Anglo-american settlement of the upper klamath basin began in the mid-19TH century

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 awarded a $903,075.04 Project Grant to the Klamath Watershed Partnership under the Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance program (CFDA 15.608) to undertake several wetlands restoration and enhancement activities in the Keno Reach of the Klamath River in Klamath Falls, Oregon from September 2022 through September 2027. Key deliverables include identifying opportunities for creating, restoring, and enhancing littoral and floodplain wetlands; developing a database to support future wetland projects; partnering with Tule Smoke Hunt Club to evaluate wetland enhancement opportunities on its property including data collection, hydrologic modeling, and design drawings; mapping and developing pre-treatment plans for invasive plant species; and implementing pre-treatment plans for three years. The project aims to improve water quality and wildlife habitat in support of the federal grant program's fish and aquatic conservation objectives.

The bureau of reclamation 2005 estimates that by around 1960, no land in the upper basin, aside from some remote alpine and sub-alpine watersheds remained untouched by agricultural practices. Between 1905 and the 1960S, wetlands in the upper klamath basin were reduced from approximately 350,000 acres to 75,000 acres as these areas were drained, diked, and converted to agriculture BOR, 2005 . The majority of the remaining 75,000 wetland acres are contained within the lower klamath, tule lake, and upper klamath national wildlife refuges. Other wetlands are owned and managed by the state of oregon klamath wildlife area, miller island unit . The remaining wetlands are owned and managed privately. The fringe wetland master plan for the keno reach of the klamath river would identify opportunities for the creation, restoration, and enhancement of littoral wetlands and other floodplain wetlands along and within the keno reach. Restoration of wetlands within this reach is expected to improve water quality by removing nutrients, suspended solids, and other pollutants from water in the klamath river, and water flows downstream through the reach. Further, wetland creation, restoration, and enhancement will improve the quality and availability of habitat for migratory waterfowl and other native wildlife such as fish including ESA endangered shortnose and lost river suckers and critical habitat , songbirds, migratory shorebirds, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, and mammals. Following DAM removal on the klamath river, salmon and steelhead are expected to return to the upper klamath basin. Creation, expansion, and improvement of wetlands within the reach, as well as the resulting water quality improvements, would benefit anadromous fish entering the reach. The plan will also identify opportunities for the construction of diffuse source treatment wetlands to locally treat agricultural runoff from adjacent agricultural drains. More specifically, the project will first analysis existing topographic and bathymetric data in the project reach to identify areas where fringe wetland creation, restoration, and or enhancement are possible. The project team will then initiate an outreach effort to landowners along the project reach to gauge interest in future participation in wetland restoration enhancement projects. Data from these first tasks will be captured and stored in a database that serve as the basis for future wetland project development. The project team also intends to partner with the tule smoke hunt club to evaluate wetland enhancement and restoration opportunities on club property. This will include high-resolution topo-bathymetric data collection following a controlled burn in the spring of 2023, evaluation and modeling of site hydrology, and identification of alternatives for improving water circulation through the existing wetlands. Engineering design drawings will be completed for the preferred alternative, and the design drawings will be used to apply for local, state, and federal regulatory approvals necessary for implementing the project. The team will undertake an invasive exotic vegetation IEV mapping exercise on the property to identify priority areas for IEV pre-treatment prior to the initiation of a future wetland restoration project. The proposed project also includes development of an advanced IEV pretreatment plan, application for necessary regulatory approvals for herbicide application, and implementation of the plan for three years. The plan will be developed to be flexible and adaptable to other areas in anticipation of future use across to entire length of the keno reach.