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<DIV><SPAN class=articleHeadline><STRONG>Reclamation touts broad, changing
Klamath plan</STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<P class=articleSpacer><SPAN class=articleByline>By <STRONG>John Driscoll
</STRONG>The Times-Standard</SPAN>
<P class=articleSpacer>
<P>EUREKA -- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday aired an increasingly
ambitious plan before county supervisors for coordinating restoration efforts in
the Klamath Basin.
<P>It marked the first time in recent memory a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
representative from Klamath Falls, Ore., has spoken before the Humboldt County
Board of Supervisors.
<P>The Klamath Basin Conservation Implementation Program, first envisioned to
involve only a handful of participants, is evolving into one that takes in
anyone who wants to be a part of it, said bureau environmental specialist Dan
Fritz.
<P>Existing councils, task forces and private groups would be involved, with the
program coordinating efforts between the diverse elements.
<P>Fritz said the plan would work between the upper and lower basins, which are
often in conflict.
<P>"There seems to be something of a wall that exists between the upper and
lower basins," Fritz said.
<P>The purpose of the program is to recover suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and
coho salmon in the lower river, while allowing water for irrigation and
contributions to tribal trust responsibilities.
<P>First modeled on a program on the upper Colorado River, it initially focused
only on recovering endangered fish, Fritz said. But comments to the bureau
convinced it that the model was not appropriate. Species of concern, like
chinook salmon, were added, and the program is conceived to later be expanded to
include recovery of the entire Klamath ecosystem.
<P>How long that might take, Fritz couldn't say. There is no specific funding
available for the program in President Bush's 2005 budget, though the bureau is
providing seed money to start the program, he said.
<P>If enough people get on board, it will likely leverage funding in the future,
he said.
<P>First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith called for meetings to take place
locally while the program is still in draft form.
<P>Conflict between the upper and lower Klamath River communities came to a head
in 2001, when the bureau shut off water to many irrigators on the
California-Oregon border, after federal fisheries biologists said the water was
needed for salmon. The next year, the bureau provided full irrigation deliveries
and 34,000 salmon died on the lower river.
<P>The National Research Council reviewed the crisis and recommended vast
efforts to restore the ecological and economic uses of the basin.
<P><STRONG><U>Local river advocate Denver Nelson told Fritz it was good that he
made the trip to Humboldt County, and said he understands that the bureau is
caught in the middle of the struggle. </U></STRONG>
<P><STRONG><U>"You may still be the villain," Nelson said of the bureau, "but
you're improving your image."</U></STRONG></P>
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