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Ten Things You Can Do
To Reduce UO’s Environmental Impact
Report Wasted Energy and Water
Contact Facilities Services at 346-2293 to report any drips or
lights left on.
Reduce Paper Use
Do not print large quantities of web pages, report drafts, or class
notes. Reuse bags, envelopes, and scrap paper. Make double
sided copies, use route slips, and electric communication when
possible.
Turn Off Lights When Not In Use
Buy fluorescent desk lamps and replacement bulbs instead of
incandescent or halogen ones.
Turn Off Monitor When Not In Office Or Room
Turn off computer when not in use. Buy energy efficient
computer equipment with the Energy Star label (available at
http://www.energystar.gov).
Buy Products Containing Recycled Material
So we can recycle the products we buy!
Bike, Walk, Carpool, Or Take The Bus
Remember, LTD is FREE to the UO Community... Just show
your UO I.D.
Conserve Water
When washing your hands, use only enough water to wet your
hands and rinse off the soap. Turn off the faucet in between these
times. Every drop counts!
Regulate Your Own Temperature
Dress appropriately for the season. Wear sweaters during winter
instead of turning up thermostats and using space heaters. Use
energy wisely!
Avoid Disposable Products
Use a refillable mug (available at Campus Recycling). Reuse
shopping bags (or buy a canvas one). Select products with
reduced and recyclable packaging.
Recycle Your Used Materials
Paper, cardboard, and beverage containers can be recycled in
designated sites around the UO campus.
0128591
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and xecydiny at the ‘Unwox&ity of Vxegon!
Sponsored by the UO Campus Environmental Issues Committee
Courtesy Dan Masi
water rights... and wrongs
■ Ranchers and tribes need
the Klamath Basin’s resources,
but ‘poor’ management may
harm both groups’ lifestyles
By Nicole Hill
for the Emerald
A stretch of sodden Southern
Oregon flatlands, speckled
with ripening pines and as
pens, curves into the algae
blooming pools of the Klamath
Basin. Several streams and rivers
collect icy run-off from surround
ing mountains and ripple down
into the Upper Klamath Lake, pro
viding a vital water source for com
munities and wildlife — a water
source that is also strangled in poli
tics and pollution.
An American Indian tribal myth
says that during spawning and mi
gration, people could walk across
the backs of the fish without get
ting their feet wet, Carl “Bud” Ull
man of Klamath Tribes said. How
ever, this anecdote of the
plenitude of years past has melted
into a different story today.
The Upper Klamath Lake,
which flows south to the Klamath
River and down to California, is
now a lay of dams, dikes and
drainage ditches rerouting water
for irrigation and hydroelectricity.
Some species of salmon have been
killed off, bald eagles and coho
salmon are threatened, and two
lesser-known fish species, the Lost
River sucker and the shortnose
sucker, are endangered. Water
storage in the basin has also
shrunk, increasing the difficulty of
draining large amounts of water
for irrigation while also providing
clean water for fish and habitats.
“We’ve made this system more
vulnerable; it’s just sort of living
on the edge now,” University ge
ography Professor Patricia Mc
Dowell said. McDowell, who
teaches classes on watershed poli
cy, said that both tribes and ranch
ers have valid needs for resources,
but poor management strategies
have left both interests wondering
whether they will be able to con
tinue with their lifestyles.
In the 1920s , the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation came to the Klamath
Basin, converted marshlands into
an agricultural area and invited
farmers to buy that land, McDow
ell said. In the beginning, the bu
reau primarily managed water for
irrigation, but in the past 20 years,
because of pressure from environ
mental groups, the bureau has de
veloped more sustainable plans.
“Now, different tribal and envi
ronmental values are being stirred
into the management mix,” said
Ullman, lawyer for Klamath
Tribes. Klamath tribes have water
and fishing and gathering rights
under an 1864 United States-im
posed treaty, Ullman explained.
Last summer, one of Oregon’s
worst droughts brought a clash of
values when the government cut
off the water supply to about 1,000
farmers in order to protect endan
gered species and meet obligations
to the tribes. McDowell said the
drought stirred up sentiments
among farmers that the govern
ment was breaking their contract
by not giving them water.
“The government didn’t think
about the consequences of setting
up an economy based only on
agriculture,” said Monika Bilka,
an environmental science major.
“It’s just not sustainable.”
Bilka grew up in Klamath Falls
and often finds herself caught be
tween the strong opinions of fam
ily and friends whose businesses
have suffered and those of the en
vironmental community, she said.
“Farmers there are also trying to
hold onto a long family history,”
she said.
The Yanceys are among those
trying to salvage their family
livelihood.
“Our business is directly affect
ed by agriculture,” Monty Yancey
said. His family runs Super. Spray,
a crop dusting business in Kla
math Falls. Yancey said he thinks
environmentalists are trying to
stop the progress of farmers alto
gether. “It’s like they are just living
in a different world,” he said.
He said his concerns are also
centered around the profits rolling
into energy companies during
times of crisis and drought.
“They are the ones who are really
profiting from all of this,” he said.
Monika Bilka watched last sum
mer’s debate pit farmers against
environmentalists.
“Environmentalists and farmers
are both trying to manipulate the
government to do what they
want,” she said. She sees the com
munication barrier between envi
ronmentalists and farmers as a fu
tile cycle of stratified views.
Often left out of the discussion
are the Klamath and Yurok tribes,
who work with environmental
ists, they say, to bring balance
back to the ecosystem. They be
lieve the Creator has put them
here to take care of all that has
been provided for them. Ullman
explained the grief they carry,
feeling as if they have failed while
watching their world fall to the
brink of extinction.
However, Ullman is confident
the resiliency of Mother Nature
makes some restoration possible.
Earlier this month, a Bush ad
ministration “working group”
stepped into the scene. James Con
naughton, chairman of the White
House Council for Environmental
Quality, introduced two proposals
by conservationists. The idea is to
convert delta areas that are used
for cattle grazing back to natural
wetlands. Wetlands serve as fil
ters, trapping sediment from agri
cultural run-off and preventing it
from entering lakes and polluting
native plant and sucker habitat,
McDowell explained.
“Water quality controls how wa
ter is used,” McDowell said.
And if the water quality is im
proved, more water can he re
leased to downstream farmers, ac
cording to Steven Anderson of the
Nature Conservancy, an environ
mental agency, which buys land
for wetland restoration.
The government has recently in
stituted further action to resolve
the situation. Commissioner John
Keyes of the Bureau of Reclama
tion told Klamath Falls residents
Sunday that the administration
has already begun establishing
“water banks,” or buying water
from private sellers and landown
ers in the Klamath Basin to pro
vide an alternative supply. Gov
ernment officials have requested
biological opinions from the De
partment of Fish and Wildlife to
determine whether the bureau’s
operations are a threat to habitat.
The opinions are due next week.
“We intend to meet both endan
gered species acts and tribal com
mitments,” said Jeff McCracken of
the Bureau of Reclamation.
“Our mandate by Congress is to
provide irrigation water for farm
ers,” he added.
In a region where water means
different things to different peo
ple, all sides seem hopeful that
new federal proposals will, as Mc
Dowell said, “take the basin off
the edge.”
Ullman thinks there’s another
option.
“The other alternative is that
they just abandon what’s going on
here, which is undesirable
to everyone.”
Nicole Hill is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.