Farmers bypass canal headgate with irrigation pipe

Sunday, July 15, 2001
©2001 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/07/15/state1826EDT0138.DTL

(07-15) 23:55 PDT KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) --

Farmers sent water down an irrigation canal Sunday that has been parched since water was shut off last April to protect threatened and endangered fish. About 100 farmers used an irrigation line to bypass a canal head gate in a move officials called "symbolic."

The farmers, who have camped out at the canal head gate for several days, placed a pump in Upper Klamath Lake and ran about a 200-yard-long irrigation pipe along a fence and into the canal on the other side of the gate, federal and county officials said. The pipe was eight inches in diameter, according to the farmers' Web site.

Federal agents with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation did not plan to arrest anyone, but were monitoring the situation, said Jeff McCracken, a Bureau spokesman.

"It remains peaceful and it remains the goal ... to do everything that we can to see that it stays peaceful," he said.

McCracken estimated that farmers were draining between five and 10 cubic feet of water per second from the canal. They began operating the line around 2 p.m., he said.

"This is symbolic," he said. "There's no way that amount of water could be used for the crops at this time of the year."

Pat Foulk, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said officers were at the scene to make sure the farmers did not violate the federal Endangered Species Act.

She said there were no immediate plans to arrest any protesters because no fish were being sucked through the head gate and the lake's water level had not dropped.

"We're going to try to determine what harm may be done. This appears more symbolic than everything else," she said.

Last April, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was forced to cut off water to 90 percent of the land in the Klamath Project in favor of endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River.

Drought conditions mean there is not enough water for both fish and the farmers, McCracken said.

Since the water was shut off, farms with no other source of water have been forced to sell off cattle, let pastures and hay fields go brown and give up annual plantings of potatoes, grain and other crops.

Angry groups have wrenched open the head gates four times, most recently on Friday. Federal marshals took protesters by surprise early Saturday morning and shut the gates.

The Bureau of Reclamation closed the head gate each time, citing the Endangered Species Act, which prohibits federal agencies from doing anything to jeopardize the survival of protected species.

The federal action marks the first time that salmon fishermen and the Klamath Tribes, who once depended on the fish for food, have won out over farmers on water allocations since the irrigation system known as the Klamath Project opened in 1907.

On Sunday, dozens of farmers continued to camp out along the irrigation canal. They had set up two awnings and installed portable toilets, lawn chairs and picnic supplies outside of a chain link fence separating them from the canal.

Farmers cheered, sang songs and played guitar to pass the time, McCracken said.

Protesters reached by cell phone Sunday declined to comment on the latest developments.

However, a Web site maintained by the farmers read: "2 p.m. Water Flowing Again! 300 people are watching and cheering as 1,850 gallons are being pumped through 8" Irrigation pipe."

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