Off- water Proposed settlement divides some Basin irrigators
 

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Writer 

January 19, 2008

Off-project irrigators Caren and Jim Goold live in Sprague River .  They are willing to give the settlement a chance.  H&N’s Photo

     SPRAGUE RIVER — Soon after the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement was released, Jim Goold’s neighbor called, excited and nervous about the proposed settlement.

   Goold asked her if she’d read anything about it. She hadn’t. He urged her to do so. 

   “She was just having a stroke. I had to hang up on her,” the Sprague River irrigator said. 

   The 256-page document seeks to settle disputes among various stakeholders who live within the Klamath River Basin . But it is dividing a community of off-Project irrigators, those who use water flowing into Upper Klamath Lake before it enters the Klamath Project’s system of canals and ditches. 

    Sprague River area resident Edward Bartell, an off-Project irrigator who represents a group of other off-Project irrigators, says the agreement should be scrapped because it provides no benefits to any irrigators, on or off the Klamath Project. 

   But some of his neighbors disagree. 

   Jim and Caren Goold, off-Project irrigators along the Sprague, say they’re willing to give the settlement a chance and are encouraging fellow off-Project irrigators to thoroughly read the document before dismissing it. 

   The Goolds have reviewed a summary of the agreement and say don’t see anything troubling. From what they’ve read so far, they say the settlement could allow them to negotiate compensation for their water right, funding their retirement and allowing them to keep their ranch. They are in the process of reviewing the full document. 

   Bartell, who participated in settlement talks on behalf of his organization, the Klamath Off-Project Water Users, said he was on board when an original framework was developed in January 2007. 

   But that framework wasn’t preserved through the next year of discussions, he said. Instead of being required to voluntarily retire 30,000 acre feet of water rights, off-Project water users would have to go through water adjudication with the Tribes. 

   “It’s devastating to our people,” Bartell said. 

   Adjudication is a series of legal proceedings that will determine how much water above Upper Klamath Lake belongs to the Tribes and to off-Project irrigators. The Tribes claim water rights immemorial. 

   Bartell also criticized other portions of the document, from the possibility of a three-cent power rate to lack of protection from the Endangered Species Act. 

   But proponents counter Bartell’s claims. 

   Representatives from the Klamath Tribes and on-Project irrigators said the agreement does not give the Tribes rights to all the water, and it does provide for significant protection from the Endangered Species Act. 

   The proposed power rate will not be easy to achieve, but there is state and federal support for it and it is possible, they say. 

   The Goolds aren’t ready to sign yet, and said they and said they have concerns about adjudication.

   They don't know which irrigators Bartell represents, but said he doesn't represent their interests and they were bothered by his outright condemnation of the agreement.

   “Ed’s always been negative,” Caren said. “He never seemed to be willing to compromise or negotiate.”  

   Caren sent packets with the settlement agreement to neighbors, urging them to consider it carefully before making a decision. She said she hopes attempts to destroy the agreement fail, giving people time to study it. 

   If anything, it opens a window that would allow them to stay on their small ranch rather than paying for legal battles.

   “I just don’t have it, I can’t write any more checks,” Jim said.   

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