Standing before a now-gone parking lot turned giant sequoia grove, Sue Beatty beams as she talks about a three-year restoration project in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. The removal of nearly an acre and a half of asphalt to protect roots and help water better flow to ancient sequoias in Yosemite National Park is the highlight of her career as a restoration ecologist for the National Park Service.
Three palm trees, part of a remaining cluster planted decades ago by locals at Doheny State Beach, have been knocked down as massive king tides pummeled the beach in recent days. Park officials say they expect to lose at least three more palms by the end of the week as ‘king tides’ — large fluctuations from low to high tides — continue.
The fire 13 miles (43 kilometers) north of Durango is in the Four Corners Region where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah meet — the epicenter of a large U.S. Southwest swath of exceptional drought, the worst category of drought. Moderate to extreme drought conditions affect larger areas of those four states plus parts of Nevada, California, Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
To improve the quality of our water and the health of our rivers and the San Francisco Bay-Delta, the State Water Resources Control Board is updating the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The board is considering requiring higher in-stream flows between February and June, which are critical months for baby salmon growth and migration.
Today’s [June 14] gauge-of-the-day is my [John Fleck] friend and colleague Eric Kuhn’s, at Glenwood Springs, Colorado. It’s just downstream from the junction with the Roaring Fork. Flows of ~3,600 cubic feet per second on June 13 were the fourth lowest since gauging at that spot began in 1967. Important to understand what this is telling us.
The wet winter of 2017 brought an opportunity to test groundwater recharge—the intentional spreading of water on fields to percolate into the aquifer—as a tool for restoring groundwater levels and helping basins comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This is especially important in the San Joaquin Valley, which has the biggest imbalance between groundwater pumping and replenishment in the state.
This week’s California Water Plan eNews includes: California Water Boards holding annual science symposium next week; Questions about the Delta? This beginner’s guide has many answers; Adaptation forum will take a close look at California action on climate change; Webinar to provide insight on San Diego county wildfire damage and recovery; Details of Northwest Forest Plan to be discussed at forest service symposium; Urban sustainability solutions on the agenda for Meeting of the Minds summit; Water sustainability, jobs, and housing on agenda for economic summit
Water clarity in Lake Tahoe reached a record low annual average in 2017 due to a historic drought, record-breaking precipitation and warmer-than-usual lake temperatures, according to a new study.
Research suggests the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rocked California wine country in 2014 may have been caused by an expansion of Earth’s crust because of seasonally receding groundwater under the Napa and Sonoma valleys.
In California’s agricultural heartland, the San Joaquin Valley, excessive pumping of groundwater has resulted in subsidence, damaging crucial infrastructure, including roads, bridges and water conveyance.
A lawsuit filed by Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey against the state Department of Water Resources over environmental damages resulting from the Oroville Dam spillway crisis is moving forward in court. Butte County Superior Court Judge Stephen Benson overruled DWR’s demurrer, which is essentially a plea to have a case dismissed, through a written ruling filed on May 31.
The California Water Boards are in the early stages of considering the decommission and removal of four dams along the Klamath River in Siskiyou and Klamath counties.
Legionella bacteria was discovered Wednesday, June 13 at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, a facility at the center of a federal whistleblower complaint from a group of worried physicians and nurses. Hospital officials learned of the Legionella through quarterly water safety testing, according to Wade J. Habshey, spokesman for the Pettis Medical Center.
A package of six state bills aimed at reducing plastic and cigarette-butt litter — with an emphasis on trash that ends up in the ocean — has met with a mixed fate, with half advancing and half dying in their legislative chamber of origin.
Even Scott Pruitt’s most loyal friends are starting to give up the fight. The perpetual ethics problems of the Environmental Protection Agency chief have moved some conservatives who were firmly in his camp to reconsider.
The legislation, approved by a bipartisan 20-1 vote, would renew farm safety-net programs such as subsidies for crop insurance, farm credit, and land conservation. It also would extend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps, which helps feed more than 40 million people.
New York City’s attempt to hold five of the world’s biggest oil companies responsible for damage from global warming didn’t seem to impress a judge during oral arguments Wednesday to determine if a lawsuit can proceed. … The January lawsuit came after similar litigation was filed by the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz in California.
State election law enforcers recommend a $16,000 penalty against former Oakdale Irrigation District board member Al Bairos for violating campaign finance requirements and failing to cooperate with investigators.
I’ll trade you a piece of Yosemite Valley and all of the Napa wine country for Disneyland and the Santa Monica Pier. … And don’t even get us started with probable battles over how the state’s precious water reserves would be distributed since California is currently criss-crossed with an insanely complex grid of aqueducts, dams, levees and channels.
