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Topic: Ecosystem

Overview April 24, 2014

Ecosystem

An ecosystem includes all of the living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments (air, water and soil).

Ecosystems are dynamic and are impacted by disturbances such as a drought, an extraordinarily freezing  winter, and pests. Longer-term disturbances include climate change effects.

Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend. Ecosystem management emphasizes managing natural resources at the level of the ecosystem itself and not just managing individual species.

The California Legislature was the first in the country to protect rare plants and animals through passage of the California Endangered Species Act in 1970. Congress followed suit in 1973 by passing the federal Endangered Species Act.

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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 Tahoe Daily Tribune

Hydraulic oil leak into Indian Creek Reservoir

On Thursday, September 28, approximately fifteen gallons of hydraulic oil leaked into Indian Creek Reservoir and the reservoir is closed for recreational use. Indian Creek Reservoir is a freshwater reservoir in Alpine County operated by the South Tahoe Public Utility District. Fresh water is released out of the reservoir through a dam into Indian Creek. The valve on the dam was tested on Wednesday, September 27 as part of an annual dam inspection. Operational issues were noted during the inspection. On the morning of Thursday, September 28, crews were working to fix the valve on the dam by adding hydraulic oil into the lines.

Related article: 

  • CBS – Sacramento: Sculpture made of litter removed from 72-mile Lake Tahoe cleanup unveiled 
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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 Brockville Recorder & Times

Researchers find microplastics in clouds for the first time

Microplastics have been found in the deepest recesses of the ocean, atop Mount Everest, in fresh Antarctic snow, in our blood and lungs and now, for the first time, in the clouds. In a study published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, researchers in Japan found microplastics in mists that shrouded the peaks of Mount Oyama and Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. Researchers analyzed samples collected between heights of 1,300 to 3,776 metres altitude and found nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber, ranging in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometres. They hypothesized that the high-altitude microplastics could influence cloud formation and possibly modify the climate.

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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 California Trout

Blog: Where there is water, there are fish

One of the many things I learned by doing during my summer internship with California Trout was how to remove fish from construction sites. Why remove fish? Sometimes, during construction, crews must remove water from a creek, a process known as dewatering, to be able to work in it. To ensure fish are not harmed during this process, they are relocated to another part of the stream. I was excited to pitch in to this process but had no idea what to expect as I drove out to the Scott River project site … where CalTrout planned to replace a culvert and concrete spillway with a run-of-river bridge. The restoration project aims to open up the cold water of the tributary to juvenile coho salmon, a fish native to Northern California and threatened by agriculture, dam infrastructure, and rising temperatures.

Related articles: 

  • Voice of Orange County: Santiago Creek – Saving one of Orange County’s longest natural waterways
  • Episode 5: What Water Wants, with Erica Gies and Nick Bouwes 
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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 CalMatters

Friday Top of the Scroll: Bay-Delta ecosystem is collapsing. California just unveiled rival rescue plans

With the Bay-Delta watershed in the throes of an ecological crisis, California’s water regulators Thursday unveiled several controversial options for managing the heart of the state’s water supply. … Several of the strategies the [Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan] evaluates would set minimum amounts of water to remain in rivers and streams, which could ultimately require water suppliers and other water users to cut back on how much they divert for people and farms. Another approach assessed is a controversial pact that Gov. Gavin Newsom reached last March with major water suppliers, who volunteered to surrender some water and help restore habitat in the watershed. 

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: California wants to restore its rivers and San Francisco Bay to health. Here is its controversial plan
  • State Water Resources Control Board: Water Board releases draft report analyzing possible impacts to Sacramento/Delta
  • Restore the Delta: Blog – Tribes and delta activists: What to look for in new state water board documents
  • Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: Metropolitan issues statement on proposed Voluntary Agreements in update of Bay-Delta Plan
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Aquafornia news September 28, 2023 CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

News release: CDFW announces the availability of $2 million to support non-lethal beaver damage management

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has announced the availability of up to $2 million in grant funding for non-lethal beaver damage management (PDF)(opens in new tab), in support of ecosystem restoration and protection under the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative and CDFW’s beaver restoration and human-wildlife conflict program objectives. The North American beaver’s critically important role as an ecosystem engineer and keystone species, particularly as climate change, drought and wildfires increase in severity, has gained rapidly growing recognition in recent years. Because they are crucial to restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems and their functions, CDFW has implemented new measures to maintain healthy beaver populations in suitable habitat throughout California.

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Aquafornia news September 28, 2023 Santa Clarita Valley Signal

Opinion: Delta project a key to future SCV water

Here in the Santa Clarita Valley, we are fortunate to enjoy a high quality of life. We pride ourselves on having created a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family, which can be attributed in part to maintaining a reliable supply of high-quality water.  … At SCV Water, we serve over one-quarter of a million customers throughout the valley, and up to 50% of our water supply each year is imported from the State Water Project, which is owned and operated by the California Department of Water Resources. … [I]f the Delta Conveyance Project had been operational during the rain events of January 2023, the improved SWP could have transported an additional 228,000 acre-feet of water while still meeting fishery and water quality requirements.
-Written by Matt Stone, general manager of SCV Water

Related article: 

  • Daily Kos: Blog – Final environmental impact report for Delta Tunnel project slated for release in ‘late 2023′ 
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Aquafornia news September 27, 2023 CA Department of Water Resources

News release: Castaic Lake algal bloom at danger advisory

Today, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) urges people to avoid physical contact with water at Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County until further notice due to the presence of blue-green algae. People should also avoid eating fish or shellfish from the lake. This week’s lab results show an increase in toxin levels. A danger advisory was put in place today, and remains in effect for the entire Castaic Lake, except Castaic Lagoon, until further notice. It is advised for people and pets to stay out of the water and avoid contact with algal scum in the water or on shore. Boating is allowed, but water-contact recreation and sporting activities are not considered safe due to potential adverse health effects. For latest conditions and danger advisory information, go to Harmful Algal Bloom website.

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Aquafornia news September 27, 2023 The Sacramento Bee

Opinion: Proposed Shasta Dam Raise is bad for salmon, tribes and CA

For years, the politically-connected Westlands Water District has fought to raise Shasta Dam. This debate has been renewed by House Resolution 215, introduced by California Central Valley Congressman David Valadao (R-Hanford), which would override a California law that blocks the dam raise. That project would harm salmon, California’s fishing economy and Indigenous Americans. This is a big deal for the fishing community. California’s salmon fishery is closed this year for only the third time in history. … This closure was caused by the mismanagement of Central Valley rivers during a drought. Low spring flows, caused by storing too much water for summer agricultural deliveries, is a major cause of the fishing shutdown. Raising Shasta Dam would represent another blow to the survival of salmon runs and fishing jobs.
-Written by Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association.

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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 Environmental Monitor

Blog: Data-driven decisions – tracking sediment during the Klamath dam removal

The largest dam removal in U.S. history, the deconstruction of the Klamath Dam is slated to begin this summer. The project includes four dams along the Klamath River with the first and smallest dam, Copco #2, scheduled for removal first. As each of the dams are torn down, scientists and consultants will keep a close eye on the state of the Klamath River downstream to assess the impact of undamming the river. Shawn Hinz, managing partner and environmental toxicologist with Gravity Consulting, has been involved with the Klamath Dam project for over a decade.

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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 The New York Times

Fracking for oil and gas is devouring American groundwater

[T[o strike oil in America, you need water. Plenty of it. Today, the insatiable search for oil and gas has become the latest threat to the country’s endangered aquifers, a critical national resource that is already being drained at alarming rates by industrial farming and cities in search of drinking water. The amount of water consumed by the oil industry, revealed in a New York Times investigation, has soared to record levels. … And now, fracking companies are the ones scrambling for water. A 2016 Ceres report found that nearly 60 percent of the 110,000 wells fracked between 2011 and 2016 were in regions with high or extremely high water stress, including basins in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and California.

Related articles:

  • CNN: California seals its reputation as a climate juggernaut with a wave of legislation and head-turning lawsuit
  • Forbes: Blog: California lawsuit - Big oil, climate change, deception – What a jury needs to know. Part 1.
  • Los Angeles Times: Opinion: Yes, there was global warming in prehistoric times. But nothing in millions of years compares with what we see today
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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 KUNC - Greeley, Colo

Officials are on alert after the rusty crawfish shows up near the Colorado River

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced the discovery of an invasive crayfish species in Lake Granby. The rusty crayfish, named for reddish spots on its shell, hasn’t been seen in the state in over a decade. The agency is on high alert because of Lake Granby’s proximity to the Colorado River, and is now focused on stopping the crayfish from spreading further. … Walters said the invaders eat small fish, insects and fish eggs, which disrupts the aquatic food web. They can also eat plants on the bottom of the reservoir, which serve as critical habitat for fish spawning and food for native wildlife.

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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services

News release: Tulare Lake updates

… The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) continues to work with state and local partners on monitoring Tulare Lake and surrounding waterways that still haven’t receded to pre-storm levels. Throughout the response period, Cal OES and local partners provided resources to aid residents affected by flooding in Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties. … Following months of coordinated efforts to combat flooding, Tulare Lake has significantly shrunk in size. 

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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 USA Today

Mosquitoes thriving in California after big storms and blistering heat

Potent winter storms, summer heat, and tropical storm Hilary have bred a surge of invasive, day-biting Aedes mosquitoes in California, spawning in some regions the first reported human cases of West Nile virus in years. The statewide rise has brought 153 West Nile reports so far, more than double last year’s, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 Yale E360

Opinion: Thinking long-term – Why we should bring back redwood forests

Lyndon Johnson signed the bill that established the Redwood National Park in California 55 years ago. It was a long time coming, with proposals blocked in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s by an industry that was beavering through the most valuable timberlands on the planet. When the National Park Service recommended a park again in 1964, bipartisan support in the Senate, a nod from President Johnson and, I believe, the trees’ own power to inspire eventually got a deal through Congress.

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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 KQED - San Francisco

Why the Forest Service is working to restore meadows in the Sierra

Kevin Swift, owner of Swift Water Design, has dedicated his career to restoring meadows in the Sierra Nevada — specifically one a few miles above Shaver Lake called the Lower Grouse Meadow, which was severely affected by the 2020 Creek Fire. … Swift and his team managed to restore this meadow by building small dams along a stream — replicating what animals would have done. To make dams, he says, think: “dirt lasagna.”

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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 The Tyee

Author interview: Why we need a ‘slow water’ movement

In her groundbreaking book Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge, environmental journalist and National Geographic Explorer Erica Gies observes, “If water were a category in a game of rock, paper, scissors, water would beat them all every time.” At a time when drought, fire and flood threaten countless lives, Gies talks to water experts who are using cutting-edge science and traditional knowledge to show how our relationship to water must change if we want to survive. She takes the reader inside water projects ranging from the marshlands of Iraq to the highlands of Peru, as well as nearer to home in B.C. and California, uncovering a breathtaking complexity we ignore at our peril. The result is a riveting and engaging book that does for water what Suzanne Simard has done for trees.

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Aquafornia news September 22, 2023 Monterey County Weekly

A generational project to restore a mile-long length of the Carmel River is well on its way.

In 1883, two years after he created Hotel Del Monte, railroad baron Charles Crocker facilitated the construction, near Cachagua, of the so-called Chinese Dam – the Carmel River’s first – which aimed to provide 400 acre-feet of water annually to his hotel. … There is a plan in the works, years in the making, though not yet quite near the finish line: the Rancho Cañada Floodplain Restoration Project. The project calls for widening and restoring the riverbed and banks where the river flows through a 40-acre, mile-long stretch of Palo Corona Regional Park through the section that was reclaimed from part of the Rancho Cañada Golf Course in a purchase facilitated by the Trust for Public Land, Trout Unlimited the Santa Lucia Conservancy and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District.

Related article: 

  • Petaluma Argus Courier: The Petaluma River is in good health, experts say, and cleanups help keep it that way​
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Aquafornia news September 22, 2023 Governing.com

Blog: Warming climate, human impacts make better data about rivers essential

Sept. 24 is World Rivers Day, first celebrated in 2005 following a declaration by the U.N. General Assembly that 2005-2015 would be the “Water for Life” decade. … Concern about abuse and neglect of rivers has led to an international movement to recognize rivers as living entities with fundamental rights, entitled to legal guardians. … The ability of America’s public health system to detect the emergence and spread of diseases, or to mount timely responses to them, is hampered by the lack of a national data system. Post-pandemic, it’s one of the major priorities of public health officials to change this.

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Aquafornia news September 22, 2023 Spectrum News

Los Cerritos Wetlands awarded multimillion-dollar grant

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority was recently awarded a $31,852,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy that will fund ongoing restoration efforts. According to wetland ecology expert Christine Whitcraft of California State University, Long Beach, restoring coastal wetland ecosystems is a crucial step in protecting the endangered wildlife that calls places like Los Cerritos home. 

