Transfer the Title, Finish the Mission: Demand the Federal Government Honor Its Legal Obligation to Klamath Farmers
We, the undersigned, demand that the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation immediately honor their legal obligation under the Dingell Act of 2019 and execute the Title Transfer of the Klamath Reclamation Project to the Klamath Irrigation District.
The facts are clear:
In 1905, President Roosevelt established the Klamath Reclamation Project. Following World War I and World War II, the federal government invited returning veterans to homestead this land — promising them water rights in exchange for their labor and service. These families built the irrigation infrastructure from the ground up.
In 1965, the farmers of the Klamath Irrigation District fully repaid every dollar of construction costs to the federal government. For 60 years, they have been the rightful, equitable owners of this system in every sense except on paper.
For over 20 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has subjected these 1,200 family farms to severe water restrictions and shutoffs in an attempt to recover endangered fish species. The fish have not recovered. The farms are going bankrupt. Both outcomes are a failure of federal management.
The Dingell Act is unambiguous: the Bureau of Reclamation is mandated to transfer the title of fully repaid Reclamation projects to local irrigation districts. This project qualifies. The legal path is clear. Yet the BOR is suggesting up to $5 million for an Environmental Impact Statement — just to transfer a deed — in direct defiance of Secretarial Order 3446.
Title Transfer will end decades of federal whiplash, restore local control to the farmers who built and paid for this system - without altering a single existing water right or environmental law.
This is not a political request. It is a legal demand. Sign below to add your voice.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
June 8, 2026
Reached 100 supporters
June 5, 2026
75 Comments
Because I live in the basin and watch the farmers and ranchers suffer every time they shut the water off. I drive through and see the fields they end up flooding because the lake doesn't have room.
Basin irrigation, support local families, my family built as part of this reclamation project
Farmers and rancher are loosing their ranches and homes that have been in their families for years! Transfer the title NOW.
fed government needs to stop stallin and hand over what was paid for decades ago. families are losing everything while bureaucrats sit on their hands. transfer the title now!
This water system now belongs to the users, us!
It is the principle of it.
I am from Tulelake , Ca. My father was one of the homesteaders. I have watched the Federal and State government decimate the farmland AND refuges by not honoring their agreements with Klamath Basin farmers. They have removed dams with negative effect on fish, cheap power generation.
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Transfer the Title, Finish the Mission: Demand the Federal Government Honor Its Legal Obligation to Klamath Farmers
We, the undersigned, demand that the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation immediately honor their legal obligation under the Dingell Act of 2019 and execute the Title Transfer of the Klamath Reclamation Project to the Klamath Irrigation District.
The facts are clear:
In 1905, President Roosevelt established the Klamath Reclamation Project. Following World War I and World War II, the federal government invited returning veterans to homestead this land — promising them water rights in exchange for their labor and service. These families built the irrigation infrastructure from the ground up.
In 1965, the farmers of the Klamath Irrigation District fully repaid every dollar of construction costs to the federal government. For 60 years, they have been the rightful, equitable owners of this system in every sense except on paper.
For over 20 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has subjected these 1,200 family farms to severe water restrictions and shutoffs in an attempt to recover endangered fish species. The fish have not recovered. The farms are going bankrupt. Both outcomes are a failure of federal management.
The Dingell Act is unambiguous: the Bureau of Reclamation is mandated to transfer the title of fully repaid Reclamation projects to local irrigation districts. This project qualifies. The legal path is clear. Yet the BOR is suggesting up to $5 million for an Environmental Impact Statement — just to transfer a deed — in direct defiance of Secretarial Order 3446.
Title Transfer will end decades of federal whiplash, restore local control to the farmers who built and paid for this system - without altering a single existing water right or environmental law.
This is not a political request. It is a legal demand. Sign below to add your voice.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
June 8, 2026
Reached 100 supporters
June 5, 2026
75 Comments
Klamath is a geographically rich, important region that is often overlooked and abused by both state and federal government due to its distance from the population center and opposing views from the rest of Oregon. Having water independence is a crucial step to ensuring the future of the region
Because I live in the basin and watch the farmers and ranchers suffer every time they shut the water off. I drive through and see the fields they end up flooding because the lake doesn't have room.
Basin irrigation, support local families, my family built as part of this reclamation project
Farmers and rancher are loosing their ranches and homes that have been in their families for years! Transfer the title NOW.
fed government needs to stop stallin and hand over what was paid for decades ago. families are losing everything while bureaucrats sit on their hands. transfer the title now!
This water system now belongs to the users, us!
It is the principle of it.
I am from Tulelake , Ca. My father was one of the homesteaders. I have watched the Federal and State government decimate the farmland AND refuges by not honoring their agreements with Klamath Basin farmers. They have removed dams with negative effect on fish, cheap power generation.
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Klamath is a geographically rich, important region that is often overlooked and abused by both state and federal government due to its distance from the population center and opposing views from the rest of Oregon. Having water independence is a crucial step to ensuring the future of the region