    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [November 13, 2008]
    [Pages 1369-1370]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the Klamath River Basin Conservation Agreement
    November 13, 2008

        I congratulate the many people of the Klamath River Basin in Oregon
    and California who recently put forward a shared vision for conservation
    of the river. The agreement my administration announced today with
    Oregon, California, and PacifiCorp, the company that owns four
    hydropower dams on the Klamath River, will advance that vision. Federal,
    State, and private partners will now begin studying the feasibility of
    removing four hydropower dams on the river. This is the first phase of a
    long-term conservation program for upriver salmon habitats.
        This agreement turns what was a conflict into a conservation
    success. For years, there had been disagreement among irrigators,
    States, tribes, conservationists, and others. Beginning with the drought
    of 2001, the community, working in partnership with the Federal
    Government, rallied together to find a long-term solution. Since 2002,
    my administration has requested and Congress has provided approximately
    $90 million annually--a total of more than $500 million--for Klamath
    Basin activities. Working together, the Federal Government and its
    partners have restored irrigation and more than 10,000 acres of fish
    habitat and banked for conservation more than 800,000 acre-feet of
    water. These actions have provided adequate water for farmers while also
    helping species recover.
        Together, we have produced an agreement that will greatly reduce the
    risk of future shutdowns of the irrigation system.

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    I applaud this example of cooperative conservation and thank everyone
    who worked to bring it about.