April 18, 2006

Once again, you have got it wrong regarding the Klamath River watershed
and our irrigation practices. No more cut-rate power: Klamath farmers
eventually will pay market rate. April 17, 2006.

In anticipation of my electric rates going up, I converted my best
ground under sprinklers, back into flood irrigation. I spent several
hundred dollars per acre to laser level the fields and now I simply
open a head gate and flood the fields that provide food and cover for
spring waterfowl. Here I use less electricity and I divert more water.
I also provide important return flows for additional habitat.

On the other side of my ranch, I am spending several hundred dollars
per acre to upgrade a thirty-year-old sprinkler system to a center
pivot system that uses less electricity and less labor.

On the whole, as irrigation practices reduce our return flows we expect
to see a reduction in water available for in stream flows. As on farm
water use efficiency increases, there is less water available for other
uses.

Affordable power rates have benefited wildlife in the Klamath Basin and
putting producers out of business will result in less habitat for
wildlife.


W. D. Kennedy
Lost River Ranch

Klamath Falls, Oregon

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