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Topic: Endangered Species Act

Overview April 24, 2014

Endangered Species Act

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

The federal ESA aims to, “protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend.”

The state ESA states that, “all native species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, invertebrates, and plants, and their habitats, threatened with extinction and those experiencing a significant decline which, if not halted, would lead to a threatened or endangered designation, will be protected or preserved.”

Imperiled species are defined as follows: “Endangered” if it is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range and “threatened” if it is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future.”

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Aquafornia news May 26, 2022 ABC7 San Francisco

California moves to curb harmful tire pollutant collecting in Bay, threatening wildlife

If you think about the pollution your car causes, chances are you’re not thinking about the tires. And probably even less about a faraway creek, where a Coho Salmon is dying. But researchers at the University of Washington and elsewhere … say as the rubber wears away from car tires during everyday driving, it spreads tiny micro particles, including a destructive chemical called 6PPD. … Now, with information gathered in part by the [San Francisco Estuary] Institute, the State of California is stepping in, laying the groundwork for potential regulations to curb the toxic tire pollution.

Related article: 

  • Department of Toxic Substances Control: California proposes requiring tiremakers to consider safer alternative to chemical that kills coho salmon  
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Aquafornia news May 26, 2022 ProPublica

Salmon hatcheries funded by U.S. government haven’t ended fish’s decline

Today, there are hundreds of hatcheries in the Northwest run by federal, state and tribal governments … The fish they send to the Pacific Ocean have allowed restaurants and grocery seafood counters to offer “wild-caught” Chinook salmon even as the fish became endangered. The hatcheries were supposed to stop the decline of salmon. They haven’t. The numbers of each of the six salmon species native to the Columbia basin have dropped to a fraction of what they once were, and 13 distinct populations are now considered threatened or endangered.

Related articles: 

  • SJV Water: Video - Restoring salmon on the San Joaquin during three years of drought 
  • San Francisco Chronicle: Fresh California king salmon is in limited supply. Here’s where to buy it for Memorial Day
  • California Fisheries Blog: Over-summering spring-run chinook salmon in Mill Creek and Deer Creek
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Aquafornia news May 26, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Delta water crisis linked to California’s racist past, tribes and activists say

Tribes and environmental groups are challenging how the state manages water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a major source for much of California, arguing the deterioration of the aquatic ecosystem has links to the state’s troubled legacy of racism and oppression of Native people. A group of activists and Indigenous leaders is demanding that the state review and update the water quality plan for the Delta and San Francisco Bay, where fish species are suffering, algae blooms have worsened and climate change is adding to the stresses. 

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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

The conservation case for emergency rules on groundwater in the Scott and Shasta basins

The fish need the water, the farmers and ranchers need the water, and the fish win. Because coho salmon are on the Endangered Species List in the region, and the Scott and Shasta Rivers are important to their survival. The State of California put emergency rules in place governing groundwater around those rivers, and the people in agriculture take exception. We hear the environmental side of the issue in this interview. Craig Tucker, Natural Resources Policy Advocate for the Karuk Tribe, lays out the importance of the water for the fish …

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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Delta Stewardship Council

Blog: The 2022-2026 Science Action Agenda: Prioritizing integrated science

After nearly two years of a collaborative effort led by the Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program, the wait is finally over. We’re excited and proud to present the final 2022-2026 SAA for the Delta. … Scientists, managers, and those with a stake in the Delta were invited to participate in two public workshops, four online surveys, and four review periods and were engaged in various collaborative venues. The collaborative process was a critical component of this SAA and built on the success of the 2017-2021 SAA, which guided over $35 million from the Council and its partners for management-relevant research.

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Aquafornia news May 23, 2022 California WaterBlog

Blog: A conservation bill you’ve never heard of may be the most important in a generation

This blog is a short introduction to a lesser known federal bill that is one of the most significant pieces of fish and wildlife legislation in decades. In Spring of 2021, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) introduced the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. During July 2021, a separate adaptation of the act was also introduced in the Senate (S.2372) by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO). At its core, the bipartisan bill seeks to provide $1.39B in annual funding for state and tribal fish and wildlife agencies to protect and conserve declining species.

