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Governor Kulongoski recently declared a drought (pdf) in Klamath county and five neighboring counties. Thousands of farmers in the Klamath Basin depend on federally controlled irrigation canals that flow from Klamath lake to water their crops and support pasture for livestock. But water levels in Klamath Lake are low this year. And farmers will receive only about 30 percent of the surface water they usually get, to ensure that endangered suckerfish in the lake will also survive the drought.
Many farmers in the Klamath already took a financial hit last year, due to low crop prices and the recession. Some say that the assistance the federal and state government are offering during this drought isn’t enough to save them from bankruptcy. Other people in the basin worry that a rush to dig wells and pump groundwater to make it through this growing season could have long term consequences.
And many people worry that the stress of this dry growing season will undermine support for the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, a compromise between farmers, tribes, and environmental groups over future water use in the basin.
Do you own a private well in Klamath county? Are you a farmer that has lived through a drought? What do you think of state and federal disaster assistance programs for farmers? Are land idling programs and emergency well use a good solution?
Tagged as: agriculture · economy · klamath · water
Photo credit: kn0me / Creative Commons
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The agreements will provide benefits for the Klamath refuges by giving them a more predictable delivery of water. This year the refuges will recieve zero water. We need these agreements to support all parts of the Basin...refuges, farms, fisheries.
Important to note that even though Klamath Project farmers may get one-third of their normal amount of water, that doesn't mean one-third of farmers will get water. Some will be completely without! This is a tough year ahead for the Klamath Basin.
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Considering what the Spotted Owl did to the logging industry, the town of KFalls-where I went to school- is now dependent to a great degree on farming services and agric. product for its economic health. This division of water resources is going to have terrible consequences for the city and region.
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Gereng, you might want to consider what the logging industry did to the spotted owl, the spotted owl never asked to be included as an endangered species, unfortunately the mismanagement by the forestry industry and their "regulators" allowed the habitat to be degraded to the point the spotted owl was placed on the list.
The sucker/Coho is another example of this, their habitat is not being degraded because of the actions of the fish. The Klamath Basin is a historic marsh that has been manipulated to "create" an agricultural area. There is not enough water to sustain the type of ag that is there. And land in continually going into production. Ag, can happen, but as Bill Kittredge has pointed out, it can't happen on the levels that happen in (this) basin.
What needs to happen here is a new way of looking at the business of Ag and conservation.
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Agriculture sectors stumbled this is primary due to the effect of drought. The presence of doubts may end up to the poor productions of crops and other agricultural products, I wish that before the situation gets loom, the government already provided a long term solution against the threatening effect of drought. Government grants could be in the form of cash, or irrigations stuff that will make water supply abundant. Farmers are badly needing an immediate action, let’s be united in saving the agricultural industry against the impact of drought.
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There's been a lot written about potential impact of the drought on fish and farms, and I've read that the Klamath Agreement will help farmers plan for drought years and still benefit fish. I hope that's true.
I'm concerned about the impact the drought might have on the birds that use the Klamath Basin as a stop on the Pacific Flyway. Will the agreements do anything to support birds during drought?