<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div class="ydp6f502b93yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><div><div class="ydp6f502b93signature" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/05/14/california-oregon-drought-klamath-farmers-face-uncertain-futures/5091007001/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/05/14/california-oregon-drought-klamath-farmers-face-uncertain-futures/5091007001/</a></div><div><br></div><div>How a historic drought has left Klamath Basin farmers caught in the middle with no water</div><div class="ydp6f502b93signature"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><div class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_by" style="margin: 12px 6px 0px 0px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; font-family: Unify Sans, Helvetica Neue, Arial Nova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(48, 48, 48);">Barry Kaye</div><div class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_pb" style="display: inline; margin: 1px 0px 0px; color: rgb(48, 48, 48); font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; font-family: Georgia Pro, Georgia, Droid Serif, serif;">USA TODAY Network</div><div class="ydp212da574gnt_ss ydp212da574gnt_ss__cm__tp" data-g-r="base_sc" data-ss-u="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/05/14/california-oregon-drought-klamath-farmers-face-uncertain-futures/5091007001/" data-ss-t="How a historic drought has left Klamath Basin farmers caught in the middle with no water" data-ss-d="As a historic drought ravages farms throughout the Klamath Basin on the California-Oregon border there are signs of the calamity everywhere." style="margin-top: 6px;"><a class="ydp212da574gnt_ss_cm ydp212da574gnt_ss_cm__a" href="https://cm.redding.com/comment/?storyUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redding.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2F2021%2F05%2F14%2Fcalifornia-oregon-drought-klamath-farmers-face-uncertain-futures%2F5091007001%2F&marketName=redding&commentsopen=false" data-t-l=":coral comments|comment|c|view comments" style="width: 124px; 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padding: 4px; margin: 1px 5px 1px 3px; font-size: 24px; cursor: pointer; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; min-height: 1em;"></button></div><div class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b" style="margin: 6px 0px 0px; color: rgb(48, 48, 48); font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px; font-family: Georgia Pro, Georgia, Droid Serif, serif;"><img class="ydp212da574gnt_em_img_i" src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/05/14/NSSK/575f6179-c0ad-4a53-9da2-0ac59ddb5336-thumbnail_Potato_planting.jpg?width=660&height=372&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" alt="The Klamath Basin’s prized potatoes are harvested at a farm in Malin, Ore." style="width: 100%; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); max-width: 660px;"><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">As a historic drought ravages farms and ranches throughout the Klamath Basin on the California-Oregon border there are visible signs of the calamity everywhere. Fields lie fallow. There are dust storms in spring. Some days it seems there are as many meetings about the future as crops being planted.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">But for Tricia Hill, a fourth-generation potato farmer of Czechoslovakian immigrants, there is something else: The eerie silence of the fields.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">With little water filling the canals or crops in the ground also largely missing are the sounds of rural life, from tree frogs to red-winged black birds to the methodical hum of wheel line irrigation equipment. Compromised as well are the timeless rhythms of agriculture, starting with planting season and continuing past the first cut of hay.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“There is some normality but it gets punctuated by these moments of gut punches of reality by a lot of things that are different … and not knowing when the next reminder is going to come that nothing is the same,” she said.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Hill left home to attend the University of Oregon where she earned a “double duck” – an undergraduate degree in environmental studies and then law school.</p><div data-g-r="lazy" data-gl-method="lazyLoadX" id="ydp212da574ad-slot-7103-ca-redding-C1265-native-article_link-news-3" class="ydp212da574gnt_x_sl ydp212da574gnt_x_al" data-google-query-id="CJSs0-Dsy_ACFSHvZAodQOANew" data-integralas-id-4d36acd9-fe49-16a5-3ebe-cb4c867bc3eb="" style="min-height: 390px; background-color: unset; margin: auto; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">She knew she made the right decision to return home and raise a family but never more so than at a tractor rally outside Klamath Falls, Ore, last year where a steady stream of farm vehicles showed up clogging highways in support of agriculture. Hundreds of small white crosses were planted in a field representing the passing of family farms in America.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “We are tired of living in systematic chaos and want something better for our community.”</p><div class="ydp212da574container" style="width: 660px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="ydp212da574message" style="width: 550px; padding: 20px 0px;"><div class="ydp212da574title" style="font-family: Gannett Atoms Components Unify Sans, Unify Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 900; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 20px !important; line-height: 23px !important;">Get the<span class="ydp212da574Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="ydp212da574highlight">Daily Briefing</span><span class="ydp212da574Apple-converted-space"> </span>newsletter in your inbox.