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.
As scientists, we’re trained to key in on ‘response variables’.
In my case, fisheries scientists often examine how fish
physiology, populations, communities or whole ecosystems react
to various environmental drivers or human alteration.
Unfortunately, variation in data is too frequently looked upon
as a nuisance, an after thought, or worse – a statistical
hurdle distracting from presenting the cleanest possible
pattern. Yet, what if the variation within the data was the
interesting thing all along?
A steward of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Kim Kolpin describes her
panic earlier this month when she heard that oil was spilling
off the shore of the habitat-rich park she has worked at since
1996. The 1,400-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in
Huntington Beach is home to 23 species that are endangered,
threatened or of special concern. It’s treasured by
birdwatchers for the nearly 300 feathered resident and
migratory species, many of which lay their eggs there.
On October 1, the Bureau of Reclamation formally began the
multi-year process to replace the Trump Administration’s
blatantly unlawful biological opinions for the operation of the
State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project in
California’s Bay-Delta watershed by requesting what is known as
“reinitiation of consultation.” This is an important
first step – after all, recognizing and admitting you
have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery.
For millennia, Native Americans watched [salmon] enter the
Klamath River. The tribes celebrated them as a gift from the
gods, but the fish numbers dwindled…. Huge dams … blocked
the fish from their upstream spawning grounds and slowed the
Klamath in torpid reservoirs. Now humanity is set to surrender
much of the river back to nature. Four large dams on the
Klamath River are due to be torn down in what is called the
largest dam removal project in American history.
[O]ur drought is indeed affecting bees — but not the urban
garden variety, where people still water their yards. It’s the
feral colonies that live outside the city that are
struggling. … Feral bees are colonies that aren’t being
taken care of. They’re wild and make their hives anywhere and
everywhere, though we often don’t notice them. Without rain or
watering, bees scale back on producing honey to conserve energy
and struggle to keep their hives at the right temperature.
Colonies that are too dehydrated could experience
die-off.
Light rain started falling Sunday evening in the Bay Area, as a
week of much-needed precipitation was forecast for the parched
Northern California landscape. One to 2 inches of rain is
expected to fall across the Bay Area over the next week, and
even more could fall across the North Bay as a series of storms
dives in from the northwest, said Rick Canepa, meteorologist
with the National Weather Service. To the east, parts of the
Sierra Nevada could see more than a half-foot of snow by Monday
morning.
The wet winter the American south-west has hoped for as it
battles extreme drought and heat is increasingly unlikely to
materialize as scientists now predict that a phenomenon known
as La Niña will develop for the second year in a row. The
weather system could intensify the worst effects of the drought
… Different regions in the US will experience different
outcomes. Washington state, Oregon, and even possibly northern
California could see wetter conditions than
normal, possibly causing problems if the rain comes as a
deluge.
Lake Tahoe’s water level has dropped so low that water is no
longer flowing into the Truckee River and salmon aren’t
expected to spawn in a major tributary this year. Some boat
ramps and docks are hundreds of feet from the water line, and
clumps of stringy algae have been washing up on beaches, said
Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental
Research Center. … The receding water level, which is
driven by climate change and drought, comes as the latest
insult to the treasured tourist destination nestled in the
Sierra Nevada.
The issue of passing control of the agencies in charge of
distributing and treating Mexicali water from the state of Baja
California to the city government should be of concern to
authorities and residents of the Imperial Valley as well. It is
not only a political issue, but also an environmental problem
created by the discharge of untreated sewage to the New River
that flows into the fading Salton Sea. Thus it is more than
worthy of our attention. -Written by Arturo Bojorquez, Adelante Valle Editor
A precedent-setting plan to transfer water rights has set up a
fight between Colorado River communities and a town in central
Arizona. The proposal calls for 2,000 acre feet of Colorado
River water to be transferred 260 miles away to the town of
Queen Creek. The town wants to purchase and transfer
water from a farm in La Paz County. The request has been
approved by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and
awaits a review by the Bureau of Reclamation.
In October of 2019, the desire of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources
(DWR) desire to update the biological opinions governing the
Sacramento-San Joaquin was met after more than a decade of
detailed data on water management, fish species management, and
flows in relation to both were compiled. New biological
opinions, issued in 2019, were the result of the very latest
scientific information. … Now, a mere two years later,
the Biden Administration and Governor Newsom have unilaterally
decided to throw that work away and start over. -Written by Wayne Western Jr., SJV Sun contributor.
On a warm August morning, a group of volunteers gathers in the
high desert about 20 miles outside of Gunnison, Colorado. Here,
surrounded by sagebrush and armed with branches and stones,
they are ready to help restore a critical wildlife habitat.
Volunteers are here to work on a wet meadow restoration
project. A wet meadow is a riparian area in the arid sagebrush
landscape. … Volunteers like Payten Maness weave willow
branches into protective barriers. The team will also build
with sagebrush and stones collected nearby.
In California, the Bureau of Land Management closed a
28-mile stretch along the Merced River after water samples
south of where a family of hikers mysteriously
died in August showed high levels of toxic algae.
… But despite the dangers of algae-related poisoning and
the harmful and costly impacts of blooms on
ecosystems, the federal government doesn’t have a cohesive
strategy for dealing with freshwater harmful algal blooms, or
HABs. That’s the conclusion of a new watchdog
report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Office of Inspector General.
The U.S. government is challenging an order from Oregon water
regulators that forbids water releases from Upper Klamath Lake
to boost flows in the Klamath River. The legal dispute pits the
enforcement of state water rights against the federal
government’s obligation to operate the Klamath irrigation
project in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. To
improve stream conditions for threatened salmon in the Klamath
river, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation releases water through
its Link River Dam under an operations plan for the irrigation
project.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) have announced a
joint effort at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Butte County
to aid in offsetting impacts to spring-run and fall-run Chinook
salmon resulting from this year’s extreme drought conditions.
Under this joint initiative, CDFW and DWR are taking a two-part
approach supporting Feather River salmon populations to guard
against impacts observed during the state’s last multi-year
drought, as well as protect against impacts observed in recent
years due to a nutrient deficiency.
Arizona environmentalists have followed through on their threat
to sue the federal government over stray cows in the San Pedro
Riparian National Conservation Area. The Tucson-based
Center for Biological Diversity and the Phoenix-based Maricopa
Audubon Society accuse the Bureau of Land Management of
violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to keep
trespassing cattle away from a rare plant called the Huachuca
water umbel.
English sole fish and other marine life have been collected in
the vicinity of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant to
determine whether the 17 million gallons of raw sewage
discharged in July — and the subsequent release of partially
treated wastewater in the months after — will have any
long-term impacts on the ocean environment. However, officials
with Los Angeles Sanitation’s Environmental Monitoring Division
say it could take a year or more to get the full results back.
Today Save California Salmon released its first episode of the
Western Water Justice podcast, “Envisioning Justice on the
Klamath River with Dr. Cutcha Risling-Baldy”. The first episode
of the podcast was released today in honor of indigenous
People’s Day, according to Save California Salmon.
On Thursday, October 7, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Senate
Bill 821, which mandates that members of the Delta Independent
Science Board shall not be employees of the Delta Stewardship
Council, and that the Council shall issue contracts to pay the
Delta Independent Science Board members at professional
scientific rates. The Governor’s signing of SB 821 ends an
embarrassing chapter in the state’s administration of the Delta
Independent Science Board.
The struggle over management of water supplied through the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta continues as the Biden
administration seeks a reversal of rules put in place by
agencies under the Trump administration. Last week, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation sent a letter to federal fisheries
agencies and announced it is reinitiating consultation of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries
Service 2019 biological opinions related to the coordinated,
long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State
Water Project.
Utah’s iconic Great Salt Lake, long neglected by regulators, is
collapsing due to a historic drought and climate change. And,
in a cruel twist, the demise of the lake — which shriveled to a
record low level in July — may threaten Utah’s posh ski towns
and even the state’s water supply. At issue: the “lake effect.”
The sprawling Great Salt Lake doesn’t freeze in the winter due
to its high salt content, so when some storms blow in, they
collect the lake’s moisture, strengthen, then deliver extra
snow to the Wasatch Mountains. That snow is the lifeblood of
ski towns like Alta and Snowbird, but it also contributes to
water supply.
A major milestone in the effort to protect the Mono Basin
ecosystem was reached last week. On October 1, 2021, the
California State Water Board approved a comprehensive program
to restore four key tributaries to Mono Lake, located in the
Eastern Sierra near Yosemite. The Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power (LADWP) will implement this program, as a
condition of its water rights license to withdraw water for
transport to its customers in the Los Angeles area.
Though it’s unclear what the effects of the La Niña climate
expected this winter will be for Northern California,
drought-ending rain is likely not among them. The climate
pattern brought on by cooler-than-usual surface water in parts
of the Pacific Ocean creates varying weather globally, but
historically the phenomena has meant drier conditions in the
southern part of the state and wetter conditions in the Pacific
Northwest. … Currently, the Climate Prediction Center
has a La Niña watch, and La Niña is favored to carry through
the winter …
Gain a deeper understanding of the state’s biggest
watershed relied on by millions for drinking water during our
Northern California Tour this Thursday. And don’t miss the Oct.
