| SAN FRANCISCO -- A group of farmers and a San Francisco land
trust offered Tuesday to sell land to the federal government
to resolve a crisis that has roiled the Klamath Basin since
the Bureau of Reclamation shut off irrigation water to the
region to protect endangered fish.
The offer follows a week of civil disobedience by angry
farmers and their supporters, who forced open the headgates at
Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon three times to release water into
the basin's canal system. Local authorities made no arrests.
Under the plan presented to the Klamath County (Ore.)
Commission, 22,000 acres now farmed under lease in two
national wildlife refuges would be removed from commercial
agriculture, and at least as much land would be sold.
The deal hinges on legislation authorizing an estimated
$200 million to buy the land.
In April, the federal government announced it was cutting
off water from Upper Klamath Lake for the first time since the
210,000- acre reclamation project was created. |