</div><p class="ydp212da574description" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Gannett Atoms Components Unify Serif, Unify Serif, Georgia, TimesNewRoman, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-weight: 400; margin: 14px 0px 18px; font-size: 16px !important; line-height: 20px !important;">Start your day with the morning's top news</p><div class="ydp212da574frequency" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Gannett Atoms Components Unify Sans, Unify Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6px; font-size: 12px !important;">Delivery: Daily</div><div class="ydp212da574container" style="position: relative; margin-top: 15px;"><div class="ydp212da574input-container ydp212da574populated" style="width: 550px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(34, 34, 34);"><input name="email" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Gannett Atoms Components Unify Sans, Unify Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.15; width: 526px; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: none; border-width: medium; padding: 4px 0px; outline: currentcolor none medium; font-size: 16px !important;"><span><div class="ydp212da574clickable" style="cursor: pointer; width: 24px; min-height: 24px;"></div></span><label style="font-family: Gannett Atoms Components Unify Sans, Unify Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.15; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 12px !important;">Your Email</label></div><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Hill currently works as a potato processor and is busy with the few farms lucky enough to have well water. But she said government intervention has only made things worse.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“The idea that we are going to just push a button … and fix a complicated ecological system is ludicrous,” she said. “It is no wonder we have failed for the last 20 years.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">For nearly a century the Klamath Basin survived periodic droughts, an invasion of jack rabbits and a temporary shortage of tractor parts when a local dealership closed.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Veterans of both World Wars who won a lottery by having their names pulled from a pickle jar were promised water for life if they agreed to irrigate an arid landscape in the second oldest U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project on record.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Then came the fish.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">In a series of federal court rulings, endangered fish, including Coho salmon and the Lost River sucker, were given first priority over water that has left farmers with a flood of uncertainty. Estimated water deliveries this summer were expected to be 5% of normal. Many remained skeptical even that will happen.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Those fears were confirmed on Tuesday when the Bureau of Land Reclamation, which oversees water deliveries on federal lands, announced that<span class="ydp212da574Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/05/13/farmers-get-zero-allocation-klamath-project-2021/5082110001/" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_a" style="color: rgb(48, 48, 48); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 152, 254);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">due to “increasing extreme drought conditions” there will be no water, period</a>.</p><img class="ydp212da574gnt_em_img_i" data-g-r="lazy" alt="Hundreds of white crosses representing the passing of family farms in America were planted in a field at a tractor rally last year outside Klamath Falls, Ore." src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/05/14/NSSK/c3e8dc5c-0473-44f3-9cd5-59e5a9e46bea-thumbnail_Tractor_Rally.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" style="width: 100%; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); max-width: 660px;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true"><h2 class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_h2" style="margin: 28px 0px 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Unify Sans, Helvetica Neue, Arial Nova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(48, 48, 48);">'It will look like the Sahara Desert by the end of summer'</h2><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“It is a big problem,” said Ben DuVal, president of the Klamath Water Users Association. “It will look like the Sahara Desert by the end of summer. You will be losing soil.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">And not just any soil.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">The Klamath Basin was created by draining several lakes in the area, including Tule Lake in the heart of the project. Water is circulated using a complicated labyrinth of interconnected waterways that includes 18 canals, 45 pumping plants and 516 miles of ditches. An average elevation of 4,000 feet provides natural pest protection due to cold winters.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;"><strong class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_al" style="margin-right: 3px;">Related coverage:<span class="ydp212da574Apple-converted-space"> </span></strong>Hi<a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/04/15/klamath-basin-farmers-face-dry-summer-little-water/7241063002/" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_a" style="color: rgb(48, 48, 48); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 152, 254);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">storic drought is threatening the future of Klamath Basin farms and endangered species</a></p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Local potatoes - especially the Wanetas - are gobbled up by companies ranging from Frito Lay to In-N-Out Burger. Tule Lake horseradish is branded by name. Alfalfa is shipped to the Middle East because cows who eat Klamath Basin hay reportedly produce better tasting milk.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Mike McKoen grows peppermint, which is used in everything from toothpaste to tea. He said the hardest part of the current drought is letting his workers go.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“Employees are not a commodity,” he said. “These are long term relationships … and they are part of our family.