96 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



off from the Lower Klamath Lake by means of a dike. In conse- 

 quence, the lake has become an ugly alkaline waste, without any cor- 

 responding benefit to anyone. Mr. A. P. Lewis, Director of the Rec- 

 lamation Service, has written Senator Chamberlain that a recent in- 

 vestigation of the marshlands around Lower Klamath Lake has failed 

 to disclose positive evidence of their value for agricultural purposes. 

 He writes that "very little conclusive evidence can be found as to the 

 agricultural values of the lands around Lower Klamath Lake." 



May I inquire, for the information of our membership, why the 

 Reclamation Service should not be directed to open the dikes and let 

 the water back into Lower Klamath Lake? According to our present 

 information, this act of cutting off the water looks like a very useless 

 piece of destruction, and countless birds that had their nesting-sites 

 here are deprived of their breeding-grounds. The purpose for which 

 Theodore Roosevelt established these breeding -grounds is thus an- 

 nulled. We are further informed that unless speedy relief is found 

 the Malheur Lake Reservation will also become a barren waste. 



Regretting the necessity of claiming your attention with this matter, 



Mr. William Frederic Bade, President Sierra Club. -^nov. 15, 1919 

 402 Mills Building, San Francisco, California. 

 Dear Mr. Bade: I have your letter of November 3 regarding the Ore- 

 gon bird reserves. 



We are greatly interested in these, particularly that at Lower Klamath 

 Lake, which is intimately related to our reclamation work in that vicin- 

 ity. We are not conducting any operations at Malheur Lake. 



At Lower Klamath Lake there is a large bordering area of lands that 

 have been swampy, and there is a considerable sentiment in favor of 

 making these lands available for agricultural operations. This was a 

 part of the plan for the Government reclamation project from the start, 

 and the States of California and Oregon passed special acts to encour- 

 age the development, ceding their rights to the United States. Upward 

 of 20,000 acres of such lands in Oregon have been organized as the 

 Klamath Drainage District, and our present arrangements at the lake 

 are the subject of a contract with this district. Under this agreement 

 the United States is secured for the considerable expenditure it has 

 made in the past in the interest of the development of these marsh lands 

 for agriculture. In return, the United States agreed to close the gates, 

 shutting out Klamath River, and to keep them closed. In making the 

 agreement, however, we foresaw that the resulting conditions might 

 make it the wise thing to do to some time reopen the gates, and at our 

 suggestion the district accepted a provision in the agreement under 

 which this may be done. 



The district has promptly met its obligations under this contract and 



I am, 



Sincerely yours. 



William Frederic Bade, President 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON 



