Since World War II and a booming state population that
increasingly sought out the great outdoors to relax, the state’s
water-based recreational activities have continued to grow more
popular and diverse, occurring in a multitude of sources –
from swimming pools and spas to beaches, reservoirs, natural
lakes and rivers.
Public water supply projects, such as the State Water Project,
have helped to provide additional recreational opportunities for
Californians. In some cases, reservoir releases can contribute to
downstream recreation benefits by improving fisheries or by
creating whitewater rafting opportunities that would not be
possible in the absence of reservoir regulation. However, there
are conflicting values and needs for the same river system.
The California Water Board released a Caution Advisory for
harmful algae blooms Monday in Lake Oroville. The blooms of
algae were discovered in the Middle Fork of the lake, according
to an advisory released on the board’s Twitter Monday.
The 13 acres was part of a 56 acre parcel bought in 1966 for
$34,333 to establish land disposal for the municipal wastewater
treatment plant. Technology changes have eliminated the need
for the land to dispose of treated wastewater. Those changes
are what allowed the city to develop the 30-acre complex as
well as create a 29-acre parcel for an indoor waterpark…
Pollution in the oceans of the world is a major problem. It’s
also a problem close to shore. But a relatively small invention
called the Seabin is making a big difference in cleaning San
Diego’s coastal waters.
For those people who’ve had “swim at the Hearst Castle Neptune
or Roman Pool” on their ultimate daydream list, the time is
again nigh to buy a ticket. For word comes from. The Foundation
at Hearst Castle that both pools will be available, on select
nights, to those who buy tickets, for swimming.
Here’s a safe prediction: Generations to come will be thankful
for everything done today to protect the Russian River. Here’s
another: Restoring and preserving the river’s health will
become more challenging and expensive each time action is
delayed.
An algal bloom in Black Butte Lake could be harmful and even
deadly if visitors or their pets swallow the water, the
California Water Board said Thursday. Regardless of the heat,
boaters, dog owners and other recreational users of the lake
are asked to be aware of the dangers in the water since harmful
algal blooms (HABs) were found in a recent water test.
The Irvine Co. has followed through on plans to transfer 29
acres it owns on the south shore of Irvine Lake to the county
of Orange, but a dispute over what kinds of recreation to allow
and who should profit from it must be resolved before the lake
can reopen to the public.
The long-running Middle Creek Restoration Project, which is
designed to massively reduce sedimentation and nutrient load in
order to improve Clear Lake’s health, took another step forward
this week. … The contract provides $15 million – or $5
million per year for three years – for the purchase and
maintenance of properties as part of the Middle Creek Flood
Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project.
Fishing isn’t supposed to be as easy as dipping a hook into
water and pulling out a fish. I’m told it’s an exercise in
patience, and that you’ll often come home empty-handed. But
those insights do not describe my experience on a recent
camping trip near the Oregon border. There, in a reservoir on
the Klamath River, yellow perch—a species not native to
California — thrives in water made artificially still by Iron
Gate Dam.
A draft plan on how to remove abandoned commercial vessels from
the Delta waterways is available for public review and comment.
The California State Lands Commission completed the removal
plan as mandated by legislation authored by Assemblyman Jim
Frasier, D-Discovery Bay.
An on-again, off-again effort by state regulators to better
protect the Russian River and its tributaries against failing
septic systems, livestock waste and other potential sources of
bacterial contamination is in its final stages, with hopes that
an action plan for the entire watershed will be approved this
August and go into effect next year.
The Klamath River has seen its native fish populations plunge
and its water quality decline, in part because of four
hydropower dams built in its middle reach a century ago. In the
coming years, these dams will be removed, creating the largest
dam removal and river restoration project in the country. We
talked to Lester Snow, board president of the Klamath River
Renewal Corporation, about this effort.
Shorelines in South Bay San Diego will never be fully immune
from the sewage and chemical pollution that flows north from
Mexico over the border through canyons and the Tijuana River.
