Wildlife and Agriculture Can Coexist

​Gillian Flaccus | AP photo) In this March 2020 photo, birds take off from a marsh in the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge in the Klamath Basin along the Oregon-California border.

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​The Salt Lake Tribune earlier today published this letter to the editor penned by Paul Simmons, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, in response to Pepper Trail’s Dec. 26 commentary on Klamath Basin wildlife refuges.
 
While acknowledging that Mr. Trail ably describes the botulism outbreak on Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge that tragically killed tens of thousands of waterfowl in 2020, Mr. Simmons notes that Mr. Trail misses the cause of the problem, which is the reallocation of water to endangered fish species.

For generations, both agriculture in the Klamath Project and the national wildlife refuges have had adequate water supplies in the great majority of years. In more recent years, however, regulators have required that water historically available for irrigation and refuges instead be held in Upper Klamath Lake for endangered suckers, or released down the Klamath River for coho salmon.

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