Reclamation spring management plan must do more to protect Klamath Tribes’ critical treaty resources

Tribes deliver comments on Reclamation draft plan

The following is a press release from the Klamath Tribes of Oregon.

CHILOQUIN, Ore. - In this historically bad water year, protecting the C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) must be the first priority. That is the key message the Klamath Tribes delivered to the Bureau of Reclamation today [3/15/21] in comments on Reclamation’s initial draft management framework for Klamath Project operations this spring.

These two critically endangered tribal treaty resources are on the verge of extinction, and Reclamation’s draft framework is insufficiently protective of their needs during the vital spring spawning season.

“The C’waam and Koptu are of paramount important to the Klamath Tribes and our members,” said Tribal Council Member, Willa Powless. “They have provided for our spiritual, cultural, and material wellbeing for millennia, and yet they are now on the verge of extinction. We will do whatever is necessary to save them.”

Reclamation’s past management decisions, particularly in drawing Upper Klamath Lake elevations down so low in the fall year after year, coupled with exceptionally poor UKL inflows so far this year have created a situation where it appears impossible for Reclamation to simultaneously meet the needs of C’waam and Koptu and downriver salmon species this spring.

“We are angered and saddened that Reclamation’s management of the Klamath Project has brought us to a place where the needs of the C’waam and Koptu are pitted directly against those of the salmon and against our neighbors in the irrigation community,” said Chairman, Don Gentry. “We relate to how important salmon are to our sister tribes downriver. Restoring salmon lost to our people for over 100 years due to installation of the Klamath River dams is also critical to us. But we are at risk of losing the C’waam and Koptu forever, and we cannot afford to see a repeat of last spring, when UKL was lowered below the required level right in the middle of the C’waam and Koptu spawning period.”

The Tribes believe that Reclamation’s operations this spring must be geared first and foremost toward complying with the terms of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2020 biological opinion regarding C’waam and Koptu, which requires UKL to be maintained at or above an elevation of 4,142.0 feet during the months of April and May. Reclamation should utilize tools such as “borrowing” water from PacifiCorp to support minimum flows below Iron Gate Dam and pumping water into UKL from USFWS’ Agency/Barnes property to help UKL reach that critical elevation as early as possible this year. Neither a surface flushing flow nor any agricultural deliveries should occur so long as UKL has not reached or will not be able to maintain that elevation in April or May.

“Reclamation must ensure that the C’waam and Koptu have the best possible opportunity to make it through this terrible water year, and that includes maintaining UKL at elevation 4,142 feet in April and May in compliance with the USFWS BiOp,” said Brad Parrish, Klamath Tribes Water Rights Specialist. “But the fact that we find ourselves yet again in a situation where there is not enough water for C’waam, Koptu, nepuy, and irrigation needs underscores the need for a comprehensive solution to move the Klamath Basis to a more sustainable footing so that we are not continually lurching from crisis to crisis.”

“Particularly on this historic day with the confirmation of the first Native American as Secretary of the Interior, we congratulate Secretary Haaland and call on her and the entire Biden Administration to work with us, along with the lower river tribes and the agricultural community, to bring meaningful resources to bear to ensure that the needs of all endangered species in the Basin will be met going forward.” said Chairman Gentry. “While prioritizing the needs of the C’waam and Koptu, where it possible to address concerns for the agricultural community, consideration must include our tribal members who make their living through farming and ranching. Those tribal members are often left out of discussion about agricultural needs in the Basin, and they need to have their interests addressed as well.”