The water that keeps the upper Russian River flowing through the dry months — the flow farms and towns from Ukiah to Healdsburg lean on every summer — comes from a century-old diversion the federal government spent six years agreeing to shrink. On Friday, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told Congressman Jared Huffman in a letter dated May 29 she’s not done fighting to keep that system in place, dams and all. On Tuesday, Congressman Huffman, who represents the district in which the dams are located, told the Voice her letter was “incoherent.” … “Like most of the gobbledygook in that letter, it’s nonsense,” he said in an interview Tuesday, after his office gave the letter to The Mendocino Voice and Bay City News.

Other dam news:

• Lost Coast Outpost (Eureka, Calif.): A dam good time: What we learned about the Eel River’s dams 1,000 feet in the air
• Chico Enterprise-Record (Calif.): Bill Connelly responds to DWR’s statement about Oroville Dam