Related articles: 

  • Nature: Dispersal, habitat filtering, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of local and global wetland viral biogeography
  • Contra Costa News: Walnut Creek Restoration Project Receives Project Of The Year Award
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Aquafornia news September 22, 2023 KTLA - Los Angeles

Invasive snail species discovered in Lake Tahoe is ‘impossible’ to eradicate, officials say 

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the discovery of an invasive species in Lake Tahoe. According to a CDFW release, divers monitoring the lake for aquatic invasive species detected New Zealand Mud Snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) off Lake Tahoe’s South Shore. … They were believed to have been introduced to western rives through shipments of live sportfish, but subsequent spread is likely due to recreational activities, CDFW officials said.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 Maven's Notebook

Report: 2010 California Motor Vehicle Brake Friction Material Law

The Brake Pad Legislative Report, recently released by The Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Water Resources Control Board, documents widespread compliance with the 2010 California Motor Vehicle Brake Friction Material Law (Brake Pad Law) and a subsequent reduction in aquatic pollution. The Brake Pad Law limits the amount of copper and other toxic substances allowed in brake pads in order to reduce the amount of these substances entering California’s streams, rivers, lakes, and marine environment. Copper is toxic to many aquatic organisms, and vehicle brake pads are a major source of copper pollution in urban runoff. As of 2021, more than 60 percent of brake pads on the market are copper-free, which corresponds to an estimated 28 percent decrease in copper entering urban runoff.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 Anderson Valley Advertiser

Blog: Where the Eel & Russian rivers meet

The water supply for the southern half of inland Mendocino County is dependent on water from the Russian River. The West Fork begins on Tomki Road in Redwood Valley. … For well over 100 years, the water flows of the Russian River have been supplemented from water diverted from the Eel River via the Potter Valley Project (PVP). … All of that is about to drastically change, and possibly end, as Pacific Gas and Electric, who owns the PVP, has abandoned their license to operate the project and are moving forward with decommissioning.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 Vallejo Times-Herald

Senator Dodd recognizes Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Week

In appreciation of the critical role the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta plays in California’s economy and environment, Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa, is recognizing the last week of September as Delta Week. “The Delta is a cherished watershed and the very lifeblood of California’s water system,” Dodd said in a news release. … Dodd’s Senate Concurrent Resolution 119 established Delta Week, which this year kicks off Sunday. As part of the annual tradition, it will be preceded on Saturday by Coastal Cleanup Day, which offers Californians a chance to participate in local waterway cleanup events.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 ABC 4 - Salt Lake City

Leonardo DiCaprio calls on fans to help save Great Salt Lake

Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio urged his fans to sign a petition asking Utah’s political leaders to protect and restore the Great Salt Lake. In an Instagram post on Monday, DiCaprio posted a photo of a receding Great Salt Lake shoreline, sharing with his over 61 million followers the dangers a disappearing lake poses. … DiCaprio shared his support for the group of conservation organizations that filed a lawsuit against the State of Utah over alleged “failures” to protect the lake. The lawsuit claims Utah’s diversion of water upstream is preventing necessary water from reaching the lake, depleting water levels.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 NBC News

California is engaged in the world’s largest dam removal project in hopes of letting nature rebound

This time next year, a series of massive dams that block off the Klamath River will no longer exist. The soil and rocks originally dug and transported from a nearby mountain in the 1950s will be returned to their home and the river will run freely again.  The Iron Gate Dam, which opened in 1964 as the last of four dams that, at nearly 200 feet tall each, regulated the flow of the river and time releases for the local water supply in Northern California, is now part of the world’s largest dam removal and river restoration project. Iron Gate is scheduled to be the final stop for decommissioning crews. 

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 Northern California Water Association

Blog: The floodplains help juvenile salmon reach a healthy size for improved survival

As part of the Floodplain Forward Coalition, there are significant efforts to re-imagine and better use our system of flood control levees and bypasses, the farmlands in the historic floodplain, and oxbows and other features within the river to benefit salmon, birds, and agriculture while ensuring the flood protection system functions well when needed. By reactivating Sacramento River floodplains and allowing bypasses to connect to the river more frequently and for longer durations, the Sacramento Valley can better mimic historical flood patterns and reintegrate natural wetland productivity into the river ecosystem needed to promote salmon recovery while simultaneously improving flood protection and enhancing water security.

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Aquafornia news September 21, 2023 Capital Public Radio

Why California rivers saw fewer harmful algal blooms this year

Outbreaks of harmful algal blooms have wreaked havoc on California river ecosystems for years. The toxic algae — a neon green layer of muck that floats atop water — thrives in warm, stagnant conditions brought on by drought.  Presence of this algae can make life difficult for other plants and fish in the river, and even cause concerns for humans that accidentally ingest or possibly breathe the area around it. But this year was different. Faster, colder river waters led to fewer outbreaks of the harmful algae throughout the state. 

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 South Tahoe Now

South Lake Tahoe man sues the California Tahoe Conservancy after flooding of home

A South Lake Tahoe man is suing the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) after his home was filled with water for 80 days this past winter. Damian Sowers, a lifelong local who lives on El Dorado Avenue, can now only visit the home his parents built 60 years ago. The house was filled with 16″ of water that came in from the Upper Truckee River during the heavy 2022-23 winter. The CTC started a restoration project in the Upper Truckee River Marsh in 2020 to correct old grazing and farming methods that straightened the river to have a drier meadow. The two-year-long project brought back water to the meadow, creating a healthier environment. Sowers said he believes in the project and is a proponent of the restoration, but he says the way it was done with check dams was ill-conceived and the project’s floodplain alterations were miscalculated by more than an order of magnitude.

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

Commentary: Here’s what makes the Great Salt Lake special, and why it’s in trouble

The Great Salt Lake is one of the most unique water bodies in the West. It’s the largest lake in the U.S. with no outlet to the sea. Water only leaves through evaporation, so salt enters and never leaves. Its tributaries, which include the Bear, Weber and Jordan rivers,  have scoured rocks and mountains, depositing them in the lake as minerals and salts over millennia. Those salty waters help critters like brine flies and brine shrimp thrive, which in turn support millions of migrating birds. A dazzling array of species fly in each year, including ibis, stilts, egrets, phalaropes, gulls, swans, pelicans, plovers and avocets. The lake also supports multi-million dollar industries.
-Written by columnist Leia Larsen. 

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 Capital Press

Feds prevail in lawsuit against Klamath Drainage District

An irrigation district in the Klamath Project can no longer divert water from the Klamath River under a state-issued water right without approval from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a federal judge has determined. Reclamation sued the Klamath Drainage District in July 2022 for taking water from the river despite curtailments intended to protect endangered fish. The 2022 irrigation season was severely hampered in the project following several consecutive years of drought. Reclamation allotted just 62,000 acre-feet of water from Upper Klamath Lake for irrigators, about 14% of full demand, including zero water for districts with junior rights.

Related article: 

  • Yurok Tribe: Klamath River reach prepped for post dam removal flows
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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: California orders bottled water company to stop ‘unauthorized’ piping from springs

For decades, water has been siphoned from springs in the San Bernardino Mountains and piped downhill to be bottled and sold as Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water. After a years-long fight over the bottled water operation in the San Bernardino National Forest, California water regulators ruled Tuesday that the company must stop taking millions of gallons through its pipelines. The State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to order the company BlueTriton Brands to “cease and desist” taking much of the water it has been piping from tunnels and boreholes in the mountains near San Bernardino. Environmentalists, who have campaigned for years against bottling water from the forest, praised the decision.

Related articles:

  • Sacramento Bee: Nestlé bottled water from California spring for 100 years. It’s illegal and must stop, regulator says
  • The Associated Press: California may limit how much company behind Arrowhead bottled water can draw from mountain springs
  • SJV Water: Water Board upholds “cease and desist”; says company has no rights to spring water used in its Arrowhead bottled water brand 
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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 Yale E360

Road hazard: Evidence mounts on toxic pollution from tires

For two decades, researchers worked to solve a mystery in West Coast streams. Why, when it rained, were large numbers of spawning coho salmon dying? As part of an effort to find out, scientists placed fish in water that contained particles of new and old tires. The salmon died, and the researchers then began testing the hundreds of chemicals that had leached into the water. A 2020 paper revealed the cause of mortality: a chemical called 6PPD that is added to tires to prevent their cracking and degradation. When 6PPD, which occurs in tire dust, is exposed to ground-level ozone, it’s transformed into multiple other chemicals, including 6PPD-quinone, or 6PPD-q. The compound is acutely toxic to four of 11 tested fish species, including coho salmon.

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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 KKCO - Grand Junction, CO

Colorado Parks and Wildlife finds invasive species in Upper Colorado River Basin

Colorado Parks and Wildlife found an invasive species in Lake Granby. Multiple rusty crayfish were found at Lake Granby during routine aquatic sampling on August 17th. According to CPW, rusty crayfish have been found west of the continental divide before, but this is the first time they have been found in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Crayfish are not native west of the Continental Divide. Lake Granby feeds into the Colorado River and having the invasive crayfish in there can pose a threat to the river’s ecosystem.

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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 ABC 10 - San Diego

US dam removal project seeks to restore natural habitats

As new sources of renewable energy grow, there has been a large-scale effort to remove dams that generate hydroelectric power across the country. There are more than 90,000 dams across the country, but only 6% of them are used to generate electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Most are used for irrigation, recreation and drinking.  As we move toward a greener future, it might seem contradictory that officials are advocating for their removal, but the numbers show while they may be good for energy, they’re not great for the environment or those whose cultures rely on it. There’s a symbiotic relationship that exists along the Klamath River in Northern California. The Pacific Ocean feeds its existence and, in turn, the river feeds those who call its shores home.

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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

News release: Water shortages will limit waterfowl hunting at Shasta Valley wildlife area, other northeastern properties

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will reopen the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area in Siskiyou County to limited waterfowl hunting this season after a complete closure the past two seasons. Although many parts of California received record rainfall and snowpack during the winter and spring of 2022-23, northeastern California remained comparatively dry. As a result, only dry field hunting will be allowed for waterfowl hunting this season at the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area. The Northeastern Zone waterfowl season runs from Oct. 7, 2023, through Jan. 17, 2024. Hunting at the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area will be allowed on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the season.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

California’s remote wilderness is getting polluted by balloons

Avid hiker Alyssa Johnston was exploring a trail in the High Sierra when something in the distance caught her eye. She approached the bright colors and realized they were Mylar balloons — and did not belong in the wilderness. Mylar balloons, which have a metallic coating and are filled with helium, have become a concern for biologists and nature lovers, disrupting the enjoyment of outdoor spaces and posing harm to wildlife. Their ability to travel long distances in the air means they are polluting extremely remote areas, although responsible balloon shops are working to educate customers on safe disposal. Johnston has pulled balloons out of lakes numerous times. Often, she said, “they’ll just disintegrate and I’m just trying to pick up all the little pieces because it’s this beautiful, pristine lake and then now you have this ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon.”  

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 Los Angeles Times

California gets $100 million to plant trees and combat heat

California is among the states that will share in more than $1 billion in federal funding to help plant trees in an effort to mitigate extreme heat and combat climate change, officials announced last week. The Golden State will receive about $103 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service … for tree planting and maintenance, urban canopy improvements and other green efforts. The funding comes from President Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act and marks the act’s largest investment to date in urban and community forests, officials said. … “This grant funding will help more cities and towns plant and maintain trees, which in turn will filter out pollution, reduce energy consumption, lower temperatures and provide more Californians access to green spaces in their communities,” read a statement from U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) about the program.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 Seattle Times

At beaver summit, role of hefty rodents praised in climate change fight

As the nation faces a future of increasing flooding, drought and wildfires, millions of 60-pound rodents stand by, ready to assist. Beavers can transform parched fields into verdant wetlands and widen rivers and streams in ways that not only slow surging floodwater, but store it for times of drought. … Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor of physical geography at the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities … who spoke earlier this week at the first-ever Midwest Beaver Summit, is part of a broader “beaver restoration” movement that has gained ground in recent years with ecologists in Colorado using simplified human-made beaver dams to encourage the animals to recolonize waterways, and California passing a new law encouraging nonlethal approaches to human-beaver conflicts.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

A year after Great Salt Lake’s record low, half the lake is left for dead

During the winter of 2022, Utah lawmakers on Capitol Hill boarded a pair of Black Hawk helicopters to tour something bleak: the sprawling exposed lakebed, drying mud flats and the water that remained at the Great Salt Lake, which had reached an all-time low. It inspired them to act. The following months saw a flurry of water conservation bills and millions of dollars dedicated to reversing the lake’s decline, including a $40 million trust. The Great Salt Lake sunk to a record low in the fall of 2022, and another round of water reforms followed. Then came a record-busting amount of snowpack in 2023 that many Utahns hoped would buy some time and stave off the lake’s collapse.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 The Good Men Project

Reviving a famously polluted California lake

Jesus Campanero Jr. was a teenager when he noticed there was something in the water. He once found a rash all over his body after a swim in nearby Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake in California. During summertime, an unbearable smell would waft through the air. Then, in 2017, came the headlines, after hundreds of fish washed up dead on the shore. “That’s when it really started to click in my head that there’s a real issue here,” says Campanero, now a tribal council member for the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians of California, whose ancestors have called the lake home for thousands of years. The culprit? Harmful algal blooms (HABs). 

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 California WaterBlog

Blog: Future ancestors of freshwater fishes in California

We are living in the Anthropocene, an era being defined by global mass extinctions caused by humanity. While on-going and impending extinctions of birds and other terrestrial vertebrates gain the most attention, the situation with freshwater fishes (and other freshwater organisms) is as bad or worse, partly because many freshwater extinctions are nearly invisible events, hidden by murky waters (Moyle and Leidy 2023). The extinction threat is especially high for obligatory freshwater fishes including many species endemic to California (Moyle and Leidy 2023). The ultimate cause is competition between people and fish for clean water.

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Aquafornia news September 15, 2023 Los Angeles Daily News

Restoration of Bouquet Canyon Creek to help endangered fish and get water to homes

In an eight-mile swath of a damaged creek in unincorporated Santa Clarita, the connections between humans, nature, water supplies and survival of a rare fish are frayed by climate change. … The project recently received a $12 million grant to kickstart planning and design. The money was granted to Public Works last week by the California Wildlife Conservation Board. Construction is expected to begin in late 2024, according to Public Works. … The project has many interrelated objectives: flood control, habitat restoration, and returning safe, reliable water flow into the downstream wells of homeowners who have been cut off from their water source.

