Protestors claim ownership of Oregon irrigation project

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon (CNN) -- Protesters camped out Thursday at the Klamath Irrigation Project after a "peaceful demonstration," during which they presented documents they say prove citizen ownership of the controversial water system.

About 300 farmers, demonstrators and onlookers gathered at the site in Klamath Falls Wednesday. Using a homemade A-frame ladder, they climbed over a small chain-link fence to gain access to the system's headgates.

Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger, who arrived at the protest site to cheers and pats on the back, promised to evict the Bureau of Land Management rangers who have been guarding the fence should the protesters prove their claim in court.

"As long as everybody's peaceful, and nobody gets in pushing, shoving matches or any threat to public safety," Evinger said, "it looks like another successful civil disobedience."

David Jones, an official with the Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, called it a "peaceful demonstration" involving farmers, protesters, and curiosity seekers. He disputed the ownership claim, but said the government would nevertheless review the documents.

"They were claiming ownership of the land on which the headgates and the canal that issues from the headgates sits," Jones said. "However, the U.S. actually owns that land. That fact has been recorded in the Klamath County clerk's office."

The real estate dispute was the latest development in the fight between farmers and the government over the flow of irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake to the thirsty farmland below, in the Klamath Basin.

A century ago, the government encouraged farmers to settle the area's arid land, promising them water from the lake. But a recent drought led federal officials to shut off a canal in April to preserve the lake level and save endangered fish in the lake and the river below.

About 1,400 of the farmers in the Klamath Basin were affected when the canal -- known as A Canal -- was cut off.

"We have to maintain the water flow downstream, and we have to maintain the lake elevation," said Jim Bryant of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. "When you pull out the amount that went for agriculture, we feel that we'd be able to do that. Unfortunately, the farmers are squeezed in the middle."

Fearing they would have no water for their spring crops, the farmers began a protest that then gathered nationwide momentum. Land rights groups and others joined in, some setting up camp at the headgates.

In July, after studying biological analyses of the situation, the government decided to release a small amount of water from the lake into the canal to allow the farmers to start planting autumn crops. The water served the farmers for about a month, but by August 23 the allotment ran dry.

Conservationists have argued that the battle is not just between farmers and the government, but with the ecosystem as well. Two species of endangered sucker fish live in the lake, and threatened coho salmon swim in the river below.

"We've taken more water out of the system than the environment can sustain," Bob Hunter, a conservationist, told CNN. "As a result, we have degraded habitat and a lake that's near collapse and a river that's very unhealthy."

Now that the protesters have presented documents disputing the government's claim to the land, Jones said, "it's a waiting game" to see what happens next.

"Apparently, they're in there for the long haul," Jones said of the protesters. "The federal government will not take action to push them out. We don't want to create a non-peaceful situation."