IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

_____________________________________

                                                                                    )

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT et al.,              )

)

Plaintiffs,                                                        )

)

v.                                                                     )           No. 01-591 L

)          

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                         )           Judge Diane Gilbert Sypolt       

)

Defendant.                                                                 )

______________________ _______________)

SECOND DECLARATION OF JAMES L. MOORE

            I, James L. Moore, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, declare:

1.      I own, jointly with my wife, Cheryl M. Moore, 170 acres of high-value

agricultural land with appurtenant water rights, located in  Klamath County , Oregon , and I am an individually named plaintiff in this case.  We began farming this property when we obtained our first deed in 1976.  We have grown alfalfa, potatoes, sugar beets, and various other vegetables on this property, including broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.

2.       My wife and I obtained title to these 170 acres from my parents, Georgia and

Luster Moore , through three separate deeds dated between 1976 and 1999. See Deeds (attached as Ex. 1).  My parents had obtained title from my grandparents.  This land has been privately owned since before the Klamath Project was constructed.   

            3.  In 1903, when the VanBrimmer Ditch Company was incorporated, my grandparents purchased a share of stock in the company for each acre that was irrigated. After the Reclamation Act was passed and water appropriated to the property for reclamation purposes, my grandparents continued to receive water through the VanBrimmer Ditch Company irrigation distribution system, surrendering their riparian water rights for a guaranteed amount of water delivered by the Klamath Project. See 1903 VanBrimmer Ditch Company Contract (Pls.’ Amended Compl. App. at Ex. 13, pp. 346 ( Mar. 24, 2003 )). 

            4.   Our water is delivered through Canal “C” by Klamath Irrigation District (KID) to VanBrimmer Ditch Company’s irrigation distribution system.  Every year since 1978 and, for so long as I can remember growing up on the farm, we have always received all the water we could beneficially use (except for drought years of 1992 and 1994).  We receive approximately ___ acre feet of irrigation water each year from VanBrimmer Ditch Company to farm 140 of the 170 acres we own.

            5.  Then in 2001, for the first time, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) announced there would be no water for VanBrimmer Ditch Company farmers. We in fact received no water at all in 2001, and our land lay unproductive for the first time in more than 100 years. 

            I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed on July ___, 2003                          ______________________________

                                                                        James L. Moore