LA Times by Bill Heiney, Tulelake, California
Editor Los Angeles Times As a family farmer in the Klamath Basin I am saddened and disappointed at the distorted picture some environmentalists and their allies have painted of agriculture and water use in the Klamath Basin ("Another Power Struggle for Klamath", December 4). In their assault on the people of the Basin, our opponents – this time, the Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) - continually recite a litany of benefits we have supposedly received from the federal government in the form of low cost water, power, and other "subsidies". What they fail to mention is the fact that the federal government shut off all water for farmers during the 2001 growing season under the guise of protecting three fish species under the federal Endangered Species Act. That action set off a wave of bankruptcies, farm and home foreclosures and economic hardship that will affect this small corner of the country near the Oregon and California border for many years. I know a local Hispanic family who started out as field workers and after a lifetime of working under the sun had saved enough money to buy their own farm. They lost everything as a direct result of the irrigation cut off, as did many others who were forced to walk away from their livelihood and their dreams. Recent media reports have left the mistaken impression that salmon have been all but wiped out along the California coast. In fact, the government reports this will be the third-highest salmon run on record. There are plenty of salmon in the rivers and in the ocean. Yet environmentalists have unfairly blamed farmers for this unfortunate tragedy. It is not agriculture but environmental laws that are out of balance and need to be reexamined. For 100 years farming, fish and wildlife have existed in the Basin. You have to ask yourself why, at this time, do we have an artificially created water "crisis?" The plain fact is that some environmentalists want to twist the facts and the law to end farming in the Basin, and see the small towns, schools and people vanish with agriculture. Environmentalists like the ONRC’s Jim McCarty have publicly stated that they want to buy farmers out and have the Basin revert to wetlands. If farmers in the Klamath Basin are driven from the land, then people in other parts of the country will face the same fate we face now. We are proud to be farmers and ranchers. We live here because we love the outdoors and we love the rural lifestyle. By providing food for the nation, we provide products of value to the people of the United States. Farmers in the Klamath Basin, and indeed much of the West, are accused of using their unfair share of water in an environment where water is scarce. In fact, Klamath Basin farmers are among the most efficient water users in the nation. We have built reservoirs so we can store the winter rain and snowmelt from the vast watershed that rings our valley and use it for fish, wildlife and farming when it is needed most. Wise water use and conservation have been daily practices here for generations, and we are working with local and federal agencies to develop new irrigation methods that are even more water efficient. We are disappointed that many in the media have agreed with the message of extreme environmentalists and would like to see us removed from the land and forgotten. But we are heartened by the response from Americans throughout the country who understand that farmers in Klamath and other parts of the nation are not the enemies of the earth, but its most sustaining friends. Sincerely, Bill Heiney Tulelake, California - December 2002
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