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<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Letters to the
Editor<BR><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Fresno</st1:place></st1:City> Bee<BR>June 3, 2008<BR></SPAN><FONT
face=Verdana size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dear Sir or
Madam,<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Verdana size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Westlands
Water District manager Tom Birmingham predicted in the Bee June 3 that some
Westlands growers would go broke this year as a result of cutbacks in <st1:place
w:st="on">Northern California</st1:place> water supplies due, mostly, to a very
dry spring.<BR> Perhaps <st1:City
w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:City> can get the hard luck Westlands growers jobs at
the exclusive Bollibokka fishing resort in <st1:place w:st="on">Northern
California</st1:place> which the Westlands district purchased a few months ago
for $35 million.<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Verdana size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Lloyd
Carter<BR><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">2863 Everglade
Ave.</st1:address></st1:Street><BR><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Clovis</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">93619</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><BR>(559)
304-5412<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Verdana size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><BR></SPAN></FONT> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"></SPAN></FONT></B> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"></SPAN></FONT></B> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Farmers vs. Fish
Amid the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> Drought
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">TIME-
6/12/08<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B><FONT face=Tahoma
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By
Kristine Kloberdanz <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Todd Diedrich watches a lone tractor churn
up dust as it lumbers down rows of still-green plants. "We're trying to patch up
the cracks," the farmer explains, referring to his desperate effort to retain
what little moisture remains in the ground, now that he has been forced to turn
down his irrigation drip. Diedrich says the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> drought could cost him 750 acres,
which he estimates to be worth $3 million. He gestures to the land that his
family has been farming for decades. "This will all be gone," he says. "And
there may not be a 'next year.' "<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><!-- Begin Article Side Bar -->
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><!-- Begin Article Side Bar Copy --><!-- sridhar@MT added this condition for the bug#22337 on 11/01/08 --><!--end of code for 10 question --><!-- Begin Related Articles -->
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Diedrich's farm is located on the west side
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, traditionally a
cornucopia of tomatoes, almonds, cantaloupe, pistachios and lettuces. The area
around Firebaugh has been hit hard by a <A href="" target=_self><FONT
color=black><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none">severe
drought caused by two years of below-average rainfall</SPAN></FONT></A>, a
diminished <st1:place w:st="on">Sierra Nevada</st1:place> snowpack and new
court-ordered environmental restrictions on pumping. Despite having officially
recognized the drought on June 4, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to
declare a state of emergency that would lift some of the environmental
restrictions on providing relief to the farmers — although he is pushing the
state legislature to approve issuing an $11.9 billion bond for water management
investments such as additional reservoirs, water recycling programs and better
means of transfer.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Californians across the state are
voluntarily cutting down on sprinkler use and dealing with curbs on development
and high fire hazards. But the farmers around Firebaugh have more to lose. "This
is the first time water has ever been rationed like this," says Sarah Clark
Woolf, spokeswoman for Westlands Water District, which has been forced to cut
irrigation supplies to hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land.
California Farm Bureau Federation President Doug Mosebar estimates that
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fresno</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> could lose 20% to
30% of its agricultural output this season.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The area is in trouble because its water is
piped in from the <A href="" target=_self><FONT color=black><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none">beleaguered Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta</SPAN></FONT></A>. Last August, a Federal court set limits
on pumping from the Delta, in an attempt to help endangered smelt fish. In a
further measure to protect smelt, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced just
last week it would cut <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> farm water supplies to 40% of the
contracted amount. Many of the farmers in the region have been alloted only one
sixth of the water supply they need to sustain their crops through the crucial
summer months. "This is a death sentence," says almond and wine farmer Shawn
Coburn. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">And the local farmers are particularly
bitter at the environmental priorities governing water use. "We're looking after
fish, and yet we're losing crops," says almond farmer Cort Blackburn. "You
cannot put the fish in front of all the people." Chris Cardella, a farmer on the
east side of Firebaugh, agrees: "We need legislature to overrule all our
environmental impacts because humans come first over fish." Mosebar dismisses
such "myopic" thinking: "If we're assisting the fish, we're also assisting our
food production." He hopes this crisis will spawn better infrastructure for
moving and storing water. "We're at a crossroads right now," he says. "This is a
wakeup call."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">"The operations we've done for some of the
endangered fish species did have an initial affect on our allocation earlier
this year," says Paul Fujitani of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. "But in the
past few months, our biggest problem is with the dryness." Protecting endangered
species, he says, is simply "something we've got to
do."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Field after field in this fertile valley
has been abandoned, either left unplanted this year or with seedlings withering
in the sun. A swath of young green cotton has an inky black stripe running
through its middle; as the field becomes more stressed from the lack of water,
the black will spread. Safflowers, which should be a brilliant gold this time of
year, are limp and brown. Farmers pace the dusty fields, eyeing their almond
trees and grape vines, both heavy with unripe fruit, trying to decide which ones
to allow to die. "It's like which kid to keep and which to get rid of," Coburn
says.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The stricken farmers face another wrenching
decision: which of their long-time employees to send home. Diedrich has just
laid off 25 employees, and he is hardly unique. The impact is noticeable in
Firebaugh's community of some 7,500, mostly Latino farm workers. At noon on a
Monday, the small town's streets are full of pick-up trucks and vans that would
normally be in the fields this time of year. Butch Fleming, who owns the town's
Ag & Industrial Supply, gestures at his empty store, which he says is
usually packed with customers. "Farmers don't know what they're going to do —
you don't just let orchards die," he says, adding that business in his store is
down at least 25% from last year because people are afraid to invest in
equipment. Fleming has had to lay off all of his full-time employees. Down the
street, Jack Minnite, owner of Jack's Prime Time restaurant, says: "We all are
going to suffer from this. And it will escalate from the community to the state
to the nation."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">In the meantime, farmers are scrambling to
find water anywhere they can. Some are cleaning the moss out of old wells, or
drilling new ones. Others are bargaining with neighbors to give up on "road
crops" such as tomatoes and sell their water to desperate owners of permanent
crops like almond trees and grape vines. Most are bracing for the worst: "I'm
sweating it," says almond farmer <st1:place w:st="on">Blackburn</st1:place>.
"I've never been down this road before, but we're going to take a hit
financially. If this drought continues, we'll lose it
all."#<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><U><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=blue size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: blue"><A
href="">http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1814128,00.html</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></U></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>