Klamath irrigation shutoffs for ranchers begin

During past droughts, ranchers in the upper Klamath Basin could keep irrigating until the rivers ran dry. This year, the rules have changed. The Klamath Tribes have been formally recognized by the state as having the oldest water rights in the region and they are demanding they be enforced on behalf of endangered fish that the tribes hold sacred. Watermasters on Wednesday started going ranch to ranch along the Sprague River and its tributaries notifying them they had to stop irrigating, because their water rights were junior to the tribes’, said Douglas Woodcock, field services administrator for the state Water Resources Department. And under time-honored water law, first in time is first in right. “It’s painful,” said Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribes. “But we have to protect our resources and really make sure our water rights are enforced.” Woodcock said it was not yet clear whether all the irrigators drawing from the Sprague have to be shut off. It will take the next week and a half to make all the notifications. Shutoffs on the Wood and Williamson rivers are to follow...more