Making It Rain: The Klamath Basin Water Crisis from the Farmers Perspective

11/14/2024

Abolish the BOR? Who would run all the outdated dams and trash the environment?
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4990617-dan-beard-advocates-abolishing-bureau-reclamation/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR236e2_ZgwPkiktb5-znxNk4JiE-emRnn_HnElvtzva_54I_v51yNtcNIQ_aem_dJUmTHSGRjxnMs4et6E1dw

A progressive civil servant who led the Bureau of Reclamation under former President Clinton is now urging the incoming Trump administration to eliminate his former agency — an entity he has long d…

10/30/2024

To all the Nay-Sayers who say that the salmon were trucked in or this was a publicity stunt in any way, watch this video, and it's happening just the way the experts planned

RES is leading a massive restoration effort integral to the largest dam removal and river renewal project in US history – a task vital to the future of sever...

10/09/2024

100,000 birds dead.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.- A local non-profit representing the interests of Klamath project farmers and ranchers is expressing “deep disappointment and frustration” with federal water management in the Klamath Basin. Back in August, NBC5 News reported an Avian Influenza and Botulism outbreak in the Kl...

09/14/2024

Welp, we called that wrong.

One year after a wildfire burns in a forest, the U.S. Forest Service assesses the damage.

09/13/2024

The birds and bees know it. Why doesn't the federal government

09/11/2024

This is why we need rain https://www.facebook.com/share/qXmED8iDjLejJEd6/?mibextid=xfxF2i

'The weather is working in our favor,' fire managers say.

09/10/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/csD98j3GCDVQE6qW/?mibextid=xfxF2i

It's a beautiful morning in the district! You can hear the Sandhill cranes calling, ducks fluttering their wings in the fields and geese honking. We're blessed to live and farm is such a remarkable place.

09/07/2024

I decided I needed to see where it all took place in 2001, so I took a walk. This is what I found.

09/06/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/W1SEQuuKLCdWfs6S/?mibextid=xfxF2i

KWUA Raises Alarm Over Endangered Fish in Upper Klamath Lake

“All data overwhelmingly point to the conclusion that only two age-classes of fish, one from the early 1990s and the other from the late 1960s, have led to significant recruitment of young fish into the population,” according to Moss Driscoll, KWUA’s Director of Water Policy. “Whether we see high lake levels or low lake levels, poor water quality or good water quality, the hundreds of millions of larvae hatched each year just don’t survive to adulthood. This year is no different.”

Continue https://www.kwua.org/kwua-warns-about-decline-of-endangered-fish-in-upper-klamath-lake-time-is-short-for-effective-action/

09/06/2024

The Book, The Stand At Klamath Falls by Jeff Head is a first-person account of the Summer of 2001. Published by Alpha Connections in 2006, it is a recounting tale of federal overstep and frustrated farmers as told through the eyes of an Idaho-based activist who fully supported the farmers. The book ends with a feeling that the farmers were vindicated for their actions but cautions the reader, "such an occurrence was narrowly averted in 2003, but (it) could be repeated again at any time." Indeed, looking back at the near quarter-century that has passed since those heady days, the challenge to keep the water flowing has persisted until today. That is the reason the story Making it Rain needs to be told. https://www.gofundme.com/f/making-it-rain-fund-the-klamath-basin-farmers-documentary

09/05/2024

There were 18,000 people in the park and along Main Street...Regional and local media arrived on May 7th, 2001 to cover the story. Groups from throughout the Northwest came to Klamath Falls, Oregon to be part of the Bucket Brigade. The concept was simple. 50 buckets of water would be drawn from Lake Ewauna and handed person to person some 16 blocks and then deposited into the Bureau of Reclamation’s “A” canal on the other side of town. This symbolic community act was an illegal diversion of “federal” mandated water. After the water was dumped into the “A” canal, a crowd packed a nearby high school’s grandstands and listened to another set of speakers including Oregon Congressmen Greg Walden. Sourcehttps://anderstomlinson.com/tule-lake/water/2001-klamath-reclamation-project-water-shutoff/may-7th-2001-the-bucket-brigade/

09/04/2024

On July 15, 2001, The Herald and News reported that Marshals had retaken the gates at Canal A. It was the fourth time in two weeks that the gates were opened by protesting farmers. Bureau of Reclamation officials closed the gates at 6 AM the Saturday before after Farmers used a crowbar to manually turn the heavy gears that opened the canal gates. The article reads, "So ended a week in which tensions mounted day by day in the Klamath Basin Water Crisis, with attention focused increasingly on the head gates of the A Canal on the South end of Upper Klamath Lake."

09/03/2024

"I am seriously afraid that if our United States Congress and Federal Court system do not wake up and stop this madness, this Nation is about to experience an era that has the potential to severely damage or completely destroy our Nation's economy." quote from Klamath Falls Police Officer Jack Redfield as published in The Stand At Klamath Falls by Jeff Head. Redfield continues, "God Help Us if our Federal Government doesn't come to its senses and recognize the extreme danger of this fiasco before it is too late."

09/02/2024

A severe drought declaration was declared in the Spring of 2001 for the Klamath Basin. At roughly the same time, U.S. Fish and Wildlife issued a new biological opinion that called for increased flows below Iron Gate Dam and raised water levels of Upper Klamath Lake to 4140 feet above sea level to protect salmon and the suckerfish populations. The decisions prompted Federal Officials to shut down Irrigation water to the Klamath Basin Farmers.

On the evening of Friday, July 13, 2001, Farmers pried the head gates of Canal A open and turned the water back on. On Saturday, July 14th, a standoff between U.S. Marshals, Local Police, the Sheriff, and the farmers was quickly ended without violence.

Still, the Stand at Klamath Falls raged well into September, when on 9/11 Federal Authorities were summoned back east to address the attack on America. While circumstances ended the battle, the conflict between farmers and the Feds would continue until today, with no real resolution ever being discussed. This week, we will share photos and videos taken during the early days of the Klamath Basin Water Crisis.

09/01/2024

"In assigning TMDL allocations
for the Straits Drain, it is imperative that
nutrients discharged to the Klamath
River at this point are not considered
wholly or in large part an agricultural
contribution. High nutrient inputs to the
KIP from Klamath Lake and Klamath
River must be recognized as background
sources beyond the control of
agricultural interests."

http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/waterquality/sr1023nutrientloadingRykbost101306.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawFByuRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHb-V4Z7XWUdsan9BVLFesh4p8kDM5xc0VVH48jQY5edQJVwXWeb7bUwVqw_aem_AO5NtrNWDtiuXAZ5YbczJg

08/31/2024

A trio of eagles on Tule Lake. The Klamath Basin hosts the largest wintering concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Eagles migrating into the basin come from the north, primarily Canada. Some birds are known to come from as far away as the Northwest Territories in Canada by way of Glacier National Park in Montana. Migrant bald eagles begin arriving in the basin in November. The largest numbers occur in January and February when over 500 are usually present.

08/31/2024

With Klamath Drainage District – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