In the latest turn of events in the Water Crisis That Won’t Die, state officials in California are considering releasing water into the Klamath River to rescue thousands of salmon dying from unusually high water temperatures in the river. Scientists have counted more than 9,500 dead Chinook salmon near the river’s mouth since Friday, and thousands more have probably met the same fate. Environmentalists and Native American tribes blame the fish kills on reduced water flow in the river due to the Klamath Project, a federal irrigation project upstream in Oregon. State and federal biologists say the Klamath Project is just one factor in a troubled watershed system where logging and water diversions have also contributed to higher water temperatures. Yesterday, a management council consisting of state, federal, and tribal officials voted to ask Interior Secretary Gale Norton for an emergency water release, but farmers say such a release would endanger irrigation supplies they might need next year.
