Walden praises issuance of contract to remove Chiloquin Dam

PRESS RELEASE: Congressman Walden February 07, 2007                   

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today released the following statement on the Bureau of Reclamation's announcement that it has awarded a contract to remove Chiloquin Dam:

"This is very good news for both farmers and fish. For many years the federal government neglected the obvious problem posed by Chiloquin Dam, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated blocks 95 percent of the sucker habitat, and was the main reason the sucker fish were listed as endangered more than ten years ago. Removing the dam will provide fish passage to vital habit which the Klamath Tribes, local governments, farmers, and irrigation districts are working collaboratively to restore. Installing the pumps will ensure water for framers. I congratulate the Bureau of Reclamation for awarding the contract, and I look forward to this next step in addressing water management issues in the Klamath River Basin. I never again want a community to experience what the Klamath Basin did in 2001."

Congressman Walden represents 20 counties in central, southern and eastern Oregon.