Letter to Council

Dear Mr. Slattery,

I am writing to implore you to vote NO on piping the Ashland Canal.

I own property along the canal and this project will do more harm than good in the long run. I value the property I live on for it’s natural beauty which includes the native tree species of Madrone and Black Oak as well as the many species of animals that dwell and visit here, black tailed deer, bear, raccoon, fox and many bird species including pileated woodpeckers, western tanagers, and coopers hawks. I live in the city, but I feel as though I live in the forest because of the peace and tranquility that currently exist here. I seek refuge from my troubles by walking the path along the irrigation canal.

This piping project will destroy what I value about living where I live. It will devalue my property by putting a ROAD literally through my back yard since the canal bisects it at one point. It will not rid the canal of E. coli because E. coli already exists in the many miles of canal that come before the Starlight monitoring station, the site where the proposed pipe will begin.

Piping the canal will not insure long term use of TID water for extra irrigation because there are senior water rights that are held by the Klamath Tribe that they can call in if needed. Two of the reservoirs that help feed Emigrant Lake were created by damming Keene (Hyatt Lake) and Beaver (Howard Prairie) Creeks, both a part of the Upper Klamath River watershed. Why go to the expense of putting a pipe in, only to have the pipe run dry. https://www.talentid.org/klamath-adjudicationissues/; https://odfw.forestry.oregonstate.edu/freshwater/inventory/pdffiles/Basin%20PDFs/SW/Klamath%20River%20Watershed%20Map.pdf

I do believe that something should be done about the seepage in order to save as much water as we can for the times that it is available to us, but please consider that this can be done in a different manner than a pipe. Please consider the real possibility of fixing and then maintaining the canal. This is what should have been done all along. This will preserve a way of life that many Ashlanders have come to know and love and will deal with the water that is lost. I would be more than happy to sacrifice some of the trees that do show encroachment near the concrete liner of the canal as they would not be conducive to maintaining a good functioning canal, that I can live with. This would be a compromise that I hope we can all live with.

There are other ways to be good stewards of the land other than by disrupting people’s lives and homes by the destruction and construction of the Ashland canal/pipeline. Please vote NO on the piping project.

Respectfully,

Julia Bonney