Farming convoy calls for water solution

Siskiyou county reported anewswn has a look at the water issues affecting multiple industries in the basin.

Alicia says: the debate over water rights and water usage has been going on for decades today i talked to both sides as coversation was spured on by a convoy that was put together by farmers in the klamath area, that convoy is what you see behind me.

Glen says: "the biggest single glen says: "the see behind me.

Convoy is what you klamath area, that farmers in the put together by convoy that was spured on by a as coversation was talked to both sides decades today i going on for decades today i talked to both sides as coversation was spured on by a convoy that was put together by farmers in the klamath area, that convoy is what you see behind me.

Glen says: "the biggest single problem in the basin is that the water sytem is over appropriated it's a broken system" over-appropriation impacts the yurok tribe, the west coast fishing industry and the farming community.

Today's convoy was organized by local farmers who want to see the end of the klamath irrigiation program, that program was put into place about 20 years ago with a goal of boosting fish populations, specifically sucker fish in the upper klamath lake.

Farmers i spoke with today say there hasn't been enough progress with the fish populations to justify hurting farmers.

Bob says: "why are we keeping the lake full of water to kill fish 20 years they have not gotten one more sucker fish in that lake so what is going on" farmers are hoping today's convoy will catch national attention and spark real change.

Scott says: "a success from today would be a the eyes of the nation upon us and that's from the west coast to the east coast from sacramento and salem to washington dc and if we can get these those kind of eyes on us and they can understand how the policy decisions are killing ag economies across the west that's the most we can hope for" the convoy came just a week after a federal judge in san francisco ruled against an emergency motion filed by the yurok tribe -- asking for more water to be released into the klamath project.

Today, when i spoke to the yurok tribe, the vice-chair emphasized, the klamath river is literally the lifeline of the yurok people.

Frankie says: "the medium income on the reservation is $11,000 and so when you break it down to a numbers of cost per protein sam and really is a vital part of our trial tribe member hood just to survive" glen says: "we are in favor of the farmers worki through this we are in favor of a solution that keeps all of our communities whole we're all working together we're all tied together by this umbilical cord called at the klamath river" alicia says: "farmers say they do want to see the fish population flourish in their area but they can't sacrafice their farms in order to do it, the farmers i talked to say there has to be a better solution and they're willing to talk about what the solution could be.

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