Klamath Falls News - Locally owned news brand, reporting stories affecting citizens of the Klamath Basin.
CHILOQUIN, Ore. — C’waam (Lost River sucker) and koptu (shortnose sucker) are two species of fish unique to Upper Klamath Basin, and both were once a plentiful food source for the Klamath Tribes. However, in the last 50 years, the population of these fish has been decimated from degradation of their habitat, the rivers they spawn in, and the lakes where they live.
Read MoreCHILOQUIN, Ore. - The Klamath Tribes see no alternative but to sue the Federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to force those agencies to live up to their obligations under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and protect the C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) from extinction.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The federal government announced today that it will deprive highly fertile farms and ranches in the Klamath Basin of irrigation water necessary to produce food this year. The decision comes at a time of global food security fears, rapidly rising food prices, and concerns that grocery store shelves may become empty this year.
Read MoreKlamath Water Users Association today urged that supporters of agriculture stop intimidating and inappropriate behaviors immediately. Reports say that names and addresses of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation employees have been published on social media, inviting that anger be directed toward those public servants, and there have been other inappropriate communications. “Stop it,” said KWUA President Ben DuVal. “It is completely out of line. It will hurt Klamath Project agriculture.”
Read MoreCHILOQUIN, Ore.- The Klamath Tribes take zero pleasure in Reclamation’s announcement this morning that there will be no water for flushing flows to mitigate disease risk for salmon in the Klamath River.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Klamath Water Users Association today expressed grave disappointment with the announcement by the Bureau of Reclamation that no water is to be diverted at A Canal for irrigation in 2021. “The first water delivery from the A Canal was in 1907. This is the first year ever it will deliver zero water,” said Paul Simmons, Executive Director and Counsel for KWUA.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Increasing extreme drought conditions in combination with operations for threatened and endangered species will further reduce Klamath Project water supplies to historically low volumes in 2021. Given the insufficiency of the expected water supply, the Bureau of Reclamation announced today that Klamath Project’s “A” Canal will remain closed for the 2021 irrigation season.
Read MoreCHILOQUIN, Ore. - The Klamath Tribes today filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation in federal district court in Medford, Oregon, over Reclamation’s ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act in its operation of the Klamath Project. C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker), two critically endangered fish of vital spiritual and cultural importance to the Tribes, are being pushed to the very brink of extinction by Reclamation’s violation of one of our country’s bedrock environmental laws.
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) led on a congressional letter, signed by 9 House Republicans, urging the U.S. Department of Interior to immediately implement a federal rule previously published on January 15, 2021, revising the designation of the critical habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl (NSO).
Read MoreCHILOQUIN, 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.
Read MoreCHILOQUIN, Ore. - On February 12, 2021, the Klamath Tribes filed a 60-day Notice of Intent to file suit against the United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) for violation of Sections 7 and 9 of the Endangered Species Act.
Read MoreThe United States Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and federal wildlife agencies have re-initiated the process of Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation for the Klamath Project. The most recent process produced an operations plan in April of this year that was expected to last for five years. However, the agencies have learned that an outside source provided erroneous data that was used in that process, and they intend to conduct a new analysis.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of the United States in the long-running lawsuit titled Baley v. United States, commonly known as the Klamath Project water “Takings Case.” The plaintiff water users sought just compensation for taking of their water rights in 2001 when the United States re-allocated irrigation water to threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Read MoreCommentary by, Dan Keppen, Family Farm Alliance
Regulations for this four decades-old law are being updated to better allow federal agencies to accomplish what the Act was intended to do: Recover species.
As you have likely heard, the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) - referred to here as "the Services" - jointly announced…
Read MoreA federal appeals court has set July 8, 2019 as the date for oral argument in a lawsuit of critical importance to Klamath Project irrigators that was filed 18 years ago.
Read MoreKlamath Water Users Association had mixed reactions to Friday’s public meeting at Klamath County Fairgrounds on the status of Endangered Species Act consultations and expected 2019 water supply for the Klamath Project.
Read MoreCommentary by, Don Gentry, Chairman of the Klamath Tribes
The Klamath Tribes acknowledge the efforts, facilitated by the Department of Interior, to provide opportunity to develop solutions to the Klamath Basin’s ongoing water and fisheries battles.
Read MoreKlamath Falls, OR – Yesterday, a federal district court judge for the northern district of California denied a motion for preliminary injunction brought by the Klamath Tribes. The tribe’s request for preliminary injunction asked for higher lake levels in Upper Klamath Lake until a new ESA consultation is complete for two species of suckers that are listed as endangered. The preliminary injunction would have required an immediate halt to irrigation water deliveries in the Klamath Project.
Read MoreOn Friday, February 9, 2018, attorneys for the Klamath Tribes sent a letter to representatives of three federal agencies requesting that Upper Klamath Lake be managed at higher levels throughout the upcoming irrigation season to protect the endangered C’waam and Koptu (Lost River and Shortnose suckers, respectively).
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