Work Plan for Adaptive Management Klamath River Basin Oregon & California

In the spring of 2001 drought and impacts of the Endangered Species Act prompted the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to discontinue supplying project irrigation water to over 1,300 farms and ranches in the Klamath Basin. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) immediately provided technical and financial assistance to these producers to minimize drought impacts. In cooperation with the Conservation Districts and landowners, NRCS was able to establish 41,000 acres of cover crops on highly erodible lands using Emergency Watershed Protection Program funds. The Klamath Basin conservation districts in Oregon and California then requested NRCS assistance in developing a strategy to mitigate the impacts of drought on agriculture in the Klamath Basin. Later that year, the first of a series of strategic planning sessions was held. From these meetings, the local conservation districts developed a list of mutual resource goals and objectives for the Klamath. To mitigate the effects of the drought on agriculture, conservation districts throughout the 10-million acre Klamath Basin have focused on four resource concerns: (1) decreasing the amount of water needed for agriculture, (2) increasing water storage, (3) improving water quality, and (4) developing fish and wildlife habitat. To achieve these objectives, the conservation districts need timely, quality resource information with which to make decisions, set priorities, and determine the best conservation activities. The future conservation activities and accomplishments, however, will be subject to the availability of funding.