Pending water shortage has far-reaching impacts  

   “ Frankly, we don’t expect any problems but you always plan for the worst,” Evinger said.

   He said he and other law enforcement officials have met with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation law enforcement managers, which did not exist in 2001 during the Klamath Basin water crisis. Evinger said Reclamation’s law enforcement unit was partly created because of the 2001 crisis.  

   Sue Fry, the Klamath area manager for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, viewed a portion of Tuesday’s hearing with Gov. Ted Kulongoski by a video feed from an adjacent meeting room. She was among the federal   officials who met with the governor and his staff earlier in the day.

   “The only thing I can say for sure is it’s going to be a tough year,” she said of allocations to water users, which have yet to be determined. Fry gave no indication on when that decision would be made.

   “We are doing everything we can to be flexible within the limits of our guidelines,” she said, referring to federal requirements to provide water for endangered fish species.  

   She said the process to create the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which has been signed by stakeholders but not yet approved or funded by Congress, was positive.

   “It’s very different than what would have happened even four years ago,” Fry said, referring to cooperative efforts between irrigators, tribes and commercial fishermen.  

   Before 2001, Floyd A. Boyd Co. primarily sold equipment to those growing row crops in the Klamath Basin, including potatoes. That has changed since the 2001 water crisis, when irrigation water was shut off to Klamath Project irrigators.

   “The potatoes in this valley have dried up. We had to reinvent ourselves,” said Donnie Boyd, who is the third generation of his family to own the business.

   On Tuesday, Boyd told Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski that the business is again in peril because of the uncertainty of irrigation water for the Klamath Reclamation Project. He has 72 employees, and some are only working three days a week because of the water situation.

   Admitting it was an emotional issue, Boyd said aid for farmers and producers would help him somewhat. But, he added, there still isn’t direct aid for third parties who support the agricultural community.

   Boyd said he doesn’t want loans — he already has more debt than he did nine years ago — but he believes something needs to be done to help his business and others stay afloat.  

   In 2008, Klamath County’s agricultural economy produced $300 million in gross farm sales, which derive from the sale of agricultural products. In 2009, that number was down $59 million as a result of the economic recession.

   Willie Riggs said a water shutoff to the Project would only exacerbate the effects of the recession, as agriculture is only second to the timber industry in importance to the county’s economy.  

   The economic activity of the agricultural community creates jobs within it but also in other aspects of the county’s economy. By Riggs’ figures, about 4,550 jobs in the county were a direct or indirect result of the county’s agricultural activity. This doesn’t include other aspects of the agricultural economy, such as food processors.  

   Dave Solem said repeating 2001 would be the last straw for many in the Basin’s irrigator community.

   But that appears to be where the region is headed. With a drought looming, Solem told Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski his irrigation district is unsure how much water will be available for irrigators. Upper Klamath Lake is at record low levels, and Clear Lake and Gerber Reservoir are depleted from a water shortage last year.  

   He said it would help if the state could help pay for operation and maintenance of the irrigation district for irrigators, as they find it unfair to pay for services when they’re not receiving water. At the same time, government needs to do more to ensure these circumstances don’t occur in the future.

   “ We are doing our part, but to allow our farmers to be bankrupted because of drought mis-management is unreasonable,” he said.

    Dave Cacka, business owner and president of KID board

   of directors

   Dave Cacka says everything in the Basin is interrelated.    

   When farmers can’t get water, they don’t raise crops. When farmers don’t grow crops, his potato processing plant doesn’t operate.

   If that happens, the 48 people who work for him — which include people of various ethnicities and backgrounds — are out of work and unable to pay bills or fill their needs.

   The impacts of a shutoff this year would also have more long-term impacts. He raised potatoes himself for 30 years before the 2001 water crisis.

   “Because of 2001, I no longer raise them,” Cacka told Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski   , adding he also sold his applicator business because of the water shutoff nine years ago.  

   John Elliott, Klamath County commissioner

   Elliott says the county is already making plans to extend what it can to area irrigators who could be impacted by a water shortage, including having the assessor provide a tax break to those landowners. But he told Oregon  Gov. Ted Kulongoski by phone Tuesday that the region also needs understanding of its situation, and that it is unacceptable that the Klamath Reclamation Project must be the thing that gives when there’s not enough water. Elliott called on the development of Long Lake into a deepwater storage facility that would be a boon in the future.

   “We’ll have the opportunity to set aside that water for the inevitable dry years,” he said.