Friday, May 20, 2022
CapitalPress.com 5
Klamath Tribes sue federal government
over water releases to protect suckers
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Oregon farmland.
Oregon receives
$6.7 million to protect
high-value farmland
from development
called the spike in funding a
“momentous investment.”
McAdams, of the Ore-
USDA’s
Natural gon Agricultural Trust, said
Resources Conservation the increase in funding will
Service has awarded Ore- be “an incredible boon” to
gon a record $6.7 million to rural and farming econo-
help protect working farm- mies. Working land ease-
land from development or ments are a useful tool for
fragmentation.
landowners but are expen-
“With this allocation, sive to set up, she said, and
and hopefully future allo- this pool of funding will
cations, we’ll be able to help with costs.
help protect (farm-
The funds come
ers’) land, keep it in
from the last farm
production and pass
bill, which Con-
it on to future gen-
gress passed in
erations at a much
2018.
larger scale than at
According to
any time in Ore-
land experts, Ore-
gon’s history,” said
gon got more fed-
Nellie
Nellie McAdams,
eral dollars this
executive director McAdams year for work-
of the Oregon Agri-
ing land ease-
cultural Trust.
ments because NRCS Ore-
The money will go gon requested additional
toward
helping
Ore- funds when faced with high
gon farmers create nearly demand from landown-
15,000 acres of working ers. The program received
land conservation ease- a record-breaking number
ments, which the Coali- of proposals for fi scal year
tion of Oregon Land Trusts 2022.
defi nes as “voluntary legal
“The interest we’ve
agreements that remove seen in the Agricultural
development rights and Land Easements pro-
help protect soil health and gram so far this year
water quality while keep- refl ects the growing num-
ing land in farming and ber of landowners who
ranching.”
want to protect their agri-
The general concept is cultural land for genera-
that a farmer or rancher tions to come,” said Ron
whose property is under Alvarado, NRCS Oregon
threat — for example, on state conservationist.
the brink of being pulled
The increased federal
into an urban growth investment was also likely
boundary for development tied to the newly funded
— could potentially bene- Oregon Agricultural Heri-
fi t from putting acres into tage Program, designed to
a long-term working land match the federal ACEP-
easement instead of selling ALE program. The Ore-
to a developer, allowing gon Agricultural Heritage
the farmer to benefi t fi nan- Program received $5 mil-
cially while keeping the lion from the state Legis-
land in agriculture. It also lature this year, allowing
makes it easier for a farmer the state to match federal
to retire and pass on farm- dollars.
land to the next generation.
The $6.7 million will
The federal dollars will help eight Oregon land-
fund projects within the owners in 2022 protect
state’s Agricultural Con- 14,917 acres of farms and
servation Easement Pro- ranches across the state.
gram-Agricultural
Land Although USDA has not
Easements, or ACEP-ALE. yet released the landown-
The increase in fund- ers’ names, McAdams said
ing from USDA’s Natural they come from around
Resources Conservation the state: from Clatsop
Service to ACEP-ALE this County on the North Coast
year is huge, land experts to South-Central Oregon’s
say. The agency upped its Lake County.
funding by 1,100%, from
McAdams said she
$590,060 to $6,765,000.
hopes to see more funding
Kelley Beamer, execu- for working land conserva-
tive director of the Coali- tion easements in the 2023
tion of Oregon Land Trusts, farm bill.
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.
— The Klamath Tribes are
suing the federal government
under the Endangered Species
Act to halt water diversions
from Upper Klamath Lake for
irrigated agriculture along the
Oregon-California border.
The lawsuit, fi led May
9 against the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and Bureau
of Reclamation, seeks to pro-
tect two species of endan-
gered sucker fi sh, C’waam
and Koptu, that are endemic
in the Upper Klamath River
drainage.
C’waam and Koptu are
culturally signifi cant to the
Klamath Tribes, used histor-
ically for food and ceremo-
nial purposes. Both species
were listed as endangered in
1988, and populations that
once numbered in the tens of
millions have since declined
to fewer than 50,000 surviv-
ing fi sh, according to tribal
estimates.
