Memorial Day weekend has been host to an event for eight years now that brings bike riders from all over to our Basin. The roads are marked with bright arrows to help riders find their where through the maze of fields and pastures. It’s time for the Art of Survival Century Bike ride.
Visitors have the choice of four different routes that offer stops along the away to learn about Klamath Basin history, wild life, geography and our rural communities. This year along the route we’re hoping to also take an opportunity to raise awareness about this year’s zero water allocation from the Bureau of Reclamation and how it’s going to affect our communities. Shut Down & Fed Up has dotted the routes with signs along with the crosses and flags from last year’s tractor rally field to bring attention to the crisis facing Klamath Basin ag and wildlife.
Most years, the riders of the Art of Survival Century would pass by green alfalfa fields and freshly planted row crop fields showing the first signs of a future harvest. Our pastures would be alive with calves playing while water birds would pick their way through the wet grass looking for breakfast. But this isn’t like most years.
This year, we’re fighting a drought only made worse by the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) misguided focus on single-species management. Two biological opinions are crushing not only on Klamath Basin family farmers and ranchers, but the small communities that are the backbone of rural Klamath Basin and wildlife.
Riders who have participated in past Art of the Century rides are probably noticing not only the barren fields, but the fact there aren’t as many birds around as usual. In the Malin and Tulelake area, many fields have been fallowed to put what precious water is available where farmers hope is best. With so few places getting irrigated, it decreases the opportunities for riders to enjoy a day that would normally be abundant with shore birds, geese and ducks.
Along the route there’s also proof that the lack of water is going to have a long term affect on the productiveness of these fields. Though it’s going to be a beautiful weekend for the ride, bicyclists can see where the wind has pushed the sandy soil around the field. These fields should be planted and wet; instead they’re poster children of wind erosion.
A biological opinion for the salmon in the Klamath River has dictated a minimum river level that is unnatural and unsustainable in a drought year to minimize the impact of the parasite C. shasta. This year, more water was sent down the river than what was coming into Upper Klamath Lake, where another biological opinion is in place to protect two sucker fish – the C’waam and Koptu. And like the Klamath River, Upper Klamath Lake is being kept at a lake level that would be impossible to maintain if not for the Linkville Dam.
And in the over 20 years of managing the lake and river to benefit fish, there has been no improvement in salmon and sucker fish populations. As in zero increase in fish numbers. Meanwhile, Klamath Basin refuges have gone dry, becoming a hotbed of botulism that’s killing tens of thousands of birds nearly every year. The birds of the Pacific Flyway making the long migrations no longer have the ample food supplies from farmers’ fields and nesting grounds the refuges and irrigation ditches provided. This is what single-species management looks like.
Single-species management is also hurting our communities. Fields that had been prepped and planted in anticipation of a growing season sit dry, showing a negative investment of time and money. The dry and barren fields represent income for a family. They represent lost jobs and opportunities. Every dollar created by Klamath Basin agriculture is passed through the community nine times, helping fuel businesses and services for small towns like Tulelake and Malin and larger towns like Klamath Falls. The Klamath Basin is an ag community.
Any water you see in the fields is not from the Klamath Irrigation Project. The ranchers and farmers lucky enough to get any water are using groundwater from wells. Not a drop of it is from the Klamath Project. The Bureau of Reclamation decreed there would be no water available for agriculture, that the 3% farmers and ranchers take from Upper Klamath Lake inflows is needed for the fish.
Ironically, Klamath Basin irrigators fund the Bureau of Reclamation for water deliveries. When water deliveries are curtailed and cut to zero as they are this year, Klamath Basin family farmers and ranchers are still on the hook to pay the Bureau. Klamath Basin ag is literally funding their demise.
We hope the signs with the crosses and flags along the route help enlighten Art of Survival Century riders about the serious consequences of single-species management to the Klamath Basin. We hope it can spark a conversation about how there’s a better solution that benefits farms, fish and wildlife. Keep up to date with us by following Shut Down & Fed Up on Facebook and sharing our posts. Lastly, we hope riders will support our cause, learn more about our situation and share our message.
