Sometimes, you just have to take a stand. After all of the talk, all of the lawsuits, all of the promises, sometimes you need to stand up and say with a clear and unwavering voice, “This is wrong.”
That, in essence, was what the thousands of farmers, ranchers, loggers and others from around the West were saying May 29 at Klamath Falls, Ore.
Their rally, called “Shut Down and Fed Up,” had the perfect name. For decades, water managers, biologists and others have been telling them they were at the end of the line when it comes to dividing up the water from the region’s lakes, rivers and aquifers.
In 2001, and again this year, the water is running out for agriculture. Managers predict only 80,000 acre-feet will be available to Klamath Project farmers this year — only a fraction of the amount they need.
Friday’s demonstration that sent a long line of tractors, trucks and other working vehicles across Klamath County had a singular purpose: to get attention from members of Congress and, hopefully, the White House.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, in whose district Klamath Falls is situated, was there, but significantly, other members of the state’s congressional delegation were missing. The governor, too, was missing.
U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represents Northern California, was there. So was Assemblywoman Megan Dahle, who represents more than 500,000 people as a member of the California State Assembly from Siskiyou and Modoc counties. But no one else from Washington, D.C., or Sacramento made the trip.
Apparently, those other politicians had more important things to do than listen to the concerns of their constituents who are at the end of their rope.
The Klamath problem is the Gordian knot of water issues. Tight water supplies, two endangered species, weather, tribal demands and unhelpful federal and state managers are among the many issues facing anyone who wants to look for a solution.
Exactly where that solution lies, we cannot say. It is frustrating that a governor who wants to address climate change — something far outside her wheelhouse — is all but silent on Klamath Falls and its problems.
It is equally frustrating that the state’s two U.S. senators — two of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. — can’t seem to generate more interest in the area, or a solution to its problems.
Time was, Oregon’s governors and congressional delegations went to bat for their constituents. Time was, if you were from Oregon, you mattered and if one Oregonian had a problem everyone pulled together to solve it.
That’s apparently not the case anymore, at least when it comes to the current crowd in Salem and Washington.
In his speech Friday, Walden, who is retiring from Congress after 21 years, said, “We ought to have water flowing for farmers throughout the season. I’m committed to that.”
We could not agree more. But we all must make sure others pay attention to the needs of all Oregonians.
We hear a lot of chatter about the “urban-rural divide” in Oregon. In the case of Klamath water, it’s really not a divide so much as it is a sound-proof wall.
Our question: Is the governor’s silence a matter of not caring, or of not hearing the pleas of Klamath farmers?
The governor and the state’s congressional delegation must stand up and demand fair treatment for the farmers in the Klamath Project. They must use their clout and stick up for Oregonians.
For a change.