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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
A History of
The
Klamath
Bucket Brigade
The Klamath Bucket Brigade was formed to promote the rally and parade that drew 18,000 people to the Klamath Basin on May 7th, 2001.
The name was carried over for the promotion of the relief convoys from seven western states that came to the Klamath Basin in August of 2001.
On July 31st, 2001; the Klamath Bucket Brigade, Inc was formed for the purpose of sponsoring the Klamath Relief Convoys that spread the message of the plight of the Klamath Basin farmers and ranchers; this also brought several hundred thousand dollars of relief into the basin.
In August of 2001, the Klamath Relief Fund was set up with a "Blue Ribbon" Committee to disburse donated funds that were collected from all over the nation, from the convoys, and other functions sponsored by the Klamath Bucket Brigade.
The Klamath Bucket Brigade along with the "Traveling" bucket, attended farm and Ag shows such as the Albany Fair, the Portland Ag Show, and the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California during 2002.
Members of the Klamath Bucket Brigade have attended speaking engagements such as the Wyoming Ag Bankers Association annual meeting and the Oregon High School Ag Teacher's Conference in Hermiston, Oregon. At each engagement, we gave our PowerPoint presentation on the Klamath Basin Water Crisis and answered numerous questions.
In September of 2002, the Klamath Bucket Brigade; along with the Nevada Jarbidge Shovel Brigade, and the Ohio No Darby Refuge group, organized the Klamath to Homestead, Florida Convoy that traveled 8,800 miles in thirty-three days, crossing 11 states and carrying the message from rural America about the abuses to rural property rights and our countries economic security brought on by the misuse of the Endangered Species Act.
On February 28th, 2003, several Board of Trustees members traveled to Salem, Oregon to meet with the basin's state representatives - Steve Harper and Bill Garrard; Kevin Mannix, Oregon Republican Party leader; and a representative of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski.
Later that evening in Hillsboro, Oregon; the Klamath group presented the PowerPoint presentation about the Klamath Water Crisis to 265 present and past members of the Oregon Future Farmers of America.
Also during 2003, members of the Klamath Bucket Brigade have met with and presented our PowerPoint presentation to several Klamath Basin civic groups including the Klamath and Linkville Kiwanis Clubs, the Soroptimist, the Klamath Falls Exchange Club and the Klamath Rotary.
We've also been asked to speak to the Association of General Contractors, the Midland and Tulelake Grange, a class of University of Oregon seniors and post-graduate students, a group of foreign water officials from Armenia and Georgia (parts of the old Soviet Union), and members of the Klamath Union High School Class of 1958 Reunion.
On
This website was started on November 18, 2003 for educational purposes and one year later we have had over 45,000 visitors and over 200,000 hits! Thank you all for stopping by!
2005
On February 17, 2005, the Bucket Brigade along with the California Greenhorn Grange sponsored a Town Hall meeting with Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer Russell Brooks. The topic of the meeting was U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan's ruling in Grange v. Evans, National Marine Fisheries Service. Mr. Brooks was lead attorney for the Oregon and California State Grange and he discussed the Basin ramifications of Judge Hogan's ruling that the Endangered Species Act "Threatened" listing of the Klamath River Coho was illegal.
March 16 - 18, 2005 found three Klamath Bucket Brigade members participating in the Klamath River Basin Stakeholders Workshop in Tulelake, California. Vice President Barb Hall and board members Alvin and Steve Cheyne met and networked with county government officials, federal and state agency personel (NOAA, F&WS, BOR), up and down river Indian Tribal members, commercial fishermen, and members of environmental groups.
On April 14th, board member Steve Cheyne attended the quarterly Hatfield Group meeting and participated in discussions on the Bureau of Reclamation's Conservation Implementation Program.
The Klamath River Basin Stakeholders held another workshop in Chiloquin, Oregon from June 28 through the 30th and board members Barb Hall and Steve Cheyne again participated.
Over the 4th of July weekend, Chairman of the Board Bill Ransom, past Vice President and now Klamath County Commissioner Bill Brown, board member Bill Morris and Frank and Peggy Wallace traveled to Elko and Jarbidge, Nevada to join in the Annual Basque Festival and the 5th Anniversary of the Jarbidge Road Opening.
