July 24, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Water flows!
For once a non-decision was a good decision. On July 20,
2018, Judge William H. Orrick, did not make a decision regarding the Klamath
Tribe’s lawsuit against the Klamath Bureau of Reclamation. Because no decision
was made, legally-stored irrigation water is still flowing to more than 1,200
Klamath Project farmers. Jacqui Krizo, who grows organic horseradish in
Tulelake, confirmed in an email to me that water is flowing. She is thankful!
Brandon Criss, Siskiyou Co. Supervisor for Dist. 1, attended
the hearing in the U.S. District Court of California down in San Francisco.
Much of the Tulelake area in the Klamath Bureau of Reclamation Project is in
his district. Brandon told me there is even more good news. First the judge
said he believes the lawsuit is in the wrong court. Because the Klamath Tribe
demands more water must be stored in Oregon’s Upper Klamath Lake for ESA-listed
sucker fish, the lawsuit should have been filed in the state of Oregon not
California.
But, even better is the opinion the judge gave regarding the
science and oral arguments for storing an additional foot of water on the lake --
than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Biological Opinion states the suckers
need. Apparently, the Tribe has to prove a very high standard, before an
injunction could stop irrigation water to the Klamath Project farmers. Judge
Orrick said the scientific argument does not reach that standard.
Brandon said that Modoc Co. Supervisor, Geri Byrne, attended
the hearing along with several dozen very concerned Klamath Project farmers. The
prospect of loss of water for irrigation in the 220,000 acres of the U.S.
established Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project (specifically to grow food
for the nation) has been a problem for over 20 years. The 2001 irrigation water
shut-off by the Biological Opinion of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for
ESA-listed sucker fish was devastating and destroyed businesses throughout the
Klamath basin communities.
Last week, I discussed the Amicus Curiae “Friend of the
Court” brief that counties of Siskiyou, Modoc and Klamath filed along with the
Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma. It did prove to be helpful with additional scientific facts;
and Brandon said several farmers specifically thanked our county for its
support.
Klamath dams
The Siskiyou Co. Supervisors held a special meeting to update
the public on their work to save the Klamath dams slated for destruction by the
non-profit Klamath River Renewal Corp in 2021. The meeting was held at the
Montague Community Hall on a very hot July 17th evening with about
70 attending. Board Chairman, Ray Haupt, introduced three individuals that work
for SWCA Environmental Consultants as scientists and experts in administrative
technical procedures. SWCA’s mission is to partner with clients (Siskiyou Co.)
to achieve sound science on projects that affect the environment. They are a
nation-wide company with expertise in California Environmental Quality Act and
Environmental Impact Reports; including the correct surrender process by Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission.
One of the consultants is recently retired from working for
PacifiCorp. To our good, he worked on the Condit dam that was destroyed several
years ago in Washington. He has personal knowledge and stats regarding the
problems that dam removal created including home owners’ wells going dry. He is
not afraid to use that info and science to aid Siskiyou Co. in working to save
the four Klamath River hydro-electric dams.
Much discussion from the public pointed out the need to
retain the reservoirs, which were used earlier this month on the Klamathon Fire
for fire suppression and public safety. There is no way KRRC can realistically
replace the availability of water in the
reservoirs.
Ruffey Rancheria
Last Friday night, I was watching the KTVL Channel 10 News
and was shocked by one news article. It referred to the Ruffey Rancheria near
Etna, which our Dist. 1 CA. Congressman Doug LaMalfa has introduced as a bill,
in the House, to restore the designation of the 1961 wrongfully-terminated
Ruffey Rancheria.
What caught my
attention was a Karuk Tribal representative, who was interviewed, making
completely false statements. The most blatant was that there is no known
occupation of anyone living on the Ruffey Rancheria. What? My family knew the
Ruffeys. We have several fun stories about Pete Ruffey, who my mom referred to
as “gentlemanly.” And that was in the days when there was not a good attitude towards
Native Americans.
I called the news station and spoke with a woman who
answered. I told her that my family knew several Ruffeys. I know where they
lived and it was less than a mile from my childhood home. Pete Ruffey was born
in the 1890s and he had several sisters and brothers.
My grandfather, George Dillman, served as Etna Town Marshal
from 1943 to 1959. Part of his job was to check the Etna water system. Every
day he drove his pickup (it was also his official marshal vehicle) up several
miles above Etna on Sawyers Bar Road to check the intake-line for the Etna
water supply from Etna Creek. It is the city’s legal water right. Quite often,
Pete Ruffey would be hiking to or from Etna and Grandpa would give him a ride.
I have always known about the Ruffeys. Etna and the entire
Scott Valley area was heavily populated with documented Shasta Indian villages.
It is also known that Konomihu Shasta Indian Queen Brazille was born at the
Shasta Indian village, where the Ruffey Rancheria was later established. Queen
Brazille was born in the early 1800s.
Garden
Never have I had this happen to a zucchini plant. It was
attacked by aphids. When I realized just how thick the black bugs were on the
underside of the giant leaves, I quickly made an organic solution of 2 tsp dish
soap, a small dollop of vinegar and filled a more-than-quart-size spray bottle
full of warm water. I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. Then, I sprayed the
neighboring zucchini plant leaves that were just getting the aphids and also
cucumber leaves on the other side. The next day, the originally-infected
zucchini plant looked worse. I didn’t want it to continue infecting the
neighboring plants, so I took the grubbing hoe and quickly dug it up and took
it out to the dry weed pile.
These plants have been producing somewhat slowly, but I have
picked 10 or more zucchinis. I will make another batch of the organic mixture
and do more spraying on the other zucchini plant and cuc leaves. Hopefully,
they will survive. Yes, there are ants in the garden and they like to harvest
aphids. I usually lose a cabbage or broccoli plant to the aphids, but have
never had them cover a zucchini plant.
Canceled
Tonight’s Yreka Tea Party Patriots’ meeting is canceled and
the Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting for Thursday night is also canceled.
Stay home and try to be cool!
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
# # #
No comments:
Post a Comment