On the morning of May 29th, we didn’t know what to expect. The number of people that indicated they were coming was a lot less than we had hoped for. The night before Bob Gasser asked the crew how many people they thought would attend. The numbers ranged from 500 to 1,201. That morning though, something much, much bigger was happening.
Shut Down & Fed Up asked participants to meet at Gold Dust & Walker Farms’ field just a little east of Merrill. Tractors, semis, cars, pickups and all sorts of farm machines started to make their way to dusty field before 8 am. By the time 9 am rolled around, Hwy 39 was stacked with traffic clear to the Malin-Tulelake junction with more people coming.
When 10 am arrived, people were still trying to get into the field. Bob and Dave King called for the convoy to roll out. Within minutes the mass of machinery spilled into Merrill, and then out onto Hwy 39. More people joined as the Convoy For Change made it passed them, adding to our numbers. At Spring Lake and Cross Road, another arm of the convoy was waiting and ready. In Merrill and steady stream of tractors and other rigs kept coming in waves.
By the time the line of machinery made it to downtown Klamath Falls, the convoy was reaching 29 miles long and participants were being asked to reroute to Scalas’ field in Midland. As the convoy made the loop through downtown, crowds of supporters lined the sidewalks, cheering as the log trucks and hay haulers blasted their air horns. Between the din of the machinery and the crowds enthusiastically trying to match decibel for decibel, the streets had the air of celebration. The motorcade was courteous, staying the right lane while letting other cars in out of the area.
As people started heading to the rallying point in Midland, intersections near the site started to clog up. Eventually another opening was created to allow convoy into the field. Approaching the field and looking towards the highway, it looked like a farm show with everything from old tractors to combines crowding the parking lot and lining the field around the crosses. Two buckets from the 2001 Bucket Brigade were onsite, reminding us all that we’ve been here before.
Speakers were supposed to start around 1 pm; but the enormous mass of the convoy pushed it back for nearly two and half hours. Dust filled the air like a warning of what was to come if the water was shut off, and people patiently waited for the convoy to get its entirety into the field and the speakers to begin.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer led by Pastor Mike Neilson and an impromptu singing of the National Anthem by the crowd led by Scott Allen, Scott then told an emotional story about why he calls the Basin home.
Small ones played in the dirt at their parents’ and grandparents’ feet as John Crawford took the stage. Five generations of his family farmed the lands in the Tulelake area – with John being the third. He talked about the days of the Bucket Brigade and how after that season when water was completely cut-off, many family farms were lost. He also reminded the crowd that we all need to stand up for farmers and agriculture, and if we don’t we’ll lose not only the stewardship of the land, but also a culture.
Following John were Supervisors from Modoc County supervisors Beri Byrne and Ned Coe followed by Siskiyou County Supervisor Michael Kobseff; Klamath County Commissioners Derrick DeGroot, Kelly Minty Morris and Donnie Boyd; Timber Unity president and “Axe Man” Mike Pihl; California Farm Bureau president Jaime Johannson and Oregon president Barb Iverson; California State Assemblywoman Megan Dahle; Oregon House Representative Wern Reschke; Congressional Representatives Doug LaMalfa (CA) and Greg Walden (OR), followed by Cliff Bentz, future (fingers crossed) Representative for Oregon. All of these speakers in their own way showed support for Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers and that we need a new approach to save fish and farms. Bob Gasser emphasized the importance of this rally for getting the much-needed attention of the Trump administration.
Ty Kleiwer gave the closing remarks, reminding that a farmer’s defining character is hope. He reminded the crowd of what Klamath Basin ag and the need to past the paradigm of more water means more fish, when all it has done is make fish numbers decline and put many family farms and ranches out of business and hoped for change.
Before the rally wrapped up, there was a final event we asked the crowd to take part in. Bob asked the crowd to plant the flags they were carrying next to the crosses. Surrounded by tractors and combines, a field of 2,000 white crosses that represented the family farms and ranches was planted. In the dust and sounds of the highway, families and friends made their way to the crosses, looking at each grim reminder of what the Klamath Basin stands to lose if there’s a water cut-off this summer.
Over the last 20 years, while various Federal agencies enforced regulation throughout the Klamath Basin, putting communities up and down the river in peril without providing any results. While that was one of the messages of the Convoy For Change, our tractor rally also highlighted another message – when Klamath Basin ag stands together, our friends join us and we unite as a force to be reckoned with. A 29 mile long motorcade is proof.
We would like to give a big thank you to everyone who joined us at the Convoy For Change and for everyone who worked their tails off create signs, crosses and get everything ready for the tractor convoy. We’d also like to thank everyone who weren’t able to attend, but showed support for Shut Down & Fed Up by sharing our Facebook posts and spreading the word of our movement. We hope everyone will join us in our next campaign to support Basin and American ag.