28 Water Summit where you will hear Karla Nemeth, director of
the California Department of Water Resources, and
others discuss the drought now gripping California, what is
being done in the short-term and what longer-term projects and
partnerships are aiming to make the state more sustainable.
The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), together with
state agency partners, released a draft Natural and Working
Lands Climate Smart Strategy that will guide and accelerate
near- and long-term climate action across key California
landscapes. The document is available for public feedback
through November 9.
Our severe drought prompted the county to lobby the state to
decrease mandated new housing units due to water limitations.
Yet at a recent supervisors hearing, Permit Sonoma identified
no cumulative water impacts from cannabis grows whereas in
reality the county failed to analyze this. The county should
have done this six years ago while developing the original
ordinance. -Written by Deborah Eppstein, a retired scientist
living in Sonoma County, and Craig S. Harrison, a retired
lawyer living in Bennett Valley.
A recent study identifies Morro Bay Estuary as a priority
location for restoring the native Olympia oyster population
through conservation aquaculture. It’s a project that unites
shellfish lovers and conservationists on the Central
Coast. April Ridlon, a post-doctoral researcher at UC
Santa Barbara, said oysters are not as charismatic as other
marine organisms she has studied, but they are a foundation
species — meaning they create a habitat for other animals that
live on or near their shells.
This week, a historically dry period in California will come to
bear at Lake Tahoe, where the water level is expected to sink
below the basin’s natural rim. That’s the point at which the
lake pours into its only outflow, the Truckee River. It’s not a
crisis, researchers and conservationists say, but it marks
another extreme swing for Tahoe amid historic drought,
wildfires and erratic weather, all intertwined with climate
change and becoming more prominent aspects of the alpine
environment.
Prior appropriation, or the notion of “first in time, first in
right,” has been a prime directive of California water law for
well over 150 years. It has brought us a system that is so
inequitable in its impacts that more than one million residents
of California lack access to safe drinking water, while
industrial agriculture used more water to grow almonds and
pistachios during California’s last drought than all of
California’s residents.
After a crude oil sheen was detected on the waters off the
Southern California coast, environmentalists feared the worst:
A massive spill that would wreck the ecosystem. A week later,
the region and its signature beaches appear to have been spared
a potentially calamitous fate, though the long-term toll on
plant and animal life remains unknown. … But
environmental advocates said the situation remains serious, and
they fear the long-term effect on wetlands and ocean
life.
Deep in the Cameron Peak burn scar northwest of Fort Collins,
Colorado, nestled among charred hills, lies an oasis of green –
an idyllic patch of trickling streams that wind through a lush
grass meadow. Apart from a few scorched trees on the periphery,
it’s hard to tell this canyon wetland was surrounded by the
largest wildfire just more than a year ago. Credit the industry
of beavers.
The rainstorm that deluged San Diego County earlier this week
also pushed a massive amount of sewage tainted water through
the Tijuana River Valley. Federal officials estimate more than
563 million gallons of polluted water flowed across the
U.S.-Mexico border and into the Tijuana River Valley.
… South Bay residents have endured increasingly larger
cross border flows for the past few year. Daily flows regularly
topped 50 million gallons earlier this year …
The trailheads [of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail] span
the gambit of habitats along the shore in the Bay and beyond.
Launch into the Napa River at the semirural Cuttings Wharf
trailhead. Explore marsh habitat and sloughs winding upriver,
surrounded by hills, to the riverfront development along
downtown Napa’s Main Street Boat Dock. From the sandy Encinal
Beach trailhead in Alameda, glimpse harbor seals and California
brown pelicans with the San Francisco skyline rising up next to
you …
Like a human fingerprint, California’s Sacramento Valley is
truly unique. On the leading edge of ecological and economical
sustainability, it’s also an exceptional place to live,
work, and raise a family. The Sacramento Valley joins together
a world-renowned mosaic of natural and human abundance:
productive farmlands, teeming wildlife refuges and managed
wetlands, the largest salmon runs south of the Columbia River,
dynamic rural and urban communities, and life-giving rivers and
creeks that support it all. – Written by Curtis Knight, executive director of Cal
Trout; Jeff McCreary, director of operations for Ducks
Unlimited Western Region; Tim Johnson, president and CEO of the
California Rice Commission; and David Guy, the president of the
Northern California Water Association.
Fog is a defining element of summer in Santa Cruz … Its
fingerprints are visible in the vast coastal forests, even when
it isn’t hanging in the air. The redwood trees towering in a
clear blue sky soak up moisture from the fog on gray days. It
is often their only source of water for months at a
time. Fog is essential for plants and animals, agriculture
and human health, not only in California but in coastal zones
around the world. But many scientists believe that fog is
declining, another casualty of global warming.
Meadows are hotspots for biological diversity and provide
numerous ecosystem benefits, especially in relation to the land
mass they cover, including flood attenuation, sediment
filtration, water storage, water quality improvement, carbon
sequestration, and livestock forage. Approximately 50% of
meadows in the Sierra Nevada are known to be degraded, in large
part due to land-use practices including overgrazing.
State water officials took a significant step on October 1
toward reversing damage to the Mono Lake Basin from excessive
water diversions through major revisions to the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) water rights
licenses. The changes approved by the State Water
Resources Control Board provide significant updates to an
existing stream restoration program and will restore instream
flows to 20 miles of creek and fisheries habitats in the basin.
Can we live within our watershed? Human beings used to
easily live within their watersheds, only habitating where
there was enough water to sustain themselves. Today, we have
the technology and money to put water where it is needed. But
climate change is forcing a hard truth to seep to the surface:
Water is a limited resource and we may not have enough for
all.
Following nearly two years of litigation regarding Trump-era
water policy, the federal government has until Oct. 14 to come
up a plan to balance competing needs for the precious resource.
… On Sept. 30, Ernest Conant, regional director of the
Department of the Interior’s Region 10, penned a letter to
officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National
Marine Fisheries Service to begin reevaluating the
environmental impact of water allocations from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
For the fifth September in a row, the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta smelt in
its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey (FMWT) throughout the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Once the most abundant fish
on the entire estuary, the fish is now near extinction in the
wild, although UC Davis continues to raise the fish in a
captive breeding program. The Delta smelt population has
plummeted over the decades since the State Water Project
began exporting Delta water to San Joaquin Valley grower
sin 1967.
While the ongoing California drought may make the most of this
high chance of precipitation, the changing weather poses many
problems for the U.S. Coast Guard, the department being tasked
with cleaning the 144,000-gallon oil spill that has been
creeping down Orange County’s coast since last weekend.
… According to the U.S. Coast Guard, storms in Orange
County earlier this week may have contributed to the dispersal
of the oil as it moves south. Erratic weather can make
“skimming” ocean water for crude oil that much more
challenging…
As the Western United States navigates yet another historic
drought year fueled by the ongoing climate crisis,
environmental scientists are calling for immediate action.
State Sen. Mike McGuire invited the North Coast community to a
virtual town hall Wednesday to explore bold solutions that will
be needed in the months and years to come.
Register today for our Water
Summit, hosted this year as an engaging virtual
experience on the afternoon of Oct. 28, to hear a variety
of perspectives detailing the on-the-ground impacts of the
the current drought in California. With the theme, Pivoting
Today’s Pain into Tomorrow’s Gain, the online event will
examine what’s being done to get through the drought now
gripping California and highlight some of the innovative
programs, projects and partnerships aimed at addressing the
challenges in the longer term.
State and federal officials told a Senate panel Wednesday that
there may be long-term solutions to the historic drought
gripping the West, and the water shortages that come with it,
but that the short-term outlook remains grim. The hearing comes
against the backdrop of a 20-year-long drought has left about
90% of the West affected. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said
tree-ring and soil evidence indicates that the region may be
going through the worst drought in 1,200 years – certainly the
worst in the 100 years or so that records have been kept.
It’s been a long summer of extreme drought conditions in Sonoma
Valley. But in what seems like a steady stream of dire news for
the local watershed the Sonoma Ecology Center finds one glimmer
of good news stands out: beavers are moving back into Sonoma
Creek. … The return of these charming dam builders isn’t
quite breaking news – since 1993 beavers have slowly made a
comeback in Sonoma Valley. But this year, in the middle of peak
dry season, their increasing presence is something for
celebration.
As our own editorial of Tuesday notes, about 50% of the water
in California is for the rivers and their fishes. About 40%
goes to agriculture. Of the remaining 10%, 5.7% is used by
residences, mostly indoors, but a great deal of that for
landscaping. If I were to replace my pride and joy, the
80-year-old Meyer lemon tree in our front yard, productive
enough to supply the whole block with citrus, with a granny
flat, that housing would use less water than that tree. -Written by Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star News
editor.
Register now for next week’s virtual Northern California
Tour on Oct. 14 to explore the Sacramento River and its
tributaries and learn about issues associated with a key source
for the state’s water supply, including the drought now
gripping California. During the afternoon online event, you’ll
visit rice farms and wetlands in the Sacramento Valley and hear
from farmers and environmentalists about efforts to restore
runs of endangered chinook salmon and help birds along the
Pacific Flyway.
