It would increase water certainty for thousands of irrigators

BY STEVE KANDRA 

Guest writer

October 17, 2010

     KBRA=JOBS. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement ensures economic stability, certainty, and opportunity for the Klamath Basin:

   • The KBRA will provide irrigation water supply certainty for thousands of independent and innovative Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers who annually produce $300 million in crop and livestock sales, create $600 million in local economic activity, and support 4,500 local jobs.

   • Implementation of the Restoration Agreement will immediately create construction jobs as we begin   the needed work to enhance wildlife habitat, improve water quality for recreation and fisheries, and use water more efficiently.

   • The restoration agreement will assist in funding local ownership and   construction of renewable energy facilities that use dead and dying timber — creating jobs using, protecting, and enhancing our local timber resources. Renewable energy will make irrigation more affordable, putting more dollars into the local economy.

   • The restoration agreement will end decades of water rights litigation that has drained millions of dollars in economic resources out of our region and expended millions of local, state, and federal tax dollars — dollars better kept and spent in our local economy.

   • The agreement brings thousands of acres of area timberlands into local ownership   , with a long-term vision for sustainability, expansion of local wood product development, and creation of jobs in a portion of Klamath County with the highest unemployment rate.

   • The agreement brings our natural resource economy under local control. Local irrigators, Tribes, and governments will be working together to manage our natural resources.

   The restoration agreement will return our hard earned tax dollars to the Klamath Basin to fix water resource problems. The agreement will keep more of our hard-earned dollars circulating in the local economy. KBRA=JOBS.