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Like most family farms, everyone is involved in the operation. McKoen’s son could drive a tractor at the age of four. An equipment shed still bears a scar from an early driver’s training incident.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">He said he tries to protect his kids from being fearful about the future but “they know.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“They ask why are the tractors still in the shed or where is Jose,” he said.</p><img class="ydp212da574gnt_em_img_i" data-g-r="lazy" alt="An aerial view of the Klamath Basin in 2019, the last year water deliveries were normal." src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/05/14/NSSK/1c95bf33-7b9c-44bb-ac85-0b88cbd590b8-thumbnail_Klamath_Basin.jpg?width=660&height=441&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" style="width: 100%; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); max-width: 660px;" data-inlineimagemanipulating="true"><h2 class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_h2" style="margin: 28px 0px 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Unify Sans, Helvetica Neue, Arial Nova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(48, 48, 48);">A double whammy</h2><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Complicating matters is Upper Klamath Lake, the second largest fresh water lake in Oregon based on surface area with an average depth of six feet. A natural reef formed the original lake and the Klamath Basin reclamation project was designed to manage that water.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">The lake currently holds enough water to allow most folks to scrape by this summer or at least protect the root structure of their crops, irrigators said, but is being held back to protect fish.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">The problem also extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean more than 250 miles away.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">The Pacific Fishery Management Council, a federal advisory body to the U.S. Department of Commerce, recommended last month that 200 miles of Northern California coastline be shut down for the entire 2021 commercial salmon fishing season due to dismal numbers of returning Chinook.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“Back-to-back closures like this cost coastal fishing-dependent families their livelihoods,” said Glen Spain, the organization’s regional director. He called this year a “double whammy” as salmon spend three years in the ocean before returning to their birthplace to spawn and die.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;"><strong class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_al" style="margin-right: 3px;">Related coverage:</strong><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/01/29/company-hired-restore-area-under-iron-gate-copco-jc-boyle-reservoirs-after-dam-removal/4314971001/" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_a" style="color: rgb(48, 48, 48); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 152, 254);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">What will Iron Gate, Copco, JC Boyle reservoirs look like after dam removal? KRRC says it will be beautiful</a></p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“We are facing low returns of adult fish due to juvenile C. shasta-caused die-offs three years ago, but this year’s desperate drought conditions will encourage even more infections, likely sealing their fate and causing collapsed salmon fisheries three years from now,” he said.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">In an attempt to negotiate a solution, more than 40 entities, including farmers, environmentalists and Klamath tribes, hammered out an agreement that included water rights in 2009. It was supposed to be a blueprint for the future of the West but died in a U.S. Congressional committee.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">More than a decade later, there is a subtle but colossal shift in the power structure that formed the backbone of the original Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. It involves the demolition of four antiquated dams on the Klamath River, with the hope that their removal will help restore salmon habitat. It provided an opportunity for Klamath Basin irrigators at the time, who said they would not oppose the dam removal in return for certain guarantees regarding water deliveries.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;"><strong class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_al" style="margin-right: 3px;">Dam removal:</strong><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/01/15/if-dams-removed-there-water-firefighting-krrc-says-yes-new-plan/4183086001/" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_a enhancr_card_1295829384" style="color: rgb(48, 48, 48); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: rgb(0, 152, 254);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">If dams are removed, will there be water for firefighting? KRRC says yes, with new plan</a></p><div><br></div><div id="ydpceef9cfeenhancr_card_1295829384" class="ydpceef9cfeyahoo-link-enhancr-card ydpceef9cfeymail-preserve-class ydpceef9cfeymail-preserve-style" style="max-width:400px;font-family:YahooSans, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" data-url="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/01/15/if-dams-removed-there-water-firefighting-krrc-says-yes-new-plan/4183086001/" data-type="YENHANCER" data-size="MEDIUM" contenteditable="false"><a href="https://www.redding.com/story/news/2021/01/15/if-dams-removed-there-water-firefighting-krrc-says-yes-new-plan/4183086001/" style="text-decoration-line: none !important; text-decoration-style: solid !important; text-decoration-color: currentcolor !