Biologists, engineers, contractors, and cultural monitors with the Klamath Tribes watch as two large machines remove scoops of wet mud in a coordinated dance, while a mini-excavator grabs bucketfuls of brush. Agency Lake is the uppermost portion of Upper Klamath Lake, a massive, shallow freshwater lake just northwest of Klamath Falls. It’s about to get a lot bigger. … The large excavators are supported on a narrow strip of native soil and rip-rap. The water level on the lake side of the strip is about three feet higher than the level on the other side. As they expand the opening, the operators will back up, removing the strip material as they go. … Breaching this levee is like pulling a drain plug on a massive bathtub, allowing some 14,000 acres of refuge land–specifically, the Barnes and Agency Units–to be inundated. The reconnection with Upper Klamath Lake will transform this vast area into diverse wetlands that support native fish, spotted frogs, and thousands of birds that breed and migrate through the Klamath Basin.