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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Michael E. Campana, incoming director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University, has been appointed to the Committee on Further Studies on Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River, a group within the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council.

Building upon the work of the first Klamath River committee that issued a major report in 2004, these experts will review the Bureau of Reclamation's effort to reconstruct the "natural" or pre-development flows of the Klamath River, review a study of habitat needs for coho salmon and other anadromous fishes, evaluate the implications of those studies as they relate to threatened and endangered species, and identify additional information gaps.

Campana, who will be a professor of geosciences at OSU, is currently director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico.

The Klamath River in Oregon and California used to be the nation's third most productive salmon river, but has seen its fishery reduced dramatically in recent years due to development in the basin. Several of its fish species are classified as either endangered or threatened, and conflicts in the basin have involved Native American tribes, fishermen, environmental groups, the federal government, hydroelectric plants and irrigators.

"The Klamath River situation has been categorized by some as the archetypical 'fish vs. farmers' conflict," said Campana. "To some, irrigated agriculture is the culprit, threatening the fish, while others question the excessive concern for fish and the seeming disregard for the welfare of people and the local irrigation-based economy."