Once again the Klamath River Basin is in a water crisis. With not enough water to fulfill all needs and demands, irrigators, federal tribes and fishermen are all clamoring for more water and for emergency disaster assistance from the federal government. In the middle are the federal and state agencies charged with meeting competing needs of threatened and endangered fish, water rights law and irrigator demands.
Meanwhile the organization People s Rights has called for irrigators to âSTAND UP AND PROTECT YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY, YOUR WATER!â According to a report from The Counter, Peopleâs Rights is the far-right militia group founded by Ammon Bundy, known for leading a takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in 2016.
It s time for a solution to Klamath s recurring water crises triplicate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from triplicate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
click to enlarge Richard Heim, NOAA/NCEI
The federal government is strictly curtailing irrigation this year in an attempt to protect endangered fish important to Indigenous tribes. Farmers say this will make it all but impossible to farm, while tribal groups say the plan doesn t go far enough to save their fisheries.
In mid-April, a farming region in southern Oregon began to release water from the Klamath River into its irrigation canals. According to the local water authority, this was a standard move to jumpstart the farming season during one of the driest seasons in recent memory. But according to the federal government, it was an illegal maneuver that could further jeopardize the survival of multiple endangered species and food sources important to Indigenous tribes and fisheries in the region.
This story was originally published by The Counter
, a nonprofit newsroom covering the forces shaping how and what we eat. It is republished here by permission.
The federal government is strictly curtailing irrigation this year in an attempt to protect endangered fish important to Indigenous tribes. Farmers say this will make it all but impossible to farm, while tribal nations say the plan doesn’t go far enough to save their fisheries.
In mid-April, a farming region in southern Oregon began to release water from the Klamath River into its irrigation canals. According to the local water authority, this was a standard move to jumpstart the farming season during one of the driest seasons in recent memory. But according to the federal government, it was an illegal maneuver that could further jeopardize the survival of multiple endangered species and food sources important to Indigenous tribes and fisheries in the region.