The Bureau of Reclamation will pay $2.8 million to 170 farmers who've agreed not to plant crops on 16,000 acres this year, reducing water needs by 39,000 acre-feet. In addition, another 10 property owners will receive $1.2 million for providing 37,000 acre-feet of well water to the Klamath Project. But with annual water needs for fish, farmers and refuges now approaching 900,000 acre-feet, such water savings offer little relief.

When the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled last week that Klamath Project irrigation jeopardized sucker survival, Bureau of Reclamation officials said their options included seeking an exemption from the so-called "God Squad," a Cabinet-level committee that can choose to let species go extinct. But with a third fish species now in jeopardy and a fourth Klamath Basin fish -- wild steelhead -- likely to be added to the endangered species list as early as next week, an exemption appears unlikely.

As expected, the National Marine Fisheries Service on Monday found that the Bureau of Reclamation's plans for irrigating 240,000 acres of farm fields poses an "unacceptable risk" to salmon fry in spring, juvenile coho in summer and returning spawners in fall.

In addition, the agency's draft biological opinion on ongoing Klamath Project operations found that continuing irrigation would further degrade salmon habitat already impoverished by logging, road building, grazing, mining, urbanization, stream channelization, dams, wetland loss, unscreened irrigation diversions and water withdrawals.

To avoid harming Klamath River coho salmon, which were listed as threatened in 1997, the National Marine Fisheries Service told the Bureau of Reclamation to more than triple river flows at the height of the irrigation season.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Bureau of Reclamation to raise the level of Upper Klamath Lake one foot to avoid harming Lost River and shortnose suckers, which were listed as endangered in 1988. The federal Endangered Species Act prohibits federal agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation from actions that harm protected species.

With inflow at Upper Klamath Lake expected to be just 29 percent of average this irrigation season, Bureau of Reclamation officials already are forecasting shortages.

"It's looking kind of bleak, very bleak," said Bob Davis, chief of the Bureau of Reclamation's Natural Resource's Division in the Klamath Basin. "We will develop our annual operating plan for 2001 to take into account the Endangered Species Act and tribal trust needs and to make deliveries that may remain in the pitcher for irrigated agriculture and wildlife refuges."

When the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled last week that Klamath Project irrigation jeopardized sucker survival, Bureau of Reclamation officials said their options included seeking an exemption from the so-called "God Squad," a Cabinet-level committee that can choose to let species go extinct. But with a third fish species now in jeopardy and a fourth Klamath Basin fish -- wild steelhead -- likely to be added to the endangered species list as early as next week, an exemption appears unlikely.

"We're not advocating an exemption process," Davis said. " If we can come up with some ways to add flexibility back into the system, that's our best hope at this point."

The Bureau of Reclamation will pay $2.8 million to 170 farmers who've agreed not to plant crops on 16,000 acres this year, reducing water needs by 39,000 acre-feet. In addition, another 10 property owners will receive $1.2 million for providing 37,000 acre-feet of well water to the Klamath Project. But with annual water needs for fish, farmers and refuges now approaching 900,000 acre-feet, such water savings offer little relief.

"There is no silver bullet," said Bob Hunter of WaterWatch of Oregon. "The reality is we've overallocated the water, and we need to reduce basically the irrigation demand, and that means downsizing the project."

In past years, the Tulelake Irrigation District in Northern California already would be drawing Klamath Project water to prime 260 miles of canals and allow farmers to moisten their fields for spring planting.

"Usually we're in high gear now, moving right along; the tractors are all out working and the farmers are busy," said Jerry Pyle, assistant manager of the irrigation district. "Now they're sitting in meetings trying to decide what to do next to get some political help here. It's really hard sitting here."