Opinion ID: 6500751
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Klamath Basin

Text: The Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a multi-use wetland area that spans approximately 200,000 acres at the border of southern Oregon and northern California. It contains six different refuges, although we are here concerned with three of them: Lower Klamath, Tule Lake, and Clear Lake. This map in the record may be helpful to orient the reader: 1 In separate opinions, we reject additional challenges to the Conservation Plan brought by, among others, Tulelake Irrigation District and the Audubon Society of Portland. Between our three opinions, we therefore affirm in full the district court’s grant of summary judgment to FWS. 10 CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY V. HAALAND Like many other western locales, the history of this area is characterized by deep-rooted disagreements over land and water use and how to balance resource preservation with longstanding ranching and farming operations. Although the area was very different many generations ago, today it reflects a highly complex interdependency between agricultural uses and environmental preservation. Under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, 16 U.S.C. § 668dd, et seq. (together, the “Refuge Act”), CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY V. HAALAND 11 FWS is required to prepare conservation plans for each Refuge in the System. Id. § 668dd(e)(1)(A). We consider here certain aspects of FWS’s 2017 Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan / Environmental Impact Statement, which covers the three Refuges at issue here. Some background on these Refuges, with emphasis on the disputed issues in the Conservation Plan, is necessary to frame this case.