Stakeholders
released the agreement Jan. 15. These are the major items:
* Migratory fish species will be
re-established throughout the watershed, achieved by removal
of four hydroelectric dams, and reintroduction and
monitoring programs.
* Irrigators on the Klamath
Reclamation Project will limit surface water use to between
330,000 and 385,000 acre-feet per year, depending on the
type of water year. More water will be available in wetter
years. In drier years, the Project will utilize groundwater
or field idling to cover shortages.
* Irrigators outside Project boundaries can
participate in voluntary retirement of water rights to add
another 30,000 acre-feet of water to Upper
Klamath Lake for which they’d be compensated.
* More than 100,000 acre feet of storage capacity
will be added to Upper Klamath Lake by breaching several
levees.
* All irrigators will benefit from a program to
secure affordable power rates. Using investments and other
ventures, the irrigators could potentially receive power for
irrigation at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.
* Water adjudication disputes between the Klamath
Tribes and Project irrigators will be settled. Adjudication
proceedings will continue between the Tribes and off-Project
irrigators with the possibility of continued settlement
talks.
* Those involved in the agreement will support the
Klamath Tribes’ purchase of more than
90,000 acres of private forest land located within their
former reservation. Two thirds of the funding for the $30
million purchase would come from the federal government.
* Counties through which the Klamath River flows
will receive financial assistance for economic development
and compensation for loss of property tax revenue from
removal of the dams.
