case study

“! e Klamath Basin Water Crisis” by MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn Page 

by

MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn, Washington University in St. Louis

! e following characters and the dialogue are fi ctional and were created to present an overview of the Klamath Basin water crisis. Historical events and people are represented accurately.

! e date is November , . Over the next few years, Congress is expected to write and vote on new legislature to resolve water issues in the Klamath River Basin and surrounding areas. ! e Klamath River Basin is a dwindling system of lakes and rivers in Southern Oregon and California that provides water to thousands of farmers and supports six National Wildlife Refuges and many species of fi sh. ! e high demand on this water source is depleting it, and fewer people and animals are able to draw adequate water from it each season. If water management continues unchanged, the Klamath River Basin may become dry, stranding thousands of people and destroying valuable habitats. Today a conference has been called so that the people of the Klamath River Basin may propose their own solution to Congress. To introduce two of the major issues at play are representatives of their respective fi elds:

• D. J M grew up on a local farm and went on to study agriculture and economics at Purdue University. He serves as a representative of the farming community and will introduce to you the farmer’s view of water and irrigation.

• D. A S is a representative of the Sierra Club and will introduce you to the views of those supporting wildlife and endangered species.

• D. T C is a local resident and medical doctor and will serve as the moderator.

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The Klamath Basin Water Crisis: Water Supply and Demand

D. T C: Welcome to the Klamath Water Solution Conference. Today we will be hearing from repre- sentatives from two sides of the Klamath River Basin water problem and come up with a proposal for Congress. To start us off , each representative will give us some background on the area that concerns them. I would like to introduce to you a representative of the farming community, Dr. Jake Maveron.

D. J M: ! ank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. In  the federal government set up an irrigation system in the Klamath River Basin known as the Klamath Project. ! e government wanted to encourage the settlement of the land and make it more able to support agriculture produc- tion. Over the next  years, unused marshes were converted to usable agriculture land, dams and reservoirs were built, and pipes were run to bring water to outlying land.

D. T C: Next I would like to introduce to you a representative of the Sierra Club, Dr. Amy Sawson.

D A S: ! ank you for your attention. In , the federal government recognized the damage that they were doing to the land within the Klamath Project. In order to protect some of the land, the government designated Lower Klamath Lake a National Wildlife Refuge. ! ey eventually designated a total of six National Wildlife Refuges in the region.

D. T C: Now we will hear about the recent history of the Basin.

D. J M: In  a drought struck the area. Temporarily irrigation was halted by the federal

“! e Klamath Basin Water Crisis” by MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn Page 

Case copyright © by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. Originally published August ,  at http://www.sciencecases.org/klamath/klamath.asp. Please see our usage guidelines, which outline our policy concerning permissible reproduction of this work.

government so that the river could run at a level that was considered adequate to protect fi sh habitats. Losses to the agriculture industry were tremendous. ! ankfully, in , Interior Secretary Gale Nor- ton resumed irrigation to farmlands. However, we are currently threatened with the possibility of future water restrictions to farmers. Further water restrictions could prove deadly to the local economy as well as the national agriculture system.

D. A S: ! e Klamath River is one of the last habitats of the endangered Lost River suckers and shortnose suckers as well as home to the endangered coho salmon. In  when farmers were allowed to drain the river basin as much as they wanted, tens of thousands of these endangered fi sh were killed. ! e National Wildlife Refuges are the last in line to receive water from the basin and the water they receive is polluted by agriculture runoff . ! e Refuges are located in the middle of the migratory pat- terns of millions of birds and are the winter homes of the endangered bald eagles. Without decreased irrigation, many endangered and other valuable species will die due to low water levels and agricultural pollution.

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