PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Farmers who rely on a federal irrigation project on the California-Oregon border will get one-seventh of the Klamath River water they would receive in a wetter year as historic drought grips the U.S. West.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t release any water to irrigators in 2021 and says this year farmers will see their allocations fall further if they divert water illegally.
The Bureau releases water seasonally from a lake that must be kept at a certain level to protect an endangered fish species that’s important to the Klamath Tribes.
Downstream tribes are also fighting to save Klamath River salmon.