In September, we worked with SHN Engineers & Geologists, Inc. to define the Scope of Work for development of the KID D-System Improvement Plan. We expect all contracts to be executed in the coming days and look forward to working with SHN on developing project alternatives this fall.

On September 19, FCA, Natural Resources Conservation Service Oregon (NRCS Oregon), and KID held a kickoff meeting for the Watershed Plan-Environmental Assessment (Plan-EA). During the meeting we discussed the purpose and need for the Plan-EA, the planning process, responsibilities, and early project alternatives. We will begin drafting documents to initiate the Scoping process in the coming months. Once drafted, these documents will be sent to KID for review.

On September 13, we met with Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Office staff to discuss ways in which we could streamline modernization planning efforts and develop funding for modernization of the A-Canal and Tunnel. We will continue these conversations with both Reclamation and the District.

Gene Souza provided Keith Kueny, Energy and Resiliency Manager, with KID’s yearly energy costs. Using the bills provided, Keith was able to appropriately size any potential investment in community solar. Blackbird Farms continues to move forward with a community solar project, with the hope that an irrigation district could be the anchor tenant. An anchor tenant is a large commercial or industrial customer that would utilize most of the energy from a single project. In this case, the project being built by Blackbird would discount power to $0.08 per kWh.

November and December are not looking good for the start of the 2023 water year for the Klamath Basin with below average precipitation forecasted. Things may start looking better in January.

Historic record of precipitation over the past 1000 years as estimated by tree ring analysis for the Klamath River shows a recuring, multi-year cycle. Published in "Klamath/San Joaquin/Sacramento Hydroclimatic Reconstructions from Tree Rings".

"The reconstructed flows in the Klamath, Sacramento, and San Joaquin basins allow an assessment of the instrumental period of record, in terms of drought duration and severity, in a long-term context, The longest run of below median flow years extends to 21 consecutive years in the Klamath River reconstruction, 10 years in the Sacramento and 13 years in the San Joaquin (Figure 10-12, Table 6). Two intervals of 10 years are indicated in the Sacramento: late 1200s and in the 1920s-1930s. In the San Joaquin, the 13-yr run occurs in the late 1400s. The 21-yr run in the Klamath occurs in the mid- to late 1600s. Numerous periods of low flows of four years and more are evident in all three series." This pattern is not new nor record breaking looking at the historic record.

On 21 October 2022 there was 173,425 acre feet of water STORED in Upper Klamath Lake with no less than 830 cubic feet of water per second being added. However, agricultural producers who pay for the storage of the water were denied access effective 19 August 2022. No water is currently being stored in Upper Klamath Lake, every drop of inflow, plus some storage is being released from Upper Klamath Lake, allowing excessive amounts of water to be released to the ocean with a very dry forecast for the beginning of the WY2023 irrigation season and at the conclusion of a very poor WY2022 growing season.

Coho Life History in the Shasta River with Bill Chesney