Hutchinson, Cox, Coons & DuPriest
STEPHEN A. HUTCHINSON, ESQ. (OR
Bar #67053)
DOUGLAS M. DuPRIEST, ESQ. (OR Bar #77168)
777 High Street, Suite 200
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Telephone: (541) 686-9160
Facsimile: (541) 343-8693
Somach,
Simmons & Dunn
A Professional Corporation
STUART L. SOMACH, ESQ. (CA Bar #090959; Pro Hac Vice)
PAUL S. SIMMONS, ESQ. (OR Bar #97138; CA Bar #127920)
JOHN A. MENDEZ, ESQ. (CA Bar #95450; Pro Hac Vice)
400 Capitol Mall, Suite 1900
Sacramento, California 95814
Telephone: (916) 446-7979
Facsimile: (916) 446-8199
WILLIAM M. GANONG, ESQ. (OR Bar
#78213)
514 Walnut Street
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97601
Telephone: (541) 882-7228
Facsimile: (541) 883-1923
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
UNITED
STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR
THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
STEVEN LEWIS KANDRA; DAVID CACKA;
)
Case No.
KLAMATH IRRIGATION DISTRICT; TULELAKE
)
IRRIGATION DISTRICT, and KLAMATH WATER
)
USERS ASSOCIATION,
)
DECLARATION OF
) STEVEN L.
KANDRA IN
Plaintiffs,
) SUPPORT
OF PLAINTIFFS’
) MOTION
FOR
v.
)
PRELIMINARY
) INJUNCTION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; GALE NORTON,
)
Secretary of the Interior, DON EVANS, Secretary of
)
EXPEDITED HEARING
Commerce,
)
REQUESTED
)
Defendants.
)
REQUEST FOR
)
ORAL ARGUMENT
I, Steven Lewis Kandra, declare as
follows:
1.
I am a field crops farmer living at Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon with
my spouse and partner of over 25 years Nancy Lynn Kandra.
My grandfather, Lewis Stephen Kandra, arrived in the Klamath Basin about
1911, and patented a homestead on Lower Klamath Lake, Siskiyou County,
California in 1916. I am the third generation that has continuously farmed and
irrigated the land where I now reside.
2.
I farm 460 acres near Merrill, Oregon, within Klamath Irrigation
District, and 530 acres at Tule Lake, California, contained within Westside
Improvement District (WID). I am
the President of the Board for both Districts.
All farmlands are served under contracts with the Klamath Project, United
States Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation).
I have documentation that the Oregon lands were served by a private ditch
company, under Oregon law, before the Klamath Project existed. The California farmlands are lands created by Congressional
settlement, the Colonial Reality Act of 1933, and guaranteed irrigation water by
that settlement. All farmlands
have paid out the Project construction cost assigned to them and there is no
debt owed to the United States.
3.
There are Reclamation structures and facilities located on my property,
the “D” Pumping Plant tunnel entrance, by easement, which provide
significant benefit for the Klamath Project and Tule Lake and Lower Klamath
National Wildlife Refuges. The
easement restricts development of the property, but I am still obligated for
taxes and other assessments. Flood
protection and irrigation delivery are the only compensations received from the
United States for use of the property.
4.
Nancy and I have purchased the WID land from my widowed mother, Dorothy
R. Kandra, via contract that she holds. Dorothy
now suffers from dementia and requires assisted care and living.
If there is no irrigation water, I will not be able to service my debt
obligation to Dorothy, and the property will have little value for others.
Dorothy’s continued care and dignity relies on my ability to irrigate
and produce crops on that land.
5.
470 Acres of my farm are planted to perennial alfalfa,
planted stands last five to
eight
years. Without irrigation most of
those alfalfa stands will die this summer and I will lose the capital investment
of establishment and future income. My alfalfa is unsubsidized and is in
considerable demand to California and Oregon dairies. I have customers and contracts that I have served for nearly
20 years. If I do not produce this
year, I will become an unreliable source of commodities, and expect to lose
those customers. Without irrigation
water the diminished productivity of my farm will not service tax, mortgage, and
production loan obligations. I will
be forced to liquidate or surrender property to creditors and seek other means
of financial support.
6.
I am a charter member of the Upper Klamath Basin Working group, created
by Federal legislation to guide Basin ecosystem restoration efforts. I
am also a charter member of the Klamath Basin Ecosystem Foundation, a private
entity that facilitates ecosystem restoration.
I have been cooperative and productive in working towards ecosystem
restorations. I have given hundreds
of hours of service to committee work and project selection to enhance our
ecosystem. I had been promised by US Fish and Wildlife staff, that later became
the authors of the April 6, 2001 Biological Opinion for Ongoing
Klamath Project Operations, that restoration efforts would provide water
supply relief for Project water users. I
proceeded in good faith and trust, and consider that faith and trust was
violated by a plan that provides no water for irrigation.
7.
My farm provides forage for tens of thousands of migrating waterfowl each
year. If I do not irrigate, that
food for birds will not be available. The
Refuge is only a small part of the support system needed to sustain migratory
waterfowl and their Bald Eagle predators. The irrigation canals and drains of
the Klamath Project are heavily utilized by waterfowl and become increasingly
important habitat as drought conditions prevail throughout the Western flyway.
8.
My communities of Merrill, Malin, and Tulelake rely on irrigated
agriculture. I am an Elder of the
First Presbyterian Church of Merrill whose food distribution and intervention
programs exist through donations from the farming businesses.
I am member and past president of the Tulelake Rotary Club, a majority of
members who are agri-business persons, and we are already seeing an adverse
impact on our ability to sustain our community service and college scholarship
programs. The City Council of
Merrill has initiated discussions of deferring improvements to a wastewater
plant because of the uncertainty of the economic base.
9.
I have been forced to lay off all of my employees, half who are Hispanic.
Half of the students in our local public schools are Hispanic, most with
parents who have jobs associated with agriculture.
The Hispanic community would be a group severely impacted by the lack of
irrigation water.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and
correct. Executed this ___ day of
April, 2001 at Merrill, Oregon.
___________________________________
Steven L. Kandra