| The United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency will
begin making payments of $129 per acre to Klamath Basin landowners as a
part of the Klamath Basin Water Conservation Program.
The payments are being made to owners and producers of irrigated land
who did not receive expected deliveries of federally owned irrigation
water during the past crop year.
In return for the money, owners agree to promote water conservation
methods on their land. Owners and operators may elect the water
conservation measures that best fit their needs.
More than 1,110 producers signed up 160,116 acres of land between
September 10th and October 19th. The average size of the properties that
will receive program money is 75 acres.
In all, approximately $20 million dollars will be distributed by the
conservation program.
For more information, contact the Siskiyou County USDA Farm Service
Agency office at (530) 842-6123.
On Thursday, Assemblyman Dick Dickerson traveled to Tulelake with the
Office of Emergency Services to distribute $8 million in relief checks.
Dickerson was able to secure the $8 million dollars relief package during
the 2001-2002 budget negotiations.
The relief checks consist of the following:
Reimbursement of the Operations Management Budget for the Tulelake
Irrigation District ($3 million)
Job, mortgage, rent and utility assistance program ($2 million)
Livestock feed and weed control program ($700,000)
Waterfowl grain program ($500,000)
Funding provided to the city of Tulelake to improve water quality
from the city well ($600,000)
Tulelake Community/Youth Center -- Tulelake Community Partnership
($650,000)
"I am happy to provide the funds to the Klamath Basin and was
pleased that we were able to provide direct payments to the basin without
paying for needless studies and administration fees," Dickerson said. |