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Aquafornia news May 23, 2022 Eureka Times-Standard

Fishermen threaten to sue Bureau of Reclamation over Trinity River diversions

A Trump era decision has further imperiled endangered fish species in the Trinity River, and commercial fishermen and local tribes are demanding the federal government take action. This week, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and its sister organization Institute for Fisheries Research sent the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation a 60-day notice of their intention to sue the federal agency for violating the Endangered Species Act. The amount of water the bureau is diverting from the Trinity River to the Central Valley Project has decimated the river’s salmon populations … 

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Aquafornia news May 23, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

Monday Top of the Scroll: California is about to begin the nation’s largest dam removal project. Here’s what it means for wildlife

After decades of negotiation, the largest dam-removal project in U.S. history is expected to begin in California’s far north next year. The first of four aging dams on the Klamath River, the 250-mile waterway that originates in southern Oregon’s towering Cascades and empties along the rugged Northern California coast, is on track to come down in fall 2023. Two others nearby and one across the state line will follow. … The native flora and fauna in the region are bound to prosper as algae-infested reservoirs at the dams are emptied, the flow of the river quickens and cools, and river passage swings wide open.

Related article: 

  • CalMatters: Opinion - Klamath Basin dam removal needs a science-driven oversight plan
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Aquafornia news May 23, 2022 The Revelator

The fight for an invisible fish

The Clear Lake hitch is one of 13 species endemic to California’s largest, oldest and now most toxic lake. Known as chi to local tribes, the hitch teeter on the edge of extinction, a fate to which their cousins, two other formerly endemic lake species — the thicktail chub (last seen in 1938) and the Clear Lake splittail (last seen in the 1970s) — have already succumbed. Clear Lake hitch are vanishing because of our unabated appetites for fossil fuels, sportfishing, irrigation water and wine. 

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Aquafornia news May 20, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Northern California’s endangered Chinook salmon trucked to cooler waters

In a stopgap measure to help struggling spring- and winter-run Chinook salmon spawn in the face of rising water temperatures and lower water levels due to climate change, state and federal wildlife officials in Northern California have begun trucking adult fish to cooler waters. The spring- and winter-run salmon are genetically different, with the seasonal labels marking when adult fish travel from the Pacific Ocean back to the Sacramento River to spawn. The spring-run Chinook, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, are being moved from traps at the base of Keswick Dam to Clear Creek in the Sacramento River.

Related article: 

  • California Fisheries: State and federal hatcheries release salmon smolts to rivers, Delta, bay, and coast
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Aquafornia news May 18, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Study finds mysterious DDT chemicals in California condors

In a sophisticated chemical analysis published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology, the team found that DDT-related chemicals were seven times more abundant in coastal condors than condors that fed farther inland. Looking at the birds’ coastal food sources, researchers found that dolphin and sea lion carcasses that washed ashore in Southern California were also seven times more contaminated with DDT than the marine mammals they analyzed along the Gulf of California in Mexico.

Related article: 

  • Audubon: Absent for More Than a Century, California Condors Soar Above the Redwoods Again
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Aquafornia news May 17, 2022 FISHBIO

New research: Worth waiting for – The advantages of late-migrating spring-run Chinook

Rare traits and behaviors within a population often get less attention, but might sometimes be the perfect ingredient to ensure the survival of a species in the face of threats like climate change. A recent article published in the journal Nature revealed the surprising success of a rare life-history strategy for threatened spring-run Chinook salmon. Juveniles that spent the summer in cool, high-elevation habitat and migrated in the fall rather than the spring were found to be crucial to the success of the population, especially in years experiencing stressful environmental conditions.

Related article: 

  • California Trout: Blog - Walker Creek live stream outing
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Aquafornia news May 16, 2022 Oregon Public Broadcasting

Endangered fish and waterfowl find refuge at the Klamath Basin’s Lakeside Farms

On a cool day in late April, a small crowd gathers around a truck-mounted water tank at Lakeside Farms, on the southeastern shore of Upper Klamath Lake…. All eyes are focused on the tank’s outlet, where U.S. Fish and Wildlife Science fish biologist Jane Spangler stands poised with a net. Her colleague, science coordinator Christie Nichols, opens the valve. Water gushes out; within seconds, a stream of tiny fish pours into the net…. Nichols and Spangler are here to stock the pond with over 1,000 young C’waam and Koptu — Lost River and shortnose suckers, two endangered species that inhabit Upper Klamath Lake and that are at the heart of the area’s water conflicts. It’s the first time that hatchery-raised suckers have been released on private land.

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

Endangered fish and waterfowl find refuge at the Klamath Basin’s Lakeside Farms

[A crowd has gathered] to stock the pond with over 1,000 young C’waam and Koptu—Lost River and shortnose suckers, two endangered species that inhabit Upper Klamath Lake and that are at the heart of the area’s water conflicts. … The pond is part of an innovative restoration project at Lakeside Farms, which is just north of Klamath Falls. … Altogether, it’s a hopeful demonstration of cooperation in a region that has seen bitter fights between tribes, farmers, and wildlife advocates over who gets water.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 California Water Research

Blog: On sowing doubt about extinction risks for Chinook salmon in 2022

A decade ago, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway wrote the seminal book, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Oreskes and Conway documented how scientists paid by the tobacco industry sowed doubt about the links between smoking and lung cancer, and how the same strategy has been used with climate change, acid rain, the ozone hole, and asbestos. Similar tactics have been used to sow doubt about the causes of the collapse of native fish populations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its watersheds.

