A friend says Florida might have more work. He's glad to get a day's work with farmer Steve Kandra, laying pipe where there'll be just enough water to plant a cover crop of wheat to protect the soil. The Kandras are already resigned to the fact that their two children won't carry on the family farming tradition. Keeping things alive is environmentalist Wood' s goal, too. For every foot that Upper Klamath Lake is lowered, he notes, hundreds of acres of marsh that sustain fish and wildlife dry up.
Tensions are high.
While most farmers and ranchers are following the law and the court orders, hoping for a political resolution, some irrigators have been withdrawing water, to which they are not legally entitled. The local sheriff has warned Wood, who works for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, that he'd better be careful about where he goes. He's very selective about telling reporters where he lives. Still, there's a sense among many here that with good will, balanced solutions can be found.