Klamath Irrigation District voted 4-0 Thursday
afternoon to form the 2018 Klamath Project Response
Agency Intergovernmental Cooperative and Joint
Exercises of Powers Agreement, a third-party entity
that will be tasked with distributing $10.3 million
in drought relief funding for eligible Klamath
Project irrigators.
The entity will be made up of seven board members
with representatives from Klamath Irrigation
District, Tulelake Irrigation District and Klamath
Drainage District, with at-large members selected by
districts and with input from Van Brimmer Irrigation
District, according to Nathan Reitmann, legal
counsel for KID.
KID board members on Thursday afternoon appointed
board member Jerry Enman to sit on the new entity’s
board of directors.
No particulars are currently known when funds —
known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act — may
become available to Klamath Project irrigators.
“There’s been all sorts of discussions about how to
actually get that money from the Bureau and get it
distributed to landowners who need it,” Reitmann
said. “And those discussions have been going at a
snail’s pace, but continue to be worked on. The hope
is that it’s going to be possible to create what
we’re calling an intergovernmental entity that’s
going to consist of various districts who would form
the entity and they would have joint powers, and
that entity would be responsible for administrating
whatever program is created from those funds. And
the first step in doing that, even though we don’t
have a program in place, even though we don’t know
precisely how we’re going to get the money, is to
create the entity. And so we’ve got a proposed
intergovernmental agreement to do that.”
KID’s action comes on the heels of a draft
operations plan released by Reclamation’s Klamath
Basin Area Office that outlines estimated plans to
deliver approximately 197,981 acre feet of water,
based on June 1 forecasts.
Klamath Water Users Association and the Klamath
Tribes have each issued comments on the draft plan,
with the final operations plan planned for release
early next week, according to Williams.
Klamath Project supply could be impacted by
hydrologic conditions as well as a potential need to
refill PacifiCorp reservoirs following transfers in
April and May, according to the draft plan.
Reclamation may be required to reduce the amount or
rate of Project deliveries based on criteria
established in the 2013 biological opinion.
Reclamation estimates an additional volume of 8,000
acre feet of water from the Project will be
necessary to support the Yurok Tribe’s Boat Dance in
late August, as required under the proposed action
analyzed in the 2013 biological opinion.
Reclamation also plans to release a drought plan
early next week following the final operations plan
that outlines specifies water allocation.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on May 25 requested
Reclamation provide drought relief funding for
Klamath County, according to a June 7 letter
addressed to irrigation districts part of Klamath
Water User’s Association.
Brown submitted a similar request to Reclamation
Commissioner Brenda Burman by California Gov. Jerry
Brown on June 6.
“Once the Commissioner makes a determination that
the assistance is merited, Reclamation can begin to
execute the contracts and formally provide drought
relief assistance,” said Jeff Nettleton, manager for
Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Area Office. “Now that
requests have been received by both governors, the
Klamath Area (Basin) Office is working directly with
the Reclamation Policy Office and the Commissioner’s
Office on the approval of the drought relief
requests.”
