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Online Stock Market Trading Conservation groups went to court Tuesday arguing that wildlife must take priority over farming on national wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin, where an overtapped water supply has often pitted one against the other.

The fight in the Klamath Basin, a fertile mix of farms and wildlife refuges straddling the border of Oregon and California, erupted in earnest during last year's drought. In April, federal regulators announced steep irrigation cuts, diverting water to help two rare suckerfish species in Upper Klamath Lake and the threatened coho salmon downstream. In a tense, long showdown, rights advocates rushed into Klamath to support farmers in the basin, which suffered a $ million economic loss.

Stock Investing Course The farming allowed on the refuges soaks up water needed by millions of waterfowl, eagles and other birds that pass through the basin each year, the groups say. They contend the Bush administration undid a plan that would have supplied water to crops on the refuges only in wet years when wildlife needs could be met first.

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Stock Market Game "They're not potato refuges, they're wildlife refuges," said Jay Ward, conservation director at the Oregon Natural Resources Council, one of the groups that filed the suit.

Klamath Lake Blue Green algae is harvested directly from the clean, rich waters of Klamath lake. take capsule form.

Stock Investing Game Many of the groups have advocated scaling back farming across the Klamath Basin to reduce the intense demand for water, which boiled over last year when the federal government's decision to provide water to endangered species left farmers with little irrigation water.

The most popular place to enjoy south Florida%š ecosystem is the J.N. %Òing% Darling National Wildlife Refuge, named after an editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes. Darling was an early pioneer for wildlife conservation and director of the U.S. Biological Survey, the predecessor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He was responsible for vastly increasing the acreage of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Journal Prime Rate Street Wall Refuge manager Phil Norton said that as much as he wants a stable water supply for the wildlife refuges and their wetlands, their position at the bottom of the basin's contentious water hierarchy leaves them little leverage. They depend on farmers to pass water on for wildlife, he said, and alienating farmers by trying to restrict farming on the refuges will jeopardize that connection.

Stock Market News In the 1964 Kuchel Act, Congress allowed farming within the refuges as long as it is consistent with the "major purpose of waterfowl management." About one-tenth of the roughly 200,000 acres of refuges in the basin are devoted to commercial crops, including row crops such as potatoes.

Stock Investing Basics Local farmers say the crops contribute to the basin's agricultural economy while also providing some food for wildlife. Some fields are farmed by cooperative arrangements in which farmers leave some of the crop behind for birds to eat.

Stock Investing Software Environmental groups acknowledge that grains with low water needs may be an important food source for hungry waterfowl. But they say it is inconsistent with the purpose of the refuges to route millions of gallons of water to commercial crops when critical wetlands remain dry, as many have this year.

Stock Market Trading The lawsuit filed Tuesday asks the court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the refuges, to "modify or eliminate" agricultural practices within the refuges to comply with their mission of serving wildlife.

Stock Investing For Dummy In 1999, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a policy to permit lease-land farming only if there was enough water to meet wildlife needs first. But Norton said opposition from the agricultural community showed it would be counterproductive to enforce such a limit, which still would not assure the refuges of water.

Stock Market Crash Courts have held that Klamath Basin water is allocated first to meet endangered species' needs, second for Native American tribes and the wildlife they depend on, third for farmers in the Klamath Project and fourth for wildlife refuges that depend on farm runoff for much of their water.

Stock Investing Tip Working with farmers is the best way to ensure sufficient water for the refuges, Norton said. "To me the issue here is a lack of water, it's not the lease lands. We've got to look at what's going to best help the wildlife."

Stock Market Chart The refuges and farmers are embarking on a more expensive process called "sump rotation," in which land can be alternated between farming and wildlife use.

Online Stock Investing By Michael Milstein
The Oregonian - 10/30/2002

Topic: US Fish and Wildlife Service

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