Why Indigenous activists in Oregon say racial injustice is at the root of regional water conflicts that have been intensifying with the climate crisis

"When the Water Stopped", 2021
Climate change is pushing a small Oregon town in the United States to its breaking point. The federal government has supplied water to farmers in the Klamath Basin region for more than a century as part of a project to encourage white settlement and agriculture in the western US. Extreme heat and drought in 2021 pushed the government to shut off the farmers’ water to honor a treaty with the local Native American tribes in order to protect their sacred and endangered fish. Josh Rushing travels to the front lines of the climate crisis as a long-running water conflict between farmers and tribes intensifies—and Indigenous activists call for their town to reckon with the colonialism at the root of its water wars.

Our creation story teaches us that if the fish die, the people die. But before that happens we will fight because it is in our blood.

Joey Gentry, Klamath Tribal Member
Awarded First Place in Outstanding Feature Story Large by The Society of Environmental Journalists in 2022
Read 'If the fish die, the people die’: Water Wars in America’s West
Read Klamath Falls documentary makes world premiere, “When the Water Stopped”
Water Education Foundation resource
Laila Al-Arian, executive producer | Jeremy Raff, producer | Eric Ljung, director of photography | Adrienne Haspel, editor | Josh Rushing, correspondent
Rodney-Cheyne Rodney Cheyne, a fourth-generation Klamath Basin farmer, claims local tribes are using their power over the water to get “retribution on the white man.” August 13, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Joey-Gentry Joey Gentry, Klamath Tribal member, took to the waters of Upper Klamath Lake “to see what we’re up against. Klamath has a history of racism that continues to be handed down from generation to generation,” Gentry says. “Our water crisis still exists today because of racism against the tribe. And racism against the tribe exists in part today because of our water crisis.” August 9, 2021. Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon.
Klamath-Algae As algae blooms decompose they suck oxygen from the water. August 9, 2021. Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon.
Gentry 2 “How I knew I was a native, how I knew I was Klamath Indian, was that I fished with my dad,” says Gentry. August 14, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Cheyne 2 Cheyne is having to rely on water from his neighbor’s well. He meticulously monitors his usage, knowing it’s a limited resource and only available because of the “goodness of his (neighbor’s) heart”. August 13, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Klamath-Irrigation Alfalfa doesn’t naturally grow in the Klamath Basin’s ecosystem, so farmers depend on channeling water through a series of canals and long rows of sprinklers. Without this system this ground would be brown and dry. August 13, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Cheyne 3 Cheyne says, “We’re really to the point where people are going to start shooting at each other before this is all said and done.” August 13, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Under-Water-Desert The algae blooms have left much of Upper Klamath Lake an oxygen-deprived, under-water desert. August 9, 2021. Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon.
Sacred-Fish Tribal members see saving the fish as an existential issue. Their traditions tell them if the fish die, the people die, like canaries in the coalmine for climate change’s impact on humanity. August 9, 2021. Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon.
Klamath-Fish Less than 25 thousand of the fish remain with no juveniles to replenish the population. August 9, 2021. Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon.
Leroy-Gienger Leroy Gienger has lived on a 280-acre ranch for the better part of a century. He explained that the strong have always taken from the weak and what happened in the Klamath Basin is no different. August 12, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Gienger-Family-Album Leroy’s family settled in the Klamath Basin in the early 20th century. August 12, 2021. Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Klamath Protest Farmers and ranchers have organized against the government’s decision to shut off the water. There’s a clear divide between ground that has been irrigated and ground that hasn’t. August 15, 2021. Tulelake, California.
Modoc-and-Main Tulelake is just across the California state line. The eponymous lake here was drained to create farmlands that were given to returning World War II veterans. Modoc Street is named after the tribe that once inhabited these lands. After some of the tribe fought against white settlers and the US Army, their leaders, most famously Captain Jack, were hanged. Afterward, his severed head was sent to Washington, DC, for study at the Army Medical Museum and eventually ended up in the Smithsonian, until it was finally returned to the tribe nearly a century later in 1984. August 15, 2021. Tulelake, California.