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Disbelief, anger marked reaction to call from Bureau
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| A construction worker at the A Canal headgates places concrete barriers in front of a locked gate at the project less than an hour after federal officials announced a shutdown of the Klamath Reclamation Project. The headgates were the site of protests in 2001. |
published June 26, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Steve Kandra couldn't sit down.
He paced a crescent path halfway around the other board members of the Klamath Irrigation District, who were huddled around a speaker phone in the office of Dave Solem, the district's manager, late Wednesday morning.
Over the phone, Dave Sabo, manager of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office, and other Bureau officials were delivering bad news to water managers gathered in offices throughout the Basin:
The efforts they took to cut demand for water over the weekend weren't enough. The Klamath Project was going to be closed down until the end of June - five precious days in the peak of growing season.
Kandra excused himself from the meeting several times to go outside. There he made calls on his cell phone, keeping those close to him posted on what was going on.
He and the other board members couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"I think there is water in that pool for the project," Kandra said.
Irrigators reacted with disbelief and frustration. The strong emotions filled the Klamath Irrigation District office and could be heard in the strained voices of water users from around the Basin.
Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, didn't expect the news, especially after the water users had been able to reduce their demand by more than the quarter they were asked to by the Bureau Friday.
"I was at a loss," he said. "To go from being asked to conserve water to this, you go, 'What can you do?' ''
Throughout the meeting Keppen ducked in and out, working his cell phone to make calls to state of Oregon officials to see if there was anything the state could do.
Ross Fleming, another district board member, sat in the group Kandra paced around.
With dirt on his jeans and a deep red sunburn on his face, Fleming wanted to be out in the field farming. Instead he sat in the district office, listening to the future of his water deliveries, the future of his crops.
He said his potatoes couldn't go five days without water.
"Do you know what you get when you are growing a potato" without water, he said. "A coal. And what do you get for a coal? Nothing."
Solem was frustrated that the water users had gone along with the water bank and with the order Friday to curtail water, and still water was still being withheld.
Solem said that the system had never been shut down for several days in its hundred-year history.
"It's one thing to run out of water at the end of the year - there are some risks to irrigated agriculture, but not like this," he said.
The water users wanted to know why what they had done wasn't enough. They wanted to know why this news was coming over telephone and not in a public meeting.
Dave Cacka, a district board member and project farmer, said the shutoff would ruin agriculture.
"You just can't shut down a crop for five or six days and start them up again," he said. "We've got a bunch of people hanging on by their fingernails."
Sabo said it physically hurt him to give the order to shut down the project, but he was just following the orders of his superiors and the dictates of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife biological opinion.
Caska told him he was putting his job before the livelihood of thousands of people in the Basin.
After the conference call the board members met with William Ganong, their attorney and discussed possible legal action in an attempt to stop the shutoff.
Keppen continued to work his cell phone, popping in and out of the office to hear what was being discussed.
He said there would be a meeting at the water users office at 2 p.m. and left.
As the board members left, the phone at the district office started to ring and ring.
Word about the ordered shutoff was getting out and water users wanted to know what was really going on.
Hours after the conference call the Bureau reversed its decision to cut off the water.
The reversal did little to calm the emotions of irrigators. They said they know that part of agriculture is uncertainty, but the Bureau's decision early Wednesday blindsided them and almost knocked them to their knees.
Keppen said is just showed how uncertain things are with project water.
"It was just a roller coaster," he said.
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Steve Kandra couldn't sit down.
He paced a crescent path halfway around the other board members of the Klamath Irrigation District, who were huddled around a speaker phone in the office of Dave Solem, the district's manager, late Wednesday morning.
Over the phone, Dave Sabo, manager of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Area Office, and other Bureau officials were delivering bad news to water managers gathered in offices throughout the Basin:
The efforts they took to cut demand for water over the weekend weren't enough. The Klamath Project was going to be closed down until the end of June - five precious days in the peak of growing season.
Kandra excused himself from the meeting several times to go outside. There he made calls on his cell phone, keeping those close to him posted on what was going on.
He and the other board members couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"I think there is water in that pool for the project," Kandra said.
Irrigators reacted with disbelief and frustration. The strong emotions filled the Klamath Irrigation District office and could be heard in the strained voices of water users from around the Basin.
Dan Keppen, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, didn't expect the news, especially after the water users had been able to reduce their demand by more than the quarter they were asked to by the Bureau Friday.
"I was at a loss," he said. "To go from being asked to conserve water to this, you go, 'What can you do?' ''
Throughout the meeting Keppen ducked in and out, working his cell phone to make calls to state of Oregon officials to see if there was anything the state could do.
Ross Fleming, another district board member, sat in the group Kandra paced around.
With dirt on his jeans and a deep red sunburn on his face, Fleming wanted to be out in the field farming. Instead he sat in the district office, listening to the future of his water deliveries, the future of his crops.
He said his potatoes couldn't go five days without water.
"Do you know what you get when you are growing a potato" without water, he said. "A coal. And what do you get for a coal? Nothing."
Solem was frustrated that the water users had gone along with the water bank and with the order Friday to curtail water, and still water was still being withheld.
Solem said that the system had never been shut down for several days in its hundred-year history.
"It's one thing to run out of water at the end of the year - there are some risks to irrigated agriculture, but not like this," he said.
The water users wanted to know why what they had done wasn't enough. They wanted to know why this news was coming over telephone and not in a public meeting.
Dave Cacka, a district board member and project farmer, said the shutoff would ruin agriculture.
"You just can't shut down a crop for five or six days and start them up again," he said. "We've got a bunch of people hanging on by their fingernails."
Sabo said it physically hurt him to give the order to shut down the project, but he was just following the orders of his superiors and the dictates of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife biological opinion.
Caska told him he was putting his job before the livelihood of thousands of people in the Basin.
After the conference call the board members met with William Ganong, their attorney and discussed possible legal action in an attempt to stop the shutoff.
Keppen continued to work his cell phone, popping in and out of the office to hear what was being discussed.
He said there would be a meeting at the water users office at 2 p.m. and left.
As the board members left, the phone at the district office started to ring and ring.
Word about the ordered shutoff was getting out and water users wanted to know what was really going on.
Hours after the conference call the Bureau reversed its decision to cut off the water.
The reversal did little to calm the emotions of irrigators. They said they know that part of agriculture is uncertainty, but the Bureau's decision early Wednesday blindsided them and almost knocked them to their knees.
Keppen said is just showed how uncertain things are with project water.
"It was just a roller coaster," he said.
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| OSP rehires two KF troopers |
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