[center][b][size=6]Willie Nelson Aids Klamath Farmers [/b][/size=6][/center]
Jo McIntyre, CNSNews.com
Friday, Aug. 10, 2001
The battle over Klamath Basin has just ratcheted up a couple of notches. FarmAid and its founder, Willie Nelson, Thursday announced their support of the Klamath Basin Foundation, the umbrella organization formed to coordinate Klamath Basin activities.
"He has interjected himself formally," said Marty Macy, treasurer of the foundation. "FarmAid scrutinized the foundation," before deciding to lend support.
In a story that has captured national interest, farmers and ranchers irrigating from the Klamath Basin Project on April 6 were devastated by a court order to shut off their irrigation water for the entire growing season to save water to preserve two species of suckerfish and Coho salmon.
Now, the Klamath Water Foundation has formed to unite those farmers with retail and other community entities that are all working to obtain and sustain secure, stable irrigation water within the Klamath Basin, which is near the Oregon/California state line.
The umbrella group will facilitate networking among all the groups in the basin, while each group will retain its individual autonomy and pursue its own special endeavors.
"I'm very excited about it," said Macy, a Tulelake agricultural pilot and farmer, retired Marine Corps jet fighter pilot and son of a WWII homesteader. "We're in this for the long term."
The foundation is a positive step that will help people in the Klamath Project on both sides of the border. The organization is necessary to help coordinate all of the legal and communication efforts going on in the area now.
"What we have is an issue that's got out of control. Everybody is trying to find a roadmap to work their way out of this," he said, including federal agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation. The project covers 200,000 acres in Modoc and Siskiyou counties in California and Klamath County in Oregon.
"We support every effort that has been made," Macy said. "There are great Americans at the headgates. There were great Americans at the hearings and at the Bucket Brigade."
Protesting farmers opened the headgates several times before being ousted by U.S. marshals. After a stint of guard duty by a 15-member U.S. Park Police detachment, nine armed Bureau of Land Management rangers are guarding the gates.
Copyright CNSNews.com
[center][size=5][b][blue] GO WILLIE[/size=5][/b][/blue][/center]