2021 continues to be the year that’s kicking the hell out of Klamath family farmers, ranchers and our communities.
The Bureau of Reclamation delivered it’s May update for the water allocation for Klamath Project Irrigators. Everyone assumed it would be lean, but not this lean. After the 8% water allocation back in April, how bad could it get?
Zero. No chance. Shut off your tractors & go home. That’s how it feels to Klamath Basin farmers when receiving the information that no water would be sent down the A Canal.
Klamath Project irrigators were told we won’t get a single drop of stored irrigation water for the 2021 growing season. This devastating announcement was made by the Bureau of Reclamation this morning, May 12th, nearly a month after fields have been planted, crews hired, inputs ordered and plans made for the year ahead. Growers and irrigation districts have spent the entire spring reengineering and building systems to deliver meager surface and well water to their fields.
With a zero allocation, all of this work is for naught. The time and money invested to make the best of a lousy water was wasted.
We can’t say that we didn’t see this coming.
Based on the track record of poor water management over the last 20-plus years, farmers, ranchers, wildlife and communities are the last thing on the list for policy makers. This decision to completely cutoff irrigation supplies demonstrates the clear prioritization of a single species over the communities that built and sustain the Klamath Basin. To hell with the local economy, the animals that take advantage of the green fields and the birds of the Pacific Flyway. None of those matter as long as lake levels and river levels are kept high in a failing effort to save fish.
In a year that has felt like open season on ag, this announcement feels like a punch to the gut.
Looking at our green fields that will soon wither and die, we can’t help but feel abandoned by the people and organizations that have repeatedly ignored our call for change. Maybe this year, with the deserted farmland, raging dust storms, ruined refuges, devastated wildlife populations and broken communities will be enough to demonstrate the irreplaceable, undeniable value of our farms, ranches and livelihoods. Maybe this year the bureaucrats and politicians will take a hard look at the policies that have been failing salmon and sucker fish and opt for a new path that doesn’t devastate Klamath Basin ag communities. And maybe, just maybe, the Klamath Project won’t be viewed as a magical spigot to cure all things wrong in the Basin.
We have a long, arduous path ahead. But we’re taking it. We will be working to keep outsiders from making our devastation the cause that gets them attention. We will try to ensure our neighbors are okay and keep the peace when tempers grow as hot as the late July sun. We believe that our livelihoods, our history, our communities and our families are worth standing up for.
We hope you stand with us.