Reclamation operates the
Klamath Project, delivering
irrigation water from Upper
Klamath Lake for 170,000
acres of farmland straddling
Southern Oregon and North-
ern California. Farmers in the
basin grow potatoes, onions,
horseradish, garlic, mint and
hay, among other crops.
As part of an environ-
mental assessment with the
USFWS — known as a Bio-
logical Opinion, or BiOp —
Reclamation must maintain
a minimum surface elevation
of 4,142 feet in Upper Klam-
ath Lake during April and
SALEM — Oregon farm-
ers have until June 3 to apply
for bridge fi nancing from the
state Department of Agricul-
ture to help cover damage
caused by natural disasters in
2021.
The newly established
Oregon Disaster Assistance
Program provides $40 mil-
lion in forgivable loans to
keep agricultural producers
solvent while they wait for
federal disaster relief through
the USDA Farm Service
Agency.
State
lawmakers
approved funding for the
program during a special ses-
sion in December as part of
a larger drought relief pack-
age. Many farms and ranches
endured signifi cant crop
losses last year from extreme
heat, drought, wildfi res and
a major ice storm that hit the
Willamette Valley.
In February, older hazel-
nut orchards buckled under
the weight of an ice storm
that caused severe damage,
in some cases splitting whole
trees down to the trunk.
In June, an intense heat
wave with temperatures as
high as 117 degrees caused
an estimated $50 million in
damage to the $1.2 billion
nursery industry and wiped
out about half of all black-
berries and raspberries.
The FSA off ers a suite of
disaster programs. The Ore-
gon Disaster Assistance Pro-
gram is intended to help pro-
ducers pay their bills while
they wait for federal aid to
arrive.
The application period
May for C’waam and Koptu
to access shoreline spawning
habitat.
However, with the basin
suff ering through its third
consecutive year of extreme
drought, the agencies acknowl-
edged there is not enough
water in the system to meet
that objective.
Despite this, Reclamation
announced in April it would
release approximately 50,000
acre-feet of water for irriga-
tors. That is just 15% of full
demand.
Despite the limited alloca-
tion the Tribes argue the gov-
ernment is willingly violating
the ESA while C’waam and
Koptu slip closer to extinction.
In a statement, the Tribes
claimed they “see no alter-
native” but to sue the federal
agencies.
“When their own long-
standing formula (driving
their own ecologically inade-
quate BiOp) showed that zero
water could be safely taken
from endangered fi sh for agri-
culture, (Reclamation) simply
tossed it aside and made the
cynical political calculation
that they could ignore the ESA
with impunity, allocate water
to Project farmers and hasten
the imminent extinction of fi sh
that have lived here, and only
here, in the homeland of the
Klamath Tribes for thousands
of years,” the Tribes stated.
Clayton
Dumont,
a
tribal councilman and chair-
man-elect, said the agencies
“have proven repeatedly that
we cannot trust them to do the
right thing, follow the law, and
do even the minimum neces-
sary to sustain our treaty-pro-
tected fi sh.”
The Tribes are asking a dis-
trict judge in Medford, Ore. to
suspend Reclamation’s 2022
Washington wolf rule seen as spur to lawsuits
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A rule sought by wolf
advocates would invite law-
suits over the Washing-
ton Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s use of lethal con-
trol, Fish and Wildlife Com-
mission Chairwoman Bar-
bara Baker warned Friday.
The department should
continue reviewing case-by-
case whether a rancher has
done enough to prevent wolf
attacks, rather than adopt-
ing regulations open to court
challenges, Baker said at a
commission meeting.
“I don’t think that we need
to craft a rule that would be
enforceable. And ‘enforce-
able’ is code for being able to
go to court and litigate these
issues,” said Baker, who
referred to her past practice
as a lawyer.
“What I did was sue the
state, all the time,” she said.
Commissioners plan to
decide in July whether to
replace non-binding guid-
ance with a rule dictat-
ing when Fish and Wild-
life Director Kelly Susewind
authorizes lethal control to
protect livestock in “chron-
ic-confl ict areas.”
At the request of wolf
advocates, Gov. Jay Inslee in
2020 ordered Fish and Wild-
life to develop a rule. The
Applications open for ODA
Disaster Assistance Program
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
George Plaven/Capital Press
A pair of C’waam, or Lost River suckers, swimming in
captivity at the Klamath Tribes Research Station near
Chiloquin, Ore.