The water wars continue. Not surprisingly on Friday President
Joe Biden’s administration took action to essentially place on
hold an action taken by former President Donald Trump in early
2020 designed to ensure more water would be delivered to the
Central Valley. The issue involved is biological opinions
issued in 2019 by the Trump administration to be used when it
comes to how water is managed. But a letter issued by the
Bureau of Reclamation stated new biological opinions were
anticipated. So not surprisingly California Republicans in
Congress criticized Biden’s action.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is known for damming rivers
and building levees to keep waterways at bay. But a new
initiative seeks natural flood control solutions as climate
change brings increasingly frequent and severe weather events
that test the limits of concrete and steel. … In
Northern California near the state capital
Sacramento, the Corps built the Yolo Bypass nearly a century
ago to divert floodwaters. Its 59,000 acres (24,000 hectares)
have also become habitat for native and endangered species,
including Chinook salmon and steelhead.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced nearly
$79.2 million in grants to help conserve and permanently
protect nearly 56,000 acres of habitat for 55 listed and
at-risk species across 13 states through the Cooperative
Endangered Species Conservation Fund. The grants will be
matched by over $49.3 million in partner funds. In the
California-Great Basin Region, the Service will deliver more
than $34 million to California and Nevada.
Mondy Lariz spent his boyhood years learning how to fish at
Lake Merced through a program sponsored by the San Francisco
Police Department. It was a way to connect with the natural
world, he said, and it kept him out of trouble. .. But as
the surrounding golf courses and cemeteries began drawing from
deep wells to irrigate their greens and urbanization crept into
the area, water levels dropped dramatically. By the 1990s, many
declared the lake dead.
Thirty-two years ago, in a triumph of ecological restoration,
ocean water rushed into a small, newly restored marsh along the
heavily developed coast of Huntington Beach. … The little
tract of habitat known as Talbert Marsh provides a rare refuge
for at least 90 species of shorebirds that forage and rest
there — all within sight of oil platforms, barges and tankers
off the coast. Now, for the second time in its short history,
Talbert Marsh is slicked with oil.
San Joaquin County communities are having their woes
compounded as they struggle with the effects of one historic
drought while still struggling with the effects of another.
With constituents concerned about the ongoing drought and
resources available, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, hosted a
panel of state and federal experts to discuss the critical
situation, its statewide effects and best water practices.
The record-breaking drought has impacted many aspects of life
in California, including the Chinook salmon population.
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) have teamed
up at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville to try and
counteract the effects of the drought. The groups have a
two-part plan of, first, returning healthy adults to the
hatchery to increase the number of spring-run salmon. Second,
they will increase the fall-run production of smolts, young
salmon, from 6-million to 7.75-million.
Fisheries biologist Pat Higgins said he was shocked when he
discovered on Sept. 17 a section of the largest tributary in
California’s third-largest watershed was dry. Higgins
explained there was no water flowing above ground in the
section of the South Fork Eel River where it meets the main
stem in Dyerville below Highway 101 in Humboldt County. The
river bed was exposed and the water just stopped, ending in a
still pool. The south fork and the main stem were no longer
connected.
A cooperative effort to restore habitats along the Lower
Colorado River Basin is seeing the re-emergence of several
threatened and endangered species. The Central Arizona Project
(CAP) is part of a program, begun in 2005, that has reclaimed
or restored more than 1,100 square miles of wetlands and
woodlands along the river. The Lower Colorado River
Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP) is designed to
protect 27 species, including eight listed under the Endangered
Species Act… the 50-year project is a joint effort between
Arizona, California and Nevada.
The Yurok reservation where [Georgiana] Gensaw lives sits on a
remote strip of land that snakes shoulder to shoulder with the
final 44 miles of the Klamath River alongside the misty
Northern California coast. In 2001, drought descended on the
Klamath Basin, the watershed that feeds the river. Due to a
history of water mismanagement in the basin, combined with an
historic drought, the river is sick—and the Yurok are too. The
salmon they’ve long depended on as both dietary staple and
cultural cornerstone have become scarce.
The drought is already impacting trees in Marin County, which
are not getting enough water via rain or irrigation. Mixed in
between the goal posts and picnic tables at Corte Madera’s Town
Park, are yards of orange fencing and red tape. … After
a tree limb recently fell, the City of Corte Madera hired
Julin, an arborist, to assess the park’s trees. He found
that three trees are dead and 13 others have decay or defects.
Not all the damage is water-related.
Caltrans launched a new public awareness campaign today –
“Let’s Change This to That” – to help reduce the amount of
litter and other pollutants on highways that end up in
California’s water system. Using striking visual comparisons of
dirty and pristine roadsides and landscapes, the campaign
encourages Californians to pitch in to keep highways
clean and our water drinkable, swimmable and fishable.
Since a pipeline spilled crude off the California coast this
weekend, only a handful of oiled birds have been recovered in
what environmental advocates said could be a hopeful sign for
the region’s wildlife. But they said it’s too soon to know how
many seabirds, marine mammals and other animals will ultimately
be affected by the oily film covering marsh areas and floating
on the ocean — or for how long. … [T]he biggest damage
might be in the wetlands, a critical habitat for so many
species …
The storage level in Lake Mendocino was on pace to drop below
15,000 acre feet on Saturday, meaning a quarter of the supply
water managers had hoped to keep in store by Oct. 1 already has
been released. The rapid shrinkage of the reservoir after two
years of historic drought raises unsettling questions about the
future for a range of consumers along the upper Russian River,
whose supplies already are heavily restricted.
For the last 30 years, science showed us that climate change
was threatening the planet and our way of life. Despite decades
of warnings, the world has not done enough to stop it. We just
felt the full force of climate change’s impacts here in Tahoe
as the Caldor Fire endangered the lives of firefighters,
thousands of homes and Tahoe’s sensitive ecosystem. Our
recent, tragic experience should serve as a lesson. When
scientific evidence warns of environmental disaster, we need to
listen and take action to prevent it. -Written by Darcie Goodman Collins, chief executive
officer of the League to Save Lake Tahoe.
The wind was a perfect 20 knots, the warm breeze filling our
sails, as we angled westward, riding the current down the
Sacramento River. We sailed past Sherman Island, slowly
cruising through a group of kiteboarders and windsurfers who
flew by our hull throwing peace signs. The Montezuma Hills
rolled leisurely to the west, dotted with a mass of languorous
windmills while tule reeds, permanently slanting eastward,
shuddered as a flight of swallows rose in unison.
Crews on the water and on shore worked feverishly Sunday to
limit environmental damage from one of the largest oil spills
in recent California history, caused by a suspected leak in an
underwater pipeline that fouled the sands of famed Huntington
Beach and could keep the beaches there closed for weeks or
longer. Booms were deployed on the ocean surface to try to
contain the oil while divers sought to determine where and why
the leak occurred. On land, there was a race to find animals
harmed by the oil and to keep the spill from harming any more
sensitive marshland.
Stop and ponder this for a moment: In the American River
passing through the Sacramento metroplex, giant fish swim by
after surviving three or more years in the wild Pacific Ocean.
These are our native fall-run chinook salmon. For thousands of
years — long before there was a Sacramento — they have migrated
from the American River to the Pacific Ocean and back on a
three- to four-year cycle. -Written by Rich Desmond, a Sacramento County
supervisor representing Carmichael, and Ron Stork,
a senior policy staffer for Friends of the River.
Happy New Water Year! October 1, 2021 is the beginning of
the 2022 water year in California, the traditional beginning of
California’s “wet season”, such as it will be. Although
there are many fine and interesting stories from California’s
current drought, so far, a few stories seem more important and
worth summarizing (even though many have been widely
covered).
Dead fish, nearly all carp, are floating to the surface at
Lakeshore Park, and city officials wonder why. They also
question why so many carp, a freshwater fish native to Asia and
Europe, ended up in the human-made lake in the first place.
Carp is an edible fish consumed around the world. It’s also
popular as an ornamental fish that people keep in tanks and
ponds. Koi is a subspecies.
A multi-county, regional coalition of organizations bidding to
take over Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Potter Valley Project
didn’t get what it was asking for, but some believe that may be
a good thing for the Eel River and the fish that depend on it.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 23
rejected a request from the Two Basin Partnership [a group of
stakeholders]… that sought more time to form a singular
entity to take over the project from PG&E with an operating
agreement that would benefit both Eel River and Russian River
basin interests.
[Scientists] are wrestling with a critical question: Is
high fall outflow the key to improving habitat conditions for
Delta Smelt and benefiting the population? Scientists and
resource managers in the San Francisco Estuary are desperately
trying to save the endangered Delta Smelt, but the best
research to date had resulted in “It’s
complicated.” However, many studies pointed to high Delta
outflow (freshwater flowing out of the estuary) was an
important part of the story. Delta Smelt had positive
population growth rates only twice since 2002, and both years
had high flows.
This year though, those cranes, geese and the millions of
waterbirds that have followed the same pathway for thousands of
years, are finding a stark landscape in the Central Valley,
which stretches nearly 450 miles up California’s middle and
hosts some of the nation’s richest farmland. With the vast
majority of the state in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought,
the habitat that these birds rely on in the Central Valley –
our last remaining wetlands and the surrogate habitat created
in agricultural fields like rice and alfalfa – have seen major
cutbacks in water.
A linear row of uprooted trees lined the center of the East
Sand Slough Tuesday in Red Bluff from the Antelope Boulevard
Bridge to the water down Sale Lane as construction crews
continued work on the salmon habitat project. Many trees had to
be removed to make way for the new channel along the Sacramento
River that will allow the salmon population to graze and grow
freely.