Related article: 

  • California Fisheries blog: 2022 Sacramento River Operations – Temperature Management Plan
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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 KUOW - Seattle

Seattle fish research could shake up global tire industry

Research in Seattle-area creeks has discovered tire bits shedding lethal amounts of a little-known, salmon-killing chemical called 6PPD-quinone. … In December 2020, 27 coauthors published an article in the journal Science identifying 6PPD-quinone as the coho killer. Within weeks, the U.S Tire Manufacturers Association asked California officials to treat tires with 6PPD as a priority under the state’s toxic-chemical laws. Coho salmon is an endangered species in California. The California rule, once finalized, would give manufacturers of tires sold there 180 days to assess any known or potential alternatives to 6PPD in tire rubber.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 Courthouse News Service

Klamath Tribes sue feds over endangered sucker fish

Two species of endangered sucker fish could face extinction this year because the federal government let farmers take irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake instead of leaving enough water in the lake for the fish born this year to survive, the Klamath Tribes claim. … Last year, the fight over the region’s water risked a standoff between extremist farmers who threatened to take control of the irrigation system the government had shut off in an effort to prevent the extinction of two species of endangered sucker fish sacred to the Klamath Tribes: the c’waam, or Lost River sucker and koptu, or shortnose sucker. 

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Aquafornia news May 10, 2022 ABC 10 Sacramento

The tasty fish unique to California

Every year before the opening day of fishing season, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife goes on a fishing trip of their own in Lassen County’s Eagle Lake. Except on this trip, they don’t use fishing poles or bait.  Instead, they use an electric generator and probes that pump around 48 volts of electricity into the water. … Biologist Paul Divine and his team are actually helping to keep one specific kind of fish from going extinct … Eagle Lake Trout 

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Anza-Borrego park faces claims of neglecting rain ‘guzzlers,’ leading to bighorn sheep deaths

Anza-Borrego park has recently come under fire by Jorgensen, longtime volunteers and others for allegedly neglecting its guzzler systems, which for decades helped the federally endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep rebound from the brink of extinction.  It’s the latest salvo in a fight over whether, and to what extent, the park should prop up one species threatened by climate change. New management has raised concerns about the cost and possible futility of such endeavors.  

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2022 Press Democrat

Volunteers sought to share water with drought-threatened fish

What if you had just enough water to spare to make a life-or-death difference for vulnerable coho salmon or a steelhead trout stranded in a drought-stricken stream? Federal and state fish and wildlife officials hope there may be grape growers or other landowners in key areas of the lower Russian River watershed who might be willing to share some of their water to support endangered coho and threatened steelhead. It doesn’t take much.

Related articles:

  • Northern California Water Association: Blog - Fish agencies join forces to save native salmon in this unprecedented year
  • CA Department of Water Resources: State Agencies Partner to Support Salmon Populations While Supplying Water to Millions of Californians 
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 The Nature Conservancy

Blog: Hamilton City

Rivers in California’s Central Valley like to go their own way: they expand, contract, meander and regenerate soil in the process. The historic movement of rivers is what made Central Valley soil so fertile. Naturally flowing rivers recharge and save water for people and nature, providing habitat for many species including four distinct runs of chinook salmon.  Before the early 20th century, the Sacramento River had one of the biggest salmon runs in North America …

Related article: 

  • California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Endangered California Salmon Returned To Safer Waters After More Than A Century
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

At California’s second-largest lake, fish are dying in dried-up streambeds

At California’s second biggest freshwater lake, the latest fallout of drought is gruesome: dead fish in nearby stream beds that have run dry. Some of the foot-long, silvery Clear Lake hitch have been decapitated by racoons and other varmints, which have had easy pickings of the beached minnow. The grim sightings by Lake County and tribal crews surveying the lake have prompted a rescue effort over the past week to save hitch, a threatened species found only in this region. 

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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

California water regulators weigh renewing emergency drought restrictions in the Scott and Shasta rivers

California water regulators hosted a public forum on Wednesday to collect comments about re-adopting drought emergency regulations for Siskiyou County’s Scott and Shasta River watersheds. … In response [to current drought conditions], the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is requesting the re-adoption of a 12-month drought emergency regulation to protect salmon, steelhead and other native fish. 