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Aquafornia news September 15, 2023 The New York Times

Friday Top of the Scroll: A court settlement puts the E.P.A. on track to regulate pesticides more strictly

Call it a win for the little species, though all kinds of endangered animals and plants stand to benefit. A sweeping legal settlement approved this week has put the Environmental Protection Agency on a binding path to do something it has barely done before, by its own acknowledgment: Adequately consider the effects on imperiled species when it evaluates pesticides and take steps to protect them. … In the same area as crop-damaging insects, there may be threatened bumblebees and butterflies; among unwanted weeds, endangered plants. At the same time, pesticides help farmers produce enough food to meet the demands of a growing population. … Aquatic species like salmon and mussels do, too, as they are particularly vulnerable to pesticides that contaminate nearby water …

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 Ag Alert

State flows plan advances in, out of court

Central Valley water districts subject to a state plan that diverts flows from the San Joaquin River tributaries downstream for fish are working to achieve a more holistic approach for the fishery through voluntary agreements, while also challenging the state’s flows-only approach in court. Central to the issue is a plan adopted in 2018 by the California State Water Resources Control Board that requires affected water users to leave unimpaired flows of 30% to 50% in three San Joaquin tributaries—the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers. The work is the first phase of the state’s water quality control plan update for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, known as the Bay-Delta plan.

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 The Nature Conservancy

Blog: California North Coast

The estuaries, rivers and forests of California’s North Coast are known worldwide for their beauty, importance to conservation and recreational value. But a long history of human activity has dramatically altered these delicate ecosystems, threatening the plants, animals and human communities that rely on them. The impacts of a changing climate have only made matters worse. But now, we have the unique opportunity to address these problems and rapidly protect and restore these ecosystems in the next ten years. … Born in North Coast rivers, salmonids like coho are keystone species in California’s vast coastal ecosystem. But a century of unsustainable land management practices and overfishing have decimated their numbers. 

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 ABC7 - Los Angeles

NASA scientists use new tool to track harmful algal blooms across the world, including SoCal

It was the largest algal bloom on record and it took place in June off the California coast. The planktonic algae made the water look green while producing a toxin. Seals, sea lions and dolphins eat fish that have eaten these algae, therefore hundreds died as a result. … Using satellite data, Gierach and other scientists created new ways to study the changes in the ocean. … Satellites can even measure color and temperature changes. A lot of the increase in algal bloom is caused by what we dump into the ocean, runoff, fertilizer and climate change.

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 KSJD - Aspen Public Radio

State wildlife biologists in Utah aim to boost population of roundtail chub

Wildlife biologists in Utah are trying to bolster the state’s population of roundtail chub, a fish endemic to the Colorado River system. The fish is listed as a sensitive species in Utah due to habitat loss and competition with invasive species. About 30 round tailed chub were released recently into the Old City Park pond in Moab as part of a statewide project to boost the native fish population. Tyler Arnold, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife Resources in Utah, says roundtail, like many of our native species in the Colorado River system, have been on the decline.

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 Reuters

In San Francisco Bay, ecologists work to protect sevengill sharks

Meghan Holst studies the broadnose sevengill shark, so she was naturally concerned when record-setting rain this year altered the shark’s nursery grounds in San Francisco Bay. But the species appears to have withstood the challenge, based on initial observations from a recent outing on the water by Holst, a 31-year-old doctoral student in conservation ecology at the University of California, Davis. Next, perhaps, will come California Fish and Game Commission protections for the sharks in San Francisco Bay, which she considers a nursing and pupping ground for a species believed to be in decline. Research like hers can help support such a designation. San Francisco Bay is one of the world’s only known year-round nurseries for the species, Holst said, making the habitat critical to monitor.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Colorado Politics

Colorado lawmakers, officials grapple with U.S. Supreme Court ruling on wetlands

The 2024 legislative session is likely to see lawmakers trying to figure out how to protect Colorado wetlands following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that applied a more stringent test on what should be considered one. A panel of legislators last month heard pleas from municipal and state officials to come up with a policy to continue to protect the state’s wetlands in light of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case that redefined the terms by which a body of water can get protection under the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” rule.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 MyMotherLode.com

Restoration efforts continue at Pothole Thumb Meadow in Yosemite

Pothole Thumb Meadow, a 5.65-acre groundwater-supported wetland located at the westernmost end of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite, is undergoing restoration efforts. Yosemite’s wilderness restoration team took action during the fall of 2022 to address a significant issue—a large gully that had been impacting the meadow’s health. The origins of this gully date back to the late 1800s and can be attributed to various human activities, including non-native sheep grazing, ditching, road building, horseback riding, and camping. Initially, a small nick point formed, and as water flowed over it, it gained speed, eroding the soil. Over time, continuous erosion caused the nick point to migrate upstream, resulting in a gully that is now up to 5 feet deep and 15 feet wide.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Sick and dead birds at California’s Tulare Lake a wildlife disaster

Scientists and veterinarians are racing to prevent a wildlife disaster from getting worse in Tulare Lake, where hundreds of birds are dying from avian botulism in its stagnant waters.  The lake that reemerged in the San Joaquin Valley during winter flooding, which was partly brought on by snowmelt, after decades of dormancy has become a warm and stagnant breeding ground for toxins that cause paralysis and death. It’s common for avian botulism to strike water fowl when temperatures rise in summer and fall. But in 1983, the last time Tulare Lake emerged to such a large size after winter flooding, the disease killed more than 30,000 birds.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Capital Public Radio

Invasive mosquito species found in San Joaquin County

A mosquito breed known for carrying yellow fever and other diseases has been spotted in portions of the San Joaquin Valley. Last week, the San Joaquin County Mosquito and Vector Control District said high numbers of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have shown up in traps around South Stockton, Manteca, Escalon and Ripon. The mosquitoes have also popped up in Butte and Glenn counties this summer. Like the majority of other mosquitoes that live here, Aedes aegypti are not native to the state. They’re also relatively new to California, having first shown up in traps in 2011, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 KUNC - Greeley, Colo.

Researchers can now predict when drought will kill a forest

Researchers have found a way to predict whether or not a forest will survive based on drought conditions – information that can help forest managers deal with climate change. The researchers from the University of California Davis looked at a drought that caused the loss of tens of millions of trees in the Sierra Nevada forest from 2012 to 2015. In the early years, the trees were doing fine, despite drought conditions. But by 2015, 80% of them were essentially dead.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Colorado Public Radio

Federal fish conservation programs have found success in Western Colorado, but they’re swimming upstream in Congress this year

A popular federal effort to protect threatened Western fish is in murky waters as stakeholders await Congressional action on reauthorization.  The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has for 30 years sought to restore four species that once thrived in the river: the razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, bonytail and humpback chub. A sister effort, the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, works to restore the same fish in the Four Corners region. The species are imperiled by human-wrought habitat disruption, like dams, and preyed upon and out-competed by introduced species like rainbow and brown trout.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

New lithium company wants billions of gallons from Great Salt Lake, but says it will put it all back

The lithium bonanza continues at the largest saline system in the West, but a new company says it can harvest the mineral in a way that doesn’t contribute to ecological collapse. Waterleaf Resources, a subsidiary of California-based Lilac Solutions, wants to siphon an astounding 225,000 acre-feet from Utah’s Great Salt Lake, asserting it will pump all the water back after removing its lithium. The company uses an ion exchange technology that washes brine through bead structures which absorb the lithium minerals and flush out the rest of the water and its remaining minerals.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 California Trout

Blog: Why nature’s infrastructure works better than ours

On Thursday, August 10, Butte Creek turned orange. The culprit: a failed PG&E canal that caused orange sediment to flood the creek potentially creating deadly conditions for native fish currently inhabiting the watershed including threatened spring-run Chinook salmon. Salmon are a keystone species, and their health is intricately connected with the rest of the ecosystem. Native fish across California are consistently vulnerable to safe and responsible operation of hydroelectric infrastructure such as dams and canals. In some cases, basins like Butte Creek are managed by water-moving infrastructure, guiding flows from the nearby Feather River watershed to Butte Creek.  

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 California WaterBlog

Blog: Hidden links between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems - part 3

In California’s north coast, the Eel River winds its way through hills with shady slopes carpeted in lush ferns and towering redwoods and sunny ridges covered in brushy chaparral. The South Fork Eel River has been the site of extensive research by UC Berkeley professor Dr. Mary Power that has upended the traditional paradigm in ecology that trophic subsidies from forested watersheds shape river food webs, but subsidies from rivers are unimportant to forests.  During spring, floating mats of bright green algae grow on top of the water in the river. Aquatic insects like caddisflies and mayflies lay their eggs inside these mats, which provide nutritious food and protection from predators to their young when they hatch.

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 Stormwater Solutions

New study: Stormwater biofiltration increases coho salmon hatchling survival

A relatively simple, inexpensive method of filtering urban stormwater runoff dramatically boosted survival of newly hatched coho salmon in an experimental study, according to a press release from Washington State University (WSU). The findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, are consistent with previous research on adult and juvenile coho that found exposure to untreated roadway runoff that typically winds up in waterways during storms resulted in mortality of 60% or more. For the coho hatchlings in this study, mortality from runoff exposure was even higher at 87%. When the stormwater was run through a biofiltration method — essentially layers of mulch, compost, sand and gravel — nearly all the coho hatchlings survived, though many of resulting fish had smaller eyes and body sizes than a control group.

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 Courthouse News Service

Judge finds feds violated law by favoring irrigators in the Klamath Basin

A magistrate judge in Oregon sided with the Klamath Tribes on Monday in finding that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation violated the Endangered Species Act by misallocating limited water supplies from the Upper Klamath Lake, harming endangered sucker fish and other aquatic wildlife. In the 52-page findings and recommendation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke found the central question is whether the federal government broke the law by allocating water for irrigation when it knew it could not comply with its Endangered Species Act obligations to endangered sucker fish in the Upper Klamath Lake, a freshwater reservoir in the southern Oregon portion of the Klamath Basin.

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 Sierra Sun

The wrong kind of blooms: Climate change, invasive clams are fueling algae growth on Lake Tahoe

While out enjoying an afternoon on one of Lake Tahoe’s sandy beaches over the past few years, you might have noticed large mats of decomposing algae washing up or floating nearby. The lake’s famed blue waters are facing another threat while the battles of climate change and invasive species wage on — and it’s all very much connected.  Nearshore algae blooms are a burgeoning ecological threat to Tahoe. Not only do they impact the experience for beachgoers, but they also degrade water quality and, in some cases, pose a threat of toxicity.  Over the last 50 years, the rate of algal growth has increased sixfold, according to U.C. Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center’s 2022 State of the Lake Report. 

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 The Nevada Independent

‘Scars on the playa’: Rushed exodus from rain-soaked Burning Man could have adverse environmental impacts

Burning Man is a spectacle every year. But this year’s event garnered international attention when nearly 70,000 attendees were trapped in the desert following a storm that created exceptionally muddy conditions, rendering travel on the Black Rock Playa — the ancient lakebed where the event is held — virtually impossible. … But Burning Man creates an unnatural situation on the playa, especially during periods of rain. The normal cycle — rainfall, standing water and evaporation and infiltration — was interrupted by thousands of festival attendees walking, riding and driving across the playa. … This year’s event likely caused changes that will take a long time to restore, and it could change the way the playa absorbs rain in the future.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Fast Company

What will it take to save the Great Salt Lake?

In the 1980s, the Great Salt Lake in Utah covered an area larger than Rhode Island. Now it has shrunk to less than half that size. Without major changes in local water use, it’s possible that it could dry up completely before the end of this decade. “Right now, the Great Salt Lake is on life support,” says Ben Abbott, an ecosystem ecologist at Brigham Young University. The ecosystem could collapse even before the water disappears. As the lake shrinks, the water is getting saltier, making it harder for the brine shrimp that live there to survive—and meaning that the 10 million birds that migrate through the area may soon have nothing to eat. The shrinking coastline means that former islands are now connected to land, and wildlife face new predators; this year, pelicans that used to raise young on one former island were forced to abandon it.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Arizona Public Radio

Grand Canyon gets funds to protect native species

Grand Canyon National Park will get more than a quarter-million dollars to remove invasive species and protect native species of fish in the Colorado River. The funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act and are part of a nationwide effort to restore natural habitats and address climate change impacts.  Lake Powell, a key Colorado River reservoir, dropped to historically low levels last year due to climate change and drought. This created viable breeding conditions and easier passage through Glen Canyon Dam for high-risk invasive species like smallmouth bass and green sunfish.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Eureka Times-Standard

’30,000 Salmon’ closing celebration set

The Morris Graves Museum of Art, at 636 F St., Eureka, will hold a closing celebration of Becky Evans’ Installation “30,000 Salmon” on Sept. 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. Museum-goers will hear a dozen poems about rivers and dams, water and power, spawning and dying, salmon and community, and half a century of life upriver and downriver and on Humboldt Bay by Jerry Martien. Martien will be accompanied by Becky Evans, Fred Neighbor (guitar), Gary Richardson (bass) and Mike Labolle (percussion and trumpet). … Engaging educators, students, community members and artists, the project culminated in an installation of 30,000 objects depicting or symbolizing the fish die off on the Klamath River, which was exhibited at the First Street Gallery in 2004.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Courthouse News

EPA agrees to protect waterways from harmful ship discharges

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed Friday to finalize nationwide standards that will protect U.S. waterways from the harmful effects of discharges from ships. Under the agreement, the EPA must release its final standards on vessel discharges by Sept. 24, 2024. The standards are required by the Clean Water Act. The agreement is the end result of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth this past February. In their complaint, the groups claimed that ballast water adversely affects waterways by spreading harmful zebra mussels, coral diseases and human pathogens. Both groups were represented by the Stanford Law Clinic.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Fox Weather

Doctors fear deadly fungal infection outbreak after Tropical Storm Hilary, monsoon flooding in West

Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Hilary, storms from Jova and flooding from monsoon moisture have doctors on high alert in the Desert Southwest for a disease outbreak that can turn deadly if not caught. Valley fever, or Coccidioidosis, is a fungal infection. Humans and pets can get it just by inhaling dusty air. Fungus spores grow in dirt and soil and become airborne when wind, construction, digging and earthquakes disturb the soil. Wind carries the spores to noses and mouths. The spores thrive in the rain and multiply, according to notes in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. … This summer’s heat wave bakes the ground and dries out the soil. Thunderstorm winds blow the spores around.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Pleasanton Weekly

Kaiser to pay $49 million after environmental, patient privacy violations

Kaiser, California’s largest healthcare provider, has agreed to a $49 million settlement with the State Attorney General’s Office and six district attorneys, including in Alameda County, for illegally dumping hazardous waste, medical waste, and the protected health information of more than 7,000 patients at Kaiser facilities statewide, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Friday. … [He said]: “Batteries containing toxic, corrosive chemicals could leach into the surrounding environment and pollute the soil and groundwater. Prescription medications could leach into the water table and affect our drinking water.” He added that hazardous chemicals could start a fire that pollutes the air and harms the local ecosystem. 

