Klamath Wetlands, Waterfowl & Restoration with Dr. Karl Wenner

Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard sit down with Dr. Karl Wenner, longtime Klamath Basin resident, hunter, farmer, and orthopedic surgeon, for a deep conversation about the landscape he has called home since the late 1980s. Karl shares how his background in biology and wildlife eventually brought him to Klamath, what he has watched change across the basin, and why he still believes wetlands can be a major part of its recovery.

Episode highlights

A lifetime in Klamath — Karl explains how he went from marine biology and wildlife work in Florida to medicine, waterfowl hunting, and eventually building a life in the Klamath Basin.Then versus now — after decades hunting and living in the region, Karl reflects on the incredible waterfowl years he witnessed and what current habitat and water conditions look like heading into this season.Wetlands as part of the farm — Karl describes how a roughly 70-acre wetland became a working tool on the property, filtering phosphorus from agricultural water before that water could return to the lake.When conservation and agriculture work together — the project allowed the farm to continue flooding agricultural ground for its operation and for waterfowl while using wetlands to improve water quality.Helping endangered suckers — Karl discusses experiments using wetlands as rearing habitat for young fish, what researchers have learned so far, and why demonstrating success on private ground could eventually lead to larger-scale restoration.The biggest challenge facing Klamath — in Karl’s view, the historic loss of wetlands remains at the heart of the basin’s problems. He describes the region as once being the “Everglades of the West,” with roughly 300,000 acres of interconnected wetlands.Reasons for optimism — rather than treating agriculture, fish, tribes, waterfowl, and the local economy as competing interests, Karl believes a functioning ecosystem can benefit all of them together.Restoration takes a team — CWA, Klamath Watershed Partnership, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, UC Davis, Ducks Unlimited, farmers, and others have all played roles in moving this work forward.This episode is a different kind of Klamath conversation—one focused on what can happen when working farms, wetlands, waterfowl, fish, and conservation are treated as pieces of the same system.