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Klamath River Basin, California & Oregon

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The Klamath River Basin, which covers 10.5 million acres in southern Oregon and northern California, has been long renowned for its lakes, rivers, hunting and fishing opportunities and strong agricultural economy. The Basin is home to six federally-recognized tribes and several National Wildlife Refuges, Parks and Forests.

The Klamath Basin has been in the forefront of national attention due to contentious resource issues including water allocation, water quality, and threatened and endangered species. The Klamath River has been the third-largest producer of salmon on the West Coast, following closely behind the Sacramento and Columbia rivers. In 2002, a massive die-off of over 33,000 adult salmon on the Klamath River brought renewed attention to this area.

Photo of:
Klamath River. Copyright (C) 2002-2005 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, www.californiacoastline.org

The Klamath River, which starts in Oregon, travels for approximately 250 miles through California before flowing into the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City. The river is impounded by four dams – one for water delivery and three for hydroelectric generation, part of PacifiCorp's Klamath Hydroelectric Project. Major tributaries to the Klamath include the Shasta, Scott, Salmon and Trinity rivers.

Since 2002, the EPA Regions 9 and 10 have been working together with California and Oregon to coordinate environmental programs and projects in water quality, fisheries and watershed restoration. In 2004, the EPA's administrator signed the Klamath River Watershed Coordination Agreement (PDF) (8 pp, 1.3M, About PDF) Exiting EPA (disclaimer) memorializing a commitment that the state and federal agencies will work on an overall, basinwide approach to address the environmental issues in the Klamath Basin. The governors of California and Oregon, and the Secretaries of Interior, Commerce and Agriculture also signed the agreement.

EPA Activities

Photo of:
Dugout canoes on the Klamath River, Yurok Tribe

Under this Watershed Agreement, EPA is working with state and federal entities, as well as other stakeholders, to coordinate overall basin-wide activities. Since the fish die-off in 2002, the EPA has provided technical assistance and funding to the local tribes to enhance protection measures for threatened and endangered fish species and has worked with the tribes to increase their involvement and expertise in water quality issues. Additionally, we continue to work with our state partners to carry out Clean Water Act programs in the Klamath basin.

Water Quality Improvement Plan (TMDLs or Total Maximum Daily Loads)

Several water bodies in the Klamath Basin - the Lost River, the Klamath Straits Drain, and the Klamath River from Link River to the Pacific Ocean - are impaired due to too much pollution. Oregon and California are developing water quality improvement plans, or Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for several parameters, including nutrients, pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia toxicity, temperature, and bacteria. The EPA is working closely with the North Coast Regional Water Board to assist with TMDL development in northern California, and with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on TMDL development in Oregon.

California's Public Draft Klamath River TMDLs - The state and federal public comment period for California's Public Review Draft Staff Report for the Klamath River TMDLs, addressing temperature, dissolved oxygen, nutrients and microcystin impairments (the Public Review Draft TMDLs) closed August 27, 2009. To read the comment letters and attachments received by Regional Water Board staff, please view the Klamath River TMDL comments. Exiting EPA (disclaimer) Pursuant to a consent decree entered into by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Klamath River TMDLs are scheduled to be approved by December 2010. View the Notice of Availability and Draft TMDL documents here. These documents are also posted at the North Coast Regional Water Board's Web site.Exiting EPA (disclaimer)

In December 2008, EPA finalized the TMDLs for Nutrients and pH for the Lost River in California. View the Final Lost River TMDLs and supporting documents here.

EPA is providing technical and financial support and is coordinating with tribes and federal resource agencies. For more information please view the attachments below and visit our partners respective Web sites.

Map of:
Klamath River Basin Project Map
Click for a larger version (PDF) (poster 11 x 16 inches, 1 pg, 430K)
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

PacifiCorp has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new 50-year license for the continued operation of its Klamath Hydroelectric Project. FERC’s issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed relicensing Exiting EPA (disclaimer) of the project. Under NEPA, EPA is required to review major federal actions within the basin; EPA provided comments on FERC’s Draft and Final EIS for relicensing of the project.

Coordination with Tribes

Five federally-recognized Indian Tribes reside within the Klamath Basin in California, and one resides in Oregon. California tribes include the Hoopa Valley, Karuk, Quartz Valley, Resighini and Yurok. The Klamath tribe resides in Oregon. The EPA coordinates quarterly meetings with the local Regional Water Board and tribes to help in the development of consistent, scientific water quality standards for north coast water bodies. EPA also provides grants to tribes for monitoring, assessment, nonpoint source and wetlands planning projects on tribal lands.

Blue-Green Algae

Since 2005, monitoring in portions of the Klamath River watershed has documented prolonged blue-green algae blooms during the summer seasons. These blooms have occurred in Copco and Iron Gate Reservoirs, the two lowermost reservoirs of PacifiCorp's Klamath Hydropower Project, along the Klamath River. In response to the sustained blooms and high toxin levels, EPA joined other local, tribal, state and federal agencies in warning residents and recreational users of the reservoirs to use caution when near such blooms.

Maps of the two reservoirs and the Klamath River where blue-green algae was detected in 2005.

Klamath River
Map of Klamath River where Blue-Green Algae was found.
Click thumbnail for larger web image
Click for PDF format, 19.5 M Very large
Klamath Reservoir
Map of Klamath Reservoirs where Blue-Green Algae was found.
Click thumbnail for larger web image
Click for PDF format, 7.2 M Large file

In late September 2007, EPA joined the Humboldt County Health Department and other entities to warn the public that high algae levels were occurring in the lower Klamath River, downstream of the reservoirs.

EPA joined the same entities in a subsequent press release advising the public that health warnings were no longer in effect for the lower Klamath River (downstream of Iron Gate dam).

In November 2005, EPA and the State Water Resources Control Board sponsored an informational workshop on blue-green algae (BGA), also referred to as cyanobacteria. The workshop provided an opportunity to learn more about the bloom that occurred in the Klamath Basin, to hear from national and Oregon experts on cyanobacteria, and to learn more about BGA issues elsewhere in California. The California State Water Resources Control Board Web site provides more information about the workshop. Exiting EPA (disclaimer)

In March 2006, a Klamath-specific BGA working group, chaired by EPA, convened to oversee a three-year study of the occurrence, distribution and causes of cyanobacterial blooms in the Klamath River. This study is being conducted through funding provided by PacifiCorp under a settlement agreement. For further information about this work group, go to the Klamath Watershed Institute’s webpage. Exiting EPA (disclaimer)

More Information on Cyanobacteria

Partners

EPA Contact

Gail Louis (louis.gail@epa.gov)
(415) 972-3467

Sue Keydel (keydel.susan@epa.gov)
(415) 972-3106

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