However, beach closures triggered by contaminated stormwater
and Tijuana’s leaky sewer system can be dramatically reduced…
That was the message last week from President Trump’s U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, which released the most
comprehensive blueprint to date…
The season of toxic algae blooms is here. A helicopter crew
spread copper sulfate over Lake Skinner near Temecula on
Thursday, June 6, to combat a cyanobacteria bloom — also known
as blue-green algae — that had been producing some cyanotoxins
and unpleasant tastes and odors.
The state has created a visual guide with photos to help users
recognize harnful algal blooms (HABs)… Direct exposure to a
HAB, if it is toxin-producing, can result in eye irritation,
skin rash, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea, or cold and
flu-like symptoms. Pets can be especially susceptible, because
they tend to drink while in the water and lick their fur
after…
Local officials plan to huddle over the next few weeks to pick
a strategy to control the region’s cross-border pollution
problem. … Since April, more than 110 million gallons of
sewage-tainted water has flowed into the Tijuana Estuary in the
United States and out to the ocean.
Following through on its threats, on May 21 the group Save the
El Dorado Canal filed suit against the El Dorado Irrigation
District over plans to pipe the El Dorado Canal (also called
the Upper Main Ditch) in Pollock Pines. … The canal is seen
as a historical, environmental and recreational asset in the
community as well as a conveyance that protects and enhances
property values…
The election results for Measure AA, which is asking for $300
million to fund recreation and wildlife preservation, were
still too close to call Wednesday as Santa Clara and San Mateo
county officials continue to count votes. … Measure AA would
… pay for improving hiking and biking opportunities,
preserving forests, coastline and wildlife habitat, reducing
fire risk and protecting water quality in creeks, according to
sponsors of the measure.
“Use it or lose it” is what state and federal water managers in
California are wrestling with as one of the biggest
precipitation years has the mountains packed with snow and
reservoirs loaded to the brim. For the state, water is liquid
gold that feeds many people, animals, trees, and industries.
But, if not well managed, it can also present great danger.
Maintaining the cleanest water possible is one of the most
significant priorities of the Port of San Diego’s environmental
initiatives. This was the message of a nearly one-hour
presentation and discussion, held between port district staff
and the Board of Port Commissioners on May 14, on keeping
pollution out of San Diego Bay.
A local advocacy group held a rally Sunday morning calling on
the federal government to stop the pollution of coastal waters
caused by untreated sewage from the Tijuana River Valley.
A beach closure that has been in place for months for the
southern part of the Imperial Beach was extended Sunday to
include the city’s entire shoreline. The San Diego County
Department of Environment Health issued the order to close the
coastline to swimmers as a result of sewage-contaminated runoff
in the Tijuana River.
Members of Friends of the River and the Sierra Club are
planning a presentation on a controversial episode in Mother
Lode history, when activists unsuccessfully tried to prevent
flooding of a raftable section of the Stanislaus River by
rising water levels in New Melones Reservoir in the 1970s and
1980s. … The event is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday this week
at Tuolumne County Library, 480 Greenley Road in Sonora.
An abandoned iron mine on the doorstep of Joshua Tree National
Park could be repurposed as a massive hydroelectric power plant
under a bill with bipartisan support in the state Legislature.
… The bill could jump-start a $2.5-billion hydropower project
that critics say would harm Joshua Tree National Park, draining
desert groundwater aquifers and sapping above-ground springs
that nourish wildlife in and around the park.
The commission, created in 1965 and comprised of 27 members
appointed primarily by state and local officials, is supposed
to protect the environmental health of the bay. If they won’t
take their job seriously, Gov. Gavin Newsom, legislative
leaders and local officials should replace them with people up
to the task.
Rivers may seem especially appealing as the weather becomes
warmer in the spring and summer, but experts and local
officials warn that the waters may not be as welcoming as they
seem. The snowpack that accumulated during a wet and cold
winter is beginning to melt into rivers, making for extremely
cold water and fast currents. “It’s a very dangerous
combination,” said Chris Orrock, a spokesman for the state’s
Department of Water Resources.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors last week voted
unanimously to move ahead with a $7.5 million improvement
project for the park’s two popular lakes. … Lindo Lake is
thought to be the only natural freshwater lake in San Diego
County, according to the Lakeside Historical Society.
