Avocets vs Agriculture? California’s Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge Turns 100

Conservationists call for new vision for Klamath refuges.

July 2008. This summer marks the 100th anniversary of Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge. One hundred years ago President Theodore Roosevelt designated 81,000 acres of marsh and open water in Lower Klamath Lake as the nation's first refuge for migratory waterfowl. Since that time, Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge has provided valuable feeding grounds for millions of migratory birds, once hosting the largest concentration of migratory waterfowl in Western USA.

Roosevelt would be turning in his grave
"It is remarkable to think back on the vision of Teddy Roosevelt," remarks Ani Kame'enui, Klamath Campaign Coordinator with Oregon Wild. "At a time when the industrial revolution had firmly taken hold, he had the foresight to set aside thousands of acres of habitat for birds. I think it is safe to say that he would be appalled that so much of the refuge is now operated for industrial agriculture."

For nearly half their existence, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges have played unwilling host to commercial agriculture sponsored by the federal government. Even before the passage of the Kuchel Act in 1964, which barred future homesteading but allowed continued leasing of 22,000 acres of refuge for commercial agriculture, homesteads and farms used refuge land to the benefit of agribusiness.

A drive on the highway that blazes through the middle of the refuge reveals spectacular bird viewing to your right and leaseland farms and grazing lands to your left. Today, a celebratory tour of the refuge provides vastly different views, but still includes the invaluable biological diversity provided by native wetland grasses, egrets, herons, pelicans, and more.

Pelicans and potatoes
"The Klamath refuge system is the only one of its kind in the United States," adds Kame'enui. "Habitat for pelicans side by side with habitat for potatoes."

Of 350,000 acres of wetlands, shallow lakes, and marsh in the Klamath Basin, only 20% remain.

Significant drop in bird population
"The loss of nature's most efficient water filter has had dramatic effects on water quality throughout the basin," says Steve Pedery, Oregon Wild's Conservation Director. As a result, the Klamath Basin National Wildlife refuges, which were once home to over 6 million birds in the 1960s, have seen a significant drop in bird populations during the last several decades.

Celebration of Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge's 100th anniversary requires a vision for their future; a vision that creates more habitat, cleaner water, and safer havens for migratory and breeding birds and other wildlife. When 50% of Tundra Swans in the Pacific Flyway stopover in the basin in years to come, they will need a plan that brings Klamath Basin water needs back into balance with what the region can naturally provide.

"Restoring the historic refuge wetlands would provide additional wildlife habitat, offer natural storage of water to meet refuge needs, and improve water quality," summarizes Kame'enui. "White Pelicans should not be fighting for water with farms."