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Aquafornia news May 5, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish makes a perplexing rebound

How the Devil’s Hole pupfish has survived for centuries in a spa-like cistern cloistered by a barren rock mountain in Death Valley National Park remains a biological mystery. The world’s rarest, most inbred fish clings to existence in the smallest geographic range of any vertebrate: the shallow end of an oxygen-deprived pool 10 feet wide, 70 feet long and more than 500 feet deep. In early 2013, its numbers plunged to 35, and biologists feared the species long regarded as a symbol of the desert conservation movement would be gone within a year.

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Aquafornia news May 3, 2022 The New Yorker

Can sustainable suburbs save southern California?

The [Tejon Ranch] company’s proposals promise a reprieve from California’s existential crisis about its way of life, suggesting that the environmental consequences of the state’s notorious sprawl can be reformed with rooftop solar panels, induction cooktops, electric cars, and careful bookkeeping. … During the years of litigation surrounding FivePoint Valencia, environmentalists scored a few rare wins. The development had to reduce its footprint to protect the Santa Clara River’s floodplain. It had to conserve land to protect the unarmored threespine stickleback—an endangered fish that lives in the river—and the San Fernando Valley spineflower, a rare plant. 

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Aquafornia news May 2, 2022 Lake County News

State, local and tribal officials partner to rescue stranded Clear Lake hitch

Lake County’s drought conditions led this week to the need to rescue hundreds of threatened native fish. Lake County Water Resources staff and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, working alongside of Robinson Rancheria and Habematolel Pomo tribal members, leapt to the rescue on Thursday when it was reported that there were Clear Lake hitch in an isolated pool in Adobe Creek near Soda Bay in Lakeport. The hitch, a large minnow found only in Clear Lake and its tributaries, has been a culturally important fish for the Pomo tribes, which considered it a staple food.

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Aquafornia news May 2, 2022 Colorado Sun

Additional Flaming Gorge releases could be good for endangered fish

A plan to release an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge reservoir is welcome news to biologists conducting research to recover four species of endangered fish in the Colorado River Basin. … The extra water set to come out of Flaming Gorge reservoir in Wyoming during the next 12 months is part of a 2022 Drought Response Operations Plan agreed on last week by the Upper Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. The water is intended to help prop up low levels at Lake Powell.

Related article: 

  • U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: News release - Bug Flow experiment to be conducted this summer under the Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan
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Aquafornia news April 29, 2022 California Trout

Blog: Trout clout – Victory for protections of southern steelhead

The science and data are clear. Southern California steelhead are on the brink of extinction. Southern steelhead populations have been decimated at the southern end of their native range, plummeting from tens of thousands to a few hundred remaining adults due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation from urbanization. On April 21, an important milestone was achieved to prevent the irreversible loss of this iconic Southern California fish species. The California Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted that the state ESA listing of Southern steelhead may be warranted. 

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Aquafornia news April 29, 2022 The Sacramento Bee

Trucking salmon shows slow pace of California habitat work

Critically endangered adult salmon are again swimming above a century-old dam in this remote corner of far Northern California in the shadow of the Mount Lassen volcano. But this isn’t a habitat-restoration success story — at least not yet. For the past two weeks, state and federal fisheries managers have begun hauling the winter-run Chinook nearly 50 miles by truck from the dangerously warming Sacramento River to a stretch of the north fork of Battle Creek and releasing them, a handful at a time, into the creek’s icy waters.

Related article: 

  • Water Forum: Blog - How the Water Forum will use fish ear bones to help evaluate flow management
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Aquafornia news April 28, 2022 KRCR

New legislation seeks to return land to Yurok tribe

Congressman Jared Huffman introduced a new bill this week that aims to give land back to the Yurok Tribe. HR7581, known as the Yurok Lands Act, would expand the Yurok reservation boundaries and give the tribe more than 1,229 additional acres of U.S. Forest Service land. … By reclaiming land, the Tribe hopes to help keep local forests and salmon populations healthy.

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Aquafornia news April 27, 2022 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

News release: A necessary building block of fish survival is added to the Sacramento River

In addition to sufficient flows of cold water, chinook salmon migrating in the Sacramento River depend on having sufficient gravel in the riverbed to support spawning. In response to that need, Reclamation and its partners — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, Reclamation District 108, and the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District – recently completed placing 20,000 tons of spawning gravel on the west bank of the Sacramento River below Keswick Dam. 

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Aquafornia news April 27, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

Water is the ‘lifeblood’ of Oregonians. How will the next governor manage a future of drought?

