Klamath River Basin — Overview

Understanding the "Klamath Basin"

The greater Klamath Basin is often divided into the Upper and Lower Klamath Basins.

Upper Klamath Basin

The Upper Klamath Basin includes the headwaters in south-central Oregon and north-central California, and contains the US Bureau of Reclamation's (BOR) Klamath Project Area. The Lower Klamath Basin, includes the mouth of the Klamath River in the northwest coast region of California. The Klamath Basin is further divided into sub-basins, as shown in the map above and the tables below.

Initially the NRCS accelerated planning and implementation assistance addressed only the Upper Klamath Basin. This focus allowed us to define our scope of work to achieve our objectives in a limited (and accelerated, when compared to traditional planning efforts) amount of time. It also reflected that the initial request came from the RCDs in the Upper Klamath Basin, who were affected by reduced water deliveries in the summer of 2001. For this study we have defined the Upper Klamath Basin as all the watersheds that occur above the Iron Gate Dam, and are therefore part of the BOR's Klamath Project area.

The Upper Klamath Basin consists of the six hydrologic sub-basins that occur above the Iron Gate dam, and are included in the BOR's Klamath Project. It includes the Williamson, Sprague, Upper Klamath Lake, Lost, Butte and Upper Klamath (East) sub-basins. The Upper Klamath Basin covers 5.6 million acres. It is located in 3 counties in Oregon: Jackson, Lake and Klamath, with Klamath having the largest share; and two counties in California: Siskiyou and Modoc.

Lower Klamath Basin

The Lower Klamath Basin consists of the six hydrologic sub-basins that occur below Iron Gate, plus the West section of the Upper Klamath sub-basin. It includes the Shasta, Scott, Lower Klamath, Salmon, Trinity, South Fork Trinity, and the Upper Klamath (West) sub-basins. The Lower Klamath Basin flows through the California counties of: Trinity, Humboldt, and Del Norte.

Klamath River Sub-basins Size and Hydrologic Unit

Note: For this project, the Upper Klamath Sub-basin (18010206) has been divided into two sections, East and West of the Iron Gate dam.

* The East Section of the Upper Klamath Sub-Basin includes 5 watersheds: 18010206-01, 18010206-02, 18010206-03, 18010206-04, 18010206-05

** The West Section of the Upper Klamath Sub-Basin includes 6 watersheds: 18010206-06, 18010206-07, 18010206-08, 18010206-09, 18010206-010, 18010206-11

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