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April's EXTREME "pulse flows", 6000cfs, dewatering Klamath irrigators' stored water

 Flow graph (6000cfs) at Iron Gate Dam, April 2020, posted to KBC 6/20/2020. From rancher Rex Cozzalio, Hornbrook, CA on the Klamath River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The 3 photos of flooding are Iron Gate flow wasted over the spillway, Hornbrook on the Klamath River, and Klamathon Bridge near Hornbrook.

                     

Attached is the graph of the April 'flush' and some photographs. People looking at the graphs should bear in mind several points that can skew perception of the information.

One is that the graph is logarithmic, making the difference between lows and highs appear much closer together than in reality and therefore making actual increases of 500 to 1000% seem proportionally much less.

The other point is that the 'median' line reflects the mid DATA POINT in the low to high list of the yearly gauged flow occurring on that particular date, and NOT an 'outlier trimmed' AVERAGE of flows over the 59 years of readings. As the artificial floods continue to increase 'unnatural' yearly additions to the high end range, it artificially increases the median data point. That means the more artificial 'flushes' that occur, the more the 'median' line is skewed to reflect an 'unnaturally high' flow for that time of year. The same effect would occur in reverse, relative to winter flows faced with reductions due to storing water in UKL, but that perceptual impact is much less since flows at that time of year are rarely an issue.

We have seen summer flows at our location in the Klamath directly below Iron Gate of less than 450 cfs with NO apparent subsequent impact to life cycle returns of salmon to our area. We have also witnessed the far worse 'naturally' degraded fisheries conditions, mid to late summer water quality conditions, flow levels, and local repetitive flood damages that existed BEFORE the environmental improvements made by Iron Gate. Those improvements resulted in a statistical 20% INCREASE of salmon returns to our location over the prior UNCHANGED returns as a result of Copco near the upper range salmon were historically known to ascend, which were (and are) already dying and depleted by the time they reach our location. As a child, resident Shasta Indians we knew born long before the Project would laugh at the prospect of eating any spawning salmon returning to our area, at best considering the salmon that reached the Shasta River confluence miles downstream marginally palatable. Ironically, that period of 'massive salmon runs' cited by self benefiting 'rewilding' proponents seeking regional destruction, existed LONG AFTER the Project, Dams, and the ONLY Klamath water quality improving deep water lakes were put in place, and which presence is both temporally and statistically disconnected as the 'cause' of any relatively recent 'salmon collapse' now empirically attributed to far greater alternative reasons unrelated to the Klamath Dams. In fact, that data now PROVES the IMPROVEMENTS and protections the dams and deep water lakes are providing, and is the same data and studies which in both the California Water Resources recent EIS submitted to try and force FERC approved destruction, and the recent Upper Klamath 'collaborative' BOR BiOp 'revision' prescribing 'programmatic' water management until 2023, specifically and purposely REFUSED to look at ANY recent refuting data until AFTER their intended destruction of the dams and attendant imposed regional 'rewilding' environmental and economic devastation (for everyone ELSE but them).

KBC NOTE: Following this information by Rex on our Klamath Basin Crisis facebook page, Pat Lunde asked, "Why are the Yuroks stating they did not receive the 40,000af flushing flows per the Herald and News?"

KID manager Gene Souza replied, "The 40,000 is an additional augmentation to 400,000 environmental water agreed to by Reclamation to stay a 50,000 litigation for more in this drought year. To date they have received nearly 250,000 + 7000 + 8000...and should have well over 422,500 by the end of September. For them to complain about not getting water..."

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