Project water diversions, which are used to irrigate pear orchards and other crops near Medford, on threatened and endangered fish species, such as coho salmon in both the Rogue and Klamath rivers, and Lost River and shortnose suckers in the Klamath Basin.
The Bureau's regional office in Boise, Idaho, would not comment on the possible litigation. Anytime there is a pending a legal action the Bureau will decline to make a statement, said Diana Cross, public affairs officer for the Boise office.
"That's why there is a legal process and there are courts," she said.
The Rogue Reclamation Project is tied to the Klamath Basin because nearly 30,000 acre-feet of water is diverted each year from Fourmile creek, which flows from Fourmile reservoir into Upper Klamath Lake, and Jenny Creek, which is fed by flows from Hyatt and Howard Prairie reservoirs. The reservoirs are located about 35 miles west of Klamath Falls.
About 6,200 acre-feet of water which would flow into Upper Klamath Lake is diverted over to the Rogue Basin by the Cascade Canal, which runs into Fish Lake. Almost 24,200 acre-feet of water is diverted from Jenny Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River above Iron Gate Reservoir.
The Bureau has completed a biological assessment, and received the related biological opinions from the fishery agencies for operation of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
But, Wood said, the Bureau needs to produce a biological assessment for the impacts of the Rogue Project.
Wood said the conservation groups are threatening to sue because they have grown impatient with the Bureau.
The response of Klamath irrigators to the latest potential lawsuit by the ONRC is also impatience, but with the conservation group, not the Bureau.
Bob Gasser, co-owner of Basin Fertilizer and Chemicals in Merrill, said the ONRC is spending too much time in the courtroom and not enough time out in the field helping with conservation projects.
"All they are doing is spending money on lawyers and not on the ground," Gasser said. "More studies are not going to get more suckers."
While Dan Keppen of the Klamath Water Users Association said the Klamath agricultural community has used litigation in attempts to get what it wants, it has only done so as a last resort.
"Sometimes that is your last line of defense," Keppen said.
But with the ONRC, it's about a lawsuit a month, Keppen said. He said all the litigation and lawyers brought in by the ONRC and the NEC cause divisions among the people who need to be working together.
"With each new hostile action taken, these groups demonstrate their inability to arrive at meaningful solutions," he said.
While in the Klamath Basin every drop of water matters to irrigators and farmers, they don't want to take water away from their counterparts in the Rogue Basin who have tapped Fourmile and Jenny creeks for decades.
"You are going to have a hard time having a farmer go against another farmer when we probably won't see any of that water anyway," Gasser said.
Most of the diverted water would enter the Klamath River below where irrigators take their water if it was allowed to follow its natural flow.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
By DYLAN DARLING
Two environmental organizations plan to sue the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in hopes of forcing the agency to analyze whether endangered fish in the Klamath River might be harmed by diversion of water to the Rogue River basin.
The Oregon Natural Resources Council, based in Portland, and the Northcoast Environmental Center, in Arcata, Calif., on Tuesday filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Columbia Office in Portland, saying the Bureau has failed to consult with fishery agencies on how the diversion might affect endangered species.
The notice does not make any specific recommendations about how water should be managed, said Wendell Wood, Southern Oregon field representative for the ONRC.
Instead, the notice claims Reclamation should ask the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to examine the issue.
"We are not saying how much water should be released when and where. We are saying the Bureau needs to listen to what NMFS and Fish and Wildlife have to say," Wood said.
In the notice, the organizations describe what they see as the Bureau's failure to consult under the Endangered Species Act regarding the impacts of Rogue Project water diversions, which are used to irrigate pear orchards and other crops near Medford, on threatened and endangered fish species, such as coho salmon in both the Rogue and Klamath rivers, and Lost River and shortnose suckers in the Klamath Basin.
The Bureau's regional office in Boise, Idaho, would not comment on the possible litigation. Anytime there is a pending a legal action the Bureau will decline to make a statement, said Diana Cross, public affairs officer for the Boise office.
"That's why there is a legal process and there are courts," she said.
The Rogue Reclamation Project is tied to the Klamath Basin because nearly 30,000 acre-feet of water is diverted each year from Fourmile creek, which flows from Fourmile reservoir into Upper Klamath Lake, and Jenny Creek, which is fed by flows from Hyatt and Howard Prairie reservoirs. The reservoirs are located about 35 miles west of Klamath Falls.
About 6,200 acre-feet of water which would flow into Upper Klamath Lake is diverted over to the Rogue Basin by the Cascade Canal, which runs into Fish Lake. Almost 24,200 acre-feet of water is diverted from Jenny Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River above Iron Gate Reservoir.
The Bureau has completed a biological assessment, and received the related biological opinions from the fishery agencies for operation of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
But, Wood said, the Bureau needs to produce a biological assessment for the impacts of the Rogue Project.
Wood said the conservation groups are threatening to sue because they have grown impatient with the Bureau.
The response of Klamath irrigators to the latest potential lawsuit by the ONRC is also impatience, but with the conservation group, not the Bureau.
Bob Gasser, co-owner of Basin Fertilizer and Chemicals in Merrill, said the ONRC is spending too much time in the courtroom and not enough time out in the field helping with conservation projects.
"All they are doing is spending money on lawyers and not on the ground," Gasser said. "More studies are not going to get more suckers."
While Dan Keppen of the Klamath Water Users Association said the Klamath agricultural community has used litigation in attempts to get what it wants, it has only done so as a last resort.
"Sometimes that is your last line of defense," Keppen said.
But with the ONRC, it's about a lawsuit a month, Keppen said. He said all the litigation and lawyers brought in by the ONRC and the NEC cause divisions among the people who need to be working together.
"With each new hostile action taken, these groups demonstrate their inability to arrive at meaningful solutions," he said.
While in the Klamath Basin every drop of water matters to irrigators and farmers, they don't want to take water away from their counterparts in the Rogue Basin who have tapped Fourmile and Jenny creeks for decades.
"You are going to have a hard time having a farmer go against another farmer when we probably won't see any of that water anyway," Gasser said.
Most of the diverted water would enter the Klamath River below where irrigators take their water if it was allowed to follow its natural flow.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
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