In the Flow


14 August 2023 Update



In this edition:


  • 7 August Election Results
  • Notice of Director Opening
  • Upcoming Events
  • Irrigation Season Update
  • News and Political Issues Effecting the District

7 August 2023 Election Result Announcement: Ballot Measure #1

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BALANCING REPAIRS, DEBT, MODERNIZATION, & RISK MANAGEMENT

The election results for the 7 AUG '23 Ballot Measure #1 are in.

Approximately 1/5 of Klamath Irrigation District registered voters provided their input on allowing the District to enter into a $3.75 Million repayment contract with the Federal government for installing a cut-off wall on the Upper C Canal.


The concrete cut-off wall is deemed by the District and Reclamation as the most cost effective solution to mitigate a moderate risk to Klamath County School properties; however, this option fails to address other priority issues for the District such as seepage, evaporation, bridge repair costs, crossing maintenance, pest management, and general public safety.


Many patrons expressed concerns about the District taking on further financial debt without any guarantee of water deliveries to be able to bring their farm product to market in order to repay the debt.


It is important to note that the District levies annual assessments on each acre of farmland for various items, including the 2016 C-Siphon modernization, Link River Dam operation and maintenance, and the operation and maintenance of over 400 miles of canals and drains. These costs have significantly increased over the past 2 years, resulting in a rate increase in 2023.


While many patrons encourage Klamath Irrigation District to modernize in an effort to better serve the entire Klamath Basin economy, this Ballot Measure #1 Upper C Canal project was not aimed at gaining water efficiency, nor economic benefit, but rather to address a crucial risk management need. Ultimately, the patrons have voted "NO" to additional debt without any guarantee of water deliveries. The water being denied is identified under Oregon State Law as the farmer's property and the delivery of this property is obligated, without discretion, under numerous contracts with the Federal government.


In light of this decision by the patrons of the District, the K.I.D. Board of Directors have directed its executive director to continue to work on finding solutions for the Upper C Canal which do not involve the District entering into further debt. The District will be exploring opportunities to find other funding sources which integrate the vision of modernization, water savings, and economic investment.

NOTICE OF OPENINGS FOR THE K.I.D. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

There are two positions on the Board of Directors of Klamath Irrigation District that will be open at the end of 2023. The open positions are for Division 3 (currently held by Grant W. Knoll) for a full term of three years, and Division 4 (currently held by David A. Hamel) for a full term of three years. The new terms of office will begin in January 2024.


Parties interested in running for election for either board position must file a Nominating Petition. To run for a board position, the candidate must be registered with Klamath Irrigation District to vote in a District election, must be a qualified elector in the open division, and must file a valid Nominating Petition by 5:00pm, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 at the District office. To inquire about qualifications and/or to pick up a Nominating Petition, please contact the KID office at 6640 KID Lane, Klamath Falls, Oregon: or telephone 541-882-6661.

 

 

(ORS 545.137 (3) – published or posted not less than 60 days prior to the scheduled election date)

UPCOMING EVENTS

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Read the latest KWUA Newsletter!

Klamath Water Users Protective Association


August Board of Directors Meeting

16 August 2023, 2pm in the KWUA Board Room.


September Board of Directors Meeting

13 August 2023, 2pm in the KWUA Board Room


Visit the KWUA website!

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SDAO News and Announcements

Special Districts Association of Oregon


Board of Directors and Management Staff Training

15 August 2023, in Redmond.

Register now!


15 September 2023, SDAO Member Scholarship Golf Tournament 

10 a.m. - Registration opens | 11 a.m.

More information on the tournament...


20 September 2023 Board Member Relations, Expectations and Ethics – Klamath Falls 

Register now!

Klamath Falls Downtown Association August's 3rd Thursday

August 17


@ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Enjoy local vendors, music and food located on Main Street, Klamath Falls.

