-Caveat Lector- ------- Forwarded message follows ------- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------ ---- > Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis > Fighting for Our Right to Irrigate Our Farms and Caretake Our > Natural > Resources > > Rural Cleansing > > Wall Street Journal - Rural Cleansing 7/26/01 > > Commentary > Rural Cleansing > By Kimberley A. Strassel. > Ms. Strassel is an assistant > editorial features editor at the Journal. > > > > Federal authorities were forced to cut off water to 1,500 > farms in > Oregon's and California's Klamath Basin in April because of the > "endangered" sucker fish. The environmental groups behind the cutoff > continue to declare that they are simply concerned for the welfare of a > bottom-feeder. But last month, those environmentalists revealed another > motive when they submitted a polished proposal for the government to buy > out the farmers and move them > off their land. > > This is what's really happening in Klamath -- call it > rural > cleansing -- and it's repeating itself in environmental battles > across the country. Indeed, the goal of many environmental groups -- > from the Sierra Club to the Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) -- > is no longer to protect nature. It's to expunge humans from the > countryside. > > The Greens' Strategy > > The strategy of these environmental groups is nearly > always the > same: to sue or lobby the government into declaring rural areas > off-limits to people who live and work there. The tools for doing > this include the Endangered Species Act and local preservation laws, > most of which are so loosely crafted as to allow a wide leeway in their > implementation. > > In some cases owners lose their property outright. More > often, > the environmentalists' goal is to have restrictions placed on the > land that either render it unusable or persuade owners to leave of > their own accord. > > The Klamath Basin saga began back in 1988, when two > species of > suckers from the area were listed under the Endangered Species Act. > Things worked reasonably well for the first few years after the suckers > were listed. The Bureau of Reclamation, which controls the area's > irrigation, took direction from the Fish and Wildlife Service, and tried > to balance the needs of both fish and farmers. This included programs to > promote water conservation and tight control over water flows. The > situation was tense, but workable. > > But in 1991 the Klamath basin suffered a drought, and Fish > and > Wildlife noted that the Bureau of Reclamation might need to do more for > the fish. That was the environmentalists' cue. Within two months, the > ONRC -- the pit bull of Oregon's environmental groups -- was announcing > intentions to sue the Bureau of Reclamation for failure to protect the > fish. > > The group's lawsuits weren't immediately successful, in > part > because Fish and Wildlife continued to revise its opinions as to what > the fish needed, and in part because of the farmers' undeniable water > rights, established in 1907. But the ONRC kept at it and finally found a > sympathetic ear. This spring, a federal judge -- in deciding yet another > lawsuit brought by the ONRC, other environmental groups, fishermen and > Indian tribes -- ordered an unwilling Interior Department to shut the > water off. The ONRC had succeeded in denying farmers the ability to make > a living. > > Since that decision, the average value of an acre of farm > property in Klamath has dropped from $2,500 to about $35. Most owners > have no other source of income. And so with the region suitably > desperate, the enviros dropped their bomb. Last month, they submitted a > proposal urging the government to buy the farmers off. > > The council has suggested a price of $4,000 an acre, which > makes > it more likely owners will sell only to the government. While the > amount is more than the property's original value, it's nowhere near > enough to compensate people for the loss of their livelihoods and their > children's futures. > > The ONRC has picked its fight specifically with the > farmers, but > its actions will likely mean the death of an entire community. The > farming industry will lose $250 million this year. But property-tax > revenues will also decrease under new property assessments. That will > strangle road and municipal projects. Local businesses are dependent on > the farmers and are now suffering financially. Should the farm acreage > be cleared of people entirely, meaning no taxes and no shoppers, the > community is likely to disappear. > > Nor has the environment won, even at this enormous cost. The > fish in the lake may have water, but nothing else does. On the > 200,000 acres of parched farmland, animals belonging to dozens of > species -- rabbits, deer, ducks, even bald eagles -- are either dead or > off searching for water. And there's no evidence the suckers are > improving. Indeed, Fish and Wildlife's most recent biological opinions, > which concluded that the fish needed more water, have been vociferously > questioned by independent biologists. Federal officials are now > releasing some water (about 16% of the normal flow) into the irrigation > canals, but it doesn't help the farmers or wildlife much this year. > > Environmentalists argue that farmers should never have > been in > the "dry" Klamath valley in the first place and that they put undue > stress on the land. But the West is a primarily arid region; its history > is one of turning inhospitable areas into thriving communities through > prudent and thoughtful reallocation of water. If the Klamath farmers > should be moved, why not the residents of San Diego and Los Angeles, not > to mention the Southwest and parts of Montana and Wyoming? All of these > communities survive because of irrigation -- water that could conceivably > go to some other "environmental" use. > > But, of course, this is the goal. Environmental groups > have > spoken openly of their desire to concentrate people into cities, > turning everything outside city limits into a giant park. A > journalist for the Rocky Mountain News recently noted that in June > the Sierra Club posted on its Web site a claim that "efficient" urban > density is about 500 households an acre. This, in case you're wondering, > is about three times the density of Manhattan's most tightly packed > areas. And it's not as if there were any shortage of open space in the > West. The federal government already owns 58% of the western U.S., with > state and local government holdings bumping the public percentage even > higher. > > Balanced Stewardship > > Do the people who give money to environmental groups realize > the > endgame is to evict people from their land? I doubt it. The American > dream has always been to own a bit of property on which to pursue > happiness. This dream involves some compromises, including a good, > balanced stewardship of nature -- much like what was happening in Klamath > before the ONRC arrived. But this dream will disappear -- as it already > is in Oregon and California -- if environmental groups and complicit > government agencies are allowed to continue their rural cleansing. > > > > > Home > Table of Contents Discussion Forum Contact > > > > > Copyright Klamath Water Users Association, 2001, All Rights > Reserved > > > > > > ------------------------------------- -- -- -- Best Wishes The secret to David McTaggart'sá[early officer in Greenpeace] success is the secret to Greenpeace's success: It doesn't matter what is true ... it only matters what people believe is true ... You are what the media define you to be. [Greenpeace] became a myth, and a myth-generating machine. - Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace and founder Sea Shepard Conservation Society. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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