OSU REPORT CONFIRMS KLAMATH TRIBES WATER RIGHTS CENTRAL TO WATER CONFLICT SOLUTION
Chiloquin, Ore. — Klamath Tribes Chairman Allen Foreman said today, “Oregon State University deserves credit for recommending a balanced approach to solving the problem of water shortages in the Klamath Basin, and for recognizing that no solutions are possible unless the rights of the Klamath Tribes are respected.”
Chairman Foreman was responding to the OSU Report Water Allocation in the Klamath Reclamation Project. “The Report confirms that there simply is not enough water in the Klamath Basin even to support competing demands from different agricultural groups, much less to reconcile the demands of irrigators with the Klamath Tribes’ right to the water required to restore treaty-guaranteed fisheries and wildlife. By pointing out that Tribal water rights and the water requirements of the endangered species have legal authority over agricultural water use, the Report reinforces the urgent need to change Bureau of Reclamation – Klamath Project operations.”
Chairman Foreman concludes, “Only when Upper Klamath Lake and its tributaries are restored, with sufficient good-quality water, will the Klamath Tribes’ fisheries and wildlife recover to abundance. Because the U.S. government has a trust responsibility to restore the Tribes’ fisheries, the Bureau of Reclamation must reduce the amount of water taken from Upper Klamath Lake for agricultural purposes. The Klamath Tribes have for many years called for a more balanced approach to managing the waters that flow through the Klamath Basin. It is constructive for OSU to help document why a balanced solution is necessary.
