The cure for winter flooding might be in this swamp — if California actually funds it
In little pockets in the state, people like [Matt Kaminski, a biologist from Ducks Unlimited] are reworking the land yet again to bring back a version of California’s past, in service of the future. By allowing rivers to spread out, flows are diverted from downstream communities, replenishing groundwater and staving off unwanted floods. “These wetlands,” Kaminski likes to say, “act as a sponge.” And the state agreed. In September, the California Wildlife Conservation Board earmarked $40 million for the nonprofit River Partners to spend on similar projects in the San Joaquin Valley. But in the governor’s proposed budget released in January, that funding was axed.