The Klamath Basin provides a cautionary tale for Oregon about the need to plan more intentionally and sustainably with its shrinking water supply. Though the state and its watersheds aren’t newcomers to drought, research suggests that climate change is magnifying the impacts of the region’s natural wet and dry cycles…. Oregon’s next governor will inherit a state whose ecosystems, economy and communities are enduring their driest period in 1,200 years. 

Related article: 

  • Eos: A New Index to Quantify River Fragmentation
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Aquafornia news April 27, 2022 NRDC

Blog: 5 takeaways on California 30×30 report: land and freshwater

The state of California has released the final version of its Pathways to 30×30 report. Here are five things to know about the terrestrial conservation elements of this landmark effort: 1. Freshwater Conservation  The Pathways document is explicit about the critical need to expand protection of California’s rivers, streams, wetlands, and other freshwater resources … 

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Aquafornia news April 27, 2022 California Trout

Blog: Women of CalTrout – Ada Fowler

In this new series, our Communications Associate, Kara Glenwright, sits down for conversations with the women on our Conservation and Policy/Legal teams. Follow along as these women share their own stories and experiences as women in conservation and science at CalTrout. 

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 Mercury News

New Alameda Creek fish ladder to aid spawning migration

For the first time in half a century, ocean-going fish will soon be able to migrate up Alameda Creek to spawn, now that a second fish ladder has been completed in the lower portion of the creek in Fremont. Alameda County Water District and Alameda County Flood Control District officials on Monday celebrated the completion of the fish ladder, which was finished earlier this month, according to Sharene Gonzales, a water district spokesperson. The ladder, which consists of a series of steadily elevating pools, allows migratory fish such as Chinook salmon and threatened steelhead trout to get around human-made barriers in the lower creek …

Related article: 

  • 48 Hills: Does SF have enough water to give some back to the salmon—and the ecosystem?
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 Los Angeles Times

California wildlife officials bust white sturgeon poaching ring

Nine people were arrested by state wildlife police on suspicion of poaching, selling animals on the black market and other offenses after a sprawling investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the agency said. Eight men were arrested on suspicion of poaching white sturgeon from Sacramento Valley waterways, the department said last week. A ninth man was arrested on suspicion of selling Dungeness crab and red abalone on the black market. 

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 NRDC

Blog: Delta voluntary agreements are a “plan to fail” in droughts

Rather than planning for droughts and ensuring that minimum water quality objectives are achieved in critically dry years, the proposed voluntary agreement appears to be a “plan to fail” to protect the Delta in future droughts.  Droughts are a fact of life in California, even as climate change is making them worse.  The Governor’s Water Resilience Portfolio recognizes the need to improve drought preparedness, requiring that the State to be able to protect fish and wildlife during a six year drought …

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2022 Redheaded Blackbelt

Blog: ‘Everyone knew it was coming’: Eel River waters continue to be diverted as PG&E granted annual license for the Potter Valley Project

No one was surprised by Thursday’s letter granting PG&E an annual license to run the Potter Valley Project until April of next year. And, while a last-minute mystery application did provide a few moments of titillating speculation, the enigmatic Antonio Manfredini failed to generate any real suspense. The 50-year license to operate the Potter Valley Project, which diverts water from the Eel River into the east branch of the Russian River to Lake Mendocino by way of a tunnel, a pair of dams and reservoirs, and a small hydropower plant, expired on April 14.

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2022 Mashed

The truth about salmon-safe alcohol

Northern California farmers use pumped river water during freezing spring nights to coat the growing grapes with a protective layer of ice, and without this protection there could be significant losses to crops. That water, however, comes from the homes of the hook-mouthed coho salmon and the threatened steelhead trout. Once plentiful, the coho salmon is now a protected species under threat (via NOAA Fisheries). Salmon-Safe seeks to protect important species in California and beyond, while still supporting the many brewery and winery industries that need water to thrive.

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Aquafornia news April 22, 2022 CBS 8 San Diego

Torrey Pine can help solve San Diego water crisis

Emily Tianshi has loved coming to Torrey Pines State Preserve since she was young. The beach and preserve is one of the very few places where its namesake grows. As a curious middle schooler with an interest in biology, she became fascinated with the rarely studied tree. “Because the pine is so rare, nobody had studied its mechanisms before,” she says. “I would observe that the Torrey Pine needles are able to condense water from the marine layer that comes through the State Park and use that to water itself in the midst of drought.”

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Aquafornia news April 22, 2022 Northern California Water Association

Blog: Salmon recovery project to implement voluntary agreements being implemented on the Sacramento River

The Sacramento River Settlement Contractors are currently implementing another project on the Sacramento River just downstream from Keswick Reservoir that will contribute to the habitat targets established by the recently signed Voluntary Agreements Memorandum of Understanding. The 2022 Keswick Gravel Injection Project will provide much needed spawning habitat in the upper Sacramento River for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon.