Klamath County Commissioner Bill Brown Refurbished Jarbidge Shovel
and Klamath Bucket Brigade Board Chairman
Bill Ransom
Bucket Brigade "Traveling Bucket" in Basque Jarbidge, Nevada
Festival Parade, Elko Nevada
(Photo credit: Forrest Durland)
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Board members Barb Hall and Steve Cheyne traveled to Reno, Nevada for the 6th Annual Freedom 21 Conference - American's Legacy: Freedom or Agenda 21 held July 14 to July 16.
2006
On March 11th, Bucket Brigade Board Vice President Barb Hall was elected as a Board member of the Klamath Basin Improvement District - one of 17 districts in the Federal Klamath Project.
This website was started on November 18, 2003 for educational/informational purposes and in late March our website stats hit 1,000,000 hits! This is extremely unusual for an educational website! Our total stats from November 2003 to the end of March 2006 are:
Total Visitors: 734,018
Total Hits: 1,023,929
Pageviews: 317,444
Thank you all making this website successful!
On May 3rd, Board Chairman Bill Ransom joined Klamath County Commissioner Bill Brown, Oregon State Senator Doug Whitsett, OSU Extension's Ron Hathaway, Family Farm Alliance Director Dan Keppen, and Oregon Soil and Conservation's Rick Woodley for a trip to Coos Bay, Oregon to speak to a group of politicians and fishermen and to offer their support to the fishermen and clear the air on some misrepresentations about the Klamath Irrigation Project. Ransom presented the Bucket Brigade's newest PowerPoint presentation, "Upper Klamath Basin - Past and Present." Around 80 people attended the four hour meeting.
A group of 13 Colorado State students touring the entire Klamath River Watershed were in the Upper Basin on May 8th and 9th. Accompanying them was their Professor Mark Smith and Libby Earthman who acted as co-coordinator. On Tuesday evening, Vice President Barb Hall addressed the students on the Economic Impacts of the 2001 Water Shut Off and Klamath Project Water Rights and the Adjudication Process. A lively Q&A session followed the presentations. Others addressing the Environmental Economic class from Colorado during their visit to the Klamath Basin were Christine Karas of the Bureau of Reclamation, and Allen Forman of the Klamath Tribes. The next morning they continued their visit by traveling down steam to learn from the Tribes and working groups.
As 2007 draws to a close, we are proud to announce that in early October, this website achieved 2,000,000 hits.
Our website stats for the end of October:
Total Visitors: 391,965
Total
Hits: 2,047,420
Pageviews:
720,296
Thank you all for making this website successful!
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| Herald and News Submitted Photo - |
2008
Total Visitors: 526,199
Total Hits: 2,890,998
Page views: 1,110,029
2009
2009 saw us participating in the Central Valley Water Shut Off rallies. Board member Bob King took our traveling bucket to Los Banos in support of the California farmers.
The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement became big news in 2008 - 2009. 2010 will see an end to the closed door meetings between the 26 stakeholder groups.
Total Visitors: 691,190
Total Hits: 3,729,574
Page views: 1,463,121
2010
2010 was another banner year for web site visitors. It was the first year that the site received over 1 million hits from nearly a quarter of a million visitors who viewed well over half a million pages.
Total 2010 Visitors: 238,205
Total 2010 Hits: 1,065,678
2010 Page views: 582,483
Total Stats Since 2003:
Total Visitors: 929,395
Total Hits: 4,795,257
Page views: 2,045,604
2011:
On October 22, we took the Traveling Bucket to the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds in Yreka to support Defend Rural America Rally.
Photo by Redding Record Searchlight Attendees
at the Defend Rural America meeting in October walk past the
Klamath Bucket Brigade's bucket calling on Siskiyou County
residents to fight state and federal government plans to
remove dams and exert water rights to improve salmon
populations in the Klamath River. In the latest salvo in
what is becoming an increasingly heated debate, the U.S.
Department of Interior sent a letter to Siskiyou County
officials rejecting claims that the federal government has
broken laws in its plans to remove four dams on the Klamath
River.
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A few pictures from the Florida Convoy Trip:
TV Interview in Sacramento, California Rep. Richard Pombo addressing rally in Tracy, CA
Leading the convoy into Naples, Florida Klamath County Commissioner John Elliott with a
Homestead, Florida farmer
(Photo Credit: Pat Ratliff)
The stationary bucket located on the sidewalk in front of
the Klamath County Government Building in Klamath Falls, Oregon
Comment: All content copyright Klamath Bucket Brigade, Inc. 2003 - 2011.
Please direct your questions and comments about this website to the Klamath Bucket Brigade office.
Thank you.