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 KPBS Public Media

San Diego plants act like it’s spring again after August drenching

Tropical Storm Hilary arrived in San Diego on Aug. 20. It rained all day, dropping at least two inches in most places. “It was shocking, to be honest with you,” said Southern California native and garden expert Nan Sterman. “Except for the six years that I was in university and hanging out afterward, I have lived my entire life in Southern California,” Sterman said. “And I have never ever seen a summer rainstorm like we saw a couple of weeks ago.” All that water, when the local landscape should be hot and dry, made our plants act pretty strange. Tipuana trees were blooming a second time. Native plants like ceanothus were showing new growth when they should have been dormant. Plant experts saw surprises all over town.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Baby beaver sighting inspires hope for California comeback

Bill Leikam was reviewing footage from a wildlife camera he placed along a Palo Alto creekbed recently when something unfamiliar scampered across the screen. … Eventually, he recognized the mysterious creature as a critically important species that has long been missing from his beloved Baylands — a mammal that California wildlife officials have hailed as a “climate hero.” … For decades, developers, municipalities and farmers focused on beavers as a problem that required mitigation or removal. Now, the species known as Castor canadensis is seen as offering myriad benefits: It can help to mitigate drought and wildfires through natural water management; it is considered a keystone species for its ability to foster biodiversity; and it can restore habitat through its ecosystem engineering.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Northern California Water Association

Blog: Biodiversity in the Sacramento Valley

Today is California Biodiversity Day, which marks the anniversary of the launch of California Biodiversity Initiative in 2018 and celebrates our amazing state, the exceptional biodiversity we have in the Sacramento Valley and throughout California, and the actions we can work on with our many partners to ensure biodiversity. In the Sacramento Valley, our goal is to promote functioning ecosystems and sustainable water supplies by preserving, sustaining, and promoting our communities and working agricultural landscapes that support ecosystem function and provide landscape-scale habitat benefits for fish, bird, and wildlife populations.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Chico Enterprise-Record

Parks district asks for Feather River clean up volunteers

The Feather River Recreation and Parks District is inviting the public to make a difference in the community by joining in the annual Feather River Clean Up Day. … Volunteers along with staff from FRRPD and Department of Water Resources will be tasked with picking up trash and removing invasive plants along the river trail from Riverbend Park to the Feather River Nature Center and Native Plant Park. … The week prior to the event FRRPD staff and members of the Butte County Housing Navigation Center will be notifying homeless camped along the river and in the parks that the clean up will be happening and providing resources to them for relocation. The day of the event, FRRPD staff and members of the Butte County Sheriff’s Department will be removing homeless camps in the remote areas of Riverbend Park.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Bay Nature

How do I get my hands on these “Wild Billions,” anyway?

Historic amounts of federal money are flowing into the Bay Area and California thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). How does your organization or agency apply for some of it? … For federal agencies without BIL and IRA announcement pages, we recommend signing up for their newsletters—like “California News Bytes” from the Bureau of Land Management—to help bring possible opportunities to your inbox. Check the bureau or agency websites that fall under the Department of the Interior, such as the National Parks Service (BIL page, IRA page) and the Bureau of Reclamation (BIL funding opportunities here, and WaterSMART grants, a special program dedicated to irrigation or water supply, can be found here), and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIL page).

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Tahoe Daily Tribune

Invasive plant barrier installed at Taylor, Tallac marsh areas; Public reminded to stay out of fenced areas

Agencies restoring the Taylor and Tallac marsh areas have completed the installation of bottom barriers to remove 17 acres of invasive plants as part of the comprehensive restoration of one of the last natural wetlands in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency announced today. The collaborative project that began in December 2021 is one of the largest aquatic invasive species control projects ever undertaken in the Tahoe Basin. 

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Spectrum News

Los Cerritos Wetlands gets a cleanup

In late August 2023, the EPA removed federal protections for most of the wetlands in the country to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling that reduced the power of the Clean Water Act. The Los Cerritos Wetlands is in the middle of a sweeping renovation project, done in partnership with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, Tidal Influence and the Aquarium of the Pacific. Volunteers meet for a few hours on the first Saturday of every month to pull weeds, break up cement, add mulch and plant plants. Cassandra Davis, the volunteer services manager at Aquarium of the Pacific, said wetlands play a crucial role in protecting local flora and fauna, filtering water and most importantly, wetlands help clean the air.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Counter Punch

Blog: Migrating shorebirds ally with clean air activists in the Owens Valley

“The Owens Valley is nothing but a resource colony,” Kathy Jefferson Bancroft, tribal historic preservation officer for the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, told me. … Bancroft’s office is a site of an historic struggle for historic preservation and not the only site or the only struggle against DWP in this valley. The largest, most unifying fight in the valley community has been to force DWP to reduce the amount of alkali dust from the dry Owens Lake, which, 20 years ago produced the worst air pollution in America. An unintended consequence of the campaign to make DWP comply with the state and federal Clean Air acts has been the arrival of increasing numbers of shorebirds in the reborn Owens Lake.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Press Democrat

Editorial: Keep goat herds on grazing duty

Goats and sheep have proved their worth in devouring grasses and other potentially flammable vegetation, all without traditional mowing’s noise, pollution and, on hot days, risk of igniting fires. In 2021, Cal Fire awarded more than $10 million in grants for wildfire mitigation projects involving grazing. North Bay residents likely have seen animals grazing on public lands. Sonoma County Regional Parks use sheep and goats seasonally for vegetation management at Helen Putnam, Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail, Foothill, Cloverdale, Gualala and Maxwell parks. Cows deploy at Taylor Mountain, Crane Creek, North Sonoma Mountain and Tolay Lake parks. The parks agency notes that properly conducted and monitored grazing benefits the ecosystem by reducing invasive plant species, fertilizing the soil and making grassland more permeable for recharging groundwater, as well as reducing the risk of wildfire.

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Aquafornia news September 7, 2023 Capital Press

Reclamation will not curtail water to Klamath Project

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will not curtail water to the Klamath Project in Southern Oregon and Northern California, despite an earlier warning to irrigators that cutbacks might be necessary to satisfy protections for endangered fish. … The reversal is “due to improved hydrology in the Klamath Basin over the last two weeks; opportunities for Upper Klamath Lake water conservation this fall and winter; and coordination with tribal partners and water users,” according to officials.

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Aquafornia news September 7, 2023 California Department of Water Resources

News release: DWR joins Stockton East Water District to announce $12.2M investment for water resilience project

On Wednesday, Stockton East Water District and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) joined local and federal officials to highlight a $12.2 million project that will support groundwater recharge, water quality and habitat restoration project along the Calaveras River. … The event was held at the Bellota Weir Modification Project site on the Calaveras River. Funded by DWR’s Urban Community Drought Relief Program, the project will make conveyance improvements and install a modern fish screen at the Stockton East Water District’s Bellota municipal diversion intake on the Calaveras River. The conveyance improvements would double the amount of groundwater recharge per year and improve water reliability and quality for the city of Stockton’s drinking water. Additionally, the fish screen and new fishways will restore fish habitats along the Calaveras River and allow safe passage through the river for the threatened Central Valley Steelhead and Chinook Salmon.

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Aquafornia news September 7, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

Groups sue Utah, trying to save Great Salt Lake with the public trust doctrine

Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to save the Great Salt Lake as its water continues receding and its lakebed blows dust. The case uses a legal concept that recently stifled plans to turn Utah Lake into a private island development and, years ago, stopped a salty lake from getting sucked dry in California. A complaint filed in 3rd District Court on Wednesday invokes the public trust doctrine, claiming the Utah Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has failed in its duty to protect the largest saline ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere for the benefit of its residents. While lawmakers and resource managers have taken steps in recent years to bolster the imperiled Great Salt Lake and the unique ecology it supports, they must take more drastic steps to reduce Utahns’ overconsumption of water, the suit argues.

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Aquafornia news September 6, 2023 Daily Kos

Blog: Coalition of groups submits protest against water rights application for Sites Reservoir

Friends of the River (FOR) and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA), along with a coalition of tribes and environmental organizations, on August 31 submitted a protest against the water rights application and petitions of the Sites Project Authority for the proposed Sites Reservoir. FOR and CSPA, two of California’s oldest and most respected water conservation organizations, said this protest is part of a legally required process to ensure public concerns are addressed when granting water rights in California. 

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Aquafornia news September 6, 2023 Mercury News

Restored Delta tidal marsh fights climate change and attracts wildlife, native species

Once eyed for thousands of homes, the recently restored Dutch Slough tidal marsh in east Contra Costa County is already flourishing as a new habitat for fish and wildlife, a living laboratory for scientists and one of the world’s strongest sinks for absorbing and storing carbon long-term. Led by the state Department of Water Resources, the ambitious $73 million project to restore 1,187 acres of freshwater Delta tidal wetlands near Oakley – one of the largest such projects in the state – is a little more than half finished. When it is completed, the scientists are hoping it will become a model for future restoration projects, climate change defenses and scientific research. … That’s important, because many scientists believe that capturing and storing carbon dioxide is one of the more cost-effective ways to combat global warming.

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Aquafornia news September 6, 2023 Placer County Water Agency

News release: RiverArc Project receives $5.1 million Wildlife Conservation Board grant

On August 24th, the River Arc Project, a collaborative project aimed at enhancing regional water supply and bolstering wildlife resilience, received a substantial $5.1 million grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board. This funding will help maintain the current streamflow on the Lower American River, a designated Wild & Scenic River, by strategically shifting water supply diversions to the much larger Sacramento River. This project is led by the Placer County Water Agency in partnership with the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County Water Agency, and the California American Water Company.

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Aquafornia news September 6, 2023 Public Policy Institute of California

Blog: Exploring the Yurok Tribe’s management of the Klamath River

Melodie Meyer is associate general counsel for the Yurok Tribe in Northern California—one of the few California tribes whose members still reside on a portion of their ancestral lands. The Yurok reservation borders a 44-mile stretch of the Klamath River; we asked Ms. Meyer to tell us more about efforts to protect the watershed. The Tribe’s water programs center around managing water quality—ensuring that the tributaries that drain into the Klamath are healthy and not polluted. The environmental department’s water division has staff dedicated to dealing with permitting for the water programs, as well as a water quality control plan and a water pollution control ordinance.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 California WaterBlog

Blog: Wetlands on the edge

It’s really easy to overlook and undervalue wetlands. Some are small or just don’t look very important. Others are enormous, and cause flooding issues for homeowners and growers. Some might even think wetlands are gross, worry about mosquitos and vector borne illness, or have never experienced what it’s like to be close to or inside of one. It’s uncommon to see a home or store positioned on a wetland (usually because it was drained), so perhaps they can also appear to be taking up valuable real estate better utilized for ‘human needs’. Naturally, wetlands require water, which means they compete with humans for the acre-feet we so often discuss in California water. Yet according to Constanza et al. 1997, ecosystem services for wetlands, compared to all other ecosystem types, are the most valuable on Earth.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 KCRA - Sacramento

Submerged tugboat in San Joaquin County leaks fuel, oil into Delta waterway

A submerged tugboat in the Empire Tract area of San Joaquin County was leaking fuel and oil into the Delta waterway on Monday morning, according to the sheriff’s office. The boat was near Herman and Helen’s Marina, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said. The sheriff’s office boating safety unit went to the scene trying to contain the spill. Outside agencies — including Environmental Health, Office of Emergency Services, Fish & Wildlife, Woodbridge Fire Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard Pollution Response Team — were also contacted to assist in the spill.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 Scientific Reports

New study: Microplastics influence on herbicides removal and biosurfactants production by a Bacillus sp. strain active against Fusarium culmorum

Chemical pesticides are produced synthetically and applied as a main method for pest removal, especially in agriculture. In 2020, pesticide consumption was 2.66 million metric tons, with the United States being the largest pesticide-consuming country worldwide with 407.8 thousand metric tons of pesticides used, and Brazil coming in second with 377.2 thousand tons consumed. From 1990 to 2010, the global consumption of pesticides increased by more than 50%. According to Soloneski et al., more than 99.9% of pesticides applied to crops worldwide become toxic residues in the environment, never reaching their specific targets. These compounds are usually toxic and persist in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 CalMatters