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Mule Deer Management Plan Update

Join ODFW on Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. as staff discuss the draft chapters on Nutrition and Habitat as well as Diseases and Parasites and take questions from the public.


ODFW is presenting information on various chapters in the Mule Deer Management Plan Update online and via webinars. Presentations are followed by a Q&A with biologists and a moderator asking questions submitted by the public.


Visit the Mule Deer Management Plan's webpage to read the draft chapters, learn more and submit your comments about the plan.

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Tulelake Butte Valley Fair

7-10 September 2023


Host to the annual family-friendly Tuelake-Butte Valley Fair the Thursday through Sunday after labor day each year.


Click here for the 2023 Exhibits Schedule of Events


FRIDAY, SEPT 8 - COUNTRY STAR JOE NICHOLS LIVE!


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 - FLEETWOOD MASK


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 - DESTRUCTION DERBY

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Klamath Irrigation District


September Board of Directors Meeting

14 September 2023, 1pm in the K.I.D. Board Room.


Visit the K.I.D. website to learn more.

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Oregon Water Resources Congress


SAVE THE DATE

Elmer G McDaniels Golf Tournament

October 4 – Sisters, OR

More information to come

 

OWRC Water Law Seminar

October 5 – Sisters, OR

More information to come

 

OWRC Board Meeting

October 6 – Sisters, OR

More information to come


Visit the OWRC website to learn more.

2023 Irrigation Season Update

In this chart, the inflows and outflows to the Klamath Basin for WY2023 (1 October - 30 September) are displayed as of 13 August 2023.


The salmon-colored vertical lines show daily releases of water to the Klamath River. The black vertical lines show water from the Klamath River returned back to former lakes and wetlands by day since 1 October 2022.


The light blue line is the total net inflow to Upper Klamath Lake calculated each day which is 864,813.7 acre-feet (or 281,800,778,234 gallons).


The dark blue line is an estimation of how much water would have been available to the Klamath River at the natural Keno reef under natural conditions assuming Lower Klamath Lake was at the natural reef elevation on 1 October 2021 (after 2 years of very dry conditions...this is optimistic and gives benefit to any argument about LKL conditions after 2 consecutive years of drought). This chart assumes that the WY2022 deficiencies would have required flows between October and December 2022 to refill the LKL to a level where it would spill into the Klamath River canyon over the natural reef. Note flows to the Klamath River would have been curtailed by the environmental conditions until 1 January 2023 if the Klamath Reclamation Project were not operating. This also shows that around 6 July 2023, more water has been unnaturally released over the Keno dam than nature would have allowed as evaporation on LKL would have required the flows to refill the evaporated amount and that the Link River and the Keno reef would be dry right now but for the Klamath Reclamation Project. Note that the evaporation on LKL continues with these higher temperatures and is estimated by the Yellow line.


The multicolored line shows how much water has been released over the Keno reef. (559,545 acre feet)


The grey line shows Klamath Reclamation Project returning water to the former lakes and marshlands at a rate that is similar to the natural evaporation rates for LKL.

Click here for Klamath current conditions 8_14_2023.pdf

The chart above calculates the daily and overall return of water to the former lakes and marshlands by the Klamath Reclamation Project since 1 March 2023. As of 13 August 2023, only 194,298 acre-feet of water have been returned.


The blue color shows water through the A Canal (which on a year such as 2023 would typically deliver 223,000 acre-feet to the former lakes and marshlands). Only 107,322 acre-feet have been delivered so far this year.


The orange color shows other points of diversion across the Klamath basin. In total, for 2023, an average water year, historically the project has routinely returned over 360,000 acre-feet of water to farms and refuges. No water is anticipated to be delivered to the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuges as per Reclamation's 2023 drought plan.


Many farmers with contracts under the Warren Act have been issued letters of curtailment as they were only allowed 0.6 acre-feet of water per acre for crops that demand over 2 acre-feet of water. Some of these farmers have opted to turn on their ground water-wells which had been off this irrigation season, allowing the groundwater water aquifer to rest. Unfortunately, Reclamation's plan now taxes the ground groundwater reserves in an average water year.


