Klamath Falls News - Locally owned news brand, reporting stories affecting citizens of the Klamath Basin.
SALEM, Ore. - Last week, Governor Tina Kotek and First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson visited communities in Lake, Klamath and Jackson counties on stops 30, 31, and 32 of the One Oregon Listening Tour.
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 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 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 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 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.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Today, the United States Bureau of Reclamation said that irrigation districts that provide water to family farms and national wildlife refuges should immediately cease all diversion of water from Upper Klamath Lake, the major water storage reservoir for the Klamath Project.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Senior leaders from the Department of the Interior finished a two-day visit to the Klamath Basin this week to meet with Tribes, state and county officials, interagency partners, and water users to discuss near- and long-term solutions related to drought impacts and highlight how investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help protect and conserve sp
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Governor Kate Brown visited the Klamath Basin this week, where she visited the Klamath Tribes, including the newly elected Tribal Chair Clayton Dumont, Tribal Council Members, and members of the Klamath Tribes Youth Council. Governor Brown also met with Kingsley Airmen, Klamath Water Users Association, and Klamath County Commissioner Kelley Minty Morris.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The Klamath Project Drought Response Agency (KPDRA) is currently accepting applications for its 2022 No Irrigation Programs to provide financial assistance and/or relief to local farmers and ranchers who normally receive surface water through the Klamath Project. The application deadline is June 15, 2022.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - On Tuesday, the Klamath Water Users Association held its annual meeting at the Klamath County Fairgrounds. Several hundred people attended the meeting which included dinner and social hour. The main focus of the event was on current water deliveries, the future of irrigation in the Klamath Basin, and an overall message of hope for basin farmers.
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 FALLS, Ore. - County Commissioners and Supervisors from Klamath, Modoc, and Siskiyou Counties are weighing in with the Bureau of Reclamation regarding the need for timely diversion of water to the Klamath Project this year in the interest of public health and safety.
Read MoreKLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Today, the Oregon legislature approved $20 million in funding for critical needs in Klamath County caused by water curtailments and wildfire. “This is welcome news,” said Klamath County Commissioner Kelley Minty Morris, who was on point for local interests pursuing the funding. “We are grateful for this action, and for Governor Brown’s support for this desperately needed funding package.”
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