Klamath River

Introduction Unlike most basins, the headwaters of the Klamath River are in the flat desert of the Great Basin in eastern Oregon, and travel through the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Coast Mountain Range before finally draining into the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. The indigenous peoples who have lived along the Klamath River and its tributaries had livelihoods adapted to the basins varied climates and biophysical attributes. The Klamath Tribe still inhabits the region off the shores of Klamath Lake, the headwaters the Klamath River. The Klamath Tribe is now a composite of three tribes, the Yahooskin, Modoc, and Klamath Tribes with a governing office in Chiloquin, Oregon. Historically, the tribes relied on two fish species,…

Basin Geography The Klamath River Basin is located in the Eastern parts of Northern California and Southern Oregon. The upper portion of the basin lies partially in the arid Great Basin region of South Eastern Oregon and partly in the eastern Cascades. The Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuge complex and much of the farmlands are located in the Upper Basin. The climate in the Upper Klamath Basin varies with changes in elevation, but it is typically dry with precipitation falling in the winter season…

Perspectives on wetlands in particular have been instrumental in shaping Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge and debates over wetland policy illustrate the difficulties when attempting to quantify or monetize ecosystems (Robertson and Wainwright 2013). The political debate about how we value systems that provide ecosystem services to humans and animals, but provide some other quality to life that is particularly difficult to quantify, a and are rooted in…

TBA: Klamath Project Draft C Flume Repayment Contract (OR/CA): Reclamation anticipates that the Klamath Irrigation District (KID) will sign a $7.45M loan repayment contract. The public comment period closed May 31, and the KID board of directors have indicated they will sign the contract shortly thereafter. Mid-Pacific Regional Director David Murillo will then sign the contract for Reclamation. KID has received bids for the construction work and has selected a preferred contractor. Site work is…

The Klamath River Basin has been fraught environmental resource management issues that have been both highly politicized and publicized in the American West. The problems of water allocation in this region have been the result of conflicting interests between fishermen, tribes, wildlife, and farmers, which rely on scarce water resources for their livelihoods. Doremus and Tarlock(2008) refer to the Klamath Basin as a “problemshed” because its social and ecological problems pervade all of its…

Floods in Klamath County Subject to three major types of flooding, Klamath County is moderately susceptible to this hazard. One such type of flooding, riverine flooding, occurs when a body of water exceeds its capacity and it overflows its banks. Communities in close proximity to natural waterways, such as Beatty, Chiloquin, and Sprague River, are most susceptible to this type of flooding. A specific type of river flooding, shallow area flooding, can also occur in Klamath County. This type of…

with the name first, but it surely does fit our feelings for the town. Growing up in Tillamook, I start to notice more and more of the horrifying damage the rain water and rivers do to our town. According to the Tillamook County Department of Community Development, "DO NOT ENTER FLOOD WATER!" flood…

snowpack melt in the summer. During upwelling events nutrient rich ground water would be brought up to the surface layers. If there is a spike in nutrient levels without any rainfall and low water temperature and low dissolved oxygen were observed, it usually implies to upwelling events. Upwelling can be localized and could also bring up the resting cysts of harmful plankton. Upwelling at known hotspots would lead to a bloom event during favorable conditions. A discrete sample was collected from…

Due to the flooding in Lower Onion Creek, Eric Rangel, 17, had to drop out of school due to the financial burden that flooding has imposed on his family. The Lower Onion Creek area flooded twice, once on October 31, 2013, and October 30, 2015. Many Lower Onion Creek residents are living in condemned homes five months after the latest flood. Eric Rangel said after the floods, the city condemned his home. His home was no longer inhabitable, and his family had to seek other shelter options.…

Downstream of dams, marked changes in fish populations occur as a consequence of blockage of migration routes, disconnection of the river and floodplain, and changes in flow regime, physiochemical conditions, primary production and channel morphology(McCartney, 2009, pg. 128). Due to the changes in the fish population caused by dams, the 1996 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Animals includes 617 freshwater fishes (McCartney, 2009, pg.128). Fresh water…