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Interior Department wants to find 'the next Klamath'
Conferences designed to head off water crises
published May 30, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
Having gone through a "searing" time in the Klamath Basin in 2001, leaders of the U.S. Interior Department are trying to figure out where the next such crisis might crop up.
So, they told regional journalists this week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will hold conferences in the West to identify the watersheds facing the greatest challenges.
"We want to get an assessment of where the next 'Klamath' might be," said Bennett Raley, assistant secretary of the interior.
John Keys, commissioner of the Bureau, said he wants water users, environmentalists, tribal members, water recreationists and community leaders to come to the conferences. To avoid crisis, he said, groups will need to pool their efforts.
The conferences are an expansion of Water 2025, a report this month from Interior Secretary Gale Norton that identified potential trouble spots. The Klamath Basin was labeled as area of "substantial" risk of water conflict, the second-highest level of risk.
With the conferences, the department wants to be able to prioritize the potential conflicts and find tools to address them, Raley said.
The first conference will be held in Denver on June 6. There will be a conference in Sacramento on July 10 and in Boise on July 17. Other conference sites include Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque, N.M.
"This administration went through a searing experience in 2001 in the Klamath Basin," Raley said. "Simply not talking about these issues doesn't make them go away," he said.
Keys said the department learned how difficult it can be to try to handle a problem once it comes to a head as the Klamath crisis did in 2001.
"When we first came into office Klamath Falls was one of the first large issues we had to deal with," he said.
After 2001, the department aimed to defuse possible crises.
Keys said the department, especially Norton is still involved with the Basin.
"The secretary's presence is already out there in that Basin," he said.
published May 30, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
Having gone through a "searing" time in the Klamath Basin in 2001, leaders of the U.S. Interior Department are trying to figure out where the next such crisis might crop up.
So, they told regional journalists this week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will hold conferences in the West to identify the watersheds facing the greatest challenges.
"We want to get an assessment of where the next 'Klamath' might be," said Bennett Raley, assistant secretary of the interior.
John Keys, commissioner of the Bureau, said he wants water users, environmentalists, tribal members, water recreationists and community leaders to come to the conferences. To avoid crisis, he said, groups will need to pool their efforts.
The conferences are an expansion of Water 2025, a report this month from Interior Secretary Gale Norton that identified potential trouble spots. The Klamath Basin was labeled as area of "substantial" risk of water conflict, the second-highest level of risk.
With the conferences, the department wants to be able to prioritize the potential conflicts and find tools to address them, Raley said.
The first conference will be held in Denver on June 6. There will be a conference in Sacramento on July 10 and in Boise on July 17. Other conference sites include Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque, N.M.
"This administration went through a searing experience in 2001 in the Klamath Basin," Raley said. "Simply not talking about these issues doesn't make them go away," he said.
Keys said the department learned how difficult it can be to try to handle a problem once it comes to a head as the Klamath crisis did in 2001.
"When we first came into office Klamath Falls was one of the first large issues we had to deal with," he said.
After 2001, the department aimed to defuse possible crises.
Keys said the department, especially Norton is still involved with the Basin.
"The secretary's presence is already out there in that Basin," he said.
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