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Waiting on weather and a lawsuit
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| Rod Blackman, a third-generation Klamath Basin farmer, looks over some of the irrigation piping that will supply his crops with the water they need this season. Basin irrigators found out today how much water the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects to be delivered to farmers this summer for irrigation. |
Reclamation project farmers cautious after news of operation plan
published April 10, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
With today's release of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's operation plan for the Klamath Reclamation Project, the blueprints are in place for Basin irrigators to get a decent amount of water this year.
The plan calls for the project to get about 300,000 acre-feet of water.
But whether the supplies outlined in the plan actually flow or not depends on the weather and a lawsuit to be heard at the end of the month in Oakland, Calif.
For Ty Kliewer, a Basin farmer, the uneasy feeling in his gut is all too familiar.
"You feel like you live with a gun pointed to your head all the time and you pray to God there is not a bullet in the chamber," he said.
The latest threat to the delivery of water to irrigators is a case pending in the U.S. District Court in Oakland in which fishermen, tribes and environmentalists are suing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in an attempt to get more water downstream for salmon. More water downstream could mean less or no water for upstream interests, such as project irrigators.
Despite the pending court case, irrigators around the Basin are busy getting ready for the growing season.
On the approximately 500 acres of alfalfa and 150 acres of pasture land that Kliewer runs with his brother and father, the family and workers have been doing light field work, getting the fences ready and harrowing the ground.
The ground moisture is good. There is water in the irrigation canals, and, if the weather holds up, the Bureau's plan should be realized.
That doesn't mean people aren't concerned about what might happen in court.
"You have to be fearful, but at the same time you have to do your best to move forward," Kliewer said.
He said people are going to be a lot more cautious about growing row crops and are setting up back-up plans.
"If I was going to plant potatoes I would definitely do that in a place that I had groundwater available," he said.
Kliewer said that after 2001, when the Bureau didn't deliver water to much of the project, everyone knows what can happen because their water doesn't come with a guarantee.
Rod Blackman, who grows wheat, barley, potatoes and alfalfa on about 700 acres off of Short Road south of Klamath Falls, said 300,000 acre-feet of water would be cutting it pretty close for irrigators.
According to the Bureau the project uses between 250,000 and 450,000 acre-feet of water per year, with more water needed in drier years.
And while the Bureau has predicted this to be a "dry" year, that could change depending on how the summer weather turns out.
The weather in the Basin in hard to predict.
"It can do almost anything," Blackman said.
Though he doesn't want to give a prediction for the weather, he is optimistic that the Bureau will fare well in its court case.
He feels the downstream interests don't have a strong enough case.
"There's not enough sound science," he said.
If the judge does rule in favor of the plaintiffs and orders more water to go downstream, leaving little or none for Basin irrigators, Blackman said the effects could be drastic.
"If they did it again it would be the end of the line for us and most everyone else we know," he said.
The uncertainty of the pending court case outlines what those involved in agriculture have known about the Basin for a long time, said Tracey Liskey, who has pastureland, hay and grain on about 2,000 acres, south of Klamath Falls on Lower Klamath Lake.
"It's just real tough to be a farmer in the Klamath Basin," he said.
He doesn't think the court case will stop the irrigation flows, but, after the lessons of 2001, anything is possible.
"It's really hard for a farmer to plan a year's crop not knowing if he will have water or not," he said. "It's hard on the pocketbook and hard on your state of mind."
The Bureau's operations plan was good news for Liskey and other irrigators, even though it doesn't guarantee they will get a full supply of water.
"As a farmer, I'm glad we are going to get water, but we are going to have to be conservative with what water we have," he said.
Dan Keppen, executive director for the Klamath Water Users Association, said the plan by no means makes this year's water a done deal. There still is a lot of uncertainty out there.
"With the water bank in place, with some real tight water management this summer and some help from mother nature - we will make it," he said.
published April 10, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
With today's release of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's operation plan for the Klamath Reclamation Project, the blueprints are in place for Basin irrigators to get a decent amount of water this year.
The plan calls for the project to get about 300,000 acre-feet of water.
But whether the supplies outlined in the plan actually flow or not depends on the weather and a lawsuit to be heard at the end of the month in Oakland, Calif.
For Ty Kliewer, a Basin farmer, the uneasy feeling in his gut is all too familiar.
"You feel like you live with a gun pointed to your head all the time and you pray to God there is not a bullet in the chamber," he said.
The latest threat to the delivery of water to irrigators is a case pending in the U.S. District Court in Oakland in which fishermen, tribes and environmentalists are suing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in an attempt to get more water downstream for salmon. More water downstream could mean less or no water for upstream interests, such as project irrigators.
Despite the pending court case, irrigators around the Basin are busy getting ready for the growing season.
On the approximately 500 acres of alfalfa and 150 acres of pasture land that Kliewer runs with his brother and father, the family and workers have been doing light field work, getting the fences ready and harrowing the ground.
The ground moisture is good. There is water in the irrigation canals, and, if the weather holds up, the Bureau's plan should be realized.
That doesn't mean people aren't concerned about what might happen in court.
"You have to be fearful, but at the same time you have to do your best to move forward," Kliewer said.
He said people are going to be a lot more cautious about growing row crops and are setting up back-up plans.
"If I was going to plant potatoes I would definitely do that in a place that I had groundwater available," he said.
Kliewer said that after 2001, when the Bureau didn't deliver water to much of the project, everyone knows what can happen because their water doesn't come with a guarantee.
Rod Blackman, who grows wheat, barley, potatoes and alfalfa on about 700 acres off of Short Road south of Klamath Falls, said 300,000 acre-feet of water would be cutting it pretty close for irrigators.
According to the Bureau the project uses between 250,000 and 450,000 acre-feet of water per year, with more water needed in drier years.
And while the Bureau has predicted this to be a "dry" year, that could change depending on how the summer weather turns out.
The weather in the Basin in hard to predict.
"It can do almost anything," Blackman said.
Though he doesn't want to give a prediction for the weather, he is optimistic that the Bureau will fare well in its court case.
He feels the downstream interests don't have a strong enough case.
"There's not enough sound science," he said.
If the judge does rule in favor of the plaintiffs and orders more water to go downstream, leaving little or none for Basin irrigators, Blackman said the effects could be drastic.
"If they did it again it would be the end of the line for us and most everyone else we know," he said.
The uncertainty of the pending court case outlines what those involved in agriculture have known about the Basin for a long time, said Tracey Liskey, who has pastureland, hay and grain on about 2,000 acres, south of Klamath Falls on Lower Klamath Lake.
"It's just real tough to be a farmer in the Klamath Basin," he said.
He doesn't think the court case will stop the irrigation flows, but, after the lessons of 2001, anything is possible.
"It's really hard for a farmer to plan a year's crop not knowing if he will have water or not," he said. "It's hard on the pocketbook and hard on your state of mind."
The Bureau's operations plan was good news for Liskey and other irrigators, even though it doesn't guarantee they will get a full supply of water.
"As a farmer, I'm glad we are going to get water, but we are going to have to be conservative with what water we have," he said.
Dan Keppen, executive director for the Klamath Water Users Association, said the plan by no means makes this year's water a done deal. There still is a lot of uncertainty out there.
"With the water bank in place, with some real tight water management this summer and some help from mother nature - we will make it," he said.
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