IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT, et al.       )                                                                                                                                                   )

                          Plaintiffs,                                   )           No. _____________

                                                                             )

vs.                                    )           Judge ___________

                                                                             )

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                   )

                                                                             )

                           Defendant.                                )

___________________________________)

DECLARATION OF S.T. WALDRIP

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

            1.  I am now and have been since 1986, the President of Klamath Hills District Improvement Co. (“Klamath  Hills”).  I am intimately familiar with the operations of Klamath Hills and, generally, with the Klamath Reclamation Project (Klamath Project).  My responsibilities include overseeing all irrigation functions of Klamath Hills, and reporting to and advising Klamath  Hills’ Board of Directors.  I am also the Secretary-Treasurer of Klamath Hills and have custody of its records.        

            2.  Klamath Hills is an Oregon corporation, located in Klamath County , Oregon , for use and control of water, organized and existing under Oregon Revised Statutes, ch. 554.  Under Oregon law, Klamath Hills was established by and represents all landowners within its boundaries. 

            3.  Klamath Hills was created by filing articles of incorporation with the state of Oregon on September 10, 1981 .

            4.  On October 10, 1983 , Klamath Hills applied to the State of Oregon for a permit to appropriate surface water for 18.30 cubic feet per second from the Klamath River , in Klamath County .   The application states:

[T]he irrigation water will be conveyed to lands to be irrigated from the point of diversion on the Klamath River via the Klamath Drainage District North Canal to points adjacent to the lands of the individual members of the Improvement Company where the water will be pumped into individual irrigation systems. 

See Klamath Hills State of Oregon Water Resources Dept. App. for Permit to Appropriate Surface Water, Application No. 67445.  The application further stated that Klamath Hills will contract with KDD for the delivery of the water granted by the State.

            5. Klamath Hills obtained vested and determined water rights from the State of Oregon to irrigate 732.94 acres with a priority date of October 10, 1983 ,.  See Klamath Hills Improvement District Permit No. 48435 to Appropriate the Public Waters of the State of Oregon .  Also within the boundaries of and a part of Klamath Hills is a water permit issued by the state of Oregon to Murel and Barbara Long vested on October 3, 1977 for 208.14 acres.  See Long Permit No. 42730.

            6.  On December 10, 1981 , Klamath Hills contracted with the Klamath Drainage District (KDD) for the delivery of water for landowners within  Klamath Hills.  See Contract between Klamath Hills and KDD (Pls. Mot. for Summ. J. App. at ____ ( July 21, 2003 )).   Klamath Hills’ water is received by KDD at the point where KDD receives water for its North Canal , which diversion is on the Klamath River .  KDD is part of the Klamath Project and has contractual obligations with the United States . 

            7.  Every year, Klamath Hills’ landowners have received all the water they could beneficially use, (except in drought years).  This amounts to about 3.00 acre feet per acre per year, delivered seasonally.

            8. As a result of the announcement by the United States Bureau of Reclamation on April 6, 2001 that there would be no water deliveries to the United States' water contractors within the Klamath Project from the Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River, Klamath Hills was notified April 16, 2001 by Klamath Drainage District that all water deliveries from the North Canal was immediately suspended.  The release of approximately 70,000 acre feet of water in July and August by the United States Bureau of Reclamation was too late in the season to save crops within Klamath Hills.

            9.  Throughout the 2001 irrigation season, Upper Klamath Lake contained large quantities of water that should have been released to Klamath Project water users. 

            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.                             ______________________________

                                                                                    S.T. Waldrip, Pres.