Klamath Basin

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For 100 years, the federal Bureau of Reclamation has been promising to dole out water from dams and canals in the Klamath Basin that straddles the California-Oregon border. There are 700 claims on the water from farmers, Native Americans, and wildlife, totaling eight times more than there is water to use. This year, a disaster-in-the-making became reality with the worst drought in local history. Now, although farmers are finally getting some water, it may be too little too late. We update a story as old as the West, with an Oregon grower, an environmental advocate and federal water manager.
  • Reporter's Notebook:Harry Bridges' 100th Birthday - A Celebration of the Wharf Rat Unionizer The late Harry Bridges, reviled as a Communist for 21 years, built the Longshoremen's Union into a West Coast power. Actor Ian Ruskin, who heads the Harry Bridges Project, will portray Bridges in the one-man show, From Wharf Rats to Lord of the Docks. He celebrates the defiant union organizer on what would have been his 100th birthday. (KCRW will air the one-man show on Thursday and Friday, July 26-27 in place of this program.)

Endangered Species Act of 1973

Klamath County's Bureau of Reclamation

Klamath Water Users Association

Oregon Natural Resources Council

Oregon Wheat Growers League

Harry Bridges Project

International Longshoremen's Association

Credits

Host:

Warren Olney

Producer:

Frances Anderton