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--> --> Workers to replace Klamath headgates KLAMATH FALLS (AP) - A $5 million project to replace the headgates at the Klamath Basin's irrigation system is underway as workers build a new fence and install security monitors and lights at the A Canal. The project, drawn up by the Bureau of Reclamation, calls for the eventual replacement of the entire "A" Canal headworks, which dates to 1906. The canal runs nine miles from the south end of Upper Klamath Lake, under local roads, past a high school and through suburbs to deliver irrigation water to about 180,000 acres of farmland. Crews also will collect soil samples from beneath the canal in preparation for the next phase, which includes building new headgates and fitting them with screens to keep endangered sucker fish from entering the canal. The screens must be designed to allow water to pass through without pinning the suckers against the screen - something the old gates likely couldn't handle. "Those headgates are getting really old, and to attach fish screens to them with the complexity and size that is being contemplated probably wouldn't work," said Jim Bryant, chief of land and water operations for the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office. The Bureau of Reclamation has openly questioned the efficacy of installing fish screens on the A Canal, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for protecting endangered suckers, has demanded the screens. Congress has authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to spend $5 million in designing the fish screens, but total construction costs could be far greater, Bryant said. Most of the construction work will be done between the 2002 and 2003 irrigation seasons, he said. Since last April, water in Upper Klamath Lake that normally flows to farmlands irrigated by the Klamath Project has been held in reserve for endangered shortnosed suckers and Lost River suckers living in the lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. Last summer, hundreds of angry farmers gathered for weeks at the headgates, protesting the decision by illegally opening the gates and diverting water around the closed canal with smaller irrigation pipes. Federal marshals were called in to keep the peace. A private security company will guard the A Canal headgates through December. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing