Posted on 03/29/2002 6:23:13 PM PST by Walkin Man
Compromise urged as Klamath water flows
From the National Desk
Published 3/29/2002 6:03 PM
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., March 29 (UPI) -- Two Cabinet secretaries and a U.S. Senator were on hand Friday to release water into the irrigation canals of the rural Klamath Basin, and President Bush also took time to mark what is usually a routine event.
The first trickle of water flowed through the headgates of the "A" Canal to begin charging up the system that supplies irrigation water to the thirsty farm fields in the arid region from April through September.
"This is an important step in ensuring farmers and ranchers in the region have adequate water supplies," said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "There is still a great deal of work to be done and this administration continues its commitment to help farmers and ranchers recover from losses suffered last year."
Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., joined Veneman on a dry, chilly Friday to mark what the Bush administration and the Klamath growers hope will be the end of a high-profile dispute over how scarce and highly coveted water supplies are divided up between agricultural interests in the drought-stricken area and endangered species of fish.
Irrigation supplies to about 1,000 Klamath farmers were shut off early last summer after federal regulators decided there was not enough water to supply to farmers while at the same time ensuring that stream flows would be adequate to protect three endangered species of sucker fish and salmon residing in the Klamath River and its tributaries.
Although the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the irrigation system, explained that its hands were tied by the specific legal requirements of the Endangered Species Act, residents of the area and critics nationwide saw the dispute as an example of farmers' livelihoods taking a bureaucratic back seat to a few fish.
Water rights granted to Native American tribes in the area make up another aspect of the quandary. The government acquired most of the Indian reservation land in the basin during the 1960s, but the tribes maintained water rights to ensure they would be able to continue hunting, fishing and trapping in the area.
In an attempt to strike a compromise, Bush appointed a high-profile committee to work out some kind of arrangement that would satisfy both sides of the issue. The Klamath Basin Federal Working Group includes Norton and Veneman as well as Secretary of Commerce Don Evans and James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
"Under the leadership of Secretary Norton, the Working Group is providing water to the farmers who depend on it for a living, while taking careful steps to protect and enhance the health of fish populations in the Klamath River Basin," Bush said in a statement issued by the White House Friday.
The Working Group determined that reports known as biological opinions being drafted by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service had concluded that there was enough water to go around, at least during the months of April and May.
Not everyone agrees. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that some officials of the California Department of Fish and Game don't believe enough water will be left in the Klamath River, which flows through Northern California, to safeguard young coho salmon.
"This has been a really frustrating turnaround," Michael Rode, who coordinated the department's activities on the Klamath, lamented to the Times. "Those flows are just too low."
Rode said young salmon require a flow of at least 2,400 cubic feet of water per second as they make their way downstream toward the Pacific Ocean; federal scientists, he said, have said the fish can still make do with flows as low as 1,043 cubic feet in May.
By stark contrast, the initial flow of water into "A" Canal Friday was a modest 60 cubic feet per second with the rate to be gradually increased over about 10 days.
Although Klamath farmers were delighted with the resumption of irrigation, the administration stated that the problem remained.
"The times are still difficult for many in the region and much work remains to be done," the president said. "It is essential that the citizens of Oregon and California in the Klamath River Basin -- whether farmer, rancher, tribe member, fisherman or environmental activist -- embrace compromise and seek understanding."
(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)
Our tax dollars at work!
:/ ttt
Thats highly possible, I'm sure! The farmers won this battle, now the green nazis will regroup and come up with some more junk science to back up their scams. Stay alert!
Yes its good news for the farmers and has driven back the radical greenies a bit. Now if we can get oil drilling in ANWR the greens will really be hurting.
This is a historic turn around and a slight rebound against the eco-freaks and their clintonista allies.
Rather than stand back and predict a governmental screwing - write someone and thank them for seeing the light, even if it's only a glimmer just now.
It made me sick to see Gayle Norton standing there grinning for the cameras as she helped turn the wheel to let the water flow and as Gordon Smith opined that a great wrong has been righted. Gayle Norton WAS the problem last year, and, she'll shut the water off again the very next time there's a low snowfall and/or the indians and enviro-nazis hire themselves another judge.
Has anything changed! Has the government done anything about SOLVING the problem?
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