June 5, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Garden
Those rains and frost-free mornings, during the past several
weeks, have been a God-sent blessing. Our tomatoes are doing well and the
volunteer potatoes are two-feet high. The zucchini and cucumbers came up and I
need to transplant an eight-inch tall volunteer sunflower plant
My orange Oriental poppies are in full bloom along with the
purple, yellow and peach iris. I was bummed the red peonies didn’t last long,
but my favorite rose bush just started blooming. Last year’s transplanted
coreopsis, Echinacea cone-flower and feverfew are tall. Comfrey is blooming
pretty little pink bells and the Shasta daisies and snaps are starting to pop
open. Happy gardening everyone!
POW
The Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting kicked-off last
Thursday with Louise Gliatto reporting Pacific Power will begin installing
Smart Meters in Siskiyou Co. this month. Ugh! Here is a phone number to call to
tell the company you do not want a Smart Meter installed: 866-869-8520. There
is a cost to opt-out, but we haven’t been able to pin-down Pacific Power as to
how much that cost will be. Some people have been told it will cost $75 then a
cost of $20 per month for a year. When Louise called, she was given a higher cost,
so now we are not sure what the cost is. Check it out for yourself and be sure
to put up a sign on your current meter stating you do not want the Smart Meter
to replace your analog one.
Remember, there are many complaints about Smart Meters from
the invisible signal causing sleep deprivation and health problems to the
ability of Pacific Power to turn your electricity on and off or reduce usage
during high-peek periods.
John Hill, who is a retired electrical engineer, is speaking
about the dangers Smart Meters pose at the Dunsmuir Library at 5714 Dunsmuir
Ave., on Wed., June 13, 2018 from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting is free and
refreshments will be provided.
Mark Baird told us the federal judge vacated the hearing set
for June 1, 2018 on the lawsuit by the Citizens for Fair Representation v CA.
Sec. of State Alex Padilla. On June 15, 2018, the judge is expected to rule if
the lawsuit will go forward. CFR is on pins and noodles hoping the lawsuit will
continue to a three-judge panel.
Klamath project
Jim Smith, our Siskiyou Co. Ag. Commissioner, gave a slide
show with a map explaining the Klamath Project. It covers over 225,000 acres of
Oregon into California. I will add that the project was created to literally
help feed the people of the United States. In 1902, President Theodore
Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act to encourage the expansion of
agriculture. In 1906, the newly established Bureau of Reclamation began the
Klamath Project to drain wetlands, swamps and lakes for cultivation.
Jim’s grandfather was a veteran of World War I and obtained
land in the Klamath Project for homesteading. Jim still owns a large farm in
Tulelake area, which is some of the most fertile soil in the nation. As part of
the Project, refuges for birds were established. I know that TuleLake Wildlife
Refuge with 39,000 acres and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge with 46,900
acres are part of the irrigation system. When water is shut-off to the farmers
it is also shut-off to the refuges, wildlife and ESA-protected eagles.
Years ago, Jim was part of a project that did research on the
sucker fish. It was learned that suckers do much better in a lower amount of
water in the Upper Klamath Lake, which is naturally a shallow lake. But, the
federal fraudulent “science” has claimed, since 2001, that the ESA-listed
suckers must have lots and lots of water. So, in 2001, the Biological Opinion
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decreed the water had to be shut-off to
the Project farmers; because the water had to stay in Upper Klamath Lake for
the suckers. It needs to be noted that more water has not produced more
suckers.
Now, over 15 years later, the Klamath Tribes have demanded
their water rights, which are to provide more water for sucker fish. This year,
they have begun several lawsuits to make sure the Project farmers do not get
their legal water that was decreed as part of the 100-year old Klamath Project.
So, the farmers are in a world of hurt. Many have obtained
contracts with Frito Lay and other companies to grow vegetables. Then obtained
bank loans, because the infrastructure for farming is broad and expensive.
Project farmers received no water in April and about two weeks worth in May.
Early thunderstorms actually helped out, but any crops that are still viable
are in drastic need of irrigation.
Typically, Jim said agriculture is an annual $557 million
economy in the Klamath basin.
Farmers in the Klamath Project grow barley, wheat, oats,
alfalfa, grass hay, cereal grain, grain hay, potatoes, strawberry nursery plants,
onions, mint, horseradish, micro-green lettuce, carrots and carrot plants to
produce seeds.
Jim explained the multiplier of how every job in agriculture
creates six additional jobs in the community. Literally, with the government
and the Klamath Tribes shutting-off the water, the impact will be over a
billion in economic losses!
I reported on the 2001 water shut-off. Concerned people from
the Pacific Northwest, including Siskiyou Co., participated in the Bucket
Brigade on May 7, 2001. It is estimated nearly 20,000 went to Klamath Falls,
lined the streets and hand-over-hand delivered buckets of water from Lake
Ewauna more than a mile where it was dumped into the A Canal. According to
federal decree, it was illegal for the A Canal to have any water in it, so this
was a direct protest to the feds. CA. Dist. 1 Congressman Wally Herger and
Siskiyou Co. Supervisors participated and were the first ones to dump the
buckets of water into A Canal – and were not arrested.
Life in the Klamath basin has been uncertain for nearly 20
years.
I truly believe there is enough stored water, even in natural
droughts, to provide for the suckers (demanded by Klamath Tribes) and the
farmers. It is behind-the-scenes politics of hidden powerful dictators that are
destroying the farmers and economy. Again, when the water is withheld from the
farmers, it also destroys vast acreages of the environment greatly affecting
wildlife. Where is the outrage by enviros?
The situation is beyond dire and boggles any sense of
understanding.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in
newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near
Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com
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