Weekend rainfall restored flows to the South Fork Eel River at
Dyerville in Southern Humboldt County. The South Fork Eel River
made headlines last week when it detached from the mainstem Eel
River for the first time in modern history. In years past, Eel
River Recovery Project executive director Patrick Higgins said
the river will often dwindle down to a thin thread of water but
it will remain connected to the mainstem Eel River.
The first quagga in Castaic Lake was found by park visitor. It
was dead but she says mostly likely had been recently alive.
Over the next three weeks, DWR and California Department of
Fish and Wildlife staff found decayed shells of three more dead
quagga mussels along the shoreline. The discovery is
problematic for a number of reasons. Castaic is a drinking
water reservoir equipped with pumping machinery, pipelines and
grates to catch debris.
Two decades ago, California agencies joined federal agencies in
signing the CALFED Record of Decision, which committed to a
world class Delta science program. A key part of that
commitment was to establish an Independent Science Board to
provide oversight and peer review of the overall program. In
2009, the legislature established the Delta Independent Science
Board as a replacement for the CALFED Independent Science
Board. … The Governor has yet to take action on the bill
…
In response to a petition by the Center for Biological
Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that
the Long Valley speckled dace may be extinct in the wild and
warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The small
fish formerly inhabited warm springs and creeks in the Upper
Owens River watershed in Mono County.
The students at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma,
California, have stepped up to save endangered coho salmon. In
1993, the school built a large hatchery on campus, where
students typically raise steelhead trout. Because of
California’s drought, the water became too warm for 4,000
endangered coho salmon at a Lake Sonoma hatchery, and they were
moved to Casa Grande, where the tanks can be kept at an optimal
temperature for the fish.
It’s a sweltering summer day, no rain for months, but Nichols
Canyon Creek is gurgling merrily on its two-mile journey from a
rocky outcrop high in the Santa Monica Mountains to the
white-hot sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard. As California
languishes in drought, the spring-fed creek is cool and shaded
by sycamore, oak, sumac, and laurel. Houses overlook its banks.
Birds and insects flit above the water. Frogs croak. Deer,
coyotes, and other animals quench their thirst.
The water alongside the Clearlake Keys home of Michelle Figuera
and her family normally would be above her head — she thinks
about 10 feet deep. Instead, the canal is dry, clogged with
invasive plants that lie in a vast, tangled mass — their
tendrils reaching up and over the edge of the wooden dock,
which now rests on land. During two years of drought, the water
level in Clear Lake has fallen dramatically, retreating from
the shoreline and rendering boat docks useless around the lake,
including many public launches.
The Great Salt Lake hit a record low this year, but it’s not
the only salty lake that’s drying up. Utah Rep. Blake Moore, a
Republican, teamed up with California’s Rep. Jared Huffman to
introduce the “Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States
Program Act” last week. The bipartisan legislation … would
authorize $25 million over five years for the program, during a
critical period where climate change is accelerating their
decline….Moore’s bill would also attempt to rescue saline
waters such as Oregon’s Lake Albert, Nevada’s Lahontan Wetlands
and California’s Salton Sea and Mono Lake.
The removal of four obsolescent hydroelectric dams on the
Klamath River in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, expected in 2023
or 2024, should have been an occasion for celebration,
recognizing an underdog campaign that managed to set in motion
the biggest dam removal project in American history. But that
was before the basin’s troubles turned biblical. … it’s
uncertain whether the remaining salmon will survive long enough
to benefit from the dams’ dismantling.
California’s Mediterranean climate has gives it the most
variable weather of any U.S. state, so it’s no stranger to
catastrophic droughts and disastrous floods. … The
latest science confirms that climate change has arrived and
that we are in the middle of a megadrought. In August,
2021, a report by the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that climate
change is quickening and intensifying. Even in a
best-case scenario, global temperatures will likely rise by 1.5
degrees Celsius by 2040.
For many Butte County residents, the Salmon Festival is a
chance to enjoy local vendors and activities. For others, the
festival is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the
salmon and wildlife culture in the Feather River. To kick off
the festival, the Maidu Konkow Valley Band from the North Fork
of the Feather River performed a series of opening ceremony
dances. Wallace Clark, a member of the Maidu and a “noponi,”
the carrier of traditions, helped host and lead the opening
ceremony alongside the traditional dancers.
The equipment and operations cleanup and repairs at the
Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant is complete, after flooding
from a debris backup over the summer caused a 17-million-gallon
sewage spill into the Santa Monica Bay, Los Angeles Sanitation
& Environment officials said this week. But despite that, El
Segundo residents and city officials remain frustrated — as
evidenced by a community forum on Thursday, Sept. 23 — by what
they say are delays in a reimbursement program and a lingering
smell that has worsened their quality of life.
The Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association and its partners are
hosting the first in a series of in-person workshops to discuss
potential solutions to the spread of aquatic weeds that
threaten all of Lake Tahoe. A proposed permit for an aquatic
weeds control methods test (National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System) is currently under consideration before the
Lahontan Water Board.
Droughts are extreme, but not necessarily
extreme events — at least not in the way we humans
usually experience events as discrete, episodic occurrences.
Droughts are continuous and exhausting; they can come out of
nowhere and take us on a rollercoaster of waiting for
precipitation to come, measuring when it does, and hoping it
will be enough to keep our rivers flowing for human use and
healthy ecosystems. Droughts may feel so extreme that they
should be a rare occurrence, but they are a natural part of
California climate.
[A U.S. Forest Service study] concluded that retardants
could adversely affect water quality, especially in small ponds
and vernal pools where a lack of flowing water would hinder
retardant dilution and lead to excessive nutrient production
that causes algal blooms and starves water of oxygen.
You won’t find a Beaver Creek in Sonoma County. Likewise,
there’s no Beaver Pond, Beaver Dam or Beaverton. No Beaver
Glade or Beaver Falls either. Wander north to the Mendocino
Coast and you will find Beaver Point jutting into the ocean. In
Humboldt, even though beavers prefer well-watered valleys,
there’s Beaver Ridge and Beaver Butte. Keep going and you’ll
eventually reach Oregon, whose nickname is “The Beaver State.”
Here in Sonoma, there’s a glaring, beaver-shaped gap in our
place names.
The extensive slough system that runs through the heart of the
Pajaro Valley has become a cornerstone for local recreation,
wildlife viewing, education and research. These wetlands
are home to various species of animals and plants, many rare
and endangered. They help replenish groundwater, buffer the
town from storm impacts and are popular spots for walkers,
birdwatchers and scientists.
Major League Baseball and the Colorado Rockies announced plans
to restore 30 million gallons of water into the Colorado River.
The commitment comes after the river experienced its driest
12-month period on record over the past year. The
sustainability effort will see MLB partner with environmental
organizations Green Sports Alliance, Change the Course and the
Colorado Water Trust. MLB estimates that the 30 million gallons
of water are equivalent to the amount used by the Rockies at
Coors Field throughout a season.
Marin County planners announced the first draft of a new stream
protection ordinance for the San Geronimo Valley that will
toughen the permitting process for streamside work in the
Lagunitas Creek watershed. The draft stream conservation
area ordinance, published last week, will enshrine protections
for coho salmon that the Salmon Protection and Watershed
Network, the local arm of an environmental nonprofit, has been
seeking through litigation for more than a decade.
Wetlands management and related federal permitting is changing
–AGAIN. If you or your organization seek wetlands or related
permitting, then the latest changes in for “navigable waters”
impact both regulators and the regulated community – and may
change your approach. Projects that impact “Waters of the
United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) from the
Army Corps, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and states
administering CWA permitting programs should look closely at
these changes.
A big construction project is underway in an effort to protect
fish in the American River, especially as they struggle to
survive a serious drought. Crews are working on the Sacramento
Water Forum’s habitat restoration project on the Lower American
River at Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael. Workers carved
out a new alcove for young Chinook salmon and steelhead trout
to grow and hide from predators, and they moved lots of gravel
to the area for the adult fish to use when laying eggs.
Peninsular Bighorn Sheep were listed as an endangered species
in 1998 due to habitat loss and human disturbance, but this
year it might be human intervention that keeps them from dying
of dehydration. …Scientists in the Anza Borrego Desert State
Park believe even the loss of a few sheep because of extremes
drought conditions could be tragic for the recovery of the
peninsular herd. With that in mind, several volunteer groups,
multiple state agencies and the US Marine corps are working
together to transport millions of gallons of water directly to
all desert wildlife, in this case, deep into the park by
helicopter.
From California to West Virginia, efforts are underway to
conserve and restore fish and wildlife migration corridors and
habitat. … Constructed in 1947, the Matilija Dam on the
Ventura River no longer serves its original purpose: water
storage and flood control. The reservoir is almost filled with
sediment, blocks fish migration, and contributes to beach
erosion. Since 1999, the Ventura County Public Works
Agency has engaged in a multi-stakeholder effort to remove the
dam from Matilija Creek.
The Salton Sea has needed restoration for decades. Both
Imperial County and Imperial Irrigation District (IID) agree
something needs to be done, but the debate over precisely what
action to take, is preventing much from happening at all. In
2003, it was agreed water would be transferred from the Salton
Sea to San Diego and Coachella. Imperial County Superviso Ryan
Kelley tells me, after the transfer the seabed turned to dust.
The wind then carried that dust, and the harmful components in
it, towards Valley residents.
