Document text
50 °F 5 Day Forecast Friday, December 5, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 4, 2003 Duck hunters Spence Webber, left, and Jack Patterson, both of Medford, take a boat with Webber�s dog, Gunner, on Upper Klamath Lake. Both longtime hunters say it used to teem with ducks and other birds, but now the marshes are dry and there are few ducks Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Marshes dry up and ducks stay away By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune ROCKY POINT — Icy wind whipping Spence Webber’s face Monday morning didn’t faze his wide grin as he recalled his immersion in duck hunting as a child. "The sky and water was full of birds," the Medford resident yells over his boat’s screaming motor. "We had millions and millions of birds here 30 years ago." But the grin vanishes like scattered buckshot when Webber, 55, slows the boat to look about him. The only waterfowl in sight are a few mud hens, widgeons and mallards. Advertisement Too much demand on too little water, from farmers to fish, has left the lake level lower than normal during recent fall migrations, leaving many of the historic marshlands dry and the waterfowl without habitat, explains the retired teacher. "I can’t hunt this area anymore because the birds simply aren’t here," says Webber who began duck hunting in the marshes around Rocky Point on Upper Klamath Lake with his father when he was 11 years old. "This used to be an incredible nesting area with tremendous habitat," he says, adding, "Not anymore." While the battle over the Klamath Basin has focused the national media spotlight on concerns raised by farmers, Indian tribes, commercial fishermen and environmentalists in recent years, duck hunters say the impact on hunting has been largely ignored. The Upper Klamath Lake is the primary reservoir for the 250,000-acre Klamath Reclamation project, which opened the basin up for farming nearly a century ago. The lake is now about a foot and a half below normal, drying thousands of acres of marshes. "There used to be a tremendous amount of birds here," says retired elementary school principal and educator Jack Patterson, 59, of Medford, who first began duck hunting on Klamath Lake more than 30 years ago. "There was so much marsh out here then," he adds. "Twice a day, for an hour at a time, the sky would have flocks and flocks of birds in it at a time," he says. No more. "There is no water in the marsh anymore beginning in October," he says. "There hasn’t been for several years now." Many of the migrating waterfowl either bypass the marshes or stop on fields flooded by private landowners. "The only time a duck hunter like me that doesn’t pay to join a hunt club has good hunting is during very inclement weather," Patterson says. "It’s not really a lack of birds. It’s a lack of water, a lack of habitat for them in this area." In the late 1950s, an estimated 7 million birds migrated through the basin each year, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates. The average annual number has dropped to about 1.5 million, although this fall only about 40 percent of the waterfowl have shown up. "Our waterfowl population does seem to be down over what it has been in past years," confirms Dave Mauser, a wildlife biologist for the agency’s Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge headquarters at Tule Lake, Calif. However, he notes that an unusually warm October may have delayed migration or caused the birds to change their usual flight pattern. Development on private land in the area around Upper Klamath Lake and adjacent Agency Lake has also created wetlands, attracting waterfowl, he says. "A lot of the birds are going over to the newly established wetlands, moving south in the basin or going farther south into California now," he says. Last month, the National Research Council, a panel of scientists commissioned by Interior Secretary Gale Norton, issued a report that lauded the Bush administration for creating a water bank to provide more water for wildlife habitat and the fishery by paying farmers not to irrigate. Medford resident Bob Hunter, staff attorney for the environmental group Waterwatch, disagrees with the panel’s conclusion. The solution is to cut back on irrigation demand, starting with the roughly 22,000 acres leased out for commercial farming on the Lower Klamath Lake Wildlife Refuges, he says. "We need to reduce demand, phase out the lease-land farming and restore the wetland habitat," Hunter says. "The problem is the chronic drawing down of the lake caused by too many demands on a finite supply of water," says Jim McCarthy, policy analyst for the Oregon Natural Resources Council. "When you draw down a lake like this, you are affecting the birds, the water quality, the fish," he says. "We need to bring the demand for water back into balance with what can be supplied by the natural system." Meanwhile, Webber and Patterson just want to be able to hunt ducks come fall. "Ducking hunting is a spiritual experience for me," Webber explains. "There are lots of variables involved, survival not the least. Everything has to go right in order for a duck hunter to get ducks. "I don’t care if I shoot another duck," he adds. "It’s just being out here and watching God’s hand at work." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times