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"Be the change you wish to see in the world" ~Mohandas Gandhi
"Our lives begin and end the day we become silent about things that matter" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Originally Posted: April 2, 2013
FROM Oregon Wild
ACTION
Please contact Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and urge
them to support wildlife by directing the Bureau of Reclamation to provide
enough water to maintain vital wetlands in the National Wildlife Refuges.
Please take action now before the spring migration season gets underway, and
the current Klamath crisis goes from being a critical situation to a
disaster for wildlife.
Sign an online petition (copy/paste URL into your browser):
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1780/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12678
And/or better yet, make direct contact:
Jeff Merkley
US Senate
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C., 20510
phone DC (202) 224-3753
fax DC (202) 228-3997
phone Oregon (503)274-4439
[email protected]
online contact form:
http://www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/
Ron Wyden
U.S. Senate
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C., 20510
phone DC (202) 224-5244
fax DC (202) 228-2717
phone Oregon (503) 326-7525
online contact form:
http://www.wyden.senate.gov/contact
INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS
Wildlife in the Klamath Basin are in trouble again, this time because the
Bureau of Reclamation is once again imposing a man-made drought on Lower
Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges.
Forecasters are predicting a low water year this summer, but rather than
asking agribusiness in the massive Klamath Irrigation Project to conserve,
the Bureau is cutting water for wetlands and the wildlife which depend on
them.
Please contact Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and urge them to support
wildlife by directing the Bureau of Reclamation to provide enough water to
maintain vital wetlands in the National Wildlife Refuges.
Migratory birds and waterfowl have been using Oregon's Klamath Basin for
thousands of years, and have always relied upon an abundant supply of water
in the area's marshes to rest, recharge, and nest. As a key component of the
Pacific Flyway, our region is fortunate to have this amazing natural
treasure within its borders.
Unfortunately, the Klamath is facing another in a series of needless crises
and drought-related emergencies, as the Bureau of Reclamation is once again
slashing water flows to the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife
Refuges in order to maintain an unsustainable level of pumping to support
commercial agribusiness in the massive Klamath Irrigation Project.
Senator Wyden and Senator Merkley, please contact the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and the Obama administration, and urge them to provide
life-giving water for Klamath Basin wildlife in 2013. They should not impose
another man-made drought on wildlife this year. A number of mechanisms exist
to help with this, from the Water Bank program which currently exists to
help private irrigation in the basin, to starting a voluntary program where
farmers can forgo their water rights to help wildlife.
In the long term, we need to recognize too much water has been promised to
too many different interests in the Klamath Basin, and there is simply not
enough to meet all of the demands. I urge you to start work immediately on
legislation to create a program to allow responsible landowners to
voluntarily sell their water rights at fair market value, so more of this
life-giving resource can be made available for wildlife, salmon, and other
irrigators.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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