SAN FRANCISCO — Central Valley farmers, worried that some of their historic supply of cheap water may be taken to save a dwindling salmon species, are gearing up for a major political fight over federal protections for endangered animals.
Like the loggers who are battling the northern spotted owl, many farmers have come to see their enemy as the Endangered Species Act, which could force costly changes in agriculture to help save the Sacramento River's winter-run chinook salmon and another fish in decline, the delta smelt.
"The timber industry has fought so long by themselves," said Tina Dennis, a rice farmer from Maxwell and a leader of a new group called the Family Water Alliance. "Now water is being shut off all down the line and we've got a lot of fired-up people."
Up and down the Sacramento Valley along Interstate 5, fields have sprouted signs bearing such slogans as "No Water, No Jobs, No Future," and "Farmers Are the Real Environmentalists." Thousands protested outside the state Capitol last week, charging that threatened water cutbacks will make farmers an endangered species.
As California enters its sixth year of water shortages and the winter-run chinook salmon nears extinction, some growers may be facing their most drastic reductions ever in water supplies from the Sacramento River system. With Congress set to consider whether to reauthorize the 20-year-old Endangered Species Act, farmers are joining the chorus of interest groups seeking to weaken the law.
"We're in a period of intensive enlightenment as far as the Endangered Species Act," said Jason Peltier, manager of the Central Valley Project Water Assn. "We're learning that every water right, every water contract, is subservient to the Endangered Species Act. People are learning quickly and they're scared to death."
Just as federal protections for the northern spotted owl have threatened the timber industry with drastically reduced logging, farmers are concerned that the plight of the winter-run chinook salmon and the delta smelt could permanently change the arrangement by which the massive Central Valley Project has brought them cheap water for the last four decades.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that for the first time some farmers might receive no federal water because of the drought and the need to protect the salmon. Since then, however, steady rains have increased the water supply by at least 28% and the bureau is expected to announce in early March that it will increase its water deliveries for some farmers.
