Election Section
Group again tries to open irrigation canal head gate
KLAMATH FALLS – About 10 men used a crowbar to partially open a canal head gate at the Klamath irrigation project on Friday, the fourth time someone has tried to release water that is being held back by federal officials to protect endangered and threatened fish.
A police car drove up to the head gate, but the officers took no immediate action against the men who had pried open a door of the head gate — even though those men were breaking federal law.
“The only thing that we are going to investigate is any kind of violence. Outside of that, we won’t do anything. I’m just here to take a look,” said Sgt. James Hunter.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation indicated that federal officials worry that moving against anyone who tries to force open the head gate could lead to violence.
“Once we feel we can send our bureau employees there without any potential concerns for their safety, we will move ahead” and close the partially opened head gate, said Jeff McCracken, public affairs spokesman for the BLM, which has authority over the head gate.
He said the BLM had been in close contact with local, state and federal law enforcement about how to respond to Friday’s protest — which had been announced earlier in the week.
In a sign of a split between the farmers, some had said they would protect the gate to conserve water for next year rather than waste it now on a symbolic act.
Klamath Sheriff Tim Evinger said he had recommended federal authorities help these farmers protect the head gate. When no officials arrived, the farmers protecting the gate left, he said.
“I am frustrated with federal officials who didn’t act as I had recommended,” Evinger said.
Other farmers said they had planned to open the gate all along. Bennie Diaz, an 81-year-old alfalfa farmer, explained: “I was protecting it so I could open it later.”
On Friday afternoon, people in the group near the head gate said a brief prayer, and then announced they were going to open the gates.
One man walked behind a shack and picked up a crowbar. Then he and some others took turns using it to turn gears on one of six doors on the head gate.
They were able to open the head gate door, and some water flowed through, but not enough to be of any relief to farmers’ fields.