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Aquafornia news April 20, 2022 Eos

Endangered rivers plagued by pollution, climate change, and outdated management

A leading U.S. environmental conservation group has released its annual list of the country’s most endangered rivers. The Colorado River tops the list, but states across the nation must address polluted, dry, and unhealthy rivers, according to the list and accompanying report published today by American Rivers.

Related article: 

  • KGET: Report by American Rivers classifies Lower Kern as one of nation’s 10 most endangered rivers
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Aquafornia news April 20, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

Environmental groups intend to sue PG&E over Potter Valley Project

The 100-year-old Potter Valley Project consists of two dams along Northern California’s Eel River. The upstream Scott Dam blocks salmon and steelhead from reaching prime spawning grounds, according to Alicia Hamann, the director of Friends of Eel River. Both fish are threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Friends of the Eel River are one of a handful of environmental groups planning to sue PG&E to seek protections for these dwindling fish populations.

Related article:

  • Redheaded Blackbelt: An expired license, a mysterious applicant, and a threat to sue: what else can we expect as the fight to control the waters of the Eel River continues?
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Aquafornia news April 20, 2022 Associated Press

Klamath Tribes: Plan will devastate critically endangered sucker fish

A Native American tribe in Oregon said Tuesday it is assessing its legal options after learning the U.S. government plans to release water from a federally operated reservoir to downstream farmers along the Oregon-California border amid a historic drought. Even limited irrigation for the farmers who use Klamath River water on about 300 square miles of crops puts two critically endangered fish species in peril of extinction because the water withdrawals come at the height of spawning season, The Klamath Tribes said. 

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 Jefferson Public Radio

Klamath Tribes protest water released from Upper Klamath Lake

Members of the Klamath Tribal community gathered Friday morning in the parking lot next to the headgates to protest the Bureau of Reclamation’s decision to release water from the lake in apparent violation of Endangered Species Act requirements for the fish the tribe calls C’waam and Koptu (Lost River and shortnose suckers), and to call for solutions to the basin’s decades-long water crisis.

Related article: 

  • Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Opinion: Envisioning the Klamath without dams
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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 NOAA Fisheries

Blog: “An era of surprises” – Studying climate change and salmon with Nate Mantua

Growing up in a Northern Californian fishing town, Nate Mantua’s family owned a business connected to the local salmon fishing industry. When one of the worst El Niño events ever recorded hit the West Coast in 1982 and 1983, the salmon fishery his family relied on suffered. Nate would go on to study how to predict El Niño events in graduate school, years later. Now he works to understand the impacts of climate change. Nate leads a team of salmon ecologists, biologists, freshwater and ocean experts at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. 

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 Press Democrat

Fishery groups plan to sue PG&E over Potter Valley plant and related Scott, Cape Horn dams

A coalition of fishery groups has formally notified PG&E that it plans to file suit under the Endangered Species Act, alleging the continued injury to once abundant federally protected salmon and steelhead trout as a result of operations at the utility’s aging Potter Valley powerhouse. The legal maneuver is part of an effort to expedite removal of Scott and Cape Horn dams, which pose a threat to vulnerable fish species in the Eel River and block access to hundreds of miles of prime habitat upstream.

Related article: 

  • California Trout News Release: Eel River Dams & Notice Of Intent To Sue  
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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

A vast California lake is set to run dry. Scientists are scrambling to save its endangered fish

Entering a third year of drought, the once-vast Tule Lake, a vestige of the area’s volcanic past and today a federally protected wetland, is shriveling up. Its floor is mostly cracked mud and tumbleweed. By summer, the lake is expected to run completely dry, a historic first for the region’s signature landmark and the latest chapter in a broader, escalating water war.

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 Colorado Public Radio

Colorado River named the most endangered in the U.S. by conservation group

The Colorado River is the epicenter of the nation’s water and climate crisis, according to an annual report from the conservation group American Rivers that ranked the waterway the country’s most endangered. … More than 20 years of record-breaking climate change-driven drought has brought the river and reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead to record lows. Last month, Lake Powell dropped below a critical threshold of 3,525 feet for the first time — a number the states and federal government have worked to avoid to keep enough water in the reservoir for continued hydropower production. 

