Video Security for Canal That Farmers Fought to Use (Klamath Falls)

New York Times ^ | 1/02/01 | AP

[kattracks]

LAMATH FALLS, Ore., Jan. 1 — A security fence, video cameras and motion detectors have taken the place of the federal police guarding the head gates of the Klamath Reclamation Project irrigation system.

The $90,000 security system was completed last week around the Klamath project, a United States Bureau of Reclamation site that became the center of protests last summer over federal restrictions on irrigation for farms. The limits were put in place to conserve water for threatened and endangered fish, a bureau spokesman, Dave Jones, said on Monday.

The cutoff forced farmers with no other source of water to sell cattle, let pastures and hay fields go brown and forgo annual plantings of potatoes, grain and other crops.

The federal police were brought in after irate farmers pried open the head gates to an irrigation canal four times and siphoned off water with a pump and a pipe.

The bureau spent about $750,000 guarding the head gates from July 14 to Sept. 26, when the federal police left the site, after protesters agreed to scale back their activities in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Security guards will remain through mid-January, when a final decision will be made on relying solely on the fence, cameras and motion detectors to protect the head gates, Mr. Jones said.

Mr. Jones said water restrictions might not be necessary this year.

"We are hoping for a very peaceful new year," he said. "The snowpack building up in the Siskiyous and the area there gives us every hope this will not be another contentious year, that we have enough water to meet both the environmental obligations we have as well as our longstanding relations with the farmers who depend on that water."

Because of last winter's drought, there was not enough water to supply farmers after meeting Endangered Species Act requirements for the endangered suckerfish in Upper Klamath Lake, the project's primary reservoir, and the threatened coho salmon in Klamath River, which drains the region.

More than 240,000 acres of ranches and farms rely on water from the federal irrigation project in the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon.

A report from Oregon State University said the water dispute polarized the Klamath Basin and involved an undercurrent of racism against the Klamath Tribes, which consider the suckerfish to be sacred gifts from their creator.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Like with everything else, there are TWO sides to the Klamath situation. On both sides there are citizens, not citizens on one side, and the Feds on the other.

[DLfromthedesert]

Luis, this is about the Feds taking private property. Have you seen the special pprograms on FoxNews about the fight of the people in the West against the Feds? I would hope our President would stand with the people on this one against unconstitutional laws and interpretations by Socialist minded judges in the guise of protecting the environment.

[MadameAxe]

redrock is no liberal. Where were you at Jarbridge?

You should go back to your Ann Coulter threads.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[blackie]

Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!

The Right Of The People To Keep And Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed !!

An Armed Citizen, Is A Safe Citizen !!

No Guns, No Rights !!

Molon Labe !!

[monkeywrench]

farmfriend, what ever happened with the bypass?

[Aquamarine]

Bump!

[farmfriend]

farmfriend, what ever happened with the bypass?

I don't know. I think they stopped putting it in when 9/11 happened. Anyone else know? I think they should continue, water or no.

[TLBSHOW]

the enemy is within and its the likes of William Pitt.

[TLBSHOW]

thanks 68-69

Want a good thread to read? Check out this one

william pitt attack dog for the liberals is wooed over by freepers

[MadameAxe]

redrock isn't William Pitt. And this thread has nothing to do with what you were arguing with him about yesterday. I thought Pitt's article had some good points too, does that make me a "liberal"?

Just because someone is a leftist fool, doesn't mean they can't have a valid point upon (admittedly, rare) occasion.

[Libertina]

I'm getting d%mn sick and tired of cameras...

[Goddess50]

Two things: 1st.....I heard that one of the men that went through Chiloquin firing shots IS a Klamath Indian. Any truth to that? He was doing it to cause just the sort of situation that's developing.

Secondly, our attorney has just posted another great BOR effort to keep us from getting the documents we need to prove who owns what and when.....you can read it for yourself at www.klamathbasincrisis.org under the forum.

The more informed you are the better armed you will be for the battle we are about to engage in.

