Posted on 11/26/2001 2:50:15 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Ping for reference.
Regards
Interesting, I can walk in to any big supermarket in Santiago, Chile and choose from Brazilian, USA, Argentinean, or Chilean beef products, all clearly marked. Makes no sense why this is so difficult in our country??
If any of you do not subscribe, I highly recommed RANGE...it is dedicated to issues that treaten the West, its people, lifestyles, lands and wildlife. CJ Hadley, publisher/editor has put together a superb magazine.
Website: www.rangemagazine.com
NEW ACTIVITY at A CANAL HEADGATES
11/26/01-Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Or.
By TODD KEPPLE The A Canal headgates, shown here (IF AuntB could do pictures!) this morning covered with snow, will be replaced under a plan being drawn up by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Work begins on new headgates and fish screen
The protesters are long gone (some of 'em ran away to Canada!), but activity continues at the A Canal headgates this fall, where workers are beginning a series of projects that will eventually lead up to replacement of the entire canal headworks. Initial work includes construction of a new fence around the headgates and installation of a security system that will include motion detectors and lighting.(Wah....let's p!$$ away some more taxpayer money!)
But dirt is also being moved as crews collect soil samples in preparation for construction of new headgates that will be fitted with screens to keep endangered suckers from entering the canal.(HOW many of us tried to tell the world that there were no screens??NO ONE cared, least of all the enviro's!)
Most of the construction work will be done between the 2002 and 2003 irrigation seasons, said Jim Bryant, chief of land and water operations for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Area Office. Before construction can begin, however, extensive soil tests must be done, including retrieval of a sample of dirt from beneath the canal, Bryant said.(watch 'em dig up a dinosaur and make it a park!)
The A Canal, constructed in 1906, runs nine miles from the south end of Upper Klamath Lake, through a tunnel beneath Oregon Avenue and past Klamath Union High School, through the south suburbs and toward the Henley area.
It serves (until LAST year!) as the primary source of irrigation water for about 180,000 acres of farmland stretching as far as Newell.
Last summer, protests over the denial of water to irrigators were focused at the A Canal headgates, which eventually were guarded by armed federal officers. They remain under the watch of a private security firm that is under contract through December.(A million here, a million there....good thing we don't have a WAR to pay for!)
Before the existing headgates can be torn out, they must be photographed to meet documentation requirements of the State Historic Preservation Office, Bryant said. “Those headgates are getting really old, and to attach fish screens to them with the complexity and size that is being contemplated probably wouldn’t work,” he said.
Screening the headgates to prevent fish from being drawn into the canal system is proving to be an engineering challenge, Bryant noted. Water moves at the rate of up to 900 cubic feet per second into the canal, and at a speed that is too fast for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers to swim against.
The screens will have to be designed in such a way as to allow water to pass without pinning suckers against the screen. Bryant said the biggest obstacle for engineers is deciding what to do with suckers once they are blocked from entering the canal.
Allowing them to swim toward Link River might be easiest, but the fish would likely end up in Lake Ewauna, where water conditions are often lethal to fish.
An alternative might be to use fish-friendly pumps to move the fish above Putnam Point, but suckers might be carried along the current right back into the fish screens.
The Bureau of Reclamation has openly questioned the efficacy of installing fish screens on the A Canal, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for protecting endangered suckers, has firmly demanded that the canal be screened.(WHEN is this administration going to FIRE some of these useless people?)
Congress has authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to spend $5 million in designing the fish screens, but total construction costs could be far greater, Bryant said.(COULD be....bet on it.)
Heavy snow that fell over the weekend may hinder fence construction and soil sampling, but Bryant said he won’t complain. (KF was beautiful- wish you could see it in the winter)
“My guess it will hamper operations both at Clear Lake Dam and, of course, the A Canal headworks,” he said. “But right now I’m just happy about the snow.”
The weekend’s storms brought the Klamath Basin’s snowpack close to normal for this time of year, although Bryant noted that winter is only beginning, and heavy precipitation is needed through the coming months. (What excuse do you think they'll use without a drought?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.