Worries on Klamath Water Cuts

Feeling they have built public support through peaceful action, Klamath Basin farmers fighting for water said Wednesday they don’t want any violent confrontations when it comes time for federal officials to shut down irrigation deliveries.

“When people came here and opened the head gates [last July] there was nothing to lose,” said Bill Ransom, a Klamath Falls businessman and irrigator who helped organize a truck convoy that brought national attention to farmers here. “But in the last month and a half, we’ve made a lot of progress.”

Ransom said farmers were working to prevent any violence, but at least one protester said he was prepared to storm the head gates of the Klamath Project, just like he and others did last July to open them in violation of an Endangered Species Act order reserving the water for endangered fish.

“My intention is to be here at 10 o’clock [today] and take [it] back,” said Stan Thompson, a retired railroad conductor from Klamath Falls.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was expected to close the bank of six head gates on the A Canal of the Klamath Project this morning after completing the release of 70,000 acre feet of water authorized by Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton four weeks ago.

Because of conservation and timely rains, there was more water than expected in Upper Klamath Lake, the project’s primary reservoir. Norton said at the time she hoped the water would help defuse the building tension.

The water had been shut off since April 6, when the Bureau of Reclamation determined that a severe drought left no water for 90% of the 220,000 acres of the Klamath Project after minimum levels were met for endangered fish.

Gavin Rajnus, a farmer from Malin, said the water released by Norton had helped green up hay, but was too late to nurture his primary potato crop, and more water this late in the growing season would do little good.