Basin Restoration Agreement will destroy Klamath County Cattle Industry; Does Becky Hyde have a conflict of interest claiming to represent Off-Project at the KBRA negotiations?

In a recent Herald and News story, Senator Whitsett pointed out the
devastating effect the Restoration Agreement and dam removal agreements
would have on the Klamath cattle industry.  Several days later Becky Hyde
dismissed the Senator's statement by questioning his perception. 

The Senator was merely stating the obvious, the Restoration Agreement
advocated retiring tens of thousands of acres outside the Klamath Project,
which would devastate the Klamath County cattle industry.

The vast majority of the cattle numbers in Klamath County are pastured in
Off-Project areas.  Ranches, like ours, are responsible for making Klamath
County the sixty-ninth largest cow county and eighty-seventh largest stocker
cattle county in the nation.  The cattle industry is the number one
agricultural industry in Klamath County and in the State of Oregon.  Even as
impressive as these numbers are, slippage in cattle numbers is noticeable in
the last several years.  The main reason slippage has occurred is the
purchase and agricultural retirement of 100,000 acres of land by the US
Government and The Nature Conservancy.  To our knowledge, not one acre of
Project Land has been retired.  The Restoration Agreement sets in motion
retirement of an additional 30,000 acre-feet of water, as well as a process
to idle most of the remainder of the Upper Basin.  When is enough, enough?

The local Klamath County Cattlemen's Association, the state-wide Oregon
Cattlemen's Association, and Water for Life have seen the destructive nature
of the Restoration Agreement and have taken an active stand against its
unfair anti-cattle industry provisions.

It was confusing to many why Becky Hyde and Karl Scronce formed an
organization, "Upper Klamath Water Users Association" (UKWA), when the role
seemed to be duplicative to existing representation, provided by Resource
Conservancy.  Resource Conservancy has represented all active contestants in
the Upper Basin in the present adjudication, as well as most of the
irrigated landowners in the Upper Basin.  It later became apparent that most
of the time positions taken by Ms. Hyde and Mr. Scronce's new group "have
been against those of Resource Conservancy" and adversarial in nature.  It
was hard to understand why some of these positions were taken until research
was completed. 

Sustainable Northwest, a non-profit group from Portland, Oregon, helped Ms.
Hyde fund her ranch in Beatty, Oregon through outside investors and a grant
from Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) that provided $225,000 of
public monies.  Coincidentally, on the OWEB Board was a Board Member of
Sustainable Northwest.  A conservation easement on Ms. Hyde's property was
then deeded to the Klamath Tribes.  The Klamath Tribes then became a partner
of Ms. Hyde in this real estate venture. 

The Restoration Agreement negotiating group refused to allow Resource
Conservancy a seat at the negotiating table to represent Upper Basin
irrigators.  However, Ms. Hyde and the UKWA were recently granted a seat at
the Restoration Agreement negotiating table to represent the Off-Project
water community.  Ms. Hyde gained access to the negotiating table as a
consultant to Sustainable Northwest, which in turn gained access by being a
consultant to the Klamath Tribes. The Klamath Tribes are claiming virtually
all of the water.   At the same time, Ms. Hyde is supposedly representing
the ranch lands from which the Tribes are trying to take the water.  This,
in our opinion, is an actual conflict of interest.

Even more disturbing, Sustainable Northwest's latest tax return shows Ms.
Hyde was paid $63,835, as a consultant to Sustainable Northwest, which
further emphasizes her conflict of interest, in our opinion.

Ms. Hyde's Co-Director of the UKWA, Karl Scronce, sold his Off-Project
property for $2 million dollars on September 20, 2008.  On October 13, 2008,
he became a director of the newly formed UKWA.  At the same time, Mr.
Scronce is a Board Member of the Klamath Water Users Association, which
represents Project water users.  The Klamath Water Users Association has
signed papers, which state that the Klamath Tribes own virtually all of the
water in Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River.  Even a casual observer
can recognize the conflict of interest in this situation. 

The Restoration Agreement is cultural genocide to ranchers and their
families in Klamath County.  An attempt has been made to discredit the Upper
Basin representational organizations and replace them with individuals and
organizations with conflicted ulterior motives.  Our people stand united
with Senator Whitsett in seeking a fair and equitable solution for all. 

Submitted by:

Roger Nicholson, President of Resource Conservancy and Fort Klamath Critical
Habitat Landowners

Garrett Roseberry, President of Resource Conservancy and Sprague River Water
Resource Foundation

 

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