Related articles: 

  • Arizona Republic: Advocacy group asks Southwest to ‘amp up the urgency’ on protecting Colorado River water
  • American Rivers: Blog: America’s most endangered rivers of 2022 spotlights rivers in crisis mode
  • SJV Water: Kern River among top 10 “most endangered rivers” in the country
  • National Parks Traveler: Colorado River Ranked Nation’s Most Endangered River … Again
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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 ABC7 Los Angeles

How environmentalists are working to protect SoCal’s Joshua trees

It’s the proverbial star of the show at Joshua Tree National Park, and while Joshua Trees look peculiar, with ragged scraggly limbs, they’re actually quite special. … But [Dr. Cameron Barrows at UC Riverside] said Joshua Trees are starting to disappear due to climate change. … Barrows said due to climate change, many have stopped reproducing.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 The Triplicate

Condors will soon fly over Northern California’s iconic redwoods for the first time in more than a century

The Yurok Tribe and Redwood National Park and State Parks will soon release the first four California condors to take flight in the heart of the bird’s former range since 1892. … Comprised of biologists and technicians from the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks, the Northern California Condor Restoration Program will collaboratively manage the flock from a newly constructed condor release and management facility near the Klamath River. 

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 Mercury News

San Francisco Bay restoration bolstered by $53 million federal influx

Despite being the largest estuary on the West Coast and supporting both a highly diverse ecosystem and a multi-billion dollar economy, the San Francisco Bay Estuary was not getting its fair share of federal funding for restoration, according to local lawmakers and environmental organizations. That changed this year after Congress and President Joe Biden approved more than $50 million in funding to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for projects to restore lost wetlands, improve water quality, address pollution and bolster sea-level rise defenses throughout San Francisco Bay.

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Aquafornia news April 15, 2022 Center for Biological Diversity

News release: California’s Clear Lake hitch back on track for endangered species protections

In a legal victory for the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed today to again consider Endangered Species Act protections for the Clear Lake hitch. This large minnow is found only in Northern California’s Clear Lake. In 2020 the agency wrongly denied the hitch protection despite severe declines in spawning fish and a near complete loss of tributary spawning habitat due to drought and water withdrawal.

Related article: 

  • California Trout: Trout Clout - Protections Needed for Southern Steelhead
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Western Water February 25, 2022 Alastair Bland Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map Layperson's Guide to the Delta WESTERN WATER-With Delta Smelt Virtually Gone in the Wild, A "Hatch-and-Release" Program Aims to Save Them From Extinction By Alastair Bland

With Delta Smelt All But Gone in the Wild, A First-Ever “Hatch-and-Release” Effort Aims to Save Them From Extinction
Experimental releases of finger-size fish into Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta inspires hope, but also skepticism, about the smelt's future

Crew releases hatchery-raised Delta smelt into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In the vast labyrinth of the West Coast’s largest freshwater tidal estuary, one native fish species has never been so rare. Once uncountably numerous, the Delta smelt was placed on state and federal endangered species lists in 1993, stopped appearing in most annual sampling surveys in 2016, and is now, for all practical purposes, extinct in the wild. At least, it was.

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Western Water November 19, 2021 By Alastair Bland

SIDEBAR: Creating A Floodplain Buffet for Salmon Smolts

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

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Tour September 9, 2021 - 2:30pm - 5:30pm Nick Gray Jenn Bowles Layperson's Guide to the Delta

Bay-Delta Tour 2021
A Virtual Journey - September 9

This tour guided participants on a virtual journey deep into California’s most crucial water and ecological resource – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The 720,000-acre network of islands and canals support the state’s two major water systems – the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. The Delta and the connecting San Francisco Bay form the largest freshwater tidal estuary of its kind on the West coast.

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Western Water April 17, 2020 Gary Pitzer

Framework for Agreements to Aid Health of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a Starting Point With An Uncertain End
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Voluntary agreement discussions continue despite court fights, state-federal conflicts and skepticism among some water users and environmental groups

Aerial image of the Sacramento-San Joaquin DeltaVoluntary agreements in California have been touted as an innovative and flexible way to improve environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the rivers that feed it. The goal is to provide river flows and habitat for fish while still allowing enough water to be diverted for farms and cities in a way that satisfies state regulators.

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Western Water April 25, 2019 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

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

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

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

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Western Water April 11, 2019 Gary Pitzer

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

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

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Western Water January 4, 2019 Douglas E. Beeman Douglas E. Beeman

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

Dear Western Water readers:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Western Water August 24, 2018 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Western Water Excerpt November 10, 2016 Jenn Bowles

Two Countries, One River: Crafting a New Agreement
Fall 2016

As vital as the Colorado River is to the United States and Mexico, so is the ongoing process by which the two countries develop unique agreements to better manage the river and balance future competing needs.

The prospect is challenging. The river is over allocated as urban areas and farmers seek to stretch every drop of their respective supplies. Since a historic treaty between the two countries was signed in 1944, the United States and Mexico have periodically added a series of arrangements to the treaty called minutes that aim to strengthen the binational ties while addressing important water supply, water quality and environmental concerns.

