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Now in the 22nd year of a megadrought, extreme conditions are raising tensions across the West. In southern Oregon, a crippling lack of water in the Klamath basin is causing immense die-offs of birds and endangered fish. For the first time, managers of the federal Klamath Project—a 114-year old series of dams and canals—have informed water users that parts of the system will run dry, inflaming decades-long conflicts and increasing fears of armed insurrection by anti-government extremists.
Native American tribes have long depended on harvesting species of salmon and sucker in the Klamath basin, populations of which have plummeted as the government seized and sold their land, leading to eventual designations on the Endangered Species List. Twenty years ago, amidst unprecedented drought conditions, federal water managers implemented supply cutbacks to protect the fish and surrounding ecosystems, leading armed ranchers to storm public lands and physically force open irrigation headgates. While U.S. Marshals eventually took control of the facility, tribal members faced increasing threats of physical violence, and three men were charged with going on a racist shooting spree in a local town.
Now, nearby ranchers have purchased land directly adjacent to federal irrigation headgates in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and are inviting infamous anti-government extremist Ammon Bundy to join their cause in stoking a violent uprising. Not all local stakeholders are pleased with the idea of an armed insurrection. "Those idiots, they have no business being here," said Ben Duval, president of the Klamath Water Users Association. "I don’t want them here. I’d say 95% of us are reasonable, and ... we don’t want them to take this crisis in our community and use it as a soapbox to push their agenda. And that’s what they’re looking for. They’re looking for a stage."
Increasingly, though, some ranchers and community members are feeling emboldened after members of the Bundy family were acquitted on charges stemming from their armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and armed standoff with federal agents over cattle illegally grazing on public lands. Unfortunately, with a hot and dry summer forecast, tensions are only expected to grow.
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