Opinion: The greenwashing campaigns that sacrificed California redwoods

In 1986, I resigned my position as a news reporter in Sonoma County to engage as an activist in a subject I’d been covering: the 1985 junk-bond takeover of the Pacific Lumber Company, in Humboldt County, by Houston-based Maxxam Corporation. At the time, Pacific Lumber owned the very last large groves of ancient redwood forest still standing outside of parks, a precious inventory of primeval life that Maxxam was now very busy liquidating. I would try to save this forest. … Tree-sitting was a last resort. Our Humboldt County Earth First! group staged many such direct actions in the redwoods, yet every grove we occupied and otherwise agitated to preserve got cut down or severely damaged, with the exception of Headwaters Forest. I had discovered and named 3,000-acre Headwaters Forest in March 1987, just five months after quitting my job. That this iconic grove still stands is nothing short of a miracle.
-Written by Greg King, an award-winning journalist and activist credited with spearheading the movement to protect Headwaters Forest in Humboldt County.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 Los Angeles Times

West Nile virus is a growing threat this summer in California. Here’s why

West Nile virus infections are on the rise this year in California after a particularly wet winter led to more mosquito reproduction, according to health experts. The state had 55 human cases of the virus as of Aug. 25. Five of them were fatal, according to the California Mosquito-Borne Virus Surveillance and Response Program. That’s more than double the 24 cases that had occurred in 2022 by late August of that year. In total in 2022, there were 207 cases and 15 deaths. Among California’s latest infections, a woman in Orange tested positive for the West Nile virus  this week, becoming the first human case in Orange County this year, according to the county Health Care Agency. The Orange resident wasn’t experiencing any symptoms.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Blog: New challenges in the struggle to save Pacific salmon

Over the last 150 years, the effects of human activities such as agriculture, mining, damming, logging, and overfishing have led to declines in Pacific salmon species. For decades, efforts have been made to help salmon persist through the challenges they faced. Now climate change is adding to the suite of challenges threatening the long-term viability of salmon and the cultures, traditions and economies of the communities that depend on them. In the Pacific Northwest, the populations of many salmon species have declined significantly, with some protected under the Endangered Species Act. In Alaska, a place with historically healthy salmon runs, the decline of some runs has caused tremendous hardship and concern.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 Courthouse News Service

Feds’ discrimination claim over California salinity standards deemed premature

A federal judge agreed with California that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation can’t claim yet that an amendment to salinity standards for parts of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta discriminates against the U.S. government. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston in Sacramento on Wednesday dismissed the bureau’s claim under the federal constitutional intergovernmental immunity doctrine, which prohibits state or local laws that discriminate against the U.S. government, because until the amendment is implemented, it won’t be possible to evaluate whether the bureau is treated differently than similarly situated parties. … The problem, according to the federal bureau, was that the amended plan included revised, and less stringent Southern Delta salinity objectives, but it didn’t apply these less stringent objectives to Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the New Melones Dam and Reservoir on the Stanislaus River.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 Las Vegas Review-Journal

To help endangered fish, Lake Mohave water levels to drop

Water levels at Lake Mohave are expected to drop about 10 feet in the coming weeks to improve habitat and spawning cycles for two endangered fish species native to the Colorado River system. The annual fall drawdown of the reservoir is part of an ongoing effort by the federal government to restore populations for the boneytail chub and razorback sucker, the National Park Service said in a news release. The surface of Lake Mohave will go from its current elevation of roughly 643 feet above sea level down to about 633 feet by mid-October. Water levels will start to tick back up starting in November and return to normal by mid-January.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 California Department of Fish and Wildlife

News release: Grant award leads to historic acquisition by California’s first Black-led land conservation organization

The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) provided a $2.27 million grant to the 40 Acre Conservation League, California’s only Black-led conservation group, for the Tahoe Forest Gateway Leidesdorff Property in Placer County, a cooperative project with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. The conservation group acquired approximately 650 acres of land near the Tahoe Lake area for the purposes of wildlife-oriented education and research, wildlife habitat preservation, restoration and management. The WCB approved approximately $163.5 million in grants to 37 projects at its Aug. 24, 2023, quarterly meeting that will help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout California. The grants will also provide new and improved public access, recreation and educational opportunities.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 KCRA - Sacramento

What to know about West Nile Virus as cases increase in Northern California

West Nile virus cases have been increasing in Northern California. The West Nile virus is the most common and serious vector-borne disease in the state. There were 29 new West Nile Virus cases in humans last week, bringing the total for the year to 55 cases. Those cases have been reported in Glenn, Lake, Butte, Yolo, El Dorado, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Kings, Tulare, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. On Wednesday, another human case in Roseville became the first this summer in Placer County. Five people with the virus have died, including one person in Sacramento County and another person in Yolo County.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 Northern California Public Radio

The Supreme Court slashed water protections – what now?

Whether or not Joni Mitchell thinks creeks are paradise, it became a lot easier to pave them over and put up a parking lot this year. “So in May, the US Supreme Court limited really the authority of the EPA, which is the Environmental Protection Agency, to regulate certain elements of our nation’s waterway,” Redgie Collins said. Collins is policy director at CalTrout. Streams, rivers, and wetlands of many forms, across the United States were dealt a serious blow this summer by the US Supreme Court in their ruling on the case of Sackett v EPA. “The federal backstops that were once present were really decimated by that made decision by the Supreme Court,” Collins said. This week, the EPA, their hands forced by the ruling, made official, rollbacks of protections for various “waters of the United States.”

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 Northern California Water Association

Blog: The social significance of water infrastructure

When we discuss water infrastructure in our industry, our thoughts naturally gravitate toward its fundamental roles in growing our food, supplying our homes, and powering industries. However, within the depths of lakes and the fast-moving currents of rivers, lies an often-overlooked aspect of water’s importance – its profound social significance. Beyond its utilitarian functions, water plays a vital role in fostering community, recreation, and shared experiences that enrich our lives in ways that extend far beyond basic necessities. Water bodies serve as dynamic hubs for social interactions, acting as gathering places where people come together to swim, boat, and partake in a diversity of activities that enrich bonds among friends and families. I am an avid river rafter, and I have spent many days bobbing down whitewater with friends, old and new, laughter echoing off rocky shores as we navigate the waters and create memories. 

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 CalMatters

Tearing down Klamath dams: The world’s largest dam demolition

Oshun O’Rourke waded into the dark green water, splashing toward a net that her colleagues gently closed around a cluster of finger-length fish. The Klamath River is wide and still here, making its final turn north to the coast as it winds through the Yurok reservation in Humboldt County. About 150 baby chinook salmon, on their long journey to the Pacific, were resting in cool waters that poured down from the forest. … For more than a hundred years, dams have stilled the Klamath’s flows, jeopardizing the salmon and other fish, and creating ideal conditions for the parasite to spread. But now these vestiges of an early 20th-century approach to water and power are being dismantled: The world’s largest dam removal project is now underway on the Klamath River.

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 KPBS Public Media

Paper pinpoints cause of San Diego’s 2020 red tide

San Diego researchers have a better idea of why an algal bloom along the county coastline in the spring of 2020 got so big. The red tide event in April and May of 2020 was among one of the largest in years and it created changes in the nearshore environment that lingered well into the summer. Researchers at the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Jacobs School of Engineering have pinpointed how a specific species of plankton, a dinoflagellate, fed the bloom.

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 California Trout

Blog: Restoration amidst the redwoods provides hope for Eel River salmonids

Amidst the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coastal redwood forest in the world, just off Highway 101, Bull Creek trickles by.  This modest 41.5 square mile watershed has incredible potential to support endangered salmonids – but the conditions in the creek are not yet quite right for fish. Soon, completion of a restoration project on the Hamilton Reach of Bull Creek will change this giving existing coho populations in the South Fork Eel River watershed the chance to migrate through.   Throughout their lifecycles, salmonids need varied water temperatures. When they are young, they might need warmer water, and as they grow, they seek out colder temperatures. They need different summer and winter habitat to thrive. Ultimately, these fish need habitat year-round that can fulfill the full spectrum of their lifecycle needs.

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 The Associated Press

States at the forefront of fights over wetlands protections after justices slash federal rules

… For decades, federal court battles have pitted environmentalists who want the Clean Water Act to protect more wetlands against industries seeking regulatory rollbacks. The high court’s May 25 decision favoring Idaho landowners Michael and Chantell Sackett curtailed powers of the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to limit wetlands destruction. It put states at the center of future fights over wetlands that defend against floods, purify water and support wildlife, analysts say.“The federal rollbacks are creating a vacuum. The states are going to have to step in and fill the void,” said Kim Delfino, president of an environmental consulting company and the former California director of Defenders of Wildlife.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 SJV Water

Floodplain work could start on two San Joaquin Valley rivers as soon as this week after state funding was approved

The state approved funding for a range of floodplain projects in the San Joaquin Valley, clearing the way for work to potentially begin as soon as this week. The state budget included $40 million for floodplain restoration projects in the San Joaquin Valley, which would let rivers spread out over large swaths of undeveloped land to slow the flow and absorb the water.  On August 24, the California Wildlife Conservation Board voted to spend $21 million of the funding which will be doled out to six on-the-ground projects and 10 planning projects, all overseen by the nonprofit River Partners. The rest of the money will be voted on in November at another board meeting and is proposed for two land acquisitions. 

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 Northern California Public Media

Changing coast more than just shifting sands and turning tides

The coast is for many the epitome of Sonoma County’s natural beauty beloved for its seaside towns and rugged, wide open spaces. But seeing the future of the Sonoma coast means embracing its constant movement. Big proposals like the Bodega Bay nuclear power plant in the 1960’s, or the Fort Ross pumped hydro electric facility today easily capture public attention and spur opposition, but there’s one powerful force that changes the Sonoma Coast every minute of every day: the ocean.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 SF Gate

Someone is poisoning trees on a private Lake Tahoe beach

Six trees were found “poisoned” at a private beach in one of Tahoe’s most exclusive neighborhoods recently, spurring an investigation and pointing to the area’s long history of tree violations. According to the Tahoe Daily Tribune, the mystery began in July 2022, when Incline Village General Improvement District staff members found six other trees at Burnt Cedar Beach that smelled like fuel. The latest poisonings bring the total of poisoned trees at Burnt Cedar Beach to 12. Representatives from the Incline Village Parks and Recreation department told SFGATE that the restricted beach, which is outfitted with a pool, swimming cove and full-service bar, is only accessible to residents and their guests. 

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 The Hill

‘Valley fever’ fungus surging northward in California as climate changes

Workers across California are grappling with yet another climate change-induced threat: a rapidly spreading fungus that can land its unsuspecting victims with prolonged flu-like symptoms, or far worse. The culprit is a soil-dwelling organism called coccidioides, which is now spreading the disease coccidioidomycosis — known as “Valley fever” — farther and farther north of its Southwest origins. Rather than spreading from person to person, Valley fever results from the direct inhalation of fungal spores — spores climate change is now allowing to flourish in new places.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 Santa Fe Reporter

Replenishing the San Juan River

On an unseasonably hot July day, Jerrod Bowman peers into the water flowing through a box-like passage for endangered fishes, checking their route is clear. Bowman works as a fish biologist for the Navajo Nation, based west of Farmington, where the San Juan River borders the reservation. A small dam here forms a barrier to the seasonal migration of two rare fish species, the razorback sucker and the Colorado pikeminnow. On the south side of the river a narrow, rocky channel leading to a concrete bypass serves as a passage around the dam. “I’m just trying to give them the chance to move upstream,” Bowman says. Historically, Colorado pikeminnows traveled hundreds of miles through the free-flowing rivers of the Colorado River Basin, from Wyoming to northern Mexico. Razorback suckers also migrated seasonally to spawn through a similar range.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 LAist

West Nile cases jump after California rains

What is going on? There have been four West Nile-related deaths in California this year, including the one confirmed case in San Bernardino County. Cases are being reported as far north as Lake County and as far south as Imperial. So far this year 55 people have tested positive — over half were reported just last week. What can I do? The solution is easy, simple and cheap: Wear insect repellent. It has the added bonus of fewer itchy mosquito bites as well as protecting your health. Stop mosquitoes from laying eggs in or near standing water. Dump any standing water around your house, such as in flower pots, tires or buckets to keep mosquitoes from breeding. Check and repair holes in screens to keep mosquitoes outdoors.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 CNN

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: EPA slashes federally protected waters by more than half after Supreme Court ruling

The Environmental Protection Agency and US Army on Tuesday released a new rule that slashes federally protected water by more than half, following a Supreme Court decision in May that rolled back protections for US wetlands. The rule will invalidate an earlier definition of what constitutes the so-called waters of the United States, after the Supreme Court ruled Clean Water Act protections extend only to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States in their own rights.” It could impact up to 63% of US wetlands by acreage and around 1.2 million to 4.9 million miles of ephemeral streams, an EPA spokesperson told CNN. An ephemeral stream is one that typically only has water flowing through it during and immediately after rain events.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 CalMatters

Opinion: Why Sites Reservoir is not the water solution California needs

California is at yet another critical point in its struggle toward a sustainable water future, and yet we’re still talking about the wrong solutions. On Wednesday, the water rights protest period for Sites Reservoir will come to a close. Sites Reservoir is the latest in a long line of proposed dams promising to end our cycle of water insecurity. However, Sites won’t add much to California’s water portfolio, and its harm to the Sacramento River, Delta ecosystem and communities that rely on them could be irreversible and ongoing.
-Written by Keiko Mertz, the Policy Director for Friends of the River.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Arizona Republic

National Park Service plans predator kill to aid Colorado River fish

National Park Service biologists planned to close off and poison a slough connected to the Colorado River upstream of the Grand Canyon to kill young, non-native bass this weekend, the agency said. It’s the second time that officials have used rotenone, a fish-killing agent, as an emergency measure to slow a mushrooming smallmouth bass invasion from Lake Powell that threatens native humpback chubs that swim the Colorado farther downstream. This time they’re seeking hundreds of young bass, instead of the handful first detected in the slough between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry last year.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 FishBio

Blog: Chemical cuisine – Chinook exposure to pesticides varies with preferred prey

The Central Valley of California only contains 1% of U.S. farmland, but generates 8% of the country’s agricultural output and produces a quarter of the nation’s food. Much of this astounding production comes from the 8,500 square kilometers of farmland in the Sacramento River watershed, which covers the northern portion of the Central Valley. This extensive farmland means that the watershed is exposed to a significant amount of compounds commonly used in farming, including pesticides. As water flows over the land to streams and rivers, it carries these contaminants along with it, ultimately dumping them in waterways and floodplains, where they often make their way into the food web. Consequently, juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) feeding and rearing within the watershed can be exposed to these harmful compounds.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Ducks Unlimited

News release: Ducks Unlimited’s scientific studies will help conserve Pacific Flyway waterfowl, habitats

Ducks Unlimited and its scientific partners have several studies planned or underway to study waterfowl and their habitats in the Pacific Flyway. … The lack of floodplain habitat for salmon and other migratory fish in the Sacramento Valley in California has contributed to their decline. As a result, there are proposals to manage floodplain habitats to benefit fish. This study, led by a team in Ducks Unlimited’s Western Region, will determine the effects of floodplain reactivation for fish on waterfowl and Sacramento Valley waterfowl hunting.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

News release: Foothill yellow-legged frog receives ESA protections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will provide Endangered Species Act protections to four of the six geographically and genetically distinct population segments (DPS) of the foothill yellow-legged frog.  After reviewing the best scientific and commercial information available, the Service determined endangered status for the South Sierra DPS and South Coast DPS and threatened status for the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS of the foothill yellow-legged frog. The Service is including a 4(d) rule for the North Feather DPS and Central Coast DPS that excepts take incidental to habitat restoration projects and forest fuels management activities that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. The Service will designate critical habitat for the frog at a later date. 

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Courthouse News Service

Ninth Circuit halts gold drilling project in eastern Sierra Nevada

A federal appeals court panel Friday halted an exploratory gold drilling project in the eastern Sierra Nevada that was set to begin this week. Kore Mining Ltd. planned to drill for gold near Mammoth Lakes. The project involved 12, 600-foot deep holes on some 1,900 acres. It would have required vegetation clearing and less than a mile of temporary access roads. Four groups — Friends of the Inyo, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Watersheds Project and the Sierra Club — sued Kore Mining and the U.S. Forest Service in October 2021, arguing the drilling would impact area groundwater that feeds into the Owens River and cause the bi-state sage grouse to abandon its habitat. A federal judge in March sided with the defendants. 

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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 Chico Enterprise-Record

Floodplain restoration funding flows again

Floodplain restoration, halted by budget cuts, will resume now that the state reallocated funding. [Last] Friday morning, Chico-based River Partners announced that the California Wildlife Conservation Board approved $40 million for projects in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys… “This level of Central Valley floodplain investment is historic,” River Partners President Julie Renter said by email. “It will result in the transformation of over 4,000 acres, delivering improved flood safety, groundwater recharge, habitat for salmon and other imperiled wildlife, outdoor access for park-starved communities, restoration-related jobs to grow local economies, and so much more.”

Related articles: 

  • KVPR – Bakersfield: In a burn scar along California’s Sierra Nevada, ‘green glaciers’ hold a key to forest health
  • California WaterBlog: Blog – Portfolio solutions for water – flood management
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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

Utah town celebrates completion of Price River restoration project

After a century of getting dammed, diverted, moved out of its channel and, in some places, tapped completely dry, a big section of the Price River now flows free. The historic rail and mining town of Helper celebrated the completion of its river revitalization project this year. It marks the end of a decade-long effort to rid a seven-mile stretch of old piling structures impeding the river’s movement, along with concrete, junk and invasive plants choking the river’s banks. Residents and visitors can now fish, float and boat unimpeded through this increasingly popular tourist destination located halfway between Salt Lake City and Moab.

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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 Inside Climate News

As companies eye massive lithium deposits in California’s Salton Sea, locals anticipate a mixed bag

… Rising salinity, exacerbated by a shrinking freshwater supply from the chronically drought-plagued Colorado River, has made the Salton Sea uninhabitable for many aquatic species. … But recently, the Salton Sea has become a hotbed of industrial activity filled with promise for the future. Beneath its shores lie untouched lithium deposits that experts believe could play a role in the world’s clean energy future. With the rising demand for lithium during the clean energy transition, the area—also known as “Lithium Valley”—has become an attractive location for major energy companies to explore advanced mining techniques like direct lithium extraction (DLE). 

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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 Investigate Midwest

Three widely used pesticides driving hundreds of endangered species toward extinction, according to EPA

Today, the bumblebee is among more than 200 endangered species whose existence is threatened by the nation’s most widely used insecticides (one classification of pesticides), according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The endangered species range from Attwater’s greater prairie chicken to the Alabama cave shrimp, from the American burying beetle to the slackwater darter. And the star cactus and four-petal pawpaw are among the 160-plus at-risk plants. The three neonicotinoids — thiamethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid — are applied as seed coatings on some 150 million acres of crops each year, including corn, soybeans and other major crops. Neonicotinoids are a group of neurotoxic insecticides similar to nicotine and used widely on farms and in urban landscapes. 

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Aquafornia news August 25, 2023 The Nevada Independent

Can robots keep Tahoe’s beaches and water clean? 

When the July Fourth crowds cleared out from Tahoe’s beaches this year, visitors left thousands of pounds of trash behind — Zephyr Shoals alone had 8,500 pounds of rubbish. The next day, volunteers flocked to the beaches, picking up broken coolers and lawn chairs, plastic cups and aluminum cans. But more rubbish, unseen by the volunteers, hid just beneath the sand. Across Tahoe’s beaches, scraps like bottle caps, bits of Styrofoam and cigarette butts remained. … Traditional methods for rounding up litter in the water and on the lakeshores are no longer sufficient, according to the League to Save Lake Tahoe, a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting the Tahoe Basin. Enter the BEBOT and the PixieDrone, zero-emission robots designed specifically to clean sandy beaches and the surfaces of lakes.

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Aquafornia news August 25, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Marine heat wave off California helped fuel Hurricane Hilary

Last week, a massive marine heat wave sitting roughly 60 miles off California’s coast oozed eastward, providing warm water fuel for Hurricane Hilary and its historic trek north. It was a worrisome development for researchers who have monitored this warm mass for nearly a decade — and who are watching a developing El Niño in the equatorial Pacific. Ever since the “blob” appeared in the northeastern Pacific at the very end of 2013 — a massive marine heat wave that gripped the West Coast for nearly two years in heat and drought; disrupting marine ecosystems up and down the coast — a massive offshore heat wave has appeared nearly every year (with the exception of 2017 and 2018); expanding in the summer and shrinking in the winter.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: California nearly drought free in wake of Hilary’s historic rains
  • East Bay Times: Big animals avoid impact of Hilary, wildlife in streams is more vulnerable
  • The Hill: Multiyear El Niño and La Niña events could become more common
  • Climate.gov – Blog: El Niño Means An Even Floodier Future Is On The Coastal Horizon
  • Arizona Republic: Commentary: Lake Mead barely rose after Hilary’s rains. There’s a reason for that
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Aquafornia news August 25, 2023 The Sacramento Bee

Friday Top of the Scroll: 23 million chinook salmon were released throughout Central Valley. Here’s why

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Wednesday it has completed its release of approximately 23 million fall-run Chinook salmon raised in Central Valley fish hatcheries. The 23 million salmon raised and released by state officials this year is a 15% increase from the count in 2022. This year’s production goals were expanded to try to help Chinook salmon overcome the consequences of the drought in which water temperatures rose and water flows fell throughout the Valley during critical salmon spawning periods, officials said. Those conditions, coupled with a thiamine deficiency that affects reproduction, have reduced in-river spawning success over the past several fall runs.

Related articles: 

  • California Trout: Blog - Klamath River Tributary Restoration Gives Salmon A Chance Before – and After – Dam Removal
  • CBS – San Francisco: Tire additive could push California salmon to extinction, study says
  • Chico Enterprise-Record: Turbid water in Butte Creek shows improvement
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Aquafornia news August 25, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Would a new reservoir give off lots of greenhouse gases?

When you think about sources of planet-heating greenhouse gases, dams and reservoirs probably aren’t some of the first things that come to mind. But scientific research has shown that reservoirs emit significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It’s produced by decomposing plants and other organic matter collecting near the bottom of reservoirs. Methane bubbles up to the surface of reservoirs, and also passes through dams and bubbles up downstream. Scientists call these processes ebullition and degassing. … [Experts] estimated that if [Sites] reservoir is built and filled, it would annually emit approximately 362,000 metric tons of emissions, measured as carbon dioxide equivalent.

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Aquafornia news August 24, 2023 Fresno Bee

U.S. Forest Service restoring Sierra Nevada meadows lost to fire

California’s Sierra Nevada mountain used to have more meadows, nearly three times as many. That’s according to a report released earlier this month by the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station. Researchers used a subset of artificial intelligence known as machine learning to identify and map locations of these lost meadows, which have disappeared over 150 years due to livestock grazing, mining, road-building and wildfires. … In some instances, the models expanded into areas where meadows were known to already exist. Potential new meadows, or previously unrecognized areas, were also identified and will now be used in the forest service’s meadow restoration effort.

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Aquafornia news August 24, 2023 Times Herald Online

Funding coming to elevate Highway 37

The state received a significant boost to its efforts with State Route 37 and San Pablo Bay last week with the infusion of $155 million in federal funding. The California Transportation Commission announced on Wednesday it formally allocated the funds to elevate a key section of State Route 37 to guard against future flooding on a vital regional corridor connecting Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties and enhance habitat connectivity for San Pablo Bay. The $180 million project will raise the roadway by 30 feet over Novato Creek by 2029 — well above the projected year 2130 sea-level rise. The $155 million allocation comes from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and is lauded by environmental groups and local leaders who have been calling for investments to support the long-term viability of state route 37.

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Aquafornia news August 24, 2023 Natural Resources Defense Council

Blog: Partnering with beavers to adapt to climate change

Mitigating climate change and adapting to a warming planet requires as many partners as we can muster. This includes embracing nature as a key ally. Estimates suggest that nature-based solutions can provide 37% of the mitigation needed to keep climate warming below two degrees Centigrade. And, nature, can help us prepare for the changes we are already experiencing and know are coming. Many people appreciate that if we plant more trees, they can both cool our cities and absorb carbon. But, perhaps less well known are the many benefits that beavers bring to the climate fight. Beavers are ecological engineers whose ponds store carbon, improve water quality, create habitat to support biodiversity, and help reduce climate impacts. 

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 Napa Valley Register

What does the Le Colline veto mean for Napa vineyard plans?

Some people view Napa County’s recent rejection of the proposed Le Colline vineyard in the Napa Valley watershed as a breath of fresh air. Others see it as an ill wind. Le Colline was the first controversial land use decision facing the new-look Board of Supervisors that took office at the beginning of the year. On Tuesday, the board, by a 3-2 margin, sided with environmentalists who objected to clearing forest and shrubland for a 20.6-acre vineyard. Mike Hackett of Save Napa Valley has over the years often been disappointed with county land use decisions. This time, he liked the outcome and sees good things to come. “I think a majority of the board finally understands we are in a climate crisis,” said Hackett. “We can no longer be removing forests in inappropriate locations for vineyards.” 

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 Union Democrat

Wetland restoration project underway in eroded area of Ackerson Meadow

A wetland restoration project is now underway in the 400-acre former herding area known as Ackerson Meadow, which was controversially added to Yosemite National Park in 2016, the National Park Service announced this week. Ackerson Meadow is on the west edge of Yosemite, on Evergreen Road in Tuolumne County, between Highway 120 and the entrance to Hetch Hetchy, and it borders Stanislaus National Forest land. Ackerson Creek flows into the South Fork Tuolumne River. Natural subalpine meadows there used to be magnets for cattle and sheep herders who sought grazelands when they were outside park boundaries. 

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 Holland & Knight

Blog: The rubber meets the road with California’s green chemistry law

What do nail polish, children’s foam-padded sleeping mats and tires have in common? Not much at first glance, but all have been identified as “priority products” under California’s Safer Consumer Products regulations administered by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) under the state’s Green Chemistry law. The Regulation and Its Requirements The regulation designating motor vehicle tires containing the chemical N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) as a priority product became final on July 3, 2023, making tires containing 6PPD the seventh priority product identified under the law.

Related article: 

  • Courthouse News Service: Judge sides with environmentalists over freshwater pollutants criteria
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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 California Local

Blog: How land reclamation hurts California’s environment

One of the most famous, though possibly apocryphal, quotes to come out of the Vietnam War appeared in a Feb. 7, 1968, Associated Press report. It quoted an unnamed “United States Major” explaining why U.S. forces leveled the Vietnamese town of Ben Tre—in one succinct, memorable turn of phrase: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,” the major reportedly commented.  The quote lives on because, real or not, it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the absurdity of military logic. … But the quote didn’t apply only to the military. In fact, it could easily be applied to the large-scale public improvement project that built much of what California is today—via a process known as “land reclamation.” The reclamation projects of the late 19th and early 20th century turned the so-called swamps of California’s Central Valley into some of the country’s most fertile agricultural land—but in the process, destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the wetlands that were the natural habitat for hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles and many other kinds of life.

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 High Country News

Federal court derails proposed Utah oil railroad

Fears, concerns and legal challenges over a proposed oil train route along the Colorado River were finally addressed in federal court last week. Until then, plans for the Uinta Basin Railway project, which would ferry vast amounts of crude oil from northeast Utah eastward alongside the Colorado River, sailed through federal agencies tasked with approving large transportation projects. But then the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., successfully challenged the project’s environmental impact assessments, siding with the railway’s opponents and striking a blow against what would have been the largest petroleum corridor in the United States. 

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 San Luis Obispo Tribune

Central Coast CA is refuge from climate change, study says

In an otherwise warming planet, new research shows that the ocean off California’s Central Coast may be a thermal refuge for marine wildlife. Cal Poly associate professor Ryan Walter, who teaches physics, and fourth-year physics student Michael Dalsin analyzed temperature data gathered from 1978 through 2020 at a site just north of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. They found that while other areas of the world see sharp rises in ocean temperatures and more frequent and more intense heatwaves, the Central Coast hasn’t seen such intense trends. The region still experiences marine heatwaves and cold spells brought on by factors such as the ocean-wide climactic patterns of El Niño and La Niña, but cold current upwelling brought on by strong local winds helps maintain the marine ecosystem along the Central Coast, according to a study by Walter and Dalsin published on July 31.

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 CBS San Francisco

Cancelation of California salmon season forces fishermen to find new way forward

Salmon fishers across the state are pivoting to stay afloat after the salmon fishing season was canceled earlier this year.  At dock 47 in San Francisco, the pier looks different this time of year. More boats are tied up, an unusual sight for what would be peak salmon season.  “It hurts all the way around,” Matt Juanes told CBS News Bay Area. … But this year, the salmon fisher of 8 years is exploring uncharted territory for him. He’s now looking to catch shrimp and halibut after salmon season was canceled for repopulation efforts. … The impact goes beyond the fishermen and their families. California is projected to lose $460 million from the closure with more than 20,000 jobs impacted. Officials say the closure was necessary to sustain the population after years of drought made the state’s water supply unsustainable for salmon eggs that require cooler water to survive. But experts say we could see future closures unless water is reserved for the fish.

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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Editorial: Can we fight the microplastic menace in your clothes hamper?

When you hear the word “microfiber,” you probably think of the now-ubiquitous reusable cloths used for cleaning floors, wiping up spills and polishing countertops. For environmentalists, however, that word has a much more sinister meaning. It describes the tiny threads that textiles — clothes, bedding, towels and, yes, reusable cleaning cloths — shed by the millions during each spin through the washing machine and which ultimately end up polluting the environment, particularly oceans, rivers and lakes. Since most clothing is made with synthetic materials, such as polyester and acrylic, it means that most microfibers are also microplastics.

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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 Pagosa Daily Posy

Opinion: Governors, farmers, cities put Glen Canyon Dam in crosshairs of Colorado River EIS

Strange times create strange bedfellows, as long-term water supply for farms and cities in the Lower Basin aligns with the best environmental alternative. The best solution for California, Arizona, and Nevada to achieve water supply security is to have the Colorado River bypass Glen Canyon Dam, drain Lake Powell’s water into Lake Mead, and let the Colorado River flow freely through Grand Canyon. As the comments are made public in the Post-2026 Colorado River Scoping EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) process, one thing is for certain: an alternative examining bypassing water around or through Glen Canyon Dam must be developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The usual suspects — mostly environmental groups — are calling for either completely decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam or bypassing the Dam to support the “Fill Mead First” alternative.
-Written by Gary Wockner, a scientist and conservationist based in Colorado. 

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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 CalMatters

Toxic trash: California’s aging hazardous waste sites have troubling safety records

California produces millions of tons of hazardous waste every year – toxic detritus that can leach into groundwater or blow into the air. It’s waste that can explode, spark fires, eat through metal containers, destroy ecosystems and sicken people. It’s dangerous material that we have come to rely on and ignore – the flammable liquids used to cleanse metal parts before painting, the lead and acid in old car batteries, even the shampoos that can kill fish. It all needs to go somewhere. But over the past four decades, California’s facilities to manage hazardous waste have dwindled. What’s left is a tattered system of older sites with a troubling history of safety violations and polluted soil and groundwater, a CalMatters investigation has found.

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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 Public Policy Institute of California

Blog: Educating the judiciary on water and climate change

Justices Ron Robie and Stacy Boulware Eurie are spearheading an effort to educate California’s judiciary about climate change and water issues. We asked them why they’ve taken on this task—and what they hope to accomplish. You are leading the judiciary’s efforts to train judges and justices on water and climate. What does this entail, and why is it so important? Justice Robie: I’ve taught classes on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for about 20 years. Water is a similar specialized area like CEQA, and more water cases are being assigned to larger courts. It seemed logical that using the CEQA model would be good for water.

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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 SJV Water

State is working to contain bird disease in flooded Tulare Lake

Avian botulism, a lethal disease for birds, has been found spreading throughout Tulare Lake. The disease is caused by bacteria that thrive in shallow, warm waters with decaying organic matter.  The bacteria that causes the disease is found naturally in wetland soil. But it doesn’t produce the toxin that causes the disease unless environmental conditions are right. As temperatures soared in the San Joaquin Valley over the past few months, Tulare Lake warmed, causing perfect conditions for the disease to spread.  Neighboring wildlife areas, such as the Kern National Wildlife Refuge, often have standing, shallow water for bird habitat.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 The Associated Press

Chemical treatment to be deployed against invasive fish in Colorado River

The National Park Service will renew efforts to rid an area of the Colorado River in northern Arizona of invasive fish by killing them with a chemical treatment, the agency said Friday. A substance lethal to fish but approved by federal environmental regulators called rotenone will be disseminated starting Aug. 26. It’s the latest tactic in an ongoing struggle to keep non-native smallmouth bass and green sunfish at bay below the Glen Canyon Dam and to protect a threatened native fish, the humpback chub. The treatment will require a weekend closure of the Colorado River slough, a cobble bar area surrounding the backwater where the smallmouth bass were found and a short stretch up and downstream. Chemical substances were also utilized last year.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 Ducks Unlimited

News release: Ducks Unlimited projects underway at popular Elkhorn Slough in California

The latest phase of a decades-long effort to help restore California’s largest tract of tidal salt marsh south of San Francisco Bay is underway this summer, thanks to the efforts of Ducks Unlimited and its partners at Elkhorn Slough.   For years, Ducks Unlimited has partnered with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Elkhorn Slough Foundation on the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve to restore degraded salt marsh and surrounding habitats.   Meandering seven miles inland from the coast, the Elkhorn Slough sits at the center of California’s iconic Monterey Bay. Last century, the mouth of the sinuous waterway was relocated to create a harbor which resulted in stronger tides washing in and out of the slough. Instead of shallow salt marshes, the slough began to function as a bay. 

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 CNN

Klamath, California: The Salmon Festival is not serving salmon this year, with the hope of restoring a food central to area tribes

The Yurok Tribe’s annual salmon festival in Klamath, California, is a little different this year. Yes, there’s a noisy parade, yes there are dozens of stalls selling T-shirts and jewelry, yes there are kids wrestling it out in a traditional stick game and yes there is plenty of food. But for only the second time in the 59-year history of the celebration, salmon is not being served. … Salmon are central to the Yurok, whose territory stretches 40 miles or so up the Klamath River from this beautiful, rugged coast. … The Yurok have stopped fishing for salmon, hoping it will help the devastated population bounce back. Hence, the lack of salmon to eat at the festival.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 California WaterBlog

Blog: Shell-shocking details about freshwater mussel reproduction

One of our favorite aspects to teaching is (occasionally) being able to really surprise a student. Many of the fun nature facts folks pick up nowadays come from TV, YouTube, social media, and other media outlets. But these outlets have an inherent bias: they focus on the charismatic species. That is, the species that are big, fluffy, and widely adored. Yet there are so many fascinating species and ecology in the lesser appreciated taxonomic groups (not to mention, focusing on charismatic species leads to inequitable conservation – Rypel et al. 2021). And often, learning about these overlooked species can really blow the mind! Today, we’d like to introduce you all to the fascinating reproductive behavior of freshwater mussels.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 NBC - Bay Area

California’s big bloom aids seed collectors as climate change and wildfires threaten desert species

Flowers that haven’t been seen in years bloomed across Southern California this spring after massive winter downpours, creating not only colorful landscapes but a boon for conservationists eager to gather desert seeds as an insurance policy against a hotter and drier future. In the Mojave Desert, seeds from parish goldeneye and brittlebush are scooped up by staff and volunteers working to build out seed banks in the hope these can be used in restoration projects as climate change pressures desert landscapes. Already this summer, the York Fire burned across the Mojave National Preserve, charring thousands of acres in the fragile ecosystem including famed Joshua trees.

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Tour October 18, 2023 - 7:30am - October 20, 2023 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2023
Field Trip - October 18-20

SOLD OUT - Join the waitlist here!

Explore the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
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Tour October 12, 2022 - 7:30am - October 14, 2022 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2022
Field Trip - October 12-14

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
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Western Water November 19, 2021 By Alastair Bland

SIDEBAR: Creating A Floodplain Buffet for Salmon Smolts

Biologists have designed a variety of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.

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Western Water August 27, 2021 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Delta Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows By Gary Pitzer

Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Despite water shortages along the drought-stressed river, experimental flows resume in Mexico to revive trees and provide habitat for birds and wildlife

Water flowing into a Colorado River Delta restoration site in Mexico.Water is flowing once again to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially turning the delta into a desert.

In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were brokered under cooperative efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

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Western Water July 28, 2021 California Water Map By Gary Pitzer

Long Troubled Salton Sea May Finally Be Getting What it Most Needs: Action — And Money
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: California's largest lake could see millions in potential funding to supercharge improvements to address long-delayed habitat and dust suppression needs

A sunset along the shoreline of California's Salton Sea.State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money.

The shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought because of its connection to the system. The lake is a festering health hazard to nearby residents, many of them impoverished, who struggle with elevated asthma risk as dust rises from the sea’s receding shoreline. 

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Tour October 14, 2021 - 2:30pm - 5:30pm Nick Gray Jenn Bowles

Northern California Tour 2021
A Virtual Journey - October 14

This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

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Western Water October 23, 2020 Layperson's Guide to the Delta By Gary Pitzer

Is Ecosystem Change in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Outpacing the Ability of Science to Keep Up?
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Science panel argues for a new approach to make research nimbler and more forward-looking to improve management in the ailing Delta

Floating vegetation such as water hyacinth has expanded in the Delta in recent years, choking waterways like the one in the bottom of this photo.Radically transformed from its ancient origin as a vast tidal-influenced freshwater marsh, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem is in constant flux, influenced by factors within the estuary itself and the massive watersheds that drain though it into the Pacific Ocean.

Lately, however, scientists say the rate of change has kicked into overdrive, fueled in part by climate change, and is limiting the ability of science and Delta water managers to keep up. The rapid pace of upheaval demands a new way of conducting science and managing water in the troubled estuary.

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Western Water July 17, 2020 Colorado River Bundle Long Criticized For Inaction At Salton Sea, California Says It’s All-in On Effort To Preserve State’s Largest Lake Gary Pitzer

Long Criticized For Inaction At Salton Sea, California Says It’s All-In On Effort To Preserve State’s Largest Lake
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Dust suppression, habitat are key elements in long-term plan to aid sea, whose ills have been a sore point in Colorado River management

The Salton Sea is a major nesting, wintering and stopover site for about 400 bird species. Out of sight and out of mind to most people, the Salton Sea in California’s far southeast corner has challenged policymakers and local agencies alike to save the desert lake from becoming a fetid, hyper-saline water body inhospitable to wildlife and surrounded by clouds of choking dust.

The sea’s problems stretch beyond its boundaries in Imperial and Riverside counties and threaten to undermine multistate management of the Colorado River. A 2019 Drought Contingency Plan for the Lower Colorado River Basin was briefly stalled when the Imperial Irrigation District, holding the river’s largest water allocation, balked at participating in the plan because, the district said, it ignored the problems of the Salton Sea.  

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Western Water February 6, 2020 Water Education Foundation

ON THE ROAD: Cosumnes River Preserve Offers Visitors a Peek at What the Central Valley Once Looked Like
Preserve at the edge of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta includes valley oak forests and wintering grounds for cranes

Sandhill cranes gather at the Cosumnes River Preserve south of Sacramento.Deep, throaty cadenced calls — sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands, farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the Cosumnes River Preserve, 46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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Western Water August 8, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

A Rancher-Led Group Is Boosting the Health of the Colorado River Near Its Headwaters
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: A Colorado partnership is engaged in a river restoration effort to aid farms and fish habitat that could serve as a model across the West

Strategic placement of rocks promotes a more natural streamflow that benefits ranchers and fish. High in the headwaters of the Colorado River, around the hamlet of Kremmling, Colorado, generations of families have made ranching and farming a way of life, their hay fields and cattle sustained by the river’s flow. But as more water was pulled from the river and sent over the Continental Divide to meet the needs of Denver and other cities on the Front Range, less was left behind to meet the needs of ranchers and fish.

“What used to be a very large river that inundated the land has really become a trickle,” said Mely Whiting, Colorado counsel for Trout Unlimited. “We estimate that 70 percent of the flow on an annual average goes across the Continental Divide and never comes back.”

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Western Water April 25, 2019 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

California’s New Natural Resources Secretary Takes on Challenge of Implementing Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Agenda
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Wade Crowfoot addresses Delta tunnel shift, Salton Sea plan and managing water amid a legacy of conflict

Wade Crowfoot, California Natural Resources Secretary.One of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.

That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach” on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.

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Western Water April 11, 2019 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map Gary Pitzer

Bruce Babbitt Urges Creation of Bay-Delta Compact as Way to End ‘Culture of Conflict’ in California’s Key Water Hub
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Former Interior secretary says Colorado River Compact is a model for achieving peace and addressing environmental and water needs in the Delta

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt gives the Anne J. Schneider Lecture April 3 at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum.  Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful, provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Delta tunnels plan.

