Waiting for a Klamath Conclusion

By RYAN HARPER For the Capital Press

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - The first look at massive Klamath River data,
collected before and during the late September fish kill that drew
national publicity, draws no conclusion on cause.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional director Steve Thompson took a
draft copy of the report to brief U.S. Department of Interior officials
on Nov. 21. About 33,000 fish, most of them chinook salmon, died of
disease while crowded together in the Klamath River a few miles east of
the Pacific Ocean.

Pat Foulk of the USFWS Sacramento office, said the agency isn't prepared
to say whether upstream irrigation diversions contributed to the fish
deaths.

A number of downstream tribal and environmental groups, along with
California state agencies, placed the blame on lower river flows related
to Klamath Reclamation Project diversions.

Klamath Basin farmers and agriculture groups disputed the claim, saying
that the kill, occurred too far downstream for the project to have been a
significant factor.

State, federal and tribal biologists have an extensive data-gathering
system on the Klamath. The effort began over 20 years ago in the 'face of
dwindling salmon runs on the Klamath and its major tributary, the
Trinity. Both streams have U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water diversions
high up in their drainages.

The draft report is the first comprehensive look at the kill. Eventual
conclusions could ,have a significant impact on Klamath Project and
Central Valley Project operations if it is found that project diversions
contributed significantly to the deaths.

Foulk said the draft, put together by the USFWS office in Arcata, Calif.,
is simply a collection of facts and does not offer any recommendations.

"That's not part of their charge," she said. "They put together the
statistics on the fish kill." She said the report was drafted with the
help of the California Department of Fish and Game, the National Marine
Fisheries Service and tribal biologists. "We may be the lead agency on
this, but it's not something we're doing in a vacuum," she said. '

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