www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20100809/BUSINESS/8090328

Visalia Times-Delta

Tulare Advance-Register

Don Curlee • Agriculture • August 9, 2010

An incident involving ranchers defending their rights to water has shown how important it is for farmers to unite, speak up, speak out and speak often.

It occurred at the end of May in the Siskiyou County town of Etna, located in the northwest corner of California. Water rights are extremely important to the cattle- and hay producers in that area, who rely on the Scott River for irrigation water. Some of them are third- to fifth-generation occupants of their farms.

Fish interests in the Scott River are represented by a number of state and federal agencies, but primarily by the California Department of Fish and Game.

Recent tightening of the restrictions on water withdrawals from the Scott River proposed by Fish and Game has caused resentment and resistance within the farm community.

The strong feeling among farmers has reached the point of legal action. The California Farm Bureau is suing the Department of Fish and Game and other government agencies, contending that the recent rule-tightening encroaches on and violates traditional water rights of the landowners.

The May workshop was to be at least the third conducted by Fish and Game to explain and discuss the tightened regulations and explain how to apply for water diversion permits under its revised procedure. The landowners, folks the government agencies like to refer to as stakeholders, had digested and discussed the new restrictions as presented in earlier meetings, many of them describing the changes as draconian and overbearing.

The department established an early June deadline for the landowners to apply for the new permits, and the May 27 workshop was the agency's final attempt to answer questions about the permit process.

E-mails and other communications among the landowners encouraged an enthusiastic turnout at the workshop, some mentioning civil disobedience and protest. It appeared that an overwhelming crowd of 400 might attend.

With resistance to the updated rulings boiling over into the entire community, the department's Regional Director Mark Stouffer canceled the workshop at the last minute, judging that little would be accomplished in a hostile setting.

Learning of the cancellation as they arrived for the meeting, the stakeholders found a location close by for a meeting of their own to discuss and review the regulations. Reports from that meeting have not been widely circulated.

Order has not been totally disrupted in Etna, though feelings on the water issue are running high. It is widely understood that the landowners are tightly organized against the revised procedures for diverting water. Interest is high in the lawsuit that represents their position, but a court decision is not expected for months, perhaps years.

Water rights are not the only privileges strongly defended in Siskiyou County.

It is the heart of The State of Jefferson, a designation upgraded in recent years to the Nation of Jefferson.

Secession is lovingly guarded there as a logical and necessary action when circumstances demand. The action and attitude of the Department of Fish and Game come close to meeting the criteria.

Farmers elsewhere in California have grievances against overpowering regulations and restrictive controls, often related to water. Many of them have enjoyed water rights from a time before anybody even suggested that fish and other critters have rights to the water.

The Siskiyou occurrence can be a rallying occasion for them, and for their rights. But they will need to do as they did in Etna, erupt with an organized voice. It won't hurt if their position is supported by legal action.

* Don Curlee is a freelance writer who
specializes in agricultural issues. Write to
him at Don Curlee-Public Relations, 457
Armstrong Ave., Clovis, CA 93612.