Klamath Water Cutoff Dispute
Finally Gets Scientific Look

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —(AP)— The chairman of a National Academy of Sciences panel reviewing the government's decision to withhold water from farms in the Klamath Basin hopes it can help soothe the emotional dispute.

``Scientific judgment always involves uncertainty,'' said William M. Lewis of the University of Colorado. ``That's where a committee that is well-balanced and doesn't have a particular chip (on its shoulder) can help the government, help the vested interests, get a clear review of where the uncertainties are and how big they are.''

Lewis, a biologist specializing in the ecosystems of lakes and rivers, also farms land outside Boulder, Colo.

The committee he heads meets this week in Sacramento to review the scientific justification for withholding water from a federal irrigation project in the Klamath Basin in order to keep endangered fish alive. The decades-old irrigation project normally brings water to some 1400 farms and ranches along the Oregon-California line.

On Tuesday, the committee will hear from federal agencies, farmers, Indian tribes, commercial fishermen and environmentalists. An interim report is due in January, and a final report, including suggestions for restoring healthy fish populations, is due in a year and a half.

The conflict over competing demands for water in the Klamath Basin came to a head in April, when federal scientists set unprecedentedly high water levels for endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in Klamath River. With runoff low from drouth, little water was allowed into the irrigation canals.

Protesters repeatedly forced open the headgates that blocked the flow until federal police were posted as guards.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton called on the National Academy of Sciences to review the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the needs of suckers and the National Marine Fisheries Service on the needs of salmon, as well as the work of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

``I want the science explained to me on what happened,'' said John Crawford, past president of the Klamath Water Users Association.

The Yurok Tribe, whose reservation straddles the lower Klamath River and whose members look to salmon for their livelihoods, are confident the decisions to dedicate more water to fish were based on sound science, said executive director Troy Fletcher.

``Hopefully, we will get away from the issue of beating on the scientists and move on to the bigger and more important issue of resolving what to do about too great a demand on too little of a supply of water,'' he said.