Feds plan to update guidance for Klamath Project operations, H&N, 1/27/2021. "A 41-page report produced by the Bureau’s Klamath Basin Area Office argued that the agency does not have as much authority to protect species listed under the Endangered Species Act as it is currently exercising."

Feds reassess Klamath Project water delivery obligations, Capital Press 1/22/2021. "Agency finds no legal right to curtail water deliveries under ESA, as in the past"...."Biden has nominated Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as Interior secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first Native American cabinet secretary and head of the Interior Department."

USFWS acts to remove land from critical habitat for owl, CFBF Ag Alert 1/20/21. "...The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said last week it would revise the designation of critical habitat for the owl, to exclude nearly 3.5 million acres of land in California, Oregon and Washington...The action leaves more than 6.1 million acres of land in the three states designated as critical habitat for the owl, which has been protected under the ESA as a threatened species since 1990."

LaMalfa Praises Bureau of Reclamation’s New Science-Based Regulation of Klamath Basin 1/20/21

Bureau of Reclamation NEWS RELEASE - Reclamation releases water reliability in the West report 1/19/21

KWUA NEWS RELEASE: Bureau of Reclamation updates guidance for Klamath Project Operations under Endangered Species Act and water law 1/19/2021. “...Reclamation has found that it still has duties for species protection, but those duties do not include imposing harmful shortages on irrigation as we have seen in the past...”

Port Angeles, tribe say Elwha water plant never worked, still doesn’t, Seattle Times 7/16/16. "Two dams built beginning in 1910 on the Elwha backed up large reservoirs that acted as giant settling ponds, and impounded sediment carried by the river during the 100 years the dams were in place. In September 2014, the world’s largest ever dam-removal project was completed and, with the dams out, the river is free, once more, to wander its flood plain, and release sediment..."

Newsom appoints Yurok attorney Amy Cordalis of McKinleyville to California Water Commission, Times Standard 1/14/2021. "...Cordalis is a member of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation Board of Directors..."

KID wins again, Oregon Court of Appeals, KID vs OWRD 1/14/2021. OWRD's/Oregon Water Resources Department's motion for stay is now "moot". Judge Bennett's order, that OWRD must not allow stored water in Klamath Lake reserved for irrigation to be illegally used or dumped into the ocean, is not currently appealable.

 ***ANOTHER WIN FOR KID / KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, KID vs OWRD:
Judge Bennett Order on Motion for Reconciliation 1/7/21. DENIED. Judge Bennett's ORDER: "Respondents' (OWRD) Motion restates their misapprehension of this courts Orders in 20CV17922 and 20CV15606. Respondents' accepted exclusive jurisdiction over the UKL pursuant to ORS 540.210. Respondents are required by that statute to divide and distribute the water therefrom in accordance with the respective and relative rights of the various users. Despite this statutory obligation, Respondents have continued to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to take Stored Water without determining the Bureau's right to do so. The Respondents continue to violate the Oregon Water Rights Act by allowing the Bureau to take and use Stored Water in the UKL without determining it is entitled to do so as required by ORS 540.210. Respondents must stop the release until a determination is made pursuant to ORS 540.740. Nothing in the Court's Order dictates how the Respondents make the determination or what criteria is used. TPC, LLC v. OWRD, 308 Or.App. 177 is not analogous or factually similar to this case. MAKE A DETERMINATION"

FERC/Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 12/16/20 NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR SURRENDER OF LICENSE, 12/16/20. This is notice from FERC re request by KRRC and PacifiCorp to transfer license AND DECOMMISSION Klamath River hydroelectric dams.
*** Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, and protests to FERC: February 15, 2021

Farmers make crop plans amid dry early winter, CFBF Ag Alert 1/6/21. "For the federal Klamath Water Project straddling the California-Oregon border, farmer Ben DuVal of Tulelake said he is hopeful 2021 will be a better year. Last year, Klamath farmers were affected after project operators unexpectedly cut already-low allocations in response to concerns about protected fish; the cuts were ultimately restored. "Things have been so bad here on the Klamath Project, and it doesn't have to be this way," DuVal said. "We use 3% of the water out of the Klamath River and we take that small percentage and do a lot of good with it. We put a lot of people to work and produce a lot of amazing crops. People are going to have to eventually realize that all the problems on the Klamath River cannot be blamed solely on the Klamath Project, and that we can move on from some of the issues that we've been dealing with."

ODFW formally assumes management of gray wolf in Oregon 1/5/21