Klamath Falls News - Locally owned news brand, reporting stories affecting citizens of the Klamath Basin.
LOST RIVER – To compete at FFA Nationals, you have to be the very best. Only the state champions qualify. An FFA team from Lost River Junior/Senior High School did just that Nov. 18, taking first in state at FFA’s State Food Science competition at Oregon State University and becoming the school’s first-ever national qualifying FFA team.
Read More“Do you know how a carrot grows?” farmer Katie Swanson asked Shasta Elementary School second-graders Thursday (Oct. 26) during Klamath County School District’s sixth-annual Crunch at Once event. The students had just crunched their farm-fresh carrots and had questions for the farmer who grew them.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) is proud to announce Brian Gailey has joined the team as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - On September 11, Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke issued a final ruling in a lawsuit brought by the federal government against the Klamath Drainage District (KDD). The ruling holds that KDD may not divert water from a canal that it owns, using water rights that are in KDD’s name, unless the U.S. Buruea Bureau of Reclamation authorizes it to do so.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - On Sept. 11, 2023, Magistrate Judge Marke Clarke released findings and recommendations in two lawsuits by the Klamath Tribes against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project operations. The Klamath Water Users Association, siding with Reclamation, argued the 2021 and 2022 operations complied with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA), along with districts, individual water users, and tribes in the Klamath Basin, received a letter from the Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday, announcing that the previously communicated “likely” reduction to the Klamath Project’s water supply was no longer necessary and
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Reclamation announced today that the Klamath Project water supply allocation, originally announced on April 13 and increased on May 19, will remain at 260,000 acre-feet and no reductions will be made to Klamath Project water users.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The annual Klamath County Fair has come and gone, but the effects of the Junior Livestock Auction will last a generation. 380 Young men and women from all across Klamath County have spent months preparing animals for show and market. This past weekend their achievements were rewarded when the auction broke records for the 4th straight year selling $1.7 million as of Monday night.
Read MoreKLAMATH BASIN - For several weeks now, as the morning cool turns to the heat of the day, vast swarms of voracious grasshoppers have been pouring out of the dry, largely barren Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge into the surrounding irrigated farm fields around Merrill and Tulelake. Concerns are growing that crop damage could extend into the millions of dollars.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Klamath Project irrigators received good news on June 7. Judge Stephen Bushong, who is conducting the judicial phase of the Klamath Basin water rights adjudication, confirmed that the irrigation districts in the Project would be able to put on an evidentiary case opposing water rights claims for high Upper Klamath Lake elevations for the benefit of fish.
Read MoreSALEM, Ore. – Yesterday, Representative E. Werner Reschke (R-Klamath Falls) and 22 bi-cameral legislators sent a letter to the Oregon Water Resources Department outlining their concerns surrounding the Division 10 rulemaking on critical groundwater areas. Lawmakers stated the need for new rules has not been adequately explained.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - On May 19, the Bureau of Reclamation announced a boost in water supply for Klamath Project contractors, and confirmed higher lake levels for endangered sucker fish as well as larger releases from Upper Klamath Lake to benefit salmon.
Read MoreThe Klamath Project Drought Response Agency (KPDRA) is currently accepting applications for its 2023 No Irrigation Programs. The programs provide financial incentives to local farmers and ranchers who normally water through the Klamath Project to align water supply and demand.
Read MoreA federal court heard arguments today on whether to issue a preliminary injunction limiting irrigation and wildlife refuge uses of water from the Klamath Project in 2023.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - With over 180% snowpack currently sitting in the mountains of the Klamath River Watershed, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced water deliveries for the Klamath Project last Thursday at a mere 215,000 acre-feet. Just 47.7% of what would be full deliveries (450,000 acre-feet) for the project.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore - The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) announced the initial 2023 irrigation supply from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River for farms and wildlife refuges within the Klamath Project at Klamath Water Users Association’s (KWUA) annual meeting on April 13, 2023. Reclamation’s initial allocation is 215,000 acre-feet of water, which represents approximately 60 percent of the water needed this year for farms and wildlife refuges served by the Klamath Project.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Bureau of Reclamation, in coordination with PacifiCorp, will increase flows at Link River Dam and below Iron Gate Dam to reduce the risk of disease for salmon in the Klamath River. From April 19 through the end of the month, flows will vary on the Link and Klamath rivers.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Bureau of Reclamation announced the 2023 water supply allocations for Klamath Project contractors at the Klamath Water Users Association annual meeting last evening. In addition, Reclamation announced $13 million for drought resiliency, ecosystem enhancement, and groundwater monitoring in the Klamath Basin.
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C.– A group of 30 Western farmers, ranchers, water managers and association leaders wrapped up the third day of meetings this week with a Western drought briefing attended by over 20 Congressional staff members and an appearance by Family Farm Alliance President Patrick O’Toole before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Last Thursday, the United States Court of Appeals issued a decision that denies Klamath Project irrigators the right to challenge federal agency decisions in court. The ruling, in a case titled Klamath Irrigation District, et al. v. United States, et al., found that irrigation parties could not file legal challenges to federal agency actions or decisions that the irrigators believe are unlawful, unless tribes in the Klamath Basin voluntarily agree to join the case as parties.
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