The Klamath River Basin, a region along the California-Oregon border, has been a focal point for local and national discussions on water resources and species management. Water management issues were brought to the forefront when severe drought conditions in 2001 exacerbated competition for scarce water resources and generated conflict among several interests—farmers; fishermen (commercial and sport); other recreationists; federal wildlife refuge managers; environmental organizations; and state, local, and tribal governments. Subsequent problems with Klamath Basin fisheries, in particular events in 2002 and 2006 (see " Previous Events ," below), and conflict over the relicensing of the Klamath Hydropower Project, exacerbated these conflicts. Low water conditions and a call for water by senior water rights holders in 2013 have again brought these issues to the forefront. Congress has oversight authority over federal activities in the Klamath Basin related to operation of the Bureau of Reclamation's (Reclamation's) Klamath Project; management of federal lands (including six national wildlife refuges, managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service); and implementation of Endangered Species Act (ESA; P.L. 93-205 ) and other federal laws. Previously, Congress has held hearings and appropriated funding to address issues in the Klamath Basin. Past congressional debate has generally focused on the ESA's role in water management, the operation of the Klamath Project, and other topics, such as supplemental support for parties impacted by federal policies. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement (KHSA), collectively referred to as the Klamath a greements in this report, were signed in 2010 by a wide array of basin interests (although not all basin interests support the agreements). They aim to address many of the ongoing conflicts in the Klamath Basin. The KBRA would, among other things, set limits for water allocations for irrigators and wildlife refuges under a range of conditions related to the amount of water forecast in a given year; attempt to make available supplemental water and power supplies in the basin; and provide for restoration and monitoring of certain fish species. It also includes other assurances to settle ongoing water conflicts between basin tribes and other entities, although it would not settle all ongoing conflicts in the basin. The KHSA lays out a process that could lead to removal of four nonfederal hydroelectric dams currently owned and operated by a private entity, PacifiCorp. If carried out as envisioned, the project would be one of the largest, most complex dam removals in history. Under the KHSA, the Secretary of the Interior led a study process to determine whether removal of these dams is in the public interest. Most of this study process has been completed, but the final step—a determination by the Secretary—would require congressional authorization. Although the Klamath agreements require congressional authorization to move forward on key components, some activities under existing authorities have already been undertaken. Consideration of the agreements could result in Congress revisiting previous issues in the Klamath Basin, as well as considering new ones. This report focuses on congressional consideration of the Klamath agreements. It assumes some familiarity with the basin on the part of the reader. The Klamath River Basin is a largely sparsely populated area on the Oregon and California border with limited water resources (see Figure 1 ). Irrigated agriculture in the upper basin relies in large part on water provided by the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project. Other farmers and ranchers (known as off-project irrigators) also rely on basin water supplies for irrigation. The area is home to six national wildlife refuges that rely on the same water supplies to sustain migratory bird populations and several Native American tribes that were historically dependent on lower and upper basin fish species. Two species of upper basin fish are currently listed as endangered under the ESA (the Lost River and shortnose sucker), and one species of lower basin fish is listed as threatened under the ESA (coho salmon, an anadromous fish). The basin also includes seven dams on the Klamath River and its tributaries, built between 1918 and 1962. Six of these dams are owned by PacifiCorp, a private company, and are known collectively as the Klamath Hydroelectric Project (KHP). Historically, all but one of the dams produced hydroelectric power for the basin, including low-cost power for Klamath Project irrigators. The original Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license to operate the KHP expired in 2006, and PacifiCorp applied for relicensing of the project in 2004. To date, a new long-term license has not been granted because of the lack of state certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500), as well as ongoing uncertainty related to fish passage upgrades and the status of the Klamath agreements, discussed below. In the absence of a new FERC license, the project continues to operate under a temporary annual license with the same conditions of the expired FERC license. While water and species management issues have been prevalent throughout the history of the Klamath Project, recent congressional consideration related to Klamath Basin usually centers on one or more of three seminal events that occurred in 2001, 2002, and 2006. These events resulted in press coverage, legal conflicts, and studies that framed the negotiations and agreements currently at issue. More recently, in the summer of 2013, a call on water rights under the newly released Oregon water rights adjudication resulted in limitations on water deliveries for junior water rights holders in the upper part of the basin. Several events have put the Klamath region in the national spotlight. In 2001, as a result of previous biological opinions by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Bureau of Reclamation severely curtailed water deliveries to the Klamath Project to provide more water for endangered fish in the basin and to prevent their extinction. These allocations were met with protests by area irrigators, who threatened to open irrigation head gates by force. Later, in 2002, irrigators received more water than had been allocated in 2001, but thousands of fish (mainly Chinook salmon) died on the lower part of the Klamath River, largely due to poor water conditions and fish health in that part of the basin. In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration severely restricted ocean fishing for salmon in the region due to low numbers of naturally spawning adults (due in part to residual effects of the aforementioned 2002 event). This restriction resulted in a large decrease in that year's commercial and recreational salmon catch compared to previous years. The federal government provided emergency funding in response to these and other events in the Klamath Basin. The funding included at least $170 million in addition to regular programmatic expenditures over the last decade. For instance, for the 2001 and 2006 events, the federal government provided approximately $35 million and $60 million in emergency aid, respectively. Aid in addition to regular agency programs and appropriations was also provided in other years. Between 2002 and 2007, Reclamation spent $14 million on a pilot water bank to alleviate water shortages. Due to drought events in 2010, an additional $10 million in supplemental appropriations was provided to the Klamath Basin in that year and $2 million was provided for a Klamath Drought Initiative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The 2002 farm bill provided $50 million to the Klamath Basin, and USDA funding was also provided under other general authorities and programs authorized in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills. In addition to these events, an Oregon state water rights adjudication in the basin that was first initiated in the 1970s received added attention in 2013 (See box above, "Klamath Water Rights Adjudication"). At the conclusion of the adjudication's administrative phase, the state of Oregon upheld a number of previous water rights claims including, among other things, that the Klamath Tribes have water rights with a date of "time immemorial." These water rights are now protected under Oregon law and were exercised over junior water rights holders in the basin for the first time in the summer of 2013. The 2013 "call" on water rights (in which senior water rights holders gave notice that their demands exceeded available flows) limited or shut off water deliveries to some junior water rights holders (for the most part, off-project irrigators) in the upper basin. In response to conflicts and other issues in the Klamath Basin, the federal government facilitated talks among multiple groups between 2002 and 2010, including formal negotiations to reach two major settlement agreements between 2006 and 2010. Participants in negotiations included state governments, tribes, counties, irrigators, fishermen, conservation groups, and hydropower facility owners and users. The goal of the negotiations was a long-term solution to the multiple water and endangered species issues in the Klamath Basin, including the aforementioned issues associated with irrigation deliveries and flows for fish, as well as potential issues associated with pending water rights adjudications and relicensing of the basin's hydroelectric dams. The two agreements that resulted from the negotiations, the KBRA and the KHSA, are officially linked in that signatories see them as complementary and do not support authorization of one agreement without the other. Originally, both agreements were set to expire without congressional authorization by 2012, but this deadline has been extended to 2014. In response to concerns and outstanding issues in the upper basin, in 2013 a task force was convened to incorporate additional issues not addressed by the KBRA and KHSA. Among other things, it resulted in an additional settlement agreement in late 2013, the " Upper Klamath Basin Settlement Agreement ," discussed below. The KBRA was negotiated by stakeholders and other groups in the Klamath Basin.