Yurok Tribe challenges feds’ revised priorities for Klamath Project

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation pointed to historically low snowpack this winter, which it argued necessitated lower-than-normal flows to avoid water shortages later this year.(CN) — The Yurok Tribe and other plaintiffs on Friday asked a San Francisco federal judge to once again intervene in a long-running conflict with the feds over water releases from the Klamath Irrigation Project in Northern California after the Trump administration said last year that irrigation should take priority over threatened salmon species.The Klamath Project supplies water to more than 225,000 acres of farmland and two wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin along the Oregon-California border. But critics say the project has decimated the local Chinook and Coho salmon population, which the Yurok Tribe relies on to survive.“We have an agency that has reversed the priorities, and it intends to prioritize irrigation over Endangered Species Act compliance,” said Patti Goldman, an attorney with Earthjustice who represents the Yurok Tribe. She said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had moved forward without required consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or NOAA Fisheries.Senior U.S. District Judge William Orrick didn’t indicate on Friday how he might rule on the tribe’s motion for summary judgment.Still, the Barack Obama appointee appeared concerned about whether he had jurisdiction over Endangered Species Acts claims, as they were premised on a one-time reduction of downstream water releases. The Bureau of Reclamation says it reduced Klamath River flows from March 3 to May 11 in response to unusual hydrologic conditions, which resulted from the historically low snowpack last winter.Friday’s hearing came on the heels of a Ninth Circuit decision in June, which affirmed Orrick’s prior finding that the Bureau of Reclamation must comply with the Endangered Species Act when operating the Klamath Irrigation Project.In 2023, Orrick ruled that the federal government must follow its own laws including the Endangered Species Act and is not obligated to comply with an order from the Oregon Water Resources Department to stop releasing water from the Upper Klamath Lake, which is the source of the Klamath River.The bureau argued it was their professional judgment to retain more water in Upper Klamath Lake this spring for fear that inflows in summer could be significantly reduced and negatively impact water availability.John Martin, an attorney with the U.S. Justice Department, told the judge that the plaintiffs hadn’t shown that the lower than normal flows this spring had any impact on salmon habitat. He noted there was a lot of uncertainty with regard to those downstream habitats because of the removal of two dams from Klamath Project.In 2024, after more than a century of being blocked by a series of dams, the Klamath River once again became free-flowing after two cofferdams in northern California were breached.Letting the river flow gives native fish species — including steelhead, coho and Chinook salmon — a chance to regain access to more than 400 miles of spawning and rearing habitat on the Klamath and its tributaries in California and Oregon. It allows Native American groups in the region like the Klamath, the Yurok and the Karuk tribes to regain access to culturally important food sources.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads