Federal officials open headgates to irrigate Klamath Basin farms

(Klamath Falls-AP) -- Two cabinet secretaries in charge of the
country's natural resources and public lands opened the main water diversion canal in the Klamath Basin today.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann
Veneman cranked open irrigation headgates as farmers, Indian tribe members and conservationists looked on.
Water rushed through the headgates and toward farmers' fields for the first time since last summer. They were closed when federal biologists said continued water draw-down in a time of severe drought would harm endangered sucker fish in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River.
The federal decision cut off water to about a thousand Klamath
area farmers that use it to irrigate fields of wheat, potatoes and
other crops.
Environmentalists are cautioning that giving farmers as much
water as they need might mean that there won't be enough for fish or wildlife.