Finding balance in the upper Klamath Basin: innovative efforts by individuals and government

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Finding balance in the upper Klamath Basin
innovative efforts by individuals and
government
Presentation to Hydrophiles Seminar April 9, 2008
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The Klamath Basin
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Source USGS --- Snyder Morace
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UPPER KLAMATH LAKE DRAINAGE
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Upper Klamath Lake

• Fish and wildlife habitat
• Irrigation for 200,000 ha
• Managed by Bureau of Reclamation
• 2001Water Crisis
• Irrigation water cut off 1,200 farms
• Protect endangered and threatened fish species

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September 2002 Klamath River Fish Kill - 33 to
68 Thousand Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead -
Disease exacerbated by low flows, warm water,
high fish numbers
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Basic Issues
1. Degraded Ecosystem with inability to support
species natural or human-caused
2. Over-Appropriation of Water Resources
Aquatic Ecosystem Sciences LLC
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Statistics for the Wood River Valley
6 of the land area that drains to UKL
25 of the water that drains to UKL (mostly cold
spring water)
50 of the cattle in the Upper Klamath Basin
30 of the external phosphorus load into Upper
Klamath Lake
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Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust

• MISSION
• To restore and conserve the quality and quantity
  of water in Oregon's Wood River Valley and the
  upper Klamath Basin
• To enhance the natural ecosystem and supply
  needed water for downstream agriculture,
  ranching, native fish and wildlife populations.

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KBRT Activities

• Work with landowners to adopt new land and water
  management strategies
• Convert to dryland grazing
• Lease water rights in-stream
• Reduce cattle stocking rates
• Exclude cattle from riparian areas
• Enroll landowners in programs that will assist
  them to make these changes
• (NRCS EQIP, CSP, WRP, CREP USBR Water Bank)

• Conduct extensive monitoring
• Water savings, water quality, vegetation
  response, etc

• Ecological restoration projects
• Fish passage - Stream protection
• Stream restoration - Wetland restoration

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KBRT 2002 - 2007

• 2002 3,161 ac
• 2003 8,882 ac
• 2004 11,132 ac
• 2005 12,000 ac
• 2006 12,000 ac

• 2007
• 12,000 acres
• 13 landowners
• Over 36,000 acre-feet of water left instream
• 12,000 acre-feet of water saved through decreased
  crop water use
• Riparian protection / restoration
• Stream channel restoration
• Fish passage

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MONITORING ? Stream flows ? Water Quality ?
Groundwater ? Vegetation ? Evapotranspiration
?Cattle health forage conditions
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General Results

• Over 37,000 acre feet of water
• leased instream
• Re-watered a 2 mile reach
• Increased stream flows by 40
• Difference in crop water use between irrigated
  and non-irrigated fields is 0.8 - 1.04 acft of
  water per ac of land
• Improved water quality by keeping cold, clean
  water instream instead of spread over fields. 15
  reduction in phosphorus in Sevenmile Creek.
• Consistent high groundwater levels each spring
  provide water for forage re-growth each year
• Anecdotal increased cattle weight gain on dry
  forage (30)

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Streamflow
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Water Quality
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groundwater
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groundwater
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evapotranspiration
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Ecological Restoration

• Fencing riparian buffer zones
• Stream channel habitat improvements
• Returning streams to natural channels
• Fish passage
• Wetland restoration

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Channel improvements
(2002) Agency Creek

• Heavy use by spawning native fish

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Fish passage Sevenmile Creek
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Fish passage Short Creek
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Wetland Restoration
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KBRT looking forward
?Over the past 6 years KBRT has demonstrated that
reduced irrigation in the Wood River Valley
delivers proven results, and is compatible with
landowner objectives. ? There is a transition
period where, with support, ranchers can
determine if and how it is feasible to run their
operations with less water. After that transition
they might be comfortable leaving water instream
on a long-term basis ? Many restoration
opportunities waiting to be addressed ?Current
basin-wide Settlement activities support the
idea of reducing consumptive water use above the
lake KBRT aims to establish a transaction
structure to facilitate instream flow protections
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Efforts to address conflicts in the Upper
Klamath Basin

• Governmental approaches
• 1) Klamath River Compact Commission 1957
• 2) Senator Hatfield in the 1990s
• 3) Bush Administration in after 2001
• 4) 2002 Farm Bill
• 5) Conservation Implementation Program
• Private Approaches
• 1) Closed-door talks
• 2) Open-door talks
• 3) NGO efforts
• Klamath Settlement

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Klamath Basin Draft Restoration
Agreementsettlement

• 1) Removal of 4 dams
• 2) Water allocation agreements in the upper basin
• 3) Stabilize power rates in the upper basin
• 4) County support after removal of dams
• 5) Restoration to rebuild fish populations
• 6) Support for Tribal economic interests

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For more information please contact Shannon
Peterson 340 A Street, Suite 302 Ashland, OR
97520 543-488-4822 541-973-5608
Shannon.peterson_at_kbrt.org
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Rykbost charlton irrigation dist is net sink
for nutrients the basin has naturally high
phosphorus levels cattle on wetlands isnt bad
(snyder morace samples on WRW were slightly lower
once cattle were off, but spun to say
similar) Rodney Todd .. Cattle ranches werent
net export of nutrients
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Water Quality
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Water Quantity
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evapotranspiration
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evapotranspiration
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evapotranspiration
Comparison of ET over the season (April-Oct) as
measured by Bowen Ratio at irrigated and
non-irrigated sites with METRIC estimates of ET
at those sites