** Top 10 Stupidest New Laws in California for 2017, by Former California State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly 12/29/16: Backpacks for cow farts, felons voting, early release for rape and sex trafficking of minors, legalize child prostitution, ...

Klamath Dam removal hearing at Yreka draws upset crowd, Siskiyou Daily News 1/27/17. "...All essentially spoke in favor of leaving the dams in place, with Ryan stating that LaMalfa had sent her with a message for Siskiyou citizens: “Zinke told me, ‘We don’t pull down dams, we put ‘em up,’” in reference to President Trump’s Interior Secretary pick, Ryan Zinke. The remark was met with cheers from the crowd..."

Klamath irrigators press case this week, H&N 1/29/17. "Lon and Nancy Baley of Merrill share a moment while discussing the 2001 water crisis on Thursday. Lon left for Washington, D.C. Saturday and will be testifying this week in the Takings case before Judge Marian Horn...'It took a full 10 years … before any high school graduates or college graduates even considered coming back to farm,' Lon said."

Klamath Irrigators to defend cause in 'takings' case, H&N  1/29/17. "...more than 25 irrigators or those representing them will attend the trial for two consolidated cases, Klamath Irrigation District et al v. United States, and John Anderson Farms et al. v. United States..."

Groups seek changes in how national monuments begin, CFBF AgAler 1/18/17.

(Klamath) Court Decision May Mean California Owes Billions In Water Rights, Daily Caller by California Water Alliance 1/13/17. "...Judge Blank Horn’s decision establishes a precedent that the takings of Klamath River water from California and Oregon farmers in 2001 were physical acts, not regulatory ones, making them subject to the Fifth Amendment’s unreasonable seizure clause and encumbering the government with the responsibility to pay owners for their losses when they deprive them of their property..."

*** Jim Beers needs letters of recommendation for Director of US Fish & Wildlife Service NOW. Information HERE includes his resume and contact information. KBC Editor Note: I've met Jim Beers speaking in Joseph, Oregon, and also in Dorris, California giving presentations to ranchers on wolves. I believe this is a rare, great opportunity to have someone representing rural America, being a former FWS administrator, international negotiator, and knows the ropes and the corruption. (go here for Beers written speech about wolves given in Dorris, California at a Town Forum on 18 May 2014.) Here for KBC's wolf page with more Beer's articles.

Rescheduled! Water Board scoping meeting: Jan. 26, 5-7pm Yreka, Ca.
Water Board scoping meeting for Klamath River Dam destruction in Yreka.. NO meetings are planned in Klamath Falls area. Comments Due 2/1/17

Takings case moves to Washington, D.C., venue. Basin farmers seeking $30 million in damages, H&N 1/20/17. “Under the Fifth Amendment, the United States can't take your property unless they pay you for it,” said local water attorney Bill Ganong. .. the Klamath Compact has language similar to the Fifth Amendment that says the United States cannot take the water unless they (compensate).”

Session will begin with a Budget Bang! - Part I. NEWSLETTER by Oregon State Senator Dennis Linthicum Senate District 28, 1/24/17

Luke 10:27 - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

***The next meeting outlining the Tulelake Unit General Management Plan will be held on Wednesday January 18, 2017 from 6-8 p.m. at the Tulelake City Hall. This is the plan to develop the WWII Japanese Relocation Camp site for tourists. Presently the site is more than 1300 acres dedicated to their story. They are hoping for more "willing sellers" in and near the Tulelake airport; Tulelake airport and community members support plan A.

What is being proposed is a “Taking” pure and simple. NPS encroaching onto the Tule Lake airport and the advocation group involved are an overreach on the part of NPS, letter to KBC News by Werner Hoyt 1/18/17
George Takei, filmmaker/actor, 'Stop the Fence Tulelake', opposes erecting a security fence around our airport in Tulelake which services from Chiloquin, Oregon to Susanville, CA, 40,000 square miles for rural agriculture land. Takei just released films in 400 cities (NOT the Klamath Basin) on life in the relocation camp in Tulelake after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Presently there is a lawsuit to stop the fence, and the Japanese want our airport gone so they can eventually develop the camp where they lived for four years.

Monument expansion riles Klamath commission; The expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, announced by President Barack Obama Thursday, will also encompass all of Hyatt Lake, H&N 1/14/17. See KBC News National Monument Page

DOI Press Release: Secretary Jewell Applauds President’s Designation of the National Monuments to Preserve Pivotal Civil Rights Sites and the First National Monument to Civil War Reconstruction; (Jewell) Also Praises President’s Expansion of Existing National Monuments Protecting Natural & Cultural Resources in California & Oregon (Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument) 1/12/17.  LINK includes Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument expansion Fact Sheet:
*" these areas represent approximately 48,000 acres of public lands – 42,349 in Oregon, and 5,275 in California."
* "... is closed to new extractive uses such as mining and oil and gas development..."
* "...prohibits all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road."
* "...if grazing is found incompatible with protecting the objects of biological interest, the Secretary of the Interior will retire the grazing allotments pursuant to the processes of applicable law. Finally, it provides that if grazing permits or leases are relinquished by existing holders, the Secretary will not reallocate the forage available under those permits or for grazing purposes..."
* "...prohibits the commercial harvest of timber, expect when part of an authorized science-based ecological restoration project..."

1/13/17: Federal Register - Bureau of Land Management: Public Land Order No. 7859; Withdrawal of National Forest System and Bureau of Land Management Public Lands in Southwestern Oregon; SUMMARY: This order withdraws, subject to valid existing rights, approximately 5,216.18 acres of public domain and Revested Oregon and California Railroad lands and 95,805.53 acres of National Forest System lands from settlement, sale, location, and entry under the public land laws; location and entry under the United States mining laws; and operation of the mineral and geothermal leasing laws for a period of 20 years while Congress considers legislation to permanently withdraw those areas and to protect the Southwestern Oregon watershed from possible adverse effects of mineral development.

California - Minimum wage, truck exemption among new laws, CFBF, posted to KBC 1/11/17

* State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) has rescheduled the January 10, 2017 public scoping meeting in Yreka, California to January 26, 2017.

CANCELLED and rescheduled for January 26*** Jan. 10, 5-7pm Yreka, Ca. Water Board scoping meeting for Klamath River Dam destruction. NO meetings are planned in Klamath Falls area. "The KRRC is proposing to remove sufficient portions of the LKP to create a free flowing Klamath River and provide for volitional fish passage through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license surrender process. The EIR will evaluate potential impacts of the LKP to water quality and other resources within California as compared to the environmental baseline, and will also evaluate a range of alternatives...."
State Water board email received by KBC 1/3/17 with links and info: "the State Water Board released a Notice of Preparation and Scoping Meetings for an Environmental Impact Report for the Lower Klamath Project’s License Surrender (NOP).  State Water Board staff will hold scoping meetings to solicit comments from trustee agencies, responsible agencies, and other interested persons in January 2017.  The meetings dates and locations can be found in the NOP.  Comments in response to the NOP are due by 5:00 pm on February 1, 2017."