The Klamath, Trinity, Eel, Russian
and Smith rivers are the major northern streams that drain this
sparsely populated, forested coastal area that stretches from San
Francisco to the Oregon border. These rivers and their
tributaries flow west to the Pacific Ocean and account for about
40 percent of the state’s total runoff.
Illegal marijuana grows continue to show up in our national
forests but removing the sites is only half the battle,
according to Ryan Henson, Senior Policy Director with the
California Wilderness Coalition. Henson says, “Cartels are
able to get away with establishing these grows. By now, there
are literally thousands of them out there, even when they are
found out, mostly the marijuana is removed and not the
waste.” Waste like illegal pesticides. … Those
chemicals can potentially leak into the Kern river and
watersheds impacting native fish species.
At least one in 12 California homes is at high risk of burning
in a wildfire. Rebuilding for a Resilient Recovery—a report
released earlier this year—found that state and local land use
policies are currently incentivizing rebuilding in the
wildland-urban interface (WUI), rather than driving development
away from fire-prone areas. We spoke with one of the report’s
authors—Robert Olshansky, Professor Emeritus of Urban and
Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign—about the study.
I grew up on a small tribal reservation in coastal Mendocino
County, the rancheria of the Manchester-Point Arena Band of
Pomo Indians. Life “on the rez” is disconnected from our
traditional land. For example, our river, known as p’da:haw in
Pomo language and the Garcia River in English, is very
important to our culture. But until recently, our tribal
members needed a special permit to fish in p’da:haw or to
gather traditional plants there to make woven baskets. -Written by Juan Cruz Dominguez, a community
organizer who was raised on the Manchester-Point Arena Band of
Pomo Indians Rancheria in Mendocino County.
To save coho salmon from extinction and promote healthy water
quality for residents, SPAWN provides indisputable scientific
data and calls on decision makers to take speedy and decisive
action to protect Marin’s coho salmon and expand their chances
for recovery to sustainable population levels. Currently, the
Marin County Board of Supervisors can ensure protections for
coho salmon by passing a science-based, common-sense Streamside
Conservation Area Ordinance.
The recent rainfall has offered Mendocino County some respite
from the drought, bringing many communities out of a crisis
situation. But it’s still not clear for how long. Now
communities throughout the county are using this breathing room
to make their water systems more resilient to drought before
next summer. That includes re-establishing a standalone county
water agency.
Crescent City’s water and sewer customers who didn’t pay for
their water over a 15-month period during the pandemic will
likely have those delinquent notices waived. From March 4, 2020
to June of this year, there were 334 accounts past due, for a
total of $71,984.60. … On November 15, the city council
authorized City Manager Eric Wier to apply for funding to pay
off those bills. The funding will come from $985 million that
the State of California received under the American
Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress in March.
It’s getting hard to find the lake at Lake Mendocino. A bed of
cracked, dry dirt grows steadily as the shoreline recedes,
exposing abandoned homesteads that had been submerged for
decades. State officials warn that the lake could go dry — a
first for a major California reservoir. Lake Mendocino is a
crucial link in the North Coast’s water supply chain, and even
a drought-busting winter won’t ensure its recovery.
Three years ago, a 26,600-acre ranch in remote Northern
California, with a 10-bedroom lodge, 16 miles of riverfront and
two herds of Roosevelt elk was drawing attention in the
nation’s luxury real estate market. … As it turns out, the
$25 million plot on the Eel River, which spans both Mendocino
and Trinity counties, will go to a conservation group. The
Wildlands Conservancy closed escrow on the tract Tuesday and
plans to turn this mostly untamed stretch of mountains and
valleys into a preserve open to the public.
Man-made water sources critical to the survival of Siskiyou
County wildlife are being repaired by volunteers and state
agencies. … The guzzlers are needed to help wildlife affected
by drought and wildfires over the last two years … With
severe drought occurring in the state and lakes dying up, these
water guzzlers provide a needed water source and gathering
place for a wide variety of wildlife, from deer to
bears and eagles. Drought is becoming a life and death
situation for animals and maintaining these water sources is of
the utmost importance.
Recent storms along the Northern California coastline may have
brought concerns about mudslides and scattered power outages,
but for the adult Chinook Salmon and steelheads migrating from
the ocean to the Smith River to reproduce – it’s been like
turning on the river’s vacancy sign. Thanks to some
recently-installed sonar monitoring equipment courtesy of the
Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Fisheries Division, cameras are able to
capture the moment.
