The Future of California's Klamath Basin

Throwing contentious issues like farmer’s rights, Fish & Wildlife management, and dam removal into the pot, the stakeholders in the battle over Klamath Basin resource management are lining up to have their say. Eric Bailey writes in the LA Times that behind-the-scenes talks are already underway, and environmentalists are alarmed by what they see as willful ignorance of the Basin’s wildlife refuge status. “Before the arrival of settlers in the West, the Klamath Basin’s wetlands totaled nearly 360,000 acres, a mix of shallow lakes and marshes under skies filled with migratory birds. Besides harboring wildlife, the marshes naturally carried clean Cascade runoff that emerged like a volcanic broth on its way to the Klamath River.”