Water Cutoff Contributes to Klamath Basin Bird Deaths
A cut-off of water supplies to a key Klamath Basin national wildlife refuge contributed to the deaths of 10,000 or more birds this year, the most in a decade, the refuge's manager says.
April 6, 2012
The Oregonian, Scott Learn
A cut-off of water supplies to a key Klamath Basin national wildlife
refuge contributed to the deaths of 10,000 or more birds this year, the
most in a decade, the refuge's manager says.
The Lower Klamath refuge in
southern Oregon and northern California is a crucial stop for birds
migrating along the Pacific Flyway. The refuge and five other refuges in
the basin are also last in line for water, behind farmers and
endangered fish, in one of the most water-short -- and politically
fraught -- regions in the West.
Ron Cole, project leader for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, estimates 10,000 to 15,000 birds have died from avian cholera this year.
