Tulelake farmer Marshall Staunton says his family’s approach to the 2001 crisis was, “We’re not going to let it put us under."  H&N photo

Marshall Staunton: Risk and survival

By DD BIXBY

H&N Staff Writer

February 15, 2008

   “It was mutually assured destruction,” says Marshall Staunton. 

   Keeping the water shut off in 2001, damaging though it was, was probably a blessing in disguise, the Tulelake farmer explains, because water users probably would have torn each other apart over a trickle. 

   The Basin was like a Dust Bowl. Some of the little planting that summer was done simply to keep the ground from flying away. But dust flew anyway. 

   So did tempers. Farmers and ranchers squared off with everyone, even each other. In prior years, Staunton developed a reputation as a moderate, working with groups like the Hatfield Upper Basin Working Group to slake the Basin-wide thirst. 

    Staunton says the region was a madhouse of hardliners. At one point, various groups had claimed volumes of water that didn’t even exist in the Klamath Project. 

   Staunton Farms, managed by him and his two brothers, trudged through relatively unscathed. Smaller crops of onions, potatoes, alfalfa, barley and peppermint were planted on 50 percent of their acreage. 

   “We were just adamant about taking massive risks,” he said. “Our strategy was: We’re not going to let it put us under.” 

   Their fields suffered little to no permanent damage and none of their workers were laid off, but he says their operation had the size and resources that many others didn’t, especially the younger farmers who leased land and weren’t entitled to the government relief paid to property owners. 

   For a bigger operation, Staunton said, it was worthwhile to drive pipes, equipment and crews 20, even 40 miles, away. The 100 acres they leased in Butte Valley for potatoes, Staunton called an adventure. 

   “We had something to do,” he said. “A lot of other people had nothing to do but protest.” 

   In a mad dash to get groundwater, something Basin dwellers previously had practically no use for before, there came a constant drone of drilling. The Stauntons’ efforts paid off in a very shallow well. Others drilled thousands of feet and hit dust. 

   Drainage water piped in, wells dug, crop insurance bought and water shipped in were all part of the Staunton management plan. 

   “We did anything and everything to stay on the land,” Staunton said. “That’s what 2001 was for me.”

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