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Water bank has 24,000 acres to choose from
341 offer to idle farmland
Published March 11, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
More than 300 landowners in the Klamath Reclamation Project have submitted offers to keep some of their fields idle this year in order to make more water available to protect fish.
The 341 applications for payments to idle land were received last week by the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office, said Gary Baker, special projects officer for the Bureau.
The applications submitted cover about 24,000 acres, or more than twice the 12,000 the Bureau wants to set aside this year. The agency will pay the chosen applicants $187.50 for each acre set aside.
Bureau officials hope that idling 12,000 acres will make about 33,000 acre-feet of water available to meet other demands, including maintenance of minimum water levels in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River.
Now that the applications are in, the Bureau is reviewing maps and soil surveys to evaluate which parcels will yield the greatest savings in water.
Baker said applicants should hear if they were accepted soon.
"We hope to have it done this week," he said.
The letters should be in the mail by next Monday.
Fred Fahner, who grows potatoes, grains and onions on about 1,000 acres near Tulelake, applied to have 400 of his acres go idle, and hopes to get 100 acres approved.
He said most irrigators are worried about water this year.
"I think the fact that there were 300 applications submitted shows that there is a common thread with this water situation - we are all running scared," he said.
But he said the water bank won't take away that worry.
"This whole exercise doesn't assure us with any supply of water for the summer," he said.
Before the Bureau decides what land to idle, it plans to check with the irrigation districts that depend on Klamath Project water to see how the idling of certain parcels might affect their operations, Baker said. The Bureau doesn't want to idle more than 15 percent of the land served by any of the irrigation districts, and it doesn't want to cause problems with their delivery systems.
The second part of the water bank program will be a groundwater substitution in which the Bureau will pay irrigators $75 per acre-foot to use well water instead of canal water. In all it is looking to get 25,000 acre-feet of water replaced by groundwater.
The compensation for both programs will be paid in a lump sum no later than Nov. 30. The Bureau has $4 million from the federal government to fund the water bank.
The pilot water bank is a result of the 2002 NOAA Fisheries biological opinion, a document that set requirements on how much water should be conserved by the project to help protect endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon downstream in the Klamath River.
The opinion calls for 50,000 acre-feet of water to be conserved this year, 75,000 acre-feet next year and 100,000 acre-feet the year after that.
Applications for the groundwater program are due March 21.
As of this morning the Bureau had 41 applicants, representing 10,500 acre feet of water.
The Bureau has a week and a half to get the applicants needed to total 25,000 acre-feet of water it wants to have replaced by ground water.
Baker said some irrigators planned to apply for the water idling program first and if not accepted then apply for the groundwater program.
To get a water bank groundwater application, call the Bureau's Klamath Basin Area Office at 883-6935, stop by the Klamath Water Users Association Office at 2455 Patterson St., or log on to the Bureau's Web site at www.usbr.gov/kbao.
All applications must be submitted to the Bureau office at 6600 Washburn Way by March 21. Applications can be faxed or e-mailed. For more information call Baker at the Bureau area office at 883-6935.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
Published March 11, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
More than 300 landowners in the Klamath Reclamation Project have submitted offers to keep some of their fields idle this year in order to make more water available to protect fish.
The 341 applications for payments to idle land were received last week by the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office, said Gary Baker, special projects officer for the Bureau.
The applications submitted cover about 24,000 acres, or more than twice the 12,000 the Bureau wants to set aside this year. The agency will pay the chosen applicants $187.50 for each acre set aside.
Bureau officials hope that idling 12,000 acres will make about 33,000 acre-feet of water available to meet other demands, including maintenance of minimum water levels in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River.
Now that the applications are in, the Bureau is reviewing maps and soil surveys to evaluate which parcels will yield the greatest savings in water.
Baker said applicants should hear if they were accepted soon.
"We hope to have it done this week," he said.
The letters should be in the mail by next Monday.
Fred Fahner, who grows potatoes, grains and onions on about 1,000 acres near Tulelake, applied to have 400 of his acres go idle, and hopes to get 100 acres approved.
He said most irrigators are worried about water this year.
"I think the fact that there were 300 applications submitted shows that there is a common thread with this water situation - we are all running scared," he said.
But he said the water bank won't take away that worry.
"This whole exercise doesn't assure us with any supply of water for the summer," he said.
Before the Bureau decides what land to idle, it plans to check with the irrigation districts that depend on Klamath Project water to see how the idling of certain parcels might affect their operations, Baker said. The Bureau doesn't want to idle more than 15 percent of the land served by any of the irrigation districts, and it doesn't want to cause problems with their delivery systems.
The second part of the water bank program will be a groundwater substitution in which the Bureau will pay irrigators $75 per acre-foot to use well water instead of canal water. In all it is looking to get 25,000 acre-feet of water replaced by groundwater.
The compensation for both programs will be paid in a lump sum no later than Nov. 30. The Bureau has $4 million from the federal government to fund the water bank.
The pilot water bank is a result of the 2002 NOAA Fisheries biological opinion, a document that set requirements on how much water should be conserved by the project to help protect endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon downstream in the Klamath River.
The opinion calls for 50,000 acre-feet of water to be conserved this year, 75,000 acre-feet next year and 100,000 acre-feet the year after that.
Applications for the groundwater program are due March 21.
As of this morning the Bureau had 41 applicants, representing 10,500 acre feet of water.
The Bureau has a week and a half to get the applicants needed to total 25,000 acre-feet of water it wants to have replaced by ground water.
Baker said some irrigators planned to apply for the water idling program first and if not accepted then apply for the groundwater program.
To get a water bank groundwater application, call the Bureau's Klamath Basin Area Office at 883-6935, stop by the Klamath Water Users Association Office at 2455 Patterson St., or log on to the Bureau's Web site at www.usbr.gov/kbao.
All applications must be submitted to the Bureau office at 6600 Washburn Way by March 21. Applications can be faxed or e-mailed. For more information call Baker at the Bureau area office at 883-6935.
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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| ONRC urges irrigators to sell out |
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