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Bureau to decide on Klamath water
Allocations of water for fish and farmers to be set
published March 30, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
The wait is almost over.
Around April 10 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is expected to come out with its annual operations plan for the Klamath Reclamation Project, including water allocations for endangered suckers, threatened coho salmon and 1,400 irrigators.
The Bureau's annual plan, first of all, will characterize what type of year it's likely to be, based on current water conditions. This year, with the mountain snowpack barely half of normal, it's likely the Bureau will classify 2003 as a "dry" year.
Ironically, guidelines for managing the Klamath Reclamation Project give irrigators more water in a "dry" year than in a year with average water supplies. That's because the Bureau is allowed to conserve less water for fish in "dry" years.
Operation of the Klamath Reclamation Project must comply with conservation measures spelled out in two documents called biological opinions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote one biological opinion for suckers, while the opinion for coho salmon was written by NOAA Fisheries, formerly known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The last component the Bureau is waiting for to formulate its plan is the April streamflow forecast from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The forecast is based in large part on how much water remains locked up in the Klamath Basin's mountain snowpack.
Jon Lea, an NRCS hydrologist, said some snow fell in the second half of March. But coming after a mild winter, he didn't think it would boost the streamflow forecast by much.
"It will probably boost them up a bit, but not a bunch," he said.
Last week the snowpack was around 60 percent of normal for this time of year, up from 53 percent on March 1.
Lea said things are slowly improving.
"It takes a combination of precipitation and temperature," he said. "We just finally had some snow accumulation up in the mountains."
Lea said the NRCS streamflow forecast should come out on April 5 or 6.
Dave Sabo, manager of the Klamath Reclamation Project, said the Project usually requires between 250,000 acre-feet and 400,000 acre-feet of water per irrigation season, depending on how wet a year it is.
"I'm optimistic we will have a full irrigation season," he said.
But he's still waiting for the NRCS's forecast to see what the Bureau's plan will say.
"You can't do anything until you get that April 1 forecast from NRCS," he said.
The forecast will be the last piece in a puzzle that makes up the plan. Other factors that the Bureau must evaluate include the following:
Irrigation demand.
Needs of threatened coho salmon in the Lower Klamath River.
Native American tribal needs in the Lower Klamath River.
Demands by commercial fishing interests on the Lower Klamath River.
Endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker needs in Upper Klamath Lake.
Conditions on the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath national wildlife refuges.
Upper Klamath Lake is full, hovering within an inch of its maximum elevation of 4,143.3 feet above sea level. The Bureau can't raise the lake any higher without jeopardizing dikes that protect private property.
Releases to the Link River peaked at about 4,000 cubic feet per second on Friday.
Jim Bryant, operations manager for the area office, said figuring out when to curtail releases is a balancing act of inflow and outflow.
"We wait until the last possible minute when we see the inflow slacking off and use bumping up," he said.
Dave Solem, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District, said this year will be different because of the Bureau's pilot water bank. The Bureau plans to use the bank to cut irrigation demand by 60,000 acre-feet.
"It's going to be less than what we normally use, no matter what type of year it is," he said.
published March 30, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
The wait is almost over.
Around April 10 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is expected to come out with its annual operations plan for the Klamath Reclamation Project, including water allocations for endangered suckers, threatened coho salmon and 1,400 irrigators.
The Bureau's annual plan, first of all, will characterize what type of year it's likely to be, based on current water conditions. This year, with the mountain snowpack barely half of normal, it's likely the Bureau will classify 2003 as a "dry" year.
Ironically, guidelines for managing the Klamath Reclamation Project give irrigators more water in a "dry" year than in a year with average water supplies. That's because the Bureau is allowed to conserve less water for fish in "dry" years.
Operation of the Klamath Reclamation Project must comply with conservation measures spelled out in two documents called biological opinions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote one biological opinion for suckers, while the opinion for coho salmon was written by NOAA Fisheries, formerly known as the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The last component the Bureau is waiting for to formulate its plan is the April streamflow forecast from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The forecast is based in large part on how much water remains locked up in the Klamath Basin's mountain snowpack.
Jon Lea, an NRCS hydrologist, said some snow fell in the second half of March. But coming after a mild winter, he didn't think it would boost the streamflow forecast by much.
"It will probably boost them up a bit, but not a bunch," he said.
Last week the snowpack was around 60 percent of normal for this time of year, up from 53 percent on March 1.
Lea said things are slowly improving.
"It takes a combination of precipitation and temperature," he said. "We just finally had some snow accumulation up in the mountains."
Lea said the NRCS streamflow forecast should come out on April 5 or 6.
Dave Sabo, manager of the Klamath Reclamation Project, said the Project usually requires between 250,000 acre-feet and 400,000 acre-feet of water per irrigation season, depending on how wet a year it is.
"I'm optimistic we will have a full irrigation season," he said.
But he's still waiting for the NRCS's forecast to see what the Bureau's plan will say.
"You can't do anything until you get that April 1 forecast from NRCS," he said.
The forecast will be the last piece in a puzzle that makes up the plan. Other factors that the Bureau must evaluate include the following:
Upper Klamath Lake is full, hovering within an inch of its maximum elevation of 4,143.3 feet above sea level. The Bureau can't raise the lake any higher without jeopardizing dikes that protect private property.
Releases to the Link River peaked at about 4,000 cubic feet per second on Friday.
Jim Bryant, operations manager for the area office, said figuring out when to curtail releases is a balancing act of inflow and outflow.
"We wait until the last possible minute when we see the inflow slacking off and use bumping up," he said.
Dave Solem, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District, said this year will be different because of the Bureau's pilot water bank. The Bureau plans to use the bank to cut irrigation demand by 60,000 acre-feet.
"It's going to be less than what we normally use, no matter what type of year it is," he said.
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