The Klamath Basin is the region in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

drained by the

Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk language, Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath language, Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok language, Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') is a long river in southern Oregon and northern California. Beginning near Klamath Falls, Oregon, Klama ...

. It contains most of Klamath County and parts of

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

and Jackson counties in Oregon, and parts of Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, and

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

counties in California. The

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is 35% in Oregon and 65% in California. In Oregon, the watershed typically lies east of the Cascade Range, while California contains most of the river's segment that passes through the mountains. In the Oregon-far northern California segment of the river, the watershed is semi-desert at lower elevations and dry alpine in the upper elevations. In the western part of the basin, in California, however, the climate is more of

temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are rainforests with coniferous or Broad-leaved tree, broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate ...

, and the Trinity River watershed consists of a more typical alpine climate.

Geology and hydrology

The Upper Klamath Watershed lies between the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

and the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, charac ...

in southern Oregon and northern California. Bedrock

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

in the area includes volcanic deposits, volcanic ejecta, and fluviolacustrine deposits. This creates three general

hydrologic Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

layers: 1) Highly permeable

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

with an older depositional age serving as the principle

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

, 2)

fluvial A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

deposits made up of tuff, shale, agglomerate, sandstone, and volcanic ash that are collectively known as the Yonna Formation and act as a groundwater cap, and 3) more recent eruptive volcanic deposits that overlie the aquifer. Little water is able to permeate through the upper volcanic deposit layers to the principle aquifers. Groundwater is able to move freely throughout the upper basin despite geologic structures that occur due to normal faulting which only confine groundwater on a local scale. Artesian wells discharging into the Upper Klamath Lake are essential for recharge into the lake and

flow throughout the year. Snowmelt is currently a large contributor of

groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...

in the Upper Klamath Basin.

Distribution of subwatersheds

The drainage basins of the Williamson and Sprague Rivers, in Oregon, are to the north and northeast of Upper Klamath Lake. Together, the two watersheds cover , or 19.4% of the Klamath River watershed.''Hydrology, Ecology and Fishes of the Klamath River Basin'', p.27BEST and WSTB, p. 26 The basin of the Lost River, the largest subwatershed by area, lies to the southeast of Upper Klamath Lake and to the east of Lower Klamath Lake. This covers or 19.1% of the Klamath River watershed—nearly as much as the Williamson and Sprague. Proceeding west, the adjoining Butte Creek, Shasta, Scott and Salmon River watersheds have , , , and , respectively. These account for 4.3%, 5%, 5.2%. and 5% of the Klamath River watershed, respectively, or 19.5% of the watershed if put together. Further southwest, the watershed of the Trinity River, the second largest subwatershed of the Klamath, has or 19% of the watershed. The watershed of the South Fork Trinity River is —33% of the Trinity watershed or 6% of the Klamath watershed. The primary tributaries of the Klamath together account for 77% of the total Klamath watershed—the remaining land area is drained by smaller tributaries such as Jenny Creek, Fall Creek and Blue Creek.

Major bodies of water

Upper Klamath Lake is the largest present-day body of water in the Klamath River watershed, covering on average, with a shoreline of . It is also the largest freshwater lake in the state of Oregon. Historically, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake were one interconnected freshwater marsh that totaled —more than twice the present-day dimensions of Upper Klamath Lake. This interconnected wetland still supports up to 3.7 million migrating birds per year. In wet years, the two lakes would connect to Upper Klamath Lake, forming one huge body of water. These lakes occupy the basin that was prehistorically occupied by Lake Modoc, a freshwater lake that covered the entire Upper Klamath Basin, or 7% of the watershed—an area three times larger than the massive

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

in southern California. This lake existed up to 11,000 years ago at the end of the most recent

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. Today, Upper Klamath Lake encompasses just 0.6% of the Klamath watershed. There are also several artificial bodies of water in the watershed—including Lake Ewauna, J.C. Boyle Reservoir, Copco Lake, and Iron Gate Reservoir on the main Klamath. Lake Ewauna, also called Keno Reservoir, is in size, and is about long. The J.C. Boyle Reservoir is much smaller, with a surface area of . Copco Reservoir is about long and is in area. Iron Gate Reservoir covers and is about long. Together, the four lower mainstem reservoirs total just , or 0.04% of the Klamath River watershed. Trinity Lake, on the mainstem of the Trinity River, is the largest tributary reservoir in the Klamath River watershed. At in size, it is larger than all four mainstem Klamath reservoirs combined (excluding Upper Klamath Lake). Klamath Basin landscape

Watershed

According to the USGS watershed classification system, the Klamath Watershed is a 6-digit, level 3 Accounting Unit within Region 18, known as the California watershed region. The accounting unit of the Klamath Watershed is 180102 and includes twelve 8-digit Hydrologic Units (HUCs) covering 9.4 million acres. In the 2000 census, about 114,000 people were estimated to be living within the Klamath Watershed. The largest population centers include Klamath Falls, Oregon (19,462) and Yreka, California (7,290). Land ownership within the basin breaks down into the following: about 90,000 acres are controlled by tribal reservations, 6.2 million acres are managed by public agencies (including the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

, National Forests,

National Wildlife Refuges The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the Department of the Interior. The National Wildlife Refuge System i ...

, and

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

), and 3.7 million is privately owned. Of the privately owned land, 557,000 acres are used for farming 80% of which is irrigated farmland. Nearly half of irrigated land utilizes water from the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it ...

’s Klamath Project. The vast majority of privately owned agriculture and rangeland occurs in the Lost River and Shasta River sub-basins.United States Department of Agriculture: Natural Resources Conservation Service (2002). Klamath River Basin: Land Use/Land Cover Map. Retrieved from https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/nrcs143_022731.jpg The Klamath Basin watershed includes: These three rivers are located above (north) of the Klamath Lake basin: * Sprague River, Oregon * Williamson River, Oregon * Sycan River, Oregon These features are inside or near the Klamath Lake basin: * Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon * Link River, Oregon * Agency Lake, Oregon * Lost River, Oregon, California * Clear Lake Reservoir, California * Tule Lake, California * Lower Klamath Lake, California These are the major downstream tributaries of the Klamath River: * Butte Creek, California, Oregon * Shasta River, California * Scott River, California * Salmon River, California * Trinity River, California

Communities

Communities in the Klamath Basin include:

References

External links

Klamath Waters Digital Library
from

Oregon Institute of Technology The Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) is a public college in Oregon with a residential campus in Klamath Falls, Oregon, an urban campus in Wilsonville, Oregon, and additional locations in Salem, Oregon, Salem and Seattle. Almost all s ...

Map of Klamath Basin
from The Wilderness Society
Klamath River Restoration
;Congressional hearings
The Klamath River Basin: Hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session ... June 20, 2013Klamath Basin: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, to Hear Testimony on S. 2379, the "Klamath Basin Water Recovery and Economic Restoration Act of 2014," June 3, 2014
{{Authority control Klamath River Watersheds of California Watersheds of the United States Regions of California Regions of Oregon Landforms of Del Norte County, California Landforms of Humboldt County, California Landforms of Modoc County, California Landforms of Siskiyou County, California Landforms of Trinity County, California Landforms of Klamath County, Oregon Landforms of Jackson County, Oregon Landforms of Lake County, Oregon Northern California Klamath Mountains Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Valleys of Oregon