Operations Plan for the Klam-
ath Project until it complies
with the ESA.
This year’s water sup-
ply for the Klamath Project is
the second-lowest in history,
ahead of only 2021, when irri-
gators received no allotment
from Upper Klamath Lake.
The Klamath Water Users
Association, which rep-
resents 1,200 family farms
and ranches in the Project, has
criticized the government for
denying them adequate water,
particularly when global food
supplies are threatened over-
seas by Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine.
For context, the KWUA
says the anticipated 50,000
acre-foot Project allotment
represents no more than 5% of
all the water that will be used
this season from Upper Klam-
ath Lake. About 40% will be
sent down the Klamath River
for ESA-listed salmon, 28%
will be held in the lake for
C’waam and Koptu and 27%
will be lost to evaporation.
“Win, lose or draw, this
lawsuit is not going to make
any diff erence for the suckers,
anyway,” said Paul Simmons,
the group’s executive director.
Reclamation is provid-
ing $20 million in immediate
drought assistance to farmers,
paying them to fallow land in
exchange for reducing water
demand. The Klamath Project
Drought Response Agency,
which administers the funds, is
accepting applications through
June 15.
For more information or
questions about the program,
contact info@klamathwater-
bank.com or 541-630-0752.
opened May 9, and funds
are administered by Umpqua
Bank, Columbia Bank, Bank
of Eastern Oregon and Old
West Federal Credit Union.
Program loans are cal-
culated based on lost farm
income. Tax returns from
2017 to 2019 are used to cal-
culate a three-year baseline
for the operation, which is
then compared to 2021 farm
income to determine losses
due to natural disasters.
Loans are capped at
$125,000, or 90% of the
three-year baseline income.
However, farmers that
meet the USDA defi nition of
historically underserved pro-
ducers — or those who gen-
erated less than $350,000 in
gross income — may qual-
ify for a maximum loan of
$150,000, or 95% of the
three-year baseline.
Sarah Bassing/University of Washington
A gray wolf. Washington state’s rules for managing the
species remain controversial.
department’s staff has pro-
posed enshrining in law cur-
rent practices. As is the case
now, ranchers plagued by
wolves would have to coop-
erate with the department
for the department to shoot
wolves as a last resort.
The commission could
amend the proposal, adding
regulations proposed by wolf
advocates, such as requir-
ing ranchers in some cases to
electronically track or move
cattle. The commission also
could decline to adopt any
rule.
A rule would make the
department more account-
able, said Commissioner
Melanie Rowland, a retired
environmental
attorney
appointed by Inslee to the
commission in January.
“I believe that we owe that
to the public. They are much
larger players if there is a rule
that, as Barbara said, they
can go to court to enforce,”
Rowland said.
“The people who are say-
ing, ‘We don’t need a rule,’
are saying, ‘Go away, gover-
nor,’” she said.
Environmental
groups
have gone to court to stop
Fish and Wildlife from shoot-
ing wolves. In its defense,
Fish and Wildlife has relied
on its duty to manage dan-
gerous wildlife, rather than
trying to defend its applica-
tion of a wolf-livestock con-
fl ict rule.
The defense has been
eff ective. In the most
high-profi le case, a King
County judge said lethal
removal was squarely within
the department’s expertise
and was due deference.
Fish and Wildlife wolf
policy coordinator Julia
Smith told commissioners
that she was worried about
“very specifi c laws” that pre-
vent wildlife managers from
using their expertise.
“It may end up with your
trained, professional staff
making decisions that they
feel are not the right deci-
sions, whether that means
to kill wolves, or not to kill
wolves,” Smith said.
Commissioners plan to
discuss the rule in late June
and may vote July 8. The
department said it received
more than 10,000 comments
on the proposal.
When some commis-
sioners talked about amend-
ing the rule at the meeting it
was adopted, Susewind, the
director, intervened, express-
ing alarm at “commission-
ers writing rule language and
putting it on the table.”
“We are getting into a
really weird place right here,
folks,” he said. “Tell us what
you want. Let us write it. We
will do that.”