Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Fighting for Our Right to Irrigate Our Farms and Caretake Our Natural Resources

Well, I thought I was going to be able to fulfill that dream, just like many 
other kids raised on ranching. Until now. 

The blessings this way of life bestows on those tough enough to live it are 
immense and too numerous to list. It is a way of life that most people can 
not understand. It is getting up at all hours of the day and night to do 
chores that must be done, no matter what the weather conditions. It is 
working long hours in the hot dry sun putting up hay for the cattle or 
doctoring sick calves when it is -40 outside. It is having your children 
work beside you, not because they have to, but because to them it is pure 
fun. It is watching the new fawns chasing their mothers through a fresh cut 
alfalfa field on a sunny June day. It is hearing the killdeer lure you away 
from their nests. It is watching a bald eagle circle over head in search of 
sustenance. The list goes on and on. 

What most people don't realize is that farming and ranching is more than a 
way to earn a living. It is about a love of nature and what it provides us 
all. Farming and ranching is about a love of plants and animals and a deep 
need to nurture the environment and those creatures in it. Farming and 
ranching is about a love of God and an understanding that we must take care 
of what he has given us all. 

I live in a little basin in Southern Oregon that is filled with beauty and 
controversy. Here, the controversy is water and who should have it. Until 
recently, the farmers and ranchers were the first priority. This was a 
promise made to the farmers and ranchers here when the government decided to 
purchase their small irrigation project and expand it greatly. The farmers 
and ranchers agreed and the government agreed to provide irrigation water 
FOREVER. 

After World War I and World War II the government invited veterans to enter 
their names into a lottery drawing to homestead land that the government had 
reclaimed. The land was formerly marshes, shallow lakes and sand dunes. 
Most of the area was covered with either water or sagebrush. After the 
reclamation, the area turned into an oasis. The land was very fertile and 
despite a short growing season, a large variety of crops have been grown ever 
since. Until now. 

Many families moved here when they were awarded land in the lottery drawing. 
They were/are very patriotic, proud people who have worked very hard and have 
been able to experience the American Dream. Until now. 

April 2001 will forever be etched in the memory of every citizen of the 
Klamath Basin. Every man, woman and child will be affected by the actions 
that have taken place. While there are several viewpoints to the issue, it 
can not be denied that everyone will feel an impact of what has occurred. 

This basin has endured many hard times, and will more than likely figure out 
a way to survive this one too. The people who live here are a very 
determined people. It doesn't matter what nationality they are or where they 
came here from, because we are all in this together no matter how we feel 
about the issue. 

April 2001 the Bureau of Reclamation announced that for the first time since 
the inception of the Klamath Project, project irrigators would receive no 
irrigation water. The news was shocking and heartbreaking. The government 
had once again denied its own contractual agreement with the people. Why we 
expected anything but, I am uncertain. After all, the government has broken 
many, many agreements with the people of this nation before. The American 
Indians are only the first to come to mind. 

We have a local tribe, they are in the fight too. Fighting for their right 
to the water, so is the environmental movement, the fisherman, and several 
others. I agree that there are issues that need to be dealt with, one of 
which is water quality. And we are no doubt enduring a drought. The problem 
is the science (if you can call it that) that this decision was based on. 

Two biological OPINIONS were used to determine that the basin could not 
provide enough water to satisfy the needs of all interested parties. So, the 
farmers lost out. There are people in this nation who are applauding this 
decision and they shouldn't be. We are only the one of the many areas of 
this country under attack from the government and the ESA. Millions of 
people and numerous industries are under attack. 

While I understand the need to protect species that are endangered of 
becoming extinct, I don't think that the farmers should be the only ones to 
take the blame and pay the price. If the Coho salmon in the Klamath River 
are endangered then, why can people fish for them? If the Lost River and 
Shortnose suckers are endangered, then why are they allowed to be used for 
ceremony? If enough is known about these species to put them on the 
Endangered Species List, then why can't we find out how many are necessary to 
get them delisted? If enough is known about the necessary habitat for these 
species, then why are we not developing ways to increase and improve the 
habitat? 

There are common sense solutions to the problems at hand. The problem is the 
government agencies involved would rather take a one species approach and 
ignore the factors leading to this issue. If these species are endangered at 
all. 

Nature has the ability to adapt in ways that we will never be able to 
reproduce. That is one of the beauties of the world. Aren't there natural 
population fluctuations in every species? Aren't drought and fire two natural 
ways of determining that age old saying, "Survival of the Fittest?" 

If these species have been able to survive for nearly 100 years of the 
Klamath Project, I honestly don't think one more will remove them from the 
face of the earth. 

My ten year old son summarized the feelings of the Agricultural community 
very well recently. He said, "Mom, you and Dad have always taught us to work 
hard and be proud to be farmers. I used to be proud to live in America. Now 
I am not." 


Tiffany Baldock