Shut Down & Fed Up

We are the Shut Down & Fed Up movement. For too long Klamath Basin family farmers and ranchers have taken the brunt of a broken Endangered Species Act and push-button water management. This deeply affects communities through all of Klamath, Modoc and Siskiyou counties. It is time for a change.

In 2021, Klamath Basin family farmers and ranchers found themselves facing the unthinkable - the Bureau of Reclamation made the call for a zero allocation of irrigation water. In nearly 120 years of existence, this was the first time ever the Klamath Irrigation Project was left with no water.

Family farms and ranches continue to carry the load of a broken ESA and push-button water management. Salmon and sucker fish continue to decline and our refuges go dry.

In 2022 we face a year looking nearly as bleak as 2021. Wind storms continue to decimate young crops, domestic wells are still running dry, and the water allocation looks especially grim. In the face of 25 years of a failed, single-species management dictated by the ESA and exacerbated by the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NIMFS) hardline on ensuring every drop available is diverted from the Project and sent down river for salmon recovery.

NMFS's strategy for over 20 years of managing the Klamath River has yet to produce a single salmon. Yet when the President of the US calls for American farmers and ranchers to meet the challenges posed by war in Europe and food security, single-species management and failed federal policies are keeping Klamath Basin producers on the sideline.

Shut Down & Fed Up is working to draw attention to the flaws in these policies how they're not only failing Klamath Basin family farmers and ranchers, but also the damage they're doing to human health, ecosystems, wildlife, and communities.

We are fighting to bring an end to the ongoing Klamath Water Crisis.