A little bit of good news for the Klamath Basin today out of the Bureau of Reclamation: The Bureau now plans to deliver the promised 140,000 acre feet to the Klamath Project.

This is great news for farmers, who were going to run out of water before their crops matured, but what does it mean for the water-starved Lower Klamath NWR?

Here's CWA Director of Water Law and Policy Jeff Volberg's assessment: "It may free up a water transfer of 11,000 acre-feet that the Bureau has been holding back since May. It may also result in the Drought Response Agency purchasing between 10,000 and 20,000 acre-feet for the refuge, most likely the former. If the refuge can get that water, they can at least keep Unit 2 flooded into the fall. That is 4,000 acres out of 54,000 acres, but it is better than the nothing they were appearing to get as of yesterday."

Update: The Bureau announced on June 19 that water has begun flowing.