Monday, Jul 8 2013 3:54PM

Klamath tribes and farmers in Oregon are battling for access to water in the area.

Persistent drought conditions have pitted Oregon's Klamath Native American tribes and the state's rural farmers and ranchers against each other for access to limited water system services, according to the Oregonian.

The upper Klamath river basin was once home to the Klamath tribes, which lost their rights to the lands and water in 1954. In 2013, the state reinstated the tribes' water rights in the area, and many are now calling upon them to maintain sustainable hunting and fishing grounds. The move, however, has forced many farmers and ranchers who own hundreds of acres of farm land to shut off irrigation for the first time in decades, a move that may jeopardize crops, animals and ranches, the newspaper explains.

The news source reports that water rights, if called in by Klamath tribes, may impact hundreds of ranchers and more than 100,000 cattle. Many state representatives, including Rep. Gail Whitsett, argue that the state's decision failed to take into account the full scope of the court ruling that returned water rights to the Klamath tribes.

In an editorial to the Natural Resource Report, Whitsett wrote that while the court ruling did return water rights to the tribes, it limited their rights to the amount of water that would allow for a moderate living standard by the tribes at the time the reservation was sold to the federal government. However, Whitsett notes that instead of abiding by this provision, the tribes were granted nearly all the water in the basin.

For more information, check out these resources: The Oregonian, Natural Resource Report