Armed with test tubes and trash bags, a team of environmental
advocates are looking at homeless camps in Riverside as part of
a broad effort to clean up the 2,840-square-mile Santa Ana
River Watershed. The long-term goal is to protect the water and
revive enjoyment of a 96-mile river that once was a center of
life in Southern California.
The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold
workshops Thursday and Friday in Newport Beach about proposed
copper regulation in Newport Bay. … Copper enters the water
via “anti-fouling” paint on boat hulls. … But water experts
say the copper also harms the gills and nervous systems of fish
and kills invertebrates that other marine animals feed on.
In an annual California event that marks the changing of the
seasons in the High Sierra, Yosemite National Park officials
plan to open Glacier Point Road to motor vehicles on Friday
morning. … Two years ago, after the wet winter of 2017 that
broke California’s five-year drought and dumped enormous
amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada, park crews opened Glacier
Point Road on May 11. Other than that, this year’s May 10
opening is the latest in eight years, since 2011.
The settlement that brought this protracted legal battle to a
close will protect the fragile Eel River Canyon, conserve
native fish habitat and bring economic benefits to five North
Coast counties. … The settlement opens the way for the
creation of the Great Redwood Trail, which was recently
approved by the California State Legislature and which will
allow for public use and enjoyment of the rail corridor.
Paddlers of every skill and age from the U.S. and abroad will
be making their way down the Sacramento River on May 26 in the
California River Quest. … The course flows through riparian
forests and oak woodlands “teaming with wildlife and plants” as
well as a section that runs through a lava canyon, said
Matthews.
California wildlife authorities say new facilities built at the
state’s Kern River Hatchery will allow breeding of Kern River
rainbow trout that will be planted throughout the Kern River
Basin. The program will allow the territory to be stocked with
its native fish rather than domesticated strains.
Approximately 7.3 million skiers and snowboarders hit the
slopes this season at resorts in California and Nevada, a 17%
increase over the previous year, according to preliminary
numbers from Ski California, the nonprofit trade group for the
states’ ski resorts.
Have you visited Woodward Park recently? The 300-acre park in
Northeast Fresno … exist thanks to a little known, but
important federal program called the Land and Water
Conservation Fund. It was started 50 years ago with a simple
yet brilliant goal: Take money from oil and gas drilling and
put it toward the conservation of America’s public lands, parks
and other outdoor places.
Local officials have put a renewed focus on making sure one of
the area’s crown recreational jewels – the San Joaquin River
Delta – is clear and operational. Over the weekend the
California Department of Boating and Waterways, in conjunction
with the San Joaquin County Sherriff’s Office boating unit,
removed a sunken vessel from the San Joaquin River that has
been underwater for the past three years.
An extra wet winter and spring this year means waterfall season
in Yosemite National Park is off to a thunderous, gushing
start. This is also a great time to see many of the park’s
lesser-known falls that only last for a short time.
A group of Democratic senators and San Diego County-based
congressional representatives sent a letter to multiple federal
agencies Tuesday urging them to address sewage runoff in the
Tijuana River … Local and state officials as well as
environmental activists have decried the condition of the
Tijuana River for years, which regularly causes beach closures
along the county’s coastline, particularly after heavy rain.
Here’s what we know. The lower Klamath dams and reservoirs do
not provide multipurpose water storage, flood protection, or
irreplaceable energy. What they do provide are major barriers
to fish migration, toxic blue-green algae and fish disease (C.
shasta). The dwindling fish populations are proof. We must move
forward with removing the dams and restoring the Klamath to the
free-flowing river it once was.
Work to protect Lake Gregory from a disastrous earthquake is
done. And, just in time for summer. Crews recently finished
retrofitting the 80-year-old seismically unsound dam that
protects the lake, at the heart of Crestline, bringing an end
to years of traffic, noise and other impacts — current and
potential — on the unincorporated mountain community.