Crescent City Harbor officials are exploring different options,
including obtaining emergency permits, to solve a long-standing
problem — how to dispose of nearly 10 years of accumulated fine
silt and soil in its dredge ponds. The topic has been a regular
item on Harbor District meeting agendas since July 20, but the
district has had an open application for a dredge permit with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under consideration for about
six years, Harbormaster Tim Petrick told the Wild Rivers
Outpost.
The Water Forum has been working closely with the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation to coordinate a response to drought conditions
and reduce impacts to regional water supplies and the health of
the Lower American River. We recently welcomed Kristin White,
Operations Manager for Reclamation’s Central Valley Project, to
provide an update on drought conditions in California and
across the Western United States at the Water Forum Drought
Plenary. What she shared was both stark and sobering. It was a
glimpse into the problems facing federal and state water
managers during this extraordinarily challenging water year.
Human-caused climate change has intensified the withering
drought gripping the Southwestern United States, the region’s
most severe on record, with precipitation at the lowest
20-month level documented since 1895, a U.S. government report
said on Tuesday. Over the same period, from January 2020
through August 2021, the region also experienced the
third-highest daily average temperatures measured since
record-keeping began near the end of the 19th century,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) drought task force.
Members of the public are encouraged to give their feedback on
the proposed law that would create a buffer zone between San
Geronimo Valley waterways and human development in Marin
County. The proposed Stream Conservation Area ordinance aims to
protect the San Geronimo Creek Watershed, which is home to
endangered coho salmon, steelhead trout, and chinook salmon.
If next year is dry in California, modeling from the Bureau of
Reclamation (linked here, dated July 6, 2021) shows that Shasta
Reservoir would store nearly 750,000 acre feet less water in
April 2022 than it did in April 2014 – a year that was an
unmitigated disaster for fish and wildlife. The
operations presented in Reclamation’s modeling could lead to
extinction for winter-run Chinook salmon and other threatened
and endangered fish populations if next year is dry.
You don’t forget pronghorn antelope. These Western icons with
their black horns and white rumps are blazingly fast — the
fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere — and they show
off that speed when they spot you, reaching 55 mph in an
eyeblink if they need to. But even they are not expected to be
fast enough to outrun climate change and drought in the
Southwest. By the end of the century, half of the pronghorn
populations in the region are expected to be gone, say federal
researchers.
Many try and fail to make it in L.A. But one group is proving
unstoppable: mosquitoes, which have taken over Southern
California and are driving the humans here crazy. New invasive,
disease-bearing species originating from Asia and Africa are
thriving in the increasingly long, hot and humid summers
afflicting this region thanks to climate change, according to
numerous public health officials. Their growing numbers are
baffling and infuriating Angelenos, who, until recently,
considered themselves largely exempt from the buzzing
bloodsuckers that make summers miserable in much of the rest of
the country.
Though it may seem like the Bootleg Fire’s damage has already
been done after crews contained the blaze last month, the 647
square mile scar spells trouble for the entire Klamath Basin
once the wet season arrives. If actions aren’t taken quickly to
protect streams and drainages in the burn area, water quality
in Upper Klamath Lake — and the endangered c’waam and koptu
that call it home — could suffer.
The Kern River got a lot of love this National Clean Up
Day with two groups picking up trash along different sections
of the river on Saturday. In Bakersfield, about 40 volunteers
with Bring Back the Kern, a nonprofit group dedicated to
getting water flowing on a more regular basis through town,
cleared away trash under the bridge at Mohawk Street. This is
the second year the group has participated in National Clean Up
Day. It has held other clean ups along the river for Earth Day
and other events.
To the north of the Yuba Watershed, the Dixie Fire has burned
nearly a million acres. To the south, the Caldor Fire has
destroyed hundreds of homes as it continues to burn near South
Lake Tahoe. Meanwhile, the Yuba Water Agency is leading an
effort to avoid similar catastrophic fire by focusing on a plan
to treat 275,000 acres in the Yuba Watershed.
San Francisco and several Central Valley irrigation districts
with water rights dating back more than a century are suing the
state for forcing water restrictions, as California deals with
a worsening drought. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by
the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority, claims the State Water
Resources Control Board does not have the authority to tell
those with the most senior rights to water that they can’t draw
it from the Bay-Delta reservoirs, rivers and streams, even in
the case of drought.
The Two-Basin Partnership, comprised of California Trout,
the County of Humboldt, the Mendocino County Inland Water &
Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Sonoma
County Water Agency, on September 2 asked the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) to allow additional time to
re-evaluate the proposed plan to take over the Potter Valley
Hydroelectric Project (Project). The Partnership
specifically requested that the time delay continue until May
31, 2022, at which time the Partnership will provide further
notice regarding its plans.
Environmentally minded residents of East County have an
opportunity to help make the Delta a little better. The annual
Delta Waterway Cleanup will take place Saturday, Sept. 18 from
9 a.m. to noon. The Delta Protection Commission (DPC) sponsors
this event, and has similar ones scheduled in each of the five
counties that adjoin the Sacramento San-Joaquin Delta. In
Contra Costa County, volunteers will focus their efforts on
Bethel Island. The Delta cleanup is part of California’s
Coastal Cleanup Day, the state’s largest annual volunteer
event.
Water resources managers and the leaders in Northern California
continue to advance Ridgetop to River Mouth water management
… There are unique opportunities in the Sacramento River
Basin to advance ridgetop to river mouth water management,
which can best be envisioned by looking holistically at: 1)
headwaters and forest health, 2) floodplain reactivation for
public safety and fish and wildlife, 3) sustainable groundwater
management (including groundwater recharge and banking), 4)
healthy soils and farms; 5) safe drinking water; and 6) vital
rivers and streams.
Las Vegas visitors can still snap selfies with the mermaids
swimming among tropical fish in the Silverton Casino’s massive
aquarium and gaze at the colorful dancing water displays of the
iconic Bellagio fountains — for now. But southern Nevada and
much of the American West are struggling to cope with a
worsening drought that has strained municipal water supplies,
agricultural operations and wildlife populations.
Deep in the northern California wilderness, nestled among
rolling hills and magnificent pines, the Mount Shasta volcano
towers above the landscape as a lone sentinel beckoning to
those around it. Rising to 14,179 feet, Shasta is one of the
tallest mountains in the Lower 48. Given its height, snow cover
is common year-round, especially after a snowy season or two.
It is home to some of the largest glaciers in California and
includes at least seven glaciers, some named after Native
Americans in the 1800s. This year is testing the theory that
snow and ice will always be found on Shasta.
Water quality regulators let a Sonoma County-based quarry know
last week it could face a $4.5 million-fine for multiple
alleged violations of the Clean Water Act that threaten the
survival of endangered salmon populations in tributaries of the
Russian River. The proposed fine from the North Coast
Regional Water Quality Control Board is part of a legal
proceeding known as an administrative civil liability that
alleges the operator of Mark West Quarry, Dean Soiland, doing
business as BoDean Co. Inc., discharged highly turbid
stormwater from its quarry operations into Porter Creek from
September 2018 through May 2019.
Pyramid Lake was a vital fishery for thousands of years, but
the tribe had no legal rights to Truckee River water until 1908
when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that when the federal
government established Indian reservations it implicitly
reserved sufficient land and water to serve its purpose and
that non-Indians could not interfere with a tribe’s reserved
water. The precedent-setting decision also recognized prior
appropriation rights for Western tribes.The court’s opinion
gave the Paiute the most senior claims on Truckee River dating
back to 1859 when land for the Pyramid Lake Indian
Reservation was first set aside.
The California Legislature released the final budget language
late on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. CalTrout remains
critical of the unnecessary delay in releasing critical budget
items like emergency drought funding, wildfire relief, and
climate resilience packages. As water curtailment orders go
live throughout the state, the legislature is still waiting to
officially approve these critical funding packages to combat
the effects of climate during this year’s especially dry
drought conditions.
Fog is a defining element of summer in Santa Cruz, obscuring
the view of day trippers descending the hills to the coast and
prompting kids to bundle up to hop on their bikes for summer
adventures. Its fingerprints are visible in the vast coastal
forests, even when it isn’t hanging in the air. The redwood
trees towering in a clear blue sky soak up moisture from the
fog on gray days. It is often their only source of water for
months at a time. … But many scientists believe that fog
is declining, another casualty of global warming.
Four years after California created a legal, regulated
marijuana industry that’s largely shepherded by contentious
growers, its public lands continue to be decimated by criminal
cultivators associated with Mexican drug cartels. That
much was clear as federal investigators ended several major
probes over the summer, the incidents involving large-scale
plant and wildlife destruction from the central to northern
Sierra.
From the lake to the ocean, the waters of the Klamath are once
again teeming with toxic blue-green algae at the end of a hot,
dry summer. Microcystis aeruginosa, a species of
photosynthetic cyanobacteria that produces the neurotoxin
microcystin, has been detected in nearly all reaches of the
Klamath Basin at or below Upper Klamath Lake. The harmful algal
blooms have plagued the basin and its residents for decades,
fueled by nutrient runoff, stagnant water and summer sunshine.
The annual Truckee River Cleanup Day set for September 25, 2021
is a 17 year-old beautification tradition. Every year, the
nonprofit organization Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB)
organizes hundreds of volunteers who, in a four-hour period,
remove trash, erase graffiti, and stencil a warning on storm
drains along a 20-mile stretch of the river, from Verdi to
Lockwood. Last year, in one day, some 500 volunteers
removed over 35 tons of trash and green waste from the Truckee
River Watershed. … But trash is only one environmental
threat to the Truckee.
