Klamath farmers face another shut-off

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published August 8, 2001

PORTLAND -- Federal agencies predict the irrigation water that Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently gave to Klamath Basin farmers will run out in two weeks.

Norton released the water July 25, when projections showed Upper Klamath Lake near Klamath Falls would end the irrigation season about a foot higher than expected.

The water had been reserved for endangered fish in the Klamath River downstream, but Norton allowed farmers to take the additional foot.

That foot should be exhausted by Aug. 20, federal agencies say.

"We had hoped it would go longer than that, and I hope for everyone's sake it does," said Dave Solem, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District.

Once the lake drops to the minimum mandated for fish, tensions could rise when federal officials shut the head gates that have become the meeting point in the struggle over Klamath water.

Last April, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation calculated that with a severe drought and the Endangered Species Act requiring water for sucker fish in the lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River, there was no water for 90 percent of the 220,000 acres of farmland served by the project.

Angry farmers, who have seen their pastures and hay fields go brown, have illegally freed water several times this summer, and have established an encampment outside the head gates, while federal officers stand guard inside.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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