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;" class="ydpceef9cfeyahoo-enhancr-cardlink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><table class="ydpceef9cfecard-wrapper ydpceef9cfeyahoo-ignore-table" style="max-width:400px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="400"><table class="ydpceef9cfecard ydpceef9cfeyahoo-ignore-table" style="max-width:400px;border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(224, 228, 233);border-radius:2px" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpceef9cfecard-primary-image-cell" style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; position: relative; border-radius: 2px 2px 0px 0px; min-height: 175px;" valign="top" height="175" bgcolor="#000000" background="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/ORM1VjH0Qy9wAAco7k6G6Q--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ac5fffeec6e62772f2e79d14da0fce850301517a/c=0-168-768-600/local/-/media/2020/08/17/Yreka/ghows-CA-200719820-ee5129b5.jpg?width=768&height=432&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp.cf.jpg"><!--[if gte mso 9]><v:rect fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:396px;height:175px;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;"><v:fill type="frame" color="#000000" src="https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/ORM1VjH0Qy9wAAco7k6G6Q--~A/Zmk9ZmlsbDt3PTQwMDtoPTIwMDthcHBpZD1pZXh0cmFjdA--/https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ac5fffeec6e62772f2e79d14da0fce850301517a/c=0-168-768-600/local/-/media/2020/08/17/Yreka/ghows-CA-200719820-ee5129b5.jpg?width=768&height=432&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp.cf.jpg"/></v:rect><![endif]--><table class="ydpceef9cfecard-overlay-container-table ydpceef9cfeyahoo-ignore-table" style="width:100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpceef9cfecard-overlay-cell" style="background-color: transparent; border-radius: 2px 2px 0px 0px; min-height: 175px;" valign="top" bgcolor="transparent" background="https://s.yimg.com/cv/ae/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV21/1/enhancr_gradient-400x175.png"><!--[if gte mso 9]><v:rect fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:396px;height:175px;position:absolute;top:-18px;left:0;"><v:fill type="pattern" color="#000000" src="https://s.yimg.com/cv/ae/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV21/1/enhancr_gradient-400x175.png"/><v:textbox inset="0,0,20px,0"><![endif]--><table class="ydpceef9cfeyahoo-ignore-table" style="width: 100%; min-height: 175px;" height="175" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="ydpceef9cfecard-richInfo2" style="text-align:left;padding:15px 0 0 15px;vertical-align:top"></td><td class="ydpceef9cfecard-actions" style="text-align:right;padding:15px 15px 0 0;vertical-align:top"><div class="ydpceef9cfecard-share-container"></div></td></tr></tbody></table><!--[if gte mso 9]></v:textbox></v:rect><![endif]--></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td><table class="ydpceef9cfecard-info ydpceef9cfeyahoo-ignore-table" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-size: auto; position: relative; z-index: 2; width: 100%; max-width: 400px; border-radius: 0px 0px 2px 2px; border-top: 1px solid rgb(224, 228, 233);" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td style="background-color:#ffffff;padding:16px 0 16px 12px;vertical-align:top;border-radius:0 0 0 2px"></td><td style="vertical-align:middle;padding:12px 24px 16px 12px;width:99%;font-family:YahooSans, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;border-radius:0 0 2px 0"><h2 class="ydpceef9cfecard-title" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; font-family: YahooSans, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(38, 40, 42); max-width: 314px;">If dams are removed, will there be water for firefighting? KRRC says yes...</h2><p class="ydpceef9cfecard-description" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(151, 155, 167);">A plan to ensure there will be adequate water with which to fight wildfires if four Klamath dams are removed was...</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">Now, however, even the dams’ owner, PacificCorp, based in Portland, Ore, wants them removed and, with the recent financial backing of both state governments in California and Oregon, the project appears more likely than ever to proceed. That has left Klamath Basin farmers with one less chip in the game.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“We have no leverage now,” said Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, which represents water rights in 17 western states.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">He said there are multiple stresses on Klamath River salmon, ranging from commercial fishing to logging. The result is that irrigators feel caught between competing biological opinions.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“The fish have not benefited … and progressively farmers are getting less and less water,” he said. “The system is so inflexible right now that you have a situation where you have (scientists) competing against one another, the lake is dropping and there is no human cause doing that except government regulatory agencies.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">The result is expected to be a long and tense summer.</p><h2 class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_h2" style="margin: 28px 0px 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Unify Sans, Helvetica Neue, Arial Nova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(48, 48, 48);">'When the well's dry ...'</h2><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">More than 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin wrote that “when the well’s dry we know the worth of water.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">For Claude Haggerty, a 35-year-member of the Tule Lake Irrigation District, those words recently took on a new meaning. Although Parkinson’s Disease is now waging a relentless war on his body, his mind remains sharp as ever.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">He said not knowing what to do or whether to even plant a crop this summer comes at a stiff price.</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;">“The uncertainty cost me my oldest son,” he said. “He decided to get a job someplace else.”</p><p class="ydp212da574gnt_ar_b_p" style="margin: 14px 0px;"><em>Barry Kaye is an awardwinning writer who lives in Mount Shasta, California.</em></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>