[G]lobal warming is not going away. Last month, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its most
alarming report yet: Earth is on the edge of ecological
bankruptcy. That’s what California is facing this summer
with record heat, severe drought, record fires, snow
sublimation, record low reservoir levels, dry wells,
communities without safe drinking water, deaths of salmon and
whales, poisonous algae growth in lakes and streams, and record
glacier melt. -Written by Martha Davis, the former assistant
general manager for policy at the Inland Empire Utilities
Agency and former executive director of the Mono Lake
Committee.
For years, trucks have hauled thousands of gallons of water
nearly every day to 3,000 water catchments throughout Arizona
to help keep wildlife hydrated during the drought. That work
still continues, but Mother Nature has been a huge help in
recent weeks. … The constant monsoon rains have filled
nearly every Arizona water catchment to its brim.
Murders of environment and land defenders hit a record high
last year as the violent resource grab in the global south
continued unabated despite the pandemic. New figures released
by Global Witness show that 227 people were killed in 2020
while trying to protect forests, rivers and other ecosystems
that their livelihoods depended on.
The razorback sucker fish could be downlisted from an
endangered species to threatened in the next year or so,
according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This week,
environmental groups sent the agency a letter in opposition to
the move. The letter argues the razorback sucker is still in
trouble, despite recoveries it’s made in the last 30 years,
which is when it was first listed as federally endangered. The
fish is native to the Colorado River, which is facing historic
shortages due to the west’s megadrought.
Many rely on the Klamath River Basin on the California border,
especially with the historic drought in the West. Things got
heated this summer between the area’s tribes and ranchers.
… Over the past week, our colleagues over at The
Indicator have been reporting on the historic drought in the
West. They spent some time with ranchers on the front lines,
including the Klamath River Basin. Sally Herships and Ashley
Ahearn report.
With climate change-induced drought causing critical low flows
in the Scott and Shasta Rivers and threatening the survival of
multiple fish species, the State Water Resources Control Board
today approved an emergency curtailment regulation that
includes measures to help maintain minimum flows to protect
fish, ensure supplies for human health and livestock needs, and
encourage voluntary efforts that may be used in lieu of
curtailments.
For centuries, spring-run Chinook salmon, among California’s
most iconic fish, would rest for weeks in these historically
cold waters after their brutal upstream journey. Then they
would lay eggs and, finally, perish to complete one of nature’s
most improbable life cycles. No longer. What once was a place
where life began is now one of untimely death. The creek is
simply too warm, an astounding 10 degrees warmer than average
in some parts of these spawning grounds.
James Gilbert, an associate project scientist in the Institute
of Marine Sciences (IMS) at UC Santa Cruz, was recognized by
the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) with its
Staff of the Quarter award for the third quarter of fiscal year
2021. … The award recognizes his work as part of the FCP’s
Central Valley Salmon project.
For the past two decades, the southwestern United States has
been desiccated by one of the most severe long-term droughts—or
‘megadroughts’—of the last 1,200 years. And now, scientists say
the risk of similar extreme megadroughts and severe single-year
droughts will increase in the future as Earth’s temperature
continues to rise, according to a new study in Earth’s Future
sponsored by CPO’s Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and
Projections (MAPP) program and led by NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies (GISS).
The Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from the
Klamath River to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on
Sept. 3. Advocates hope it will improve wetland habitat on the
refuge for migrating birds this fall. Last week, California
Waterfowl Association officially purchased approximately 3,750
acre-feet of water from Agency Ranch in the Wood River Valley,
above Upper Klamath Lake, having announced the purchase and
fundraising effort this spring.
The Oakdale and South San Joaquin Irrigation Districts have
joined in a lawsuit challenging the State Water Resources
Control Board’s authority to prevent the two water agencies
from diverting and storing Stanislaus River runoff in Donnells,
Beardsley, New Melones and Tulloch Reservoirs. The state water
board, in an emergency drought order issued Aug. 20, declared
that OID, SSJID and 4,500 other water rights holders in
California must immediately stop diverting water due to
unprecedented drought conditions.
Michael George is not a spy — but he does use some of the same
equipment. George, a gregarious talker, is a lawyer by trade,
and in his current role as Delta watermaster he oversees the
use of water in one of the country’s most contested waterways.
The Delta in this case is the Sacramento-San Joaquin, a jumble
of fertile land, diked islands, tidal flows, and meandering
sloughs that is the heart of California’s engineered water
system.
For over a century, the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge
has been crucial habitat for birds on their grueling annual
migrations between destinations as distant as Alaska and
Mexico. … For years, the refuge has been last in line for
scarce water, after farmers and endangered fish. As the drought
deepened and wetlands dried out, the lack of water led to
massive outbreaks of avian botulism, killing tens of thousands
of ducks, geese swans and other migratory water birds.
… Last week, that water started flowing into the refuge.
Few clues have been shared by investigators working to
determine how a family and their dog died a little over three
weeks ago while hiking in Sierra National Forest, in a remote
section of Mariposa County southwest of Yosemite National Park.
Known harmful algae blooms in the south fork of the Merced
River, near where the family was mysteriously found dead along
the Savage-Lundy Trail in Devil’s Gulch, are among the hazards
being considered. … [But] investigators are “not saying”
that’s what killed Mariposa residents John Gerrish, Ellen
Chung, their daughter, Miju, and family dog, Oski.
The controversial Devil’s Gate Dam sediment removal project is
concluding a year earlier than expected. More work remains to
be done on the project’s planned habitat restoration efforts,
but local activists and public works officials are excited for
the future. Years in the making, the excavation is the first
time since 1994 crews were allowed to haul soil and debris out
of the oldest dam in the county’s care.
“The Lagoon is getting worse and worse every year,” said Andy
Lyon, former Malibu city council candidate, surfer, and
community activist. His concerns were validated on August 12,
when the Los Angeles County Health Department issued a water
quality warning, cautioning citizens to refrain from swimming,
surfing, and playing in ocean waters at Surfrider Beach and the
Malibu Lagoon due to potentially hazardous conditions,
including exceeding bacteria standards, and to exercise caution
where Malibu Creek discharges into the ocean and near
discharging storm drains.
The state’s curtailment of river diversions has drawn lawsuits
from eight irrigation districts in and near Stanislaus County,
along with San Francisco. The three filings claim that
the State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its authority
with the Aug. 20 orders. The plaintiffs also said they did not
get enough chance beforehand to make their cases for continued
diversions.
The Bureau of Land Management is rounding up more than 700
horses living on public land in northwest Colorado, a sharp
reduction of a herd that officials say is too large and roaming
in dangerously dry conditions. Over the last week, contractors
have used helicopters to corral mustangs living in the Sand
Wash Basin, which includes 155,000 acres of public land managed
by the federal agency in the northwest corner of the state.
The Upper Sacramento River was again at risk of devastation
after a Union Pacific train derailed recently at Cantara Loop,
reminding many of the disastrous spill over 30 years ago in the
same location. Luckily this time, no spills of any kind
occurred, but this further strengthens the argument that this
pristine stretch of river requires protection. Disastrous spill
In July 1991, a 97-car Southern Pacific train derailed at the
Cantara Loop near Mt. Shasta and dumped 19,000 gallons of
herbicide metam sodium into the Sacramento River.
As drought-stricken California considers constructing new dams,
a new study finds that many of the state’s existing structures—
despite efforts to prioritize healthy water temperatures— are
failing the cold-water ecosystems that depend on them. The
study, published in PLOS One, crunched data from 77 cold-water
streams across California to characterize their “thermal
regime” — that is, their annual temperature fluctuations over
an eight- to 12-year period.
Jesse Patterson, of Keep Tahoe Blue, said the organization is
funding research into the effects of the Caldor Fire on Lake
Tahoe. “It’s going to look very different. Huge areas are burnt
down, a burn scar — there can be runoff now from those areas
that use to be protected by the trees. Now, those trees are
gone and that runoff can come from the land and affect the
lakes,” Patterson said. Dr. Geoffrey Schladow, professor
of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis,
said ash is a problem too. When ash bleeds into the lake, it
turns into nutrients that cause algae blooms.
The Central Valley’s rice fields and wetlands are widely
heralded as key rest and refuel stops for millions of migratory
birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. The rice fields
provide more than 50% of the diet for the ducks and geese
during their fall and winter migration. To view rafts of
waterfowl feeding on public wildlife areas or seeing thousands
of geese taking flight from a rice field are indicators of a
healthy environment and visual examples of how vital the
Central Valley is to the Flyway. -Written by Jeff McCreary, director of operations for the
Western Region, Ducks Unlimited, and Tim Johnson, president and
CEO of the California Rice Commission.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service today announced the Notice of Funding Opportunity for
projects that enhance Chinook salmon and steelhead trout
production and associated habitats in the Central Valley,
consistent with the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.
Reclamation and the Service plan to award up to $40 million
(subject to appropriations) in fiscal year 2022 through
multiple grants or cooperative agreements to projects
prioritized by the CVPIA Near-Term Restoration Strategy.
The Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from the
Klamath River to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on
Friday afternoon. Advocates hope it will improve wetland
habitat on the refuge for migrating birds this fall. Last
week, California Waterfowl Association officially purchased
approximately 3,750 acre-feet of water from Agency Ranch in the
Wood River Valley, above Upper Klamath Lake, having announced
the purchase and fundraising effort this spring.
This morning’s operations missive from the federal-state-local
Middle Rio Grande operations group (by “Middle” here we mean
central New Mexico) notes a release of ~100 cubic feet per
second of imported San Juan-Chama Project water for
environmental flows, an effort to help the struggling Rio
Grande silvery minnow. SJC water is removed from the Colorado
River Basin in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado,
through a series of tunnels beneath the continental divide, for
use in the Rio Grande Basin.
Almost everything about a sequoia tree is giant: It can
grow to more than 200 feet tall and live longer than 3,000
years. Yet the sequoia’s footprint is shrinking, as
human-induced climate change threatens this ancient tree’s
survival. … There are only around 48,000 acres of sequoia
groves left in the world, and the trees are now facing threats
from human-made climate change in several ways.
The Klamath River flows some 250 miles from southern Oregon to
Northern California. From its headwaters at Upper Klamath Lake,
east of Medford, Oregon, the river rushes through trout
habitat, forested mountains, farmland and salmon nurseries as
it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean. Rather, the river
usually rushes. But now, drought is desiccating almost the
entire Klamath River basin, some 12,000 to 15,000 square miles.
That’s an area approaching the size of the entirety of
Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
CalTrans plans to restore about four acres around the
Centennial Creek bed in Paso Robles. David Best with the Upper
Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation district said he’s in
favor of the plans, and believes it a win-win for residents in
the area. … CalTrans is planning to provide around $1 million
in funding to improve the creekbed but is asking for public
comment on the proposal.
The drought emergency in the Bay Area is not only affecting
humans, but also wildlife. From turkeys strolling along
streets, to wild pigs appearing on surveillance video digging
up yards, bone dry conditions in the hills has sent thirsty
wildlife into neighborhoods, particularly in the East Bay.
Other creatures spotted in neighborhoods recently include
mountain lions and even the occasional bear. Wildlife experts
say its the season for these visitors. Dry hillsides causing
wildlife to stroll to low lying areas to find food and precious
water.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Monday
that for the first time it spotted quagga
mussels, a non-native species, in
Castaic Lake. Staff from DWR and the
California Department of Fish
and Wildlife found two quagga mussels shells in
Castaic Lake on Aug. 17. DWR has monitored the lake since
2008, according to Maggie Macias, a representative
for the agency.
The Caldor fire has triggered mass evacuations in two
states, torched hundreds of homes, made the air hazardous to
breathe and spurred President Biden to issue an emergency
declaration. But the erratic wildfire is also causing
another problem for Lake Tahoe: Smoke and ash particles are
entering the lake and clouding its world-famous crystal blue
waters.
The California red-legged frog is a threatened species that has
been found on the UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus, but has
not been known to breed there successfully. That may soon
change with the construction of a small pond designed to
enhance an existing seasonal wetland and provide potential
breeding habitat for the native frog.
Freshly cut off from their chief water supply, a group of
California water agencies in one of the state’s most fertile
farming areas sued on Wednesday to freeze the latest round of
emergency drought rules. In a lawsuit filed in Sacramento
County Superior Court, the suppliers argue they were denied due
process when state regulators ordered thousands of landowners
last month to cease diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta due to drought conditions.
At the end of the growing season, as the Sacramento Valley
transitions from summer to fall, we shift from the agronomic
season to the bird season as waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and
other birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway begin to arrive
as part of their annual migration. Birds and other species
using the Pacific Flyway are reliant upon varied land uses in
the Sacramento Valley that include ricelands and managed
wetlands (both privately managed wetlands and public refuges
and state wildlife areas) to meet their habitat needs.
Join us next Thursday, Sept. 9, for an engaging
online Bay-Delta Tour that will feature live Q&A with
key experts on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the state’s
vital water hub and the West Coast’s largest freshwater tidal
estuary. You’ll learn about Delta ecosystem
restoration, impacts to ocean fisheries from changes in
the Delta, agriculture and municipal water use and the Delta’s
role in supplying water to Southern California. You’ll hear
from farmers, fish biologists, water managers, people working
on restoration efforts and more.
The historic drought in Marin County continues to affect a rare
species of elk. Last weekend, nearly a hundred people carried
water to replenish the drinking supply for tule elk at Point
Reyes National Seashore that are dying in the drought
conditions. Volunteers hiked six miles round trip on Saturday,
carrying gallon jugs of water to provide the animals at Tomales
Point with more to drink. The water drop was organized in part
by TreeSpirit Project, Save The Elk, and In Defense of Animals.
Environmental justice groups gathered Monday, Aug. 30, in front
of the California EPA building in Sacramento, demanding cleanup
of contaminated sites around the state … Organizers of the
demonstration said the California Environmental Protection
Agency and Department of Toxic Substances Control, the
regulatory agency overseeing the investigation and cleanup of
contaminated soil and groundwater at the SSFL, failed to hold
polluters accountable, allowing them to walk away from cleaning
contaminated sites often located in low-income and
working-class communities.
More than 90 small frogs were released back into the wild this
week after being recovered from an oil spill at Toro Canyon
Creek near Summerland. The frogs were rescued in August by the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Oiled Wildlife Care
Network (OWCN) and Santa Barbara’s Wildlife Care Network
(SBWCN). Crews said the frogs were found coated in oil. They
were washed and rehabilitated back to prime health before being
prepared for release.
Like many farmers across California, Zack Andrade’s business is
being choked by an extraordinary two-year drought. Water cuts
could soon erase about a quarter of the irrigation he depends
on to grow leafy greens, carrots and beets on his family’s farm
in the rolling hills south of Silicon Valley, near Morgan
Hill. Andrade said the crisis has been made worse by
successive governors, including Gavin Newsom, who he says have
punted on damming rivers and building new reservoirs to help
California store more water during wet years.
One farmer has single handedly ramped up the pace of a program
trying to save native salmon in the San Joaquin River by
donating a key sliver of land to the federal government.
Connley Clayton donated about eight acres of his Madera County
riverfront land to the government’s San Joaquin River
Restoration Program. The land will provide crucial space for
the government to build a passage that fish can use to swim
around the Sack Dam, a significant impediment to salmon
returning upriver from the sea.
Sanctuary Forest recently broke ground on a restoration project
in McKee Creek between Whitethorn and Ettersburg junctions in
Southern Humboldt. The project aims to address historical
logging impacts and “recharge” groundwater storages to enhance
essential flows for threatened salmon species. Anna Rogers,
administrative director for Sanctuary Forest, said McKee Creek
was rated as a Priority 1 tributary for coho salmon recovery in
the Mattole Coho Recovery Strategy based on spawning and
rearing documented in the past decade.
Upper Klamath Lake is once again turning toxic for the summer.
On July 30, the Oregon Health Authority issued a recreational
use advisory for Eagle Ridge County Park and Shoalwater Bay due
to a cyanobacteria bloom present on the lake’s western shore.
OHA expanded the advisory to Howard’s Bay, south of Spence
Mountain, on August 30. The bloom, comprised of Microcystis
aeruginosa, produces the liver toxin microcystin, which can
cause skin rashes, stomach issues, diarrhea and vomiting if
ingested.
In the midst of a climate crisis in California, another species
has been added to the endangered species list: the Sierra
Nevada red fox, a subspecies of red foxes found only in
California. With an estimated population of about 18 to 39,
California’s distinct red fox population is now in critical
danger of extinction, joining a list that includes the
California condor and salt-marsh harvest mouse.
Near Southern California’s dying Salton Sea, a canopy next to a
geothermal power plant covers large containers of salty water
left behind after super-hot liquid is drilled from deep
underground to run steam turbines. The containers connect to
tubes that spit out what looks like dishwater, but it’s
lithium, a critical component of rechargeable batteries and the
newest hope for economic revival in the depressed region.
Scientists and conservation groups including NRDC have been
warning for years that farms and cities in California need to
plan to divert less water from the Bay-Delta watershed, and the
2009 enactment of the Delta Reform Act established that it is
State policy to reduce reliance on water supplies from the
Bay-Delta through investments in local and regional water
supplies like water recycling (Cal. Water Code § 85021). The
current drought is an unwelcome reminder that we are not
prepared for drought, leading to the State Water Board ordering
curtailments of some water diversions…
A federal judge Monday threw out a major Trump administration
rule that scaled back federal protections for streams, marshes
and wetlands across the United States, reversing one of the
previous administration’s most significant environmental
rollbacks. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez wrote that
Trump officials committed serious errors while writing the
regulation, finalized last year, and that leaving it in place
could lead to “serious environmental harm.”
Volunteers carried out an emergency water drop this weekend,
trying to help the rare tule elk that have been dying in
drought conditions on the Point Reyes National Seashore.
Saturday afternoon, nearly a hundred people carried water three
miles to a pond that is on the verge of drying up. The National
Park Service is embroiled in a lawsuit over the elk, one third
of the herd has died in the past year from lack of water or
sufficient foliage to eat.
