Feds tell irrigators Klamath salmon need more water
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Federal fisheries biologists want more water in the Klamath River to keep coho salmon from heading closer to extinction.After evaluating the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s latest plans for splitting water between irrigators and fish, the NOAA Fisheries Service said Friday more water is needed in the spring to flood rearing habitat for juvenile coho salmon, a threatened species.
The latest review – ordered by a federal judge – is known as a draft biological opinion, and comes in a long-standing battle over how much water goes to farms and how much goes to salmon in the Klamath Basin. The final version is expected later this year.
During a drought in 2001, the federal government shut off irrigation to most farms in the Klamath Reclamation Project near Klamath Falls and Tulelake, Calif., to keep salmon alive. But the next year when the Bush administration restored water to farms, tens of thousands of adult salmon died in low warm water conditions.
