Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise tonight to tell you a tale about the Klamath Basin. It is really two stories about the Klamath Basin. One is of a terrific vision that has come together between fishermen and ranchers and tribes, and the second is a story about a terrible drought. So I want to start with the good news and share a little bit of the vision. First, let me tell you about the magical place that is the Klamath Basin. It is in southern Oregon and northern California. It is an area of the country that is rich with agricultural resources and exceptional wildlife populations. The basin contains approximately 1,400 family farms and ranches and encompasses over 200,000 acres of farmland irrigated with water from the Klamath River and Klamath Lake. In 2009, the basin's agricultural industry produced over $440 million in revenue. The Klamath is sometimes referred to as the ``Western Everglades.'' The basin attracts 80 percent of the Pacific Flyway's waterfowl and supports the largest over-wintering population of bald eagles anywhere in the Lower 48 States. It is also home to one of the most productive salmon river systems in the country. Let me tell you that the allocation of water in this basin has always been a source of enormous tension between the farmers and ranchers, the fishermen--both the instream fishermen and the offshore fishermen--and the tribes.…”