A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Malheur occupiers may be county supremacists. Ammon Bundy’s emissaries are prowling the counties neighboring Harney County, asking the sheriffs to issue statement supporting their armed occupation of the Malheur wildlife refuge. This is right out of the organizing manual of the county supremacy movement. It’s a disturbing development, for it means Bundy, et al, are more deeply ensconced in Cloud Cuckoo Land than we first thought.
Hydrology of Malheur Lake. It’s really more of a freshwater marsh than a lake, only a few feet deep, and almost the lowest point in a closed basin (the technical term is endorheic basin). There’s no outflow: the water either seeps into the ground or evaporates. The primary sources of fresh water are two small rivers that carry snowmelt from the Blue Mountains to the north, and Steens Mountain to the south. Because the land around the lake is rather flat, the shore has a low gradient. Consequently, in wet years a foot’s rise in the water can cause the lake to expand by thousands of acres. The details are in a report issued by the Harney County Watershed Council (PDF).
In the early 1980s, the runoff from heavy mountain snows caused the lake to rise to record levels, flooding a railroad, roads, and ranches. There were disputes between federal land managers and ranchers who wanted to build dikes and take other aggressive action. At one point, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers devised a plan to lower the floodwaters by digging a ditch to the Malheur river, which debouches into the Snake. The cost to benefit ratio of that scheme did credit to the USAEC’s creativity. Fortunately, the ditch wasn’t dug. The floodwaters eventually receded, but the flood damaged the land and the relationship of the refuge’s managers with some ranchers.
During the same period, 350 miles to the south east, in another closed basin, the Great Salt Lake began rising and expanding. As the water approached various facilities — at one point, there were fears it could flood the airport — schemes to lower the water were proposed. Eventually, some of the water was pumped into an evaporation basin to the west; hot desert winds and a drier climate did the rest.
But while the water was rising, some pretty far out schemes were suggested. According to one source, someone proposed drilling a deep hole in the bottom of the lake, blasting out a big cave with a small atomic bomb, letting some of the water drain into the cave, then plugging the bomb shaft before the lake started glowing at night. Knowing that one is to be hanged in two weeks may concentrate the mind wonderfully, but fearing that one is to be flooded in two months sometimes only concentrates the craziness.
Malheur resources. The Oregonian has excellent local reporting. A lot of conservatives are getting their information from Conservative Tree House, which holds the Hammonds and Bundys in high regard, and public ownership, especially federal ownership, of lands in rather low regard. The definitive history of the Malheur refuge probably is Nancy Langston’s Where Land and Water Meet, available for the Kindle at an outrageously high price. The print version is out of stock at Amazon.