The BulleTin • Sunday, May 23, 2021 A5
Continued from A4
“We’ll know at the end of
the season, depending on the
yields and price, but we’re defi-
nitely not going to be able to
cover all the bills,” he said.
Scott Seus, of Seus Family
Farms in Tulelake, said he is
working with his neighbors to
stretch every drop of ground-
water they can.
PVC pipe is in short supply
around the basin as farmers
buy up what they can to deliver
water from wells to fields with
higher-value crops like garlic,
mint and onions.
Onion planting is now
underway, with fewer acres
available to farm, Seus said.
Processors buy onions in the
Klamath Basin which they de-
hydrate to use in things such as
soup mixes, ketchup and salad
dressing. Farmers risk losing
those contracts if they can’t de-
liver.
“I think everybody is
just trying to find their way
through this the best they can,”
Seus said. “This is an extreme
situation. We’re making tough
decisions where we need to
make them.”
Supplemental water right
Only the Klamath Drain-
Holly Dillemuth/For the Capital Press
The canal carrying irrigation water to the Klamath Project is at a standstill after the U.S. Bureau of Reclama-
tion cut off water earlier this month.
age District has received any
water from the Klamath River
system in 2021, exercising a
supplemental water right with
the state dating back to 1977.
Two other irrigation districts,
the Langell Valley and Horse-
Bachelor
Continued from A1
“Cascade views from Mt. Bache-
lor overlooking Broken Top and the
Three Sisters are stunning, and we
look forward to offering this unique
alpine mountain experience to locals
and visitors in the near future,” Mc-
Leod shared in a prepared statement.
McLeod said the ski resort has
been working with the U.S. Forest
Service for several years on the vi-
sion and approval of the 5.5-mile
Mt. Bachelor Summit Hiking Trail.
The Forest Service, which allows the
resort to operate on its land under a
special use permit, recently finished
an environmental analysis and for-
mally approved the plans.
“Our environmental analysis
is completed on it,” said Jean Nel-
son-Dean, spokesperson for the
fly districts, are also part of
the Klamath Project, but rely
exclusively on water from the
Lost River system.
Scott White, KDD manager,
said the district is diverting 42
cubic feet of water per second
Deschutes National Forest. “We are
expecting that they would do some
construction activities this summer
after the snow melts off.”
The 5.5-mile trail would connect
Pine Marten Lodge near the sum-
mit and the West Village at the base.
From the Pine Marten Lodge, the
trail would go toward the Outback
chairlift and then down to the West
Village.
The proposed snow cat trail would
be built from the top of the Sunrise
lift to the top of the Carnival ski run
to allow the snow-grooming equip-
ment to reach the beginner ski runs.
McLeod said the hiking trail will
incorporate historical landmarks
and interpretive signs. Most of the
trail will be suitable for hikers of all
abilities, he said.
Hikers will also have the option
to take the Pine Marten chairlift,
— 8% of its permitted rate —
into the North Canal, south of
Klamath Falls.
The diversions, which began
in April, drew a sharp rebuke
from the Bureau of Reclama-
tion, which ordered the district
to immediately stop or be ex-
empt from federal emergency
drought funding. White has
asserted the district is doing
nothing wrong.
“Whenever Project water is
curtailed, we exercise this per-
mit,” he said. “This is no dif-
ferent than any other drought
year.”
In its announcement shut-
ting down the A Canal, the
bureau cited both drought
and “unauthorized diversions
at private facilities along the
Klamath River and Upper
Klamath Lake,” though it did
not call out KDD by name. A
spokeswoman for the agency
did not return messages for
comment.
“We can only assume that
they acknowledge our rights as
being legal,” White said. “We
have certainly asserted that our
(diversions) are not illegal.”
KDD’s supplemental wa-
ter right applies to just under
20,000 acres of private land
within the district. DuVal, with
the Klamath Water Users As-
sociation, said that while he
does not necessarily like it, he
does not blame KDD for tak-
ing advantage of supplemental
water.
“I don’t think there’s any re-
Submitted photo
“We know what a zero allocation
is going to mean to our individ-
ual farms and the community as
a whole,” said Ben DuVal, who
grows alfalfa hay and raises cattle
near Tulelake, California.
sentment in the community
for them trying to survive,” he
said.
The bigger fear, DuVal
said, is outsider and extremist
groups coming into the com-
munity and using the Klamath
Project’s crisis as a soapbox for
their own agenda.
“We don’t need that,” he said.
“It’s the people in this commu-
nity who live and farm here
whose voices need to be heard.”
which runs seven days a week in the
summer, to reduce the total hiking
distance or change the experience,
McLeod said.
The trail will also be a good option
for spontaneous hikers who did not
obtain permits to hike in nearby ar-
eas in the Deschutes National Forest,
McLeod added.
Nelson-Dean said the new trail
loop will be a major benefit for the
national forest since it could draw
more people from the surrounding
wilderness areas who are seeing a
high volume of hikers.
“The big thing is getting some
more trails,” Nelson-Dean said. “Get-
ting some higher elevation trails on
Mt. Bachelor will help relieve some
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin file
pressure on some of our wilderness
“Cascade views from Mt. Bachelor overlooking Broken Top and the Three Sisters are stun-
areas.”
ning, and we look forward to offering this unique alpine mountain experience to locals
e e
Reporter: 541-617-7820,
kspurr@bendbulletin.com
and visitors in the near future,” said John McLeod, president and general manager of Mt.
Bachelor ski area.