Calif.’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced
its fourth round of funding through the Small Community Drought
Relief program. This fourth round will provide $25 million to
14 projects. DWR and the State Water Resources Control Board
identified the 14 projects for funding in 10 counties: Tulare,
Lake, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sonoma, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, San
Mateo, Yolo and Colusa.
In California’s Tomales Bay, Hog Island Oyster Co. uses marine
biology to sustainably farm shellfish. It’s a zero-input crop
that is helping to restore the water quality of the bay. The
company founders are both marine biologists who focus on
growing oysters in a manner that enhances the health of the
ecosystem. Existing infrastructure is used when possible—many
buildings from the 1860s and 1870s have been restored and
incorporated into the farm.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is planning
to survey the underground aquifer structures with the use of a
low-flying helicopter starting Nov. 11, according to a press
release issued by Mendocino County this afternoon. The aircraft
will be “towing” an Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) rig
described as a “large hoop with science equipment” around Ukiah
as well as parts of neighboring counties. Pilots will be making
multiple passes over some areas and may very well be visible to
residents.
On October 27, Fresno Superior Court Judge D. Tyler Tharpe
tossed out the Westlands Water District’s proposed
permanent federal water contract from the Central Valley
Project that would have allocated roughly double the amount of
water from Northern California that Los Angeles residents use
in a year. Tharpe found Westlands, the largest
federal irrigation district in the nation, to have “misled
the court and the public,” according to a statement from
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations
(PCFFA), one of the organizations that joined in the lawsuit
against Westlands.
Given the quantity and intensity of last week’s rain, an
obvious question is: ‘Is the drought over?’ Alas, the answer is
a resounding no. But, the data are interesting and worth
thinking about in more detail.
[A] suite of federal, state, and local laws ostensibly
protect California’s watersheds from pollution, and volumes of
codes are dedicated specifically to safeguarding streams and
rivers from cattle. Yet through a variety of loopholes and
exemptions, and possibly agency languor, roaming cows have
access to many of the state’s waterways. Here, the animals
denude riverbanks, eliminate riparian habitat, and degrade
water quality. High concentrations of manure-born bacteria are
known to flow from Marin County cattle ranches into the waters
surrounding Point Reyes.
The Marin Municipal Water District is moving away from plans to
acquire temporary desalination plants and instead is exploring
purchasing more water from Sonoma County during the winter
months. … The district, which serves 191,000 residents in
central and southern Marin, faces the potential of depleting
local reservoir supplies as soon as next summer if this winter
is as dry as the last. The recent storms have put the district
in a better starting position, but district staff said
reservoir levels are still well below average.
With so many extremes hitting California, the state is now
talking about Climate Insurance. The next disaster – combined
with a lack of insurance that many can’t afford and is getting
even more expensive – has the state considering a new
community-based approach to lower risk, and make sure more
people are protected against catastrophic weather events.
… Ideas to lower risk include building wetlands to store
water in floods, creating statewide hazard maps so residents
are clear on the risks where they live, and naming heatwaves
like hurricanes so people properly prepare.
As California faces what is predicted to be one of its worst
droughts in recorded history, water managers are seeing record
increases in water theft, leaving communities angry and police
chasing water bandits constantly on the move. Byrhonda Lyons of
CalMatters, the nonprofit news site, has the story of how water
meant for residential use is flowing to illegal marijuana
farms.
Chances are slim to none that a group of Northern California
agencies, known as the Two-Basin Partnership, will raise the
funds required to take over the license for the Potter Valley
Project — a water diversion system in the Eel River basin — by
April 2022 but the organization remains undeterred. The
Two-Basin Partnership — California Trout, Humboldt County, the
Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission, the Round
Valley Indian Tribes and Sonoma County Water Agency
— requested an extension on its license transfer
application to provide agencies additional time to work out a
water plan and to develop strategies for dam removal and
restoration of the Eel and Russian river basins.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
The Eel River flows from the
Mendocino National Forest to the coast a few miles south of
Eureka, traversing a topographically diverse
area of mountains, canyons and redwood forests in Northern
California. Including its tributaries, it
drains more than 3,500 square miles and is the state’s third
largest watershed.
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.
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.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
