The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation purchased water from two irrigation districts and sent it to the drought-stricken Klamath Basin, Ore., the winter home of hundreds of bald eagles. The purchase helps support the wildlife refuge habitat of some 125,000 waterfowl - food for the eagles when they arrive in October.
The purchase is the latest move in a decade-old dispute between farmers, fishermen, conservationists and government agencies over the area's water supply. The local lake and river are inhabited by endangered and threatened fish, which get high priority for water supplies. The Reclamation Bureau calculated earlier this year that once water was provided for the endangered fish, there was none left for 90 percent of the farmland served by the Klamath Project, a federal irrigation system along the Oregon-California border.