Should the state of California honor a commitment made in 2003
to restore the Salton Sea, despite moving water away from the
area to thirsty coastal cities? Or should this artificial,
long-festering sea be left alone to dry up entirely? While
politicians have dithered, Bombay Beach’s atmospheric decay has
drawn filmmakers, novelists and other artists who marvel at the
thriving community hidden inside seemingly derelict properties.
A new study released by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation predicts
a release of up to 9 million acre-feet of water from Lake
Powell to Lake Mead this year, which means a possible shortage
declaration looming in 2020 might be averted. The snowpack in
the Colorado River Basin is about 130 percent of average, with
flows into Lake Powell predicted to be 128 percent of average
during the runoff season.
A new analysis from Trout Unlimited shows the U.S. Geological
Survey underestimates the number of streams nationwide that
flow only following rain. … The analysis comes as the Trump
administration is soliciting comments on its Waters of the
U.S., or WOTUS, rule that would eliminate Clean Water Act
protections for ephemeral streams, which flow only following
rainfall.
Fed up neighbors in Imperial Beach are taking action over the
pollution problem. The coastline in South County has been
plagued by sewage spills coming from Mexico for years. …
After spending the morning cleaning the sand, neighbors took to
the streets to demand clean water. Holding signs, and repeating
protest chants, demonstrators marched on the Imperial Beach
Pier and then held a rally.
From the first LA River cleanup in April 1989 when 10 people
showed up to the thousands that arrive on the river banks each
April, the group has attracted 70,000 volunteers who have
collectively removed 700 tons of trash in 29 years, the group
reported. … Many argue the cleanup events are the No. 1
reason for the nonprofit’s successes in making the LA River a
cause celeb.
When state surveyors measured the Sierra snowpack on April 2,
they found 106.5 inches of snow, with an equivalent of 51
inches of water — … Compared to average measurements for this
time of year, those readings represent 200% of normal levels.
That means the snows that drew skiers this winter will soon
deliver thrills to another group of outdoor enthusiasts:
whitewater rafters.
Nevada County residents tend to think of the Yuba River or
Scotts Flat Reservoir when they want to go play in the water.
But Rollins Reservoir, while arguably getting less local love,
generates a lot of income for the community from out-of-town
visitors.
It’s not clear how much water this year’s snowpack will
produce, but the record snowpack in 2017 produced about one
million acre feet of water. That’s too much for a funnel only
about one-third that size. That means that water managers have
to figure out where to put the excess water as it melts off the
mountains. And the problem becomes potentially worse if a warm
streak hits and melts the snow fast
At its core, the Borrego Valley Stewardship Council exists to
ensure that the town of Borrego Springs survives and benefits
from the groundwater sustainability plan process. To that end,
BVSC members are taking a more creative look at the town as the
hospitality hub for the state park, relying on a geotourism
program from National Geographic, and aggressively trying to
buy out 70% of water from farmers.
Specifically, the Feather River Recovery Alliance is asking
FERC to not reissue a license to the state Department of Water
Resources to operate the Oroville Dam until terms of the
agreement are renegotiated, including a new recreation plan.
The group says it received 6,469 local signatures on the
petition.
Administered by the National Park Service (NPS), NHAs are
defined by NPS as a grassroots, community-driven approach to
heritage conservation and economic development. They differ
from national parks in several significant ways. Primarily, NPS
does not take ownership of the land encompassed within an NHA
and no land-use restrictions are placed upon landowners.
The use of public art to bring about social change created the
interactive art event called the “Bombay Beach Biennale” on the
shores of the Salton Sea. Organizers hope to bring attention to
the long-ignored environmental issue facing the region, once
one of the premier tourist destinations in Southern California.
An oversight at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery
resulted in the death of some 390,000 fall Chinook salmon this
week. Water was shut off to one of the hatchery’s raceways and
wasn’t turned back on during fish-tagging operations Thursday
night..