Andrew Rypel grew up fishing on Wisconsin’s pristine lakes and
rivers. With just a worm on his hook, he caught suckers, gar,
sunfish and other native fish he never saw in his game fishing
magazines. From a young age, Rypel loved all the fish
species and it surprised him that others paid little attention
to the native fish in his area. … Now working as an
associate professor at UC Davis, Rypel … and 10 of
his colleagues discovered something that he’d known since
his youth: Most fishing regulations are biased against native
fishes.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will begin
implementing additional boating requirements at Castaic Lake in
Los Angeles County due to the recent discovery of invasive
quagga mussels. The discovery of quagga mussels means
DWR must implement measures to prevent their spread, including
requiring boats to be inspected and drained upon leaving
Castaic Lake and Castaic Lagoon. While mussels have not been
detected to date in Castaic Lagoon, they are presumed to be
present since the lagoon receives water from Castaic Lake.
Given the current drought, it’s no surprise that California’s
dams are struggling to provide cool water habitats to support
native freshwater ecosystems. But what if they were never able
to support them under any conditions? New research shows how
current stream management fails to provide the patterns of cool
water that California’s native ecosystems need. The challenges
stem from two issues: an oversimplification of stream
temperature targets and the assumption that dam regulation can
replicate desirable cold water patterns.
As Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge’s last remaining
wetland reduces to a mud puddle, California Waterfowl
Association’s efforts to secure a meager supply of water for
the refuge have cleared a regulatory hurdle. On Thursday, the
Oregon Water Resources Department accepted CWA’s application to
transfer several thousand acre-feet of water from a willing
Wood River Valley rancher to the refuge’s Unit 2.
This summer, tens of millions of salmon have been cooked in
California in their own native habitat. Record-breaking heat
and drought have drawn down the water flows and turned up the
temperatures of the state’s streams and rivers. The heat shock,
along with the impacts of parasites and fungal blights that are
fueled by warmer waters, has decimated the wild salmon
populations. To stem the crisis, scientists have literally
gone above and beyond, hurling salmon over dams via pneumatic
cannons and trucking millions of fish to the Pacific Ocean to
bypass unlivable rivers.
Tucked between two mountain ranges in Northern California’s
Siskiyou County, the Shasta Valley is as complex as it is
impressive. … The dearth of knowledge is perhaps most
pronounced when it comes to what scientists call the
hydrogeology of the groundwater basin –– how exactly water
moves through the volcanic rock below the ground. The movement
of that water is the economic linchpin of the valley, with
cattle ranchers, alfalfa farmers, cannabis growers, and others
all depending on it. And thousands of residents also depend on
the groundwater for their homes.
Driving between her northern Central Valley rice fields with
the family dog in tow, fifth-generation farmer Kim Gallagher
points out the window to shorebirds, egrets and avocets
fluttering across a thousand-acre sea of green flooded in six
inches of water. … The nearly 500,000 acres of sushi
rice grown in the Sacramento Valley each year serve as the
wetland habitat for thousands of migrating birds along the
Pacific Coast. Yet the crop also uses more water than most, and
about half of the product is exported to countries including
Japan and South Korea.
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.
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.
It’s been a tough year for the Klamath River. The Klamath,
which flows through Oregon and Northern California and into the
Pacific Ocean, is suffering from drought and infrastructure
problems. That’s caused trouble, not just for the fish in the
river, but also for the tribes and farmers who rely on it for
day-to-day living. Drought conditions are so bad this year that
the U.S. Department of Agriculture allocated $15 million to
support farmers who don’t have enough water for their crops.
Klamath Basin tribes are also struggling to feed their people,
but so far they haven’t received such support.
It has been a very active monsoon season, especially in
Arizona. However, here in Southern California, we do not expect
much rain during the summer, and the totals we have seen thus
far will not be a drought buster.
A California appeals court has blocked the expansion of Lake
Tahoe’s famed Squaw Valley ski resort because the development
plan fails to adequately address potential harm to air and
water quality, as well as increased noise levels and traffic in
the area. A three-judge panel of California’s Third District
Court of Appeals granted parts of two appeals brought by Sierra
Watch.
Substantial work occurs in the Sacramento Valley every year on
projects to develop and enhance habitat for the region’s
terrestrial and aquatic species. In-stream salmon
recovery projects, Pacific Flyway habitat improvements,
floodplain reactivation and many other types of habitat
projects all require environmental permits to be
implemented. There is general recognition that the work
necessary to acquire these permits greatly increases the time
and cost to get the projects done.
The Madera County Department of Public Health issued an
advisory Monday after large amounts of harmful algae blooms
were found in Hensley Lake near Yosemite Lakes. … There
has been renewed interest in the phenomenon after
a Mariposa family was found dead in the Sierra National
Forest. Mariposa County Sheriff’s deputies say they
are looking at all possible causes for their death
including signs of toxic algae.
Extreme heat waves have made this a devastating summer for the
endangered salmon species of the U.S. West Coast. In mid July,
California wildlife officials warned that almost all of the
young Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River would likely die
because of lower water levels and higher water temperatures.
… But, amidst all the catastrophic headlines was a cool
spring of good news. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is finally acting to protect more than two dozen
endangered West Coast salmon and steelhead species from
pesticides.
As climate-driven drought and wildfires rage in California, the
Biden administration is struggling to navigate the hard
politics that come with deciding who gets access to the state’s
precious — and dwindling — water supplies. … Now the Biden
administration is delaying action on the fundamental question
at the heart of California’s long-running water wars: How much
water should be reserved for species protections, at the
expense of the state’s powerful agricultural industry?
We cannot solve our most pressing environmental and natural
resource management challenges with a better understanding of
the biophysical environment of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
alone – we need social science. To address our natural resource
management challenges, we must build cooperation and
collaboration among stakeholders, find a compromise between
conflicting interests and values, and face tradeoffs that
require hard decisions about whose needs we prioritize.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest estuary on the
West Coast, is a vital hub in California’s complex water
delivery system as well as a rich farming region, an important
wetlands area – and often, a source of conflict. Join us for an
engaging online journey on Sept. 9 to go deep
into the Delta and its 720,000-acre network of islands and
canals that supports the state’s two large water systems -
the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley
Project.
Dams poorly mimic the temperature patterns California streams
require to support the state’s native salmon and trout — more
than three-quarters of which risk extinction. Bold actions are
needed to reverse extinction trends and protect cold-water
streams that are resilient to climate warming, according to a
study published in the journal PLOS ONE by the University of
California, Davis.
Madera County health officials in northern California on Monday
issued warnings to the public after high amounts of harmful
algae were reported in a lake. Staff from the Central
Valley Water Board have put out signs around Hensley Lake
warning people about harmful bright green algae in the water,
urging pets and children to stay away from the algae, which
contains toxins that are dangerous to humans and animals if
ingested. There are different types of toxic algae, but they
all still are a threat to human and animal health.
In late spring, Antonia Torres González’ tears rolled freely at
the rare sight before her: the Colorado River flowed again in
what is usually a parched delta. Torres González, a member of
the Cucapá tribe who grew up in the river delta, couldn’t help
but relive memories of childhood romps in the once-lush
waterway in northwestern Mexico. … On May 1, 2021, the river
once again flowed in its delta thanks to an agreement between
the United States and Mexico dubbed Minute 323.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
that Sixteen to One Mine, one of California’s oldest
operational gold mines, has agreed to an Administrative Order
on Consent requiring the mine to install a new treatment system
that will remove pollutants from mine drainage before entering
local waters. The mine was found to be in violation of its
permit under the U.S. Clean Water Act after consistently
discharging mine-influenced water that exceeded limits on
pollutants.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recall election in
mid-September, should he lose, will very likely terminate the
floundering politician’s career. A late-term gubernatorial
replacement would also mean a potentially major shift in
California environmental policies. … Budget spending
… could be directed away from hundreds of conservation
projects that are tentatively scheduled to begin, and directors
of wildlife, water, and resource agencies who were appointed by
Newsom would almost certainly be replaced.
California is generally known as an environmental leader, but
the state has also faced tremendous environmental degradation
and destruction. I chronicled my “top 10” worst environmental
decisions in the state’s history last year. But what about the
good things state policy makers have done? Here is my list of
the most significant environmental wins in California since the
state’s founding.
Recently, the Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) — an
interagency consortium charged “to provide and integrate
relevant and timely ecological information for management of
the Bay-Delta” — released a report presenting data and studies
regarding a major conservation action for delta smelt, referred
to as the Fall X2 Action. The Fall X2 Action purports to
benefit the delta smelt during the autumn by increasing outflow
through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during that period in
years where there is above normal precipitation in the
preceding winter and spring.
The Solano Resource Conservation District hosted the first
three-day Solano Water Institute for Teachers early this month
at various sites throughout Solano County and at Lake
Berryessa. The new teacher workshop provided 27 Solano County
educators with knowledge, skills and tools to help them teach
watershed science and land preservation from a locally relevant
perspective. The Solano Water Institute featured presentations
from nine local and state experts on water resources, open
spaces and climate change with conversations integrating
Project WET, an award-winning environmental education
curriculum created by the Water Education
Foundation.
If you’ve had a terrifying run in with a slithery serpent
you’re not alone. There’s a snake invasion in some Southern
California communities. Snakes, like other wildlife, are
starving during this drought and they’re coming into
neighborhoods looking for a meal and water. Eyewitness News
reporter Leo Stallworth happened to come across a snake
underneath his foot at a park Sunday, an experience which left
him petrified.
