The Battle of Klamath Basin Continues

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 13, 2001

Farmers facing ruin due to enforcement of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) continued their protests in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and northern California, prying open a closed irrigation headgate for the fourth time. U.S. marshals, part of a contingent of federal authorities on the scene, shut the gate again. Water that briefly poured through the gate was not of sufficient quantity to benefit farmlands that have been denied irrigation since April.

Next, the farmers ran an irrigation pipe from Upper Klamath Lake to a spillway serving the 240,000-acre agricultural region. Again, the act of defiance essentially is symbolic, as the amount of water they are able to pump from the lake isn't enough to save their crops. Despite the presence of a number of federal authorities, no arrests were made.

The region is experiencing drought conditions. Farmers have had to sell off livestock and let fields go brown due to enforcement of the ESA. According to Ag Alert, a newspaper devoted to California agriculture, even officials within the Department of the Interior have questioned the validity of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's "biological opinion" used in deciding to hold back irrigation. The Pacific Legal Foundation recently appealed to a special Endangered Species Committee for relief for the farmers, as reported here last week (see "Farmers Protest in Anger as Feds Put Fish First," Aug. 6). The appeal was turned down by Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

The Klamath Basin is said to be the source of 40 percent of fresh potatoes sold to California consumers, as well as other crops amounting to $250 million per year in economic activity. Consumers who think food appears by magic on the grocers' shelves soon may learn otherwise. In addition, of course, the farms support a variety of other businesses providing goods and services. Various aid efforts for farmers are in place offering buyouts to retire the land from agricultural use and to retrain farm workers for other lines of work, but many of the farmers have deep roots in the region and don't want to be forced from their land.

Republican Reps. Wally Herger of California and Greg Walden of Oregon have introduced the Klamath Basin Government-Caused Disaster Compensation Act. It would require the secretary of the interior to restore the farmers to a level of economic well-being equal to what it would be without the federal interference.