Conservationists and weekend volunteers have toiled in the
Bolsa Chica Wetlands for years, weeding out invasive plants and
replanting native vegetation squeezed out by the invaders. …
Now, these wildlife custodians are expanding their botanical
battle across Pacific Coast Highway to the sand dunes of Bolsa
Chica State Beach. After all, no matter how many enemy plants
are removed from the wetlands, ocean winds will carry more
seeds from non-native plants growing in the dunes.
Whitewater rafting businesses are holding out hope of getting a
safe landing area near the Ward’s Ferry bridge over the
Tuolumne River, as a condition of relicensing the Don Pedro
hydroelectric project. At a Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission hearing Tuesday in Modesto, speakers said an
existing takeout for rafts on the Tuolumne, upstream from Don
Pedro Reservoir, is under water because of dam operations. And
the options for getting boats out of the water are not safe.
Heavy snowfall this winter is expected to delay the seasonal
opening of many Yosemite tourist attractions, including
Yosemite Valley campgrounds, Half Dome’s climbing cables and
Tioga Road into the high country, park officials announced
Wednesday.
Recent plans to enlarge California’s Shasta Dam by 18.5 feet
have raised concerns over possible cultural and ecological
implications on wildlife among the Winnemem Wintu people and
environmental groups alike. … The change in flood patterns
would likely affect vital sacred sites for the Winnemen Wintu
Puberty Ceremony for young women, according to the Winnemem
Wintu website. The project would also relocate roads,
railroads, bridges and marinas, according to a fact sheet from
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
A wide-ranging bill that revives a popular conservation
program, adds 1.3 million acres of new wilderness, expands
several national parks and creates five new national monuments
has won congressional approval. … The bill would permanently
reauthorize the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which
supports conservation and outdoor recreation projects across
the country. The program expired last fall after Congress could
not agree on language to extend it.
Lake Tahoe is the place to be this winter. It holds the best
snowpack in the western United States and the crowds are
flocking to the world-class slopes. Traffic has been insane,
infuriating and downright miserable at times — all while the
snow continues to fly.
Ominous predictions about the desert lake’s ecological
collapse are beginning to occur. You can see this sea
up close during our Lower Colorado River Tour, Feb. 27-March 1,
when we will visit the fragile ecosystem and hear from several
stakeholders working to address challenges facing the sea.
In the event that water elevation decreases
below 1,050-feet, officials have developed a plan to
address operational needs. Due to the government shutdown,
the public wasn’t able to provide comment on the low water plan
for Lake Mead. So an extension has been provided through
Feb.15.
Several areas of the Oroville Dam and lake are undergoing
extensive renovations and improvements, and the Oroville
Recreation Advisory Committee met Friday to hear reports from
the various member organizations overseeing them.
… Aaron Wright of the California Department of Parks and
Recreation said that several of the recently reopened areas
near the dam have received a good amount of traffic.
Sonoma County water officials, under order from the state to
improve the capacity of their sewage system, say a valve
malfunction and leaky pipes resulted in a string of spills this
month that released 2.7 million gallons of waste and
stormwater, some of which flowed into local creeks and San
Pablo Bay.
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman today named
Ernest A. Conant director of the Mid-Pacific Region. Conant has
nearly 40 years of water law experience and previously served
as senior partner of Young Wooldridge, LLP.
A group of Lake Nacimiento residents is suing Monterey County
for $120 million, claiming officials ignored the needs of
recreational users by releasing more water from the reservoir
than necessary. The lawsuit, filed in San Luis Obispo
County Superior Court in Paso Robles, alleges the county agency
has mismanaged the reservoir and “operated the lake in a manner
that renders it almost unusable by property owners and visitors
for recreation.”
A simple web search will pull up nearly a million articles,
videos and photos featuring Frank Gehrke. He’s no fashion icon
like Kim Kardashian or a dogged politician like Gov. Jerry
Brown. But he has broken a lot of news. … For 30 years,
you might have seen Gehrke on TV, the guy trudging through snow
with a measuring pole, talking about how deep the pack is each
winter on the evening news. He retired from his post as the
state’s chief snow surveyor in December, but he’s not letting
go of his snowshoes and skis anytime soon.
Last week, the relicensing effort reