Oregon water regulators rightly overturned an “automatic stay” that shielded irrigators from the enforcement of the Klamath Tribes’ water rights, according to a federal judge. Earlier this year, the Klamath Tribes asked the state’s Department of Water Resources to “regulate off” junior irrigators who draw water from Upper Klamath Lake and its tributaries. The agency ordered the 45 farms to stop irrigating, finding the lake’s water level was low enough to adversely affect the tribes’ oldest “time immemorial” water rights. However, four farmers filed a lawsuit arguing OWRD should have ignored the “futile” request because federal officials were releasing water from the lake to improve habitat for protected fish.