This summer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump Administration’s attempt to subordinate the needs of keystone species to private water contracts. The Court issued a summary judgment on June 17, 2026. Its opinion, authored by Justice Ronald M. Gould, stated that the Klamath Project operator, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), must enforce the…

Co-written with Amber Jamieson, Water Advocacy Director of the Environmental Protection Information Center Siskiyou County has rescinded approvals for two proposed irrigation wells in the Shasta Valley. It has also withdrawn the associated Public Trust findings, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption, and determinations of no significant impact. The County made these decisions after a coalition…

As the irrigation season proceeds, eyes are on the Klamath Basin. Removal of four dams recently opened over 400 miles of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Annual snowpack was so dismal that it has already disappeared from the upper basin. State agencies are currently advancing long-term policies to limit river dewatering in key Klamath tributaries.…

The California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) is advancing a process to establish permanent streamflow requirements for the Shasta and Scott rivers. The Water Board’s current work will narrow the range of flows and focus deeper investigations in a forthcoming scientific basis report and economic analysis. This report will inform the Water Board’s selection of permanent minimum baseflows. Interim…

The free-flowing Klamath River, where the J.C. Boyle dam once stood. Image: Angelina Cook The federal government is formalizing a process to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the upper Klamath River basin. The process seeks to prioritize irrigation deliveries in the upper Klamath basin over the protection of threatened and endangered species. In…