[Goddess50]

I don't believe you have any idea of the situation at Klamath. Firstly, have you actually read the patents that were issued to the farmers on these lands? Secondly, have you seen the agreement between BOR and the Corps of Engineers and the farmers regarding the actual building of the canal system and the Klamath Lake (Reservoir)? Have you read the Congressional Records regarding which farmers paid and how much they paid in dollars for the the reimbursment of the canal system? Have you read the actual "distribution of waters" agreement between the BOR, farmers, Pacific Power & Light, Tulelake Refuge...and the co-generation plant? Have to talked with the Fish and Feathers Marine Biologists that are at Irongate COUNTING the fish...and their opinions of the situation?

I would suggest you enlighten yourself by reading these documents and their importance in this "situation". Totally factual, unbiased documents.

Yes, I've reseached each and every one of these documents; I've helped "spawn" the fish at Irongate this year; I've watched and photographed the lake levels...and I've drawn my own conclusions based on FACT, not newspaper articles, Nature Nazis, Farmers, Indians, Politicians, and heresay.

IMHO....this is a ploy to use the EPA to grab this land.......my fear is not only for the Klamath Basin, but for Scott's Valley, Montana, Nevada, and every where there are independent people carrying on independent enterprise. INDEPENDENT...not needing a socialist system to feed them or sustain them in their every day needs for survival and the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"not citizens on one side, and the Feds on the other."

When I was there in August, there were citizens on one side and ARMED BLM agents on the other side.
I talked to one of them myself.
They were sent to keep the farmers from taking the water the farmers own and paid for.
Please see post 33 on how the Feds yet again are trying to coverup the stealing of water
from the farmers who own it (and long ago paid for it, see the research threads above)
I just cannot understand why the government, during a time of war,
refuses to admit growing food is more important than some bottom feeding fish.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"I heard that one of the men that went through Chiloquin firing shots IS a Klamath Indian. Any truth to that?"

I have not heard this until now.
Just my own theory is whoever was responsible for this
is connected with the people that stand to make the most money. i.e. the power companies

[The Westerner]

It's really unbelievable that a civilized society considers a fish more important than a human being. You are entirely right that the rural West is going to be taken over by the Marxists in environmental clothing. Good luck in your fight.

[Goddess50]

You know...it would be one thing if FISH were the issue...but we've had record runs of Coho and Sucker the past two years...The Japanese Fishermen off the coast are rounding the fish up like cattle and catching everything that moves...and the US does nothing to stop them....We've been advised that if the Coho and Sucker won't work, they have 24 other species of fish to try to put on the endangered species list to stop the water. We know what we're facing...but it takes money...and the Nature Nazis and government have unlimited amounts to fight us with...while we are just the lowly struggling middle class Americans that try to teach our children respect for their government and agencies. What a joke.

Thousands of fish came across Irongate this year. All fish are stopped at Irongate because the power company put in a dam that stops them. Fish are spawned and the roe very carefully and professionally treated and hatched there for return to the Ocean. It is a most impressive operation...and a very effective one.

This issue has nothing to do with fish...although by pitting the Indians against the Farmers..we have the old "divide and conquer" ploy. We are suggesting that all parties: farmers, fishermen, indians...and anyone else who has a stake or interest in this work together to stop the "by the people and for the people" BS that our government is cramming down our throats.

You'd have to be here to see the arrogance of the BOR and their desire to grab every bit of this land.

In another tirade, I'll give you another story that they are doing here to INDIVIDUALs as they can.

Thank you for the support. It's going to be a long, hot summer....water or not....

[Luis Gonzalez]

I am not going to argue with you or anyone else on this matter any longer, and of course there were armed agents there, they were there to make sure that a Court order was followed.

The case will be won or lost in the Courts.

If you'd like further proof of tne fact that this is an argument between two sets of citizens, with the Feds mediating in accordance to currents laws on the books, I will be happy to supply all the links, and copies of the court docs.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"I am not going to argue with you"

No arguement was intended Luis, I understand your point about citizen vs citizen,
my point was that the government could at any time step in and stop this once and for all.
There are links on the research threads showing how the current administration stepped in this year
and wrote executive orders nullifying previous administration enviro agendas.
I just think it's time to put it all in perpespective.
We are a nation at war and farmers can help more than a fish can.
Most of the original farmers were Vets who where promised certain things by the government.
It's time for the government to honor those promises.
I guess my passion on this particular issue is so strong
because I have been there and talked to the farmers myself
and saw what devestation this has caused because of a bottom feeding fish.