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Basin battles back Thousands attend tense K. Falls hearing on water and fish By PAUL FATTIG KLAMATH FALLS - At the outset, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden described the Klamath Basin as ground zero in the endangered-species debate. With that, the battle to reform the Endangered Species Act began in earnest Saturday during a field oversight hearing by the U.S. House Committee on Resources. Walden was one of six committee members, all Republicans, meeting to review water management and the ESA in the troubled basin, where water has been cut off to farmers to save endangered fish. More than 3,000 people, largely farm families, attended the hearing. "We are at war with extreme environmentalists," said California Rep. Wally Herger. Fellow Congressman Jim Gibbons, of Nevada, likened the conflict to the battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. California Rep. Richard Pombo, committee chair as well as chair of the House Endangered Species Act Working Group, agreed. "It's time to take back our economic and constitutional rights," he said. "After all, the human species deserves the most important place in the ESA question." Although he noted there is little support in Congress for amending the act, he expressed hope the battle in the basin would convince others that changes need to be made. In what could be a first step, the Department of Interior will put out for peer review the biological opinions that led to the Klamath Basin water shut-off, said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, deputy chief of staff for the department. She was the first of 14 witnesses called. "It helps us know as decision makers that our judgments are reasonable," she said. "It helps so those affected by it can have confidence it wasn't the result of a political position. "Such a review is to be conducted by an objective, outside scientific body that is widely recognized and has a disciplined scientific review focus," she said. "God, that's good news," exclaimed Medford resident Bob Smith, a former congressman from the 2nd District who was attending the hearing as an observer. "That's damn good news." Basin farmers were stunned early in April when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said there was no water available to irrigate 90 percent of the 200,000 acres of farmland served by the Klamath Project. The ESA requires that water be used for endangered Lost River suckers and shortnosed suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, the project's main reservoir, and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. A federal judge had found that the bureau violated the act last year when it gave farmers their full allocation of water without considering the needs of fish. Throughout the hearing, local government officials, farmers, educators and scientists called for changes to the ESA, or even its outright removal. But representatives of Indian tribes, commercial salmon fishermen and a conservation group argued against such action. After one outburst by the crowd, Pombo cautioned them to neither cheer nor jeer. "We have to abide by certain rules of the committee and the House of Representatives," he said. "We would ask that there be no applause, or any kind of demonstration with regard to testimony. It is important to the decorum and rules of the committee." That call for decorum was ignored when Ashland resident Andy Kerr, senior counsel to the Oregon Natural Resources Council, stepped forward to testify. The group proposes that Uncle Sam buy irrigated basin land to ease the conflict between agriculture and endangered fish. Under that plan, the land would be bought from willing sellers at $4,000 an acre. The acreage value before the water was shut off was about $2,500 an acre, Kerr said. "Of course, $4,000 an acre is not enough to compensate for the loss of a lifestyle," he said. "However, it is enough for most to get clear of the bank and have something left for retirement or for the kids' college fund." At that point, several loud "Boos!" erupted from the crowd. "You're an idiot," yelled one woman. "Communist!" shouted one man. Kerr appeared unfazed and continued to testify. "This $4,000-an-acre figure can be justified to taxpayers as a savings over the current system of farm subsidies for these lands," he said. "More importantly, it is the right thing to do." But basin farmer John Crawford drew cheers when he told the committee that the $20 million in aid for the Klamath Basin earmarked in President Bush's pending emergency budget supplement was far short of the estimated $250 million in economic impacts from the water cutoff. "Words cannot begin to describe the pain being experienced in our communities," he said. "Farm families have lost income. Long-term commodity supply contracts have been terminated. Debts will not be paid. Dreams are being shattered." Former longtime U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Dave Vogel, hired by farmers as a consultant, drew cheers when he questioned the decision to cut off the water. "To be blunt, some of the federal biologists have become intoxicated by the power given them by the Endangered Species Act," he said. But Allen Foreman, chair of the Klamath Tribes, cautioned that changing the ESA or the biological opinion will not resolve the problem. "We are concerned about the objectivity of any review simply because many influential people have already committed to a negative position," he said. "The basin will not regain its health by treating symptoms while avoiding the causes of our water shortage," he warned. "We need to restore nature's productive capacity in the Klamath Basin like the Creator intended. Otherwise we will be facing problems like this for years to come." In interviews before and after the hearing, Walden said the goal was to find a way to avoid a repeat of this year's water woes. "Klamath is becoming the clarion cry for what can happen anywhere in the West," he said. "I'm not just putting my hat on the hook for ESA reform. There are a lot of other things we need to do in this basin." He was a little dubious of the proposal put forth by the ONRC and others to buy out willing sellers. "If somebody offers you air while they have their fingers around your throat and choking you, you are pretty willing to accept," he said. "But, having said that, I feel these farmers shouldn't have to pay the entire brunt of the federal law. That's going to be an idea in the mix." Yet he expressed concern that it would harm the local economy in the long term. "I'm not going to dismiss it out of hand, but it should not be our first course of action," he added. A suggestion by Vogel that a "blind peer review" be conducted is a good idea, Walden said. "It makes a lot of sense," he said. "We've got to get to the point where science is above question." Meanwhile, Walden expects the debate of making changes in the ESA will come before Congress this summer. In addition to Walden, Pombo, Herger and Gibbons, other congressmen at the hearing included Mike Simpson of Idaho and Doc Hastings of Washington. Democrats on the committee were invited but declined to attend, Walden said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.