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<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>It is rumored that there is a juvenile fish kill
on the mainstem Klamath River from Ceratomyxa. Can anybody provide
additional information on this?</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Tahoma></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Tahoma>Tom Stokely</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Tahoma>530-628-5949</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Salmon release date questioned
</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Klamath Falls Ore. Herald & News -
5/20/04</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>By Dylan Darling, staff
writer</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<P>Millions of hatchery-produced chinook salmon fingerlings are set to start
their swim to the Pacific Ocean down the Klamath River.</P>
<P>But Bureau of Reclamation officials are asking if some of the salmon can wait
until fall to swim. </P>
<P></P>
<P>The California Department of Fish and Game planned to release a million of
the tiny fall-run salmon into the river from the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery today.
Another million are set to swim on May 24 and another 3 million on May 31.</P>
<P>On May 13, the Department released its first million fingerlings. The
fingerlings are ready for release when about 90 of them weigh about a pound
together, said Mike Rode, staff environmental scientist for the department. </P>
<P></P>
<P>The state hoped to release the salmon soon because flows in the Klamath River
will be sharply curtailed in June, Rode said.</P>
<P>The river flows will be less than expected because of a change in the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation's water year type for the river because of a drop in
inflow to Upper Klamath Lake. The Bureau regulates how much water goes down the
river by guiding PacifiCorp's management of its Klamath hydroelectric project
dams. </P>
<P></P>
<P>Dave Sabo, manager of the Klamath Reclamation Project, said he was in
discussions with the department this morning about the possibility of holding a
million of the salmon back until next fall and letting loose the ones that are
released farther down in the river.</P>
<P>"But we didn't get an answer from them," he said. </P>
<P></P>
<P>The Bureau offered to pay $65,000 for the holding of the salmon until fall.
Bureau officials are waiting for a response and should get it today, Sabo
said.</P>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT size=5>Reports of a disease spreading among salmon between
I-5 and the Scott and Shasta rivers, prompted the request for a lower release
spot.</FONT> </U></STRONG></P>
<P></P>
<P>Concerned about the release of the salmon, the Klamath Water Users
Association wrote a letter to the department's regional manager.</P>
<P>In it, the water users ask a number of questions about how the department
manages the salmon and suggests that the department coordinate its releases with
the Bureau's flows. </P>
<P></P>
<P>Dan Keppen, water users executive director, said the water users are
concerned about the releases because when things go wrong with salmon on the
river, the Klamath Reclamation Project and its irrigators usually get the blame.
# </P>
<P></P>
<P> </P>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>KLAMATH RIVER BASIN</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Klamath farmers, fish short on
water</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Less-than-expected mountain runoff spurs fears of
an irrigation shut-off and a fish kill.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><STRONG>Associated Press - 5/21/04</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<P>KLAMATH FALLS <FONT face=Tahoma size=4>—</FONT><FONT size=4> The amount of
water running out of the Cascade Range snowpack has fallen below expectations,
leading federal water authorities to scale back releases for Klamath River
salmon and urge farmers to conserve on irrigation.</P>
<P>The water shortage has revived fears that farmers could face another
irrigation shut-off like 2001 and the Klamath River could see another massive
fish kill like the one in 2002.</P>
<P>"People are obviously going to tighten up their belt as much as they can, but
I’m not sure what else we can do," said Dan Keppen of the Klamath Water Users
Association, which represents farmers on the Klamath Reclamation Project.</P>
<P>Tribes along the Klamath River in California are concerned that lower flows
this fall could re-create conditions that killed 33,000 adult salmon in
September, 2002.</P>
<P>"We’re really concerned, basically because we’re setting ourselves up for a
similar situation," said Toz Soto, fisheries biologist for the Karuk Tribe.</P>
<P><STRONG><U><FONT size=5>The lack of runoff prompted the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation to reclassify 2004 as a dry year, reducing by about a third the
amount of water mandated for threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River while
leaving full water deliveries to farmers on the Klamath Project in
place.</FONT></U></STRONG></P>
<P>The bureau has been sending extra water down the river this spring to help
young salmon make their migration to the Pacific Ocean.</P>
<P>Earlier this month, the Bureau of Reclamation paid farmers to tap private
wells for crops after realizing that Upper Klamath Lake, the primary reservoir
for the Klamath Project, was not filling. The water table has since fallen in
parts of the arid basin.</P>
<P>"I’m real nervous about how this is going to turn out," said Dave Sabo,
Klamath Project manager for the bureau. "It’s critical that people pay attention
to what they’re using" for irrigation.</P>
<P>Runoff from the mountain snowpack was originally predicted to be close to
average levels, leading to more water being released downstream through the
winter and early spring. Projections have since fallen to 38 percent below
average, Sabo said.#</P>
<P></P>
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