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The Nature Conservancy enrolls major wetland reserve on Upper Klamath Lake

Natural Resources Conservation Service adds 2,155 acres to national wetland reserve program

Klamath Falls, Oregon—16 February 2006—The Nature Conservancy has entered 2,155 acres at its Williamson River Delta Preserve into the federal Wetland Reserve Program. The new agreement sets the stage for extensive restoration of up to 6,000 acres of former marshlands to provide habitat for endangered fish and other wildlife, one of the largest wetland renewal projects in the West.

Restoration of lake-fringe wetlands on the Williamson River Delta was identified by local leaders in the 1990s—and more recently by the National Academy of Sciences—as a critical action needed to recover Lost River and shortnose suckers, fish federally listed as endangered and a focus of attention in water disputes in the Klamath Basin, and to improve water quality in Upper Klamath Lake.

"We applaud the Natural Resources Conservation Service for embracing wetland restoration on Upper Klamath Lake on a grand scale," said Russell Hoeflich, vice president and Oregon director of The Nature Conservancy. "We're especially grateful to state conservationist Bob Graham and program director Bill White for their hard work and perseverance through a long and careful process."

The federal Wetland Reserve Program provides incentives to private landowners to preserve important wetland habitats nationwide. The NRCS holds a permanent conservation easement on the property to ensure that natural habitats are protected in perpetuity.

The Conservancy, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Bureau of Reclamation, NRCS, Klamath Tribes, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, PacifiCorp and others, has conducted three pilot restoration projects at the Williamson River Delta Preserve that have demonstrated success in creating shallow marshland habitats that attract thousands of larval and juvenile suckers. Portions of dikes built in the 1940s to drain wetlands for farming were removed in 2002-04 to bring water flows back onto areas as large as 300 acres.

"Our research shows that wetland restoration is providing important rearing habitat  for the endangered fish, and that's very encouraging," said Mark Stern, Klamath area conservation director for the Conservancy. "We're really excited to work with our partners across the basin on full scale restoration. We'll be hiring local contractors to do considerable earthwork, and we see this as a good opportunity for the community as a whole."

An Environmental Impact Statement completed last year by the Conservancy in partnership with NRCS and other agencies envisions extensive earthmoving over six years to remove or flatten sections of dikes along the river and lake margins. The goal is to restore marshland and river bank vegetation and reconnect river and lake water flows to the land to boost populations of the endangered suckers. Many other native fish and wildlife are also expected to benefit from improved water quality and wetland habitats, including vast flocks of waterfowl and other birds that migrate along the Pacific Flyway.