The yellow color shows the district manager's best guess on deliveries under Reclamation's 2023 drought plan with the Klamath Reclamation Project returning less water to the former lakes and marshlands than would have naturally evaporated. This will be the fourth straight year of Reclamation's unnatural diversion of water over the Keno Reef away from the refuges.


The chart also shows that on 23 August 2023, Reclamation is anticipated to be in conflict with its 2023 Drought Plan with only 208,304 acre-feet of water returned to the former lakes and marshes and over 140,000 acre-feet of water already over-delivered to the Klamath River above what natural conditions would have allowed.


Discussions of dam removal flow this fall and winter indicate minimum flows are desired to allow for in-stream work. Given a strong El-Nino cycle is anticipated, this means our water will be delivered in the form of rain (not large amounts of snow) this winter. This means that storage in Upper Klamath Lake will need to be able to be flexible enough to retain a great deal of water between December and April to offset the anticipated low snowpack. Unfortunately, Reclamation's 2023 drought plan contradicts this weather pattern and water management planning. In plain terms, this means that farmers will again be denied their property by the federal government in 2023, and the excess water from the flood control management this winter will be a loss for farmers, wildlife refuges, birds, ecosystems, and the endangered fish which have habitat in the Tulelake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges.


District managers have been in communication with Reclamation officials to identify what steps Reclamation anticipates to take to mitigate the continued failure of the Interim Operations Plan and the 2020-2023 operations plans. No answers to these questions are currently available from the attorneys in the Department of the Interior other than a new consultation has begun and the local area office has less than 45 days to write a new plan.

Climatologists foresee strong El Nino

A strong El Nino has a two out of three chance of forming by this winter, the National Weather Service said, creating conditions that could lead to a smaller snowpack

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News and Political Activities Effecting the District

Klamath County seeks public comment on Strategic Plan draft

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Over the last several months, the Klamath County Commissioners and a special committee have been working with community members to develop a new five-year strategic plan.

Read More

Oregonians urged to activate credit monitoring following data breach

August 2, 2023 Media Contact: Amy Bacher, 503-405-5403, [email protected] OHP members among those affected following PH TECH announcement SALEM, Ore. - Following Performance Health Technology's (PH TECH) announcement today that Oregon Health Plan (OHP) members are among those affected by a coordinated data hack, the state is urging OHP members to take steps to protect their personal information.

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What is a food hub?

Have you ever heard the term "food hub" and wondered what it means exactly?

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Find Your Farmer event helps make local connections

More than than 40 local producers, buyers, and others involved in the food industry recently attended this year's Find Your Farmer event hosted by Healthy Klamath and Oregon State University's

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Warmwater Fishing in the Klamath Lake area

Oregon's Klamath and Lake counties offer outstanding warmwater fishing in the region's lakes and reservoirs, and even in the lower reaches of some of the rivers and streams. The area covers the Upper Klamath Basin and extends east to include the Chewaucan and Warner Lakes Basins.

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This is the water question that California politicians keep refusing to answer | Opinion - NewsBreak

In 2019, then Attorney General Xavier Becerra asserted that even analyzing the question through a public environmental study violated state law.

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'If You Unbuild It, They Will Come' - Water Education Foundation

Scientists Chart Transformation of Klamath River and Its Salmon Amid Nation's Largest Dam Removal Project


"Farmer and rancher groups, however, have raised concerns about who will be on the hook for potential unintended consequences the dam removals may cause. They are worried that water from Upper Klamath Lake allocated for farming will be diverted to help flush out sediment or aid habitat restoration.


“If the experts are wrong, the habitat is degraded and anadromous fish stocks don’t recover, our concern is that the water needed to clean up the mess will come at the expense of agriculture,” said Moss Driscoll, director of water policy for the Klamath Water Users Association."

