Virtual Guidebook to Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Modoc Plateau
Tule Lake and Tulelake
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, California

It is an intriguing study in resource management, or rather over-allocation of a scarce resource. Shallow Tule Lake was drained by the Bureau of Reclamation, sold to farmers who were provided with water from the Klamath River. But part of the valley consists of wildlife refuges, which need water also, and the river harbors endangered species of fish that the government is obligated to protect. Plus salmon in the river hundreds of miles downstream and out at sea need the same water - and Native Americans and commercial fisheries depend on them. In a dry year there isn't enough water to go around.