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Western Water March 14, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

‘Mission-Oriented’ Colorado River Veteran Takes the Helm as the US Commissioner of IBWC
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Jayne Harkins’ duties include collaboration with Mexico on Colorado River supply, water quality issues

Jayne Harkins, the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission.For the bulk of her career, Jayne Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.

Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the commission’s 129-year history.

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Western Water January 4, 2019 Douglas E. Beeman

Women Leading in Water, Colorado River Drought and Promising Solutions — Western Water Year in Review

Dear Western Water readers:

Women named in the last year to water leadership roles (clockwise, from top left): Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water Resources; Gloria Gray,  chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner; Jayne Harkins,  commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico; Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission.The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.

These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.

We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:

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Western Water November 16, 2018 California Water Map Layperson's Guide to the State Water Project Gary Pitzer

As He Steps Aside, Tim Quinn Talks About ‘Adversarialists,’ Collaboration and Hope For Solving the State’s Tough Water Issues
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Tim Quinn, retiring executive director of Association of California Water Agencies

ACWA Executive Director Tim Quinn  with a report produced by Association of California Water Agencies on  sustainable groundwater management.  (Source:  Association of California Water Agencies)In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.

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Western Water October 19, 2018 Klamath River Watershed Map Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Gary Pitzer

California Leans Heavily on its Groundwater, But Will a Court Decision Tip the Scales Against More Pumping?
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Pumping near the Scott River in Siskiyou County sparks appellate court ruling extending public trust doctrine to groundwater connected to rivers

Scott River, in Siskiyou County. In 1983, a landmark California Supreme Court ruling extended the public trust doctrine to tributary creeks that feed Mono Lake, which is a navigable water body even though the creeks themselves were not. The ruling marked a dramatic shift in water law and forced Los Angeles to cut back its take of water from those creeks in the Eastern Sierra to preserve the lake.

Now, a state appellate court has for the first time extended that same public trust doctrine to groundwater that feeds a navigable river, in this case the Scott River flowing through a picturesque valley of farms and alfalfa in Siskiyou County in the northern reaches of California.

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Tour October 2, 2019 - 7:30am - October 4, 2019 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2019
Field Trip - October 2-4

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway repairs.

  • David Guy Presentation
  • Willie Whittlesey Presentation
  • Kevin Phillips Presentation
  • Mark Oliver Presentation
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Western Water October 5, 2018 Douglas E. Beeman

What Would You Do About Water If You Were California’s Next Governor?
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Survey at Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit elicits a long and wide-ranging potential to-do list

There’s going to be a new governor in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.

So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?

That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.

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Western Water September 7, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Gary Pitzer

Can Steadier Releases from Glen Canyon Dam Make Colorado River ‘Buggy’ Enough for Fish and Wildlife?
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Ted Kennedy, U.S. Geological Survey aquatic scientist

U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist Ted Kennedy collects aquatic invertebrates in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.Water means life for all the Grand Canyon’s inhabitants, including the many varieties of insects that are a foundation of the ecosystem’s food web. But hydropower operations upstream on the Colorado River at Glen Canyon Dam, in Northern Arizona near the Utah border, disrupt the natural pace of insect reproduction as the river rises and falls, sometimes dramatically. Eggs deposited at the river’s edge are often left high and dry and their loss directly affects available food for endangered fish such as the humpback chub.

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Western Water September 7, 2018 Enhancing California’s Water Supply: The Drive for New Storage Is California's Water Supply Resilient and Sustainable? Water Education Foundation

ON THE ROAD: Picturesque Northern California Valley Could Become the State’s Next Major Reservoir
Sites Reservoir site is a stop on our Northern California Tour Oct. 10-12

The proposed Sites Reservoir is in a rural cattle-grazing area west of the Sacramento Valley town of Maxwell. An hour’s drive north of Sacramento sits a picture-perfect valley hugging the eastern foothills of Northern California’s Coast Range, with golden hills framing grasslands mostly used for cattle grazing.

Back in the late 1800s, pioneer John Sites built his ranch there and a small township, now gone, bore his name. Today, the community of a handful of families and ranchers still maintains a proud heritage.

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Western Water August 24, 2018 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

When Water Worries Often Pit Farms vs. Fish, a Sacramento Valley Farm Is Trying To Address The Needs Of Both
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: River Garden Farms is piloting projects that could add habitat and food to aid Sacramento River salmon

Roger Cornwell, general manager of River Garden Farms, with an example of a refuge like the ones that were lowered into the Sacramento River at Redding to shelter juvenile salmon.  Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.

And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.

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Western Water June 1, 2018 Space Invaders Gary Pitzer

It’s Not Just Nutria — Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has 185 Invasive Species, But Tracking Them is Uneven
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Delta science panel urges greater coordination, funding of invasive species monitoring

Water hyacinth choke a channel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.For more than 100 years, invasive species have made the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta their home, disrupting the ecosystem and costing millions of dollars annually in remediation.

The latest invader is the nutria, a large rodent native to South America that causes concern because of its propensity to devour every bit of vegetation in sight and destabilize levees by burrowing into them. Wildlife officials are trapping the animal and trying to learn the extent of its infestation.

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Western Water June 1, 2018 Water Education Foundation

ON THE ROAD: Cosumnes River Preserve Offers Visitors a Peek at What the Central Valley Once Looked Like
Preserve at the edge of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta includes valley oak forests and wintering grounds for cranes

Sandhill cranes gather at the Cosumnes River Preserve south of Sacramento.Deep, throaty cadenced calls — sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands, farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the Cosumnes River Preserve, 46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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Western Water April 20, 2018 Jenn Bowles Jennifer Bowles

EDITOR’S NOTE: Assessing California’s Response to Marijuana’s Impacts on Water

Jennifer BowlesAs we continue forging ahead in 2018 with our online version of Western Water after 40 years as a print magazine, we turned our attention to a topic that also got its start this year: recreational marijuana as a legal use.

State regulators, in the last few years, already had been beefing up their workforce to tackle the glut in marijuana crops and combat their impacts to water quality and supply for people, fish and farming downstream. Thus, even if these impacts were perhaps unbeknownst to the majority of Californians who approved Proposition 64 in 2016, we thought it important to see if anything new had evolved from a water perspective now that marijuana was legal.

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Western Water April 6, 2018 California Water Bundle Gary Pitzer

Statewide Water Bond Measures Could Have Californians Doing a Double-Take in 2018
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Two bond measures, worth $13B, would aid flood preparation, subsidence, Salton Sea and other water needs

San Joaquin Valley bridge rippled by subsidence  California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.

Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.

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Western Water March 23, 2018 Layperson's Guide to the Delta

ON THE ROAD: Park Near Historic Levee Rupture Offers Glimpse of Old Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Big Break Regional Shoreline will be a stop on Bay-Delta Tour May 16-18

Visitors explore a large, three-dimensional map of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley. Along the banks of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Oakley, about 50 miles southwest of Sacramento, is a park that harkens back to the days when the Delta lured Native Americans, Spanish explorers, French fur trappers, and later farmers to its abundant wildlife and rich soil.

That historical Delta was an enormous marsh linked to the two freshwater rivers entering from the north and south, and tidal flows coming from the San Francisco Bay. After the Gold Rush, settlers began building levees and farms, changing the landscape and altering the habitat.

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Western Water February 23, 2018 Gary Pitzer

SPOTLIGHT: Putah Creek, Yuba River and environmental water for fish
Two legal settlements are cited as examples where water was set aside for environmental needs

Lower Yuba RiverDespite the heat that often accompanies debates over setting aside water for the environment, there are instances where California stakeholders have forged agreements to provide guaranteed water for fish. Here are two examples cited by the Public Policy Institute of California in its report arguing for an environmental water right.

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Western Water February 23, 2018 Layperson's Guide to Water Rights Law Gary Pitzer

Does California’s Environment Deserve its Own Water Right?
IN-DEPTH: Fisheries and wildlife face growing challenges, but so do water systems competing for limited supply. Is there room for an environmental water right?

Sunset in Sacramento-San Joaquin DeltaDoes California need to revamp the way in which water is dedicated to the environment to better protect fish and the ecosystem at large? In the hypersensitive world of California water, where differences over who gets what can result in epic legislative and legal battles, the idea sparks a combination of fear, uncertainty and promise.

Saying that the way California manages water for the environment “isn’t working for anyone,” the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shook things up late last year by proposing a redesigned regulatory system featuring what they described as water ecosystem plans and water budgets with allocations set aside for the environment.

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Tour October 10, 2018 - October 12, 2018 New Stop Announced for Northern California Tour: Salmon Rearing Structures in the Sacramento River

Northern California Tour 2018

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the Oroville Dam spillway. 

  • David Guy
  • Christopher Williams
  • Carson Jeffres
  • Curt Aikens
  • Kelly Peterson
  • Mark Oliver
  • Read more
Aquapedia background August 7, 2017 Layperson's Guide to the Delta

Estuary

Suisun Marsh, part of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, is the largest contiguous brackish water marsh on the West Coast of North America.Estuaries are places where fresh and salt water mix, usually at the point where a river enters the ocean. They are the meeting point between riverine environments and the sea, with a combination of tides, waves, salinity, fresh water flow and sediment. The constant churning means there are elevated levels of nutrients, making estuaries highly productive natural habitats.

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Aquapedia background September 8, 2016

Zooplankton

Examples of zooplanktonZooplankton, which are floating aquatic microorganisms too small and weak to swim against currents, are are important food sources for many fish species in the Delta such as salmon, sturgeon and Delta smelt.

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

Tributaries

A tributary of the Feather River.A tributary is a river or stream that enters a larger body of water, especially a lake or river. The receiving water into which a tributary feeds is called the “mainstem,” and the point where they come together is referred to as the “confluence.”

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

Diamond Valley Lake

With a holding capacity of more than 260 billion gallons, Diamond Valley Lake is Southern California’s largest reservoir. It sits about 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles and just west of Hemet in Riverside County where it was built in 2000. The offstream reservoir was created by three large dams that connect the surrounding hills, costing around $1.9 billion and doubling the region’s water storage capacity.

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016 Layperson's Guide to California Water California Water Map

Headwaters

Sierra Nevada headwaters streamHeadwaters are the source of a stream or river. They are located at the furthest point from where the water body empties or merges with another. Two-thirds of California’s surface water supply originates in these mountainous and typically forested regions.

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Western Water Excerpt October 21, 2014 Jenn Bowles

Finding the Right Balance: Managing Delta Salinity in Drought
September/October 2014

In wet years, dry years and every type of water year in between, the daily intrusion and retreat of salinity in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a constant pattern.

The cycle of ebb and flood is the defining nature of an estuary and prior to its transformation into an agricul­tural tract in the mid-19th century, the Delta was a freshwater marsh with plants, birds, fish and wildlife that thrived on the edge of the saltwater/freshwater interface.

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Publication August 18, 2014

Looking to the Source: Watersheds of the Sierra Nevada
Published 2011

This 28-page report describes the watersheds of the Sierra Nevada region and details their importance to California’s overall water picture. It describes the region’s issues and challenges, including healthy forests, catastrophic fire, recreational impacts, climate change, development and land use.

The report also discusses the importance of protecting and restoring watersheds in order to retain water quality and enhance quantity. Examples and case studies are included.

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Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (20 min. DVD)

20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking engagements to help the public understand the complex issues related to complex water management disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances Fisher.

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Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (60 min. DVD)

For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and California border has faced complex water management disputes. As relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp, farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists – all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water. After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the documentary here.

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Video May 27, 2014

A Climate of Change: Water Adaptation Strategies

This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an excellent overview of climate change and how it is already affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are underway to plan and adapt to climate.

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Video May 22, 2014

Shaping of the West: 100 Years of Reclamation

30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern day issues.

  • Read more
Video May 21, 2014

Two Sides of a River (60-minute DVD)

California’s little-known New River has been called one of North America’s most polluted. A closer look reveals the New River is full of ironic twists: its pollution has long defied cleanup, yet even in its degraded condition, the river is important to the border economies of Mexicali and the Imperial Valley and a lifeline that helps sustain the fragile Salton Sea ecosystem. Now, after decades of inertia on its pollution problems, the New River has emerged as an important test of binational cooperation on border water issues. These issues were profiled in the 2004 PBS documentary Two Sides of a River.

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Video May 21, 2014

Two Sides of a River (60-minute DVD Spanish)

$25.00

Spanish version of the 60-minute 2004 PBS documentary Two Sides of a River. DVD

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

San Joaquin River Restoration Map
Published 2012

This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with implementation. 

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Klamath River Watershed Map
Published 2011

This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The map text explains the many issues facing this vast, 15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration; agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement, and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Carson River Basin Map
Published 2006

A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin Area Office.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Invasive Species Poster Set

One copy of the Space Invaders and one copy of the Unwelcome Visitors poster for a special price.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Unwelcome Visitors

This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how non-native invasive animals can alter the natural ecosystem, leading to the demise of native animals. “Unwelcome Visitors” features photos and information on four such species – including the zerbra mussel – and explains the environmental and economic threats posed by these species.

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law
Updated 2020

The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of California water rights.

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Publication April 17, 2014 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Delta
Updated 2020

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta, its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 California Water Map Layperson's Guide to California Water

Pacific Flyway

The Pacific Flyway is one of four major North American migration routes for birds, especially waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam

Image shows Glen Canyon Dam with Lake Powell in the background.The construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964 created Lake Powell. Both are located in north-central Arizona near the Utah border. Lake Powell acts as a holding tank for outflow from the Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The water stored in Lake Powell is used for recreation, power generation and delivering water to the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. 

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