“The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is one of the most remarkable and promising efforts that I have witnessed in my thirty-eight years of work on natural resources and Indian law and policy.”

– Charles Wilkinson

A Remarkable Achievement

Finding a fair way to allocate water between diverse and competing uses was a main motivation for the more than 25 organizations that crafted the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, or KBRA. Sometimes referred to as the “settlement” agreement, the KBRA contains collaborative solutions to ongoing problems that help build a shared future for the basin.

Working in concert with the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA), the KBRA is a departure from single-issue politics and plans. Instead, the agreement takes a holistic approach to ecosystem restoration that benefits wildlife, the environment, local residents, cultures and economies of the region.

Goals of the Agreement

(Below is text directly from the KBRA Agreement)

"The Agreement is intended to result in effective and durable solutions that:

1. Restore and sustain natural production and provide for Full Participation in Harvest Opportunities of Fish Species throughout the Klamath Basin;
2. Establish reliable water and power supplies which sustain agricultural uses and communities and National Wildlife Refuges;
3. Contribute to the public welfare and the sustainability of all Klamath Basin communities through these and other measures provided herein to resolve the disputes."

A new model for landscape scale restoration

Community-based Governance – The KBRA was crafted through a community-based process where local voices were represented and local governance structures were created. The KBRA outlines terms for problem resolution that continue to place responsibility, decision-making, implementation and enforcement into local hands.

Ecological Restoration – The KBRA puts into motion one of the most significant ecological restoration activities in the United States. The Klamath Basin historically had the third largest salmon run on the West Coast; the combination of dam removal, increased in-stream flows and habitat restoration will aid in endangered species recovery. The KBRA leaves all federal and state laws in tact, which means it does not affect the Endangered Species or Clean Water Acts, or the work of the Oregon Water Resources Board in it's efforts to establish state water adjudication.

Economic Development – The KBRA supports economic stability of communities in the Basin. Ranchers, farmers, tribes and coastal fisherman have all operated at very low margins and are vulnerable to increasing power rates, uncertainty in water availability, and threats of regulation. The settlement agreement addresses all of these challenges, stabilizing ranching and farming in the Basin, and generating greater economic opportunities through restoration jobs, renewable energy, robust fisheries, forest stewardship, increased tourism, recreational opportunities, and local tax revenue.