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Aquapedia background September 1, 2016

Butte Creek

Less than 50 miles northeast of Chico, California, begins the 93-mile Butte Creek – a tributary of the Sacramento River. It is named after Butte County, which was in turn named for the nearby volcanic plateaus, or “buttes,” and travels through a massive canyon on its way southwest to the Sacramento Valley. 

As a watershed, it drains about 800 square miles, both for agricultural and residential use. The upper watershed is dominated by forests, while the lower watershed is primarily agricultural. 

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Tour October 9, 2014 Images from the Russian River tour

Russian River Tour 2014
Field Trip (past)

The 2014 tour took place October 9-10.

This 2-day, 1-night tour travels the Russian River watershed, a microcosm of water management issues in the West.

  • David Keller's presentation
  • Joshua Fuller's presentation
  • Matt Brennan's presentation
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Publication August 18, 2014

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

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

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

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Publication August 18, 2014

Water & the Shaping of California
Published 2000 - Paperback

The story of water is the story of California. And no book tells that story better than Water & the Shaping of California.

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Publication August 18, 2014

Water & the Shaping of California
Published 2000 - hardbound

The story of California is the story of water. And no book tells that story better than Water & the Shaping of California.

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Video May 27, 2014

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

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

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Video May 27, 2014

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

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

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Video May 27, 2014

A Climate of Change: Water Adaptation Strategies

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

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

San Joaquin River Restoration Map
Published 2012

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

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Klamath River Watershed Map
Published 2011

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

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Truckee River Basin Map
Published 2005

This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many of these issues. 

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Invasive Species Poster Set

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

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Unwelcome Visitors

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

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law
Updated 2020

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

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project
Updated 2013

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water Project.

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River
Updated 2018

Cover page for the Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River .

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of significant Colorado River events.

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Publication April 17, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the Delta
Updated 2020

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

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Aquapedia background February 3, 2014

Federal Endangered Species Act

Federal Endangered Species Act

The federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973, following earlier legislation. The first, the  Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

California Endangered Species Act

California was the first state in the nation to protect fish, flora and fauna with the enactment of the California Endangered Species Act in 1970. (Congress followed suit in 1973 by passing the federal Endangered Species Act. See also the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.)

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Western Water Magazine May 1, 2013

Meeting the Co-equal Goals? The Bay Delta Conservation Plan
May/June 2013

This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying California’s long-term water supply reliability.

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Western Water Magazine January 1, 2013

Viewing Water with a Wide Angle Lens: A Roundtable Discussion
January/February 2013

This printed issue of Western Water features a roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2012

How Much Water Does the Delta Need?
July/August 2012

This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they might be provided.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2011

Making the Connection: Sound Science and Good Delta Policy
July/August 2011

This printed issue of Western Water examines science – the answers it can provide to help guide management decisions in the Delta and the inherent uncertainty it holds that can make moving forward such a tenuous task.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2009

Delta Conveyance: The Debate Continues
March/April 2009

This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions surrounding its cost, operation and governance

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Western Water Magazine January 1, 2009

Making a Future for Fish: Preserving and Restoring Native Salmon and Trout
January/February 2009

This printed copy of Western Water examines the native salmon and trout dilemma – the extent of the crisis, its potential impact on water deliveries and the lengths to which combined efforts can help restore threatened and endangered species.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2008

Finding a Vision for the Delta
March/April 2008

This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the problems tied to the Delta.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2002

Split Over Water for Endangered Species
July/August 2002

In California and the West, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a critical issue. Development and agricultural interests say the law should not be used to unjustly block new projects, while conservationists view the law as a major bulwark against the destruction of vital habitat. In the water world, municipal and agricultural interests say there is room to streamline the ESA’s application to prevent undue interruption of water delivery.

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Western Water Excerpt July 1, 2002 Gary PitzerRita Schmidt Sudman

Split Over Water for Endangered Species
Jul/Aug 2002

Two events that transformed the West, population growth and the dominance of agriculture, are inextricable parts of the battles fought over its most vital resource, water. Throughout the 19th century, as settlers sought to tame the rugged landscape, momentum built behind the notion of a comprehensive, federally financed waterworks plan that would provide the agrarian society envisioned by Thomas Jefferson. The Reclamation Act of 1902, which could arguably be described as a progression of the credo, Manifest Destiny, transformed the West into an economic powerhouse while putting an exclamation mark to the tide of American migration.

  • Read more

Water Academy

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The Water Education Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)3 organization, federal tax ID #942419885.

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