IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

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                                                                                    )

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT et al.,              )

)

Plaintiffs,                                                        )

)

v.                                                                     )           No. 01-591 L

)          

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                         )           Judge Diane Gilbert Sypolt       

)

Defendant.                                                                 )

___________________ __________________)

DECLARATION OF TOM DEJONG

            I, Tom DeJong, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, hereby declare as follows:

            1.  I am now and have been since 2000, the President of Klamath Basin Improvement District (KBID).  

            2.  KBID is an Oregon corporation, located in Klamath County , Oregon , for use or control of water organized and existing under Oregon Revised Statutes, ch. 552.  Under Oregon law, KBID was established by and represents all landowners within its boundaries. 

            3.  KBID was created in July of 1961.  KBID receives water from facilities operated by Klamath Irrigation District (KID, Enterprise Irrigation District, Pine Grove Irrigation District, Malin Irrigation District, Shasta View Irrigation District, and Van Brimmer Ditch Company  which convey irrigation water for beneficial use to water users on approximately 10,595 acres of high-value agricultural land within the boundaries of KBID.  KBID farmers grow hay, grain, pasture for cattle, row crops and other crops.

4. Many of the KBID lands were under irrigation from an early date.  Structures were built in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps for irrigation of lands that were later incorporated into KBID.  Some of these lands have been continuously irrigated, at first by way of surplus water rental contracts, since as early as the 1930s.  The development of KBID was the culmination of past and ongoing development of individual farms, which was often accomplished in response to changes in irrigation technology, such as the advent of solid-set sprinklers to irrigate steeper grades.  KBID was formed as a conduit to finance improvements in the water delivery system, fixing bottlenecks in delivery, and to consolidate annual delivery contracts to many farms.

6. On April 25, 1962, KBID entered into a contract with the United States under which KBID took over responsibility for collecting Klamath Project charges from KBID farmers and paying it over to Reclamation. See 1962 KBID Contract (Pls.’ Amended Compl. App. at Ex. 6, pp. 170  ( Mar. 24, 2003 )).  KBID has repaid all construction cost liabilities to the United States , and has also paid all annual operation and maintenance charges due under the contract.

7. Prior to 2001, KBID landowners always received all the water they could beneficially use, with exceptions for drought years.  On average, KBID farmers receive about [insert] acre feet of Klamath Project water each year.

            8.  KBID farmers would, again, in 2001 have received all the water they could have beneficially used if Reclamation had been able to operate under historical practices.

           9.  The United States directed KBID to deliver no water to its farmers in April of 2001.  Reclamation authorized in July and early August of 2001 the released approximately 70,000 acre feet of water to the Project, this was insufficient in amount and too late in the season to grow crops within KBID.

         10.  Plaintiffs repeatedly demanded release of this water from Upper Klamath Lake , but Reclamation refused.

            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                              ______________________________

                                                                             Tom DeJong, President