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States say EPA pesticide plan poisonous to compliance programs

States are warning the Environmental Protection Agency that restricting or prohibiting insecticides and herbicides over millions of acres across the U.S. to protect 27 species will unleash "serious societal issues."

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Don't call it 'toilet to tap' - California plans to turn sewage into drinking water

Under California's draft rules, waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply.

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Going once... Going twice... Sold at $1.7 million

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The annual Klamath County Fair has come and gone, but the effects of the Junior Livestock Auction will last a generation. 380 Young men and women from all across Klamath County have spent months preparing animals for show and market.

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KCSO Busts three illegal grows

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The Klamath County Sheriff's Office recently announced they executed search warrants on three properties between August 2 and 3. 1,766 plants were destroyed with an estimated street value of $10.9 million. Approximately 950,000 gallons of water have been illegally used on the g

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Applications open for SBDC Business Management program

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Klamath Community College's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Small Business Management Program (SBM) is accepting applications for a limited number of participants.

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'It's time to do something': Push is on to replace irrigation canals with piping

A big push is underway in Jackson County and Oregon to replace open-ditch irrigation canals with piping to reduce water loss through seepage and evaporation.

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High supply, low prices have hay growers considering options

Carryover hay from 2022 and lower hay prices could have affected planting decisions this season.


Looking ahead, dairy demand for hay is going to be muted until milk prices recover and weak global demand and exchange rates have lowered hay exports, he said.

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Grasshopper infestation hammers Klamath Basin farms

Farmers and ranchers across parts the arid West have been battling outbreaks of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets for several years now. Drought creates ideal conditions for the insects to thrive,

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The Importance of Irrigated Agriculture in the Colorado River Basin and the Western U.S.

In the Colorado River Basin, competing water interests have mounted a sustained campaign against agricultural water use in the Basin, often pointing to alfalfa as one crop that uses too much water and should no longer be produced. Alliance Executive Director Dan Keppen touches on this topic in "The Importance of Irrigated Agriculture in the Colorado River Basin & the Western U.S."

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CALFIRE Wildfire Prevention - Scott River Watershed Council

The Project concentrates on actions that will remove forest fuels within 500 acres of the Wildland Urban Interface areas (WUI) and will treat 5.25 miles (an additional 125 acres) of roadside to create and connect strategic fuel breaks and reduce the impacts of catastrophic wildfire and decrease possible ember showers within areas of the community at very high risk.

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Can wild horses help firefighters fight forest wildfires?

AUGUST 4, 2023

Researchers found that as humans began to dominate, the extinction of large or mega herbivores correlated to an increase in fire activity. But experts warn that using modern day mammals as mowers may only help in specific situations. Jamie Mauracher explains.

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Experts worry renewables won't keep pace with demand for electricity

Demand for electricity is rising with the adoption of policies that mandate electric vehicle adoption. Meanwhile, how electricity gets produced is changing because governments are requiring power companies to cut back on fossil-fueled electricity generation and replace it with clean energy.

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Judge dismisses lawsuit against Oregon forest thinning projects

Three forest restoration projects in southeast Oregon were properly exempted from environmental review despite including 29,000 acres of commercial thinning, according to a federal judge.

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Westerman, Gosar Demand Answers on How New National Monument Will Impact American Energy Security

Today, U.S. President Joe Biden announced he will use the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate approximately 1 million acres as a national monument in Arizona. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)

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Beyond Meat revenue plummets in the second quarter due to flagging demand

Plant-based meat substitute maker Beyond Meat said its revenue plunged 30.5% in the second quarter as consumer demand for its burgers, sausages and other products fell despite price cuts.

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Bob Hale dies at age 69, remembered as visionary of Oregon agriculture

As a friend, mentor and farmer, Bob Hale had an indelible impact on Columbia Basin agriculture. Hale died July 30 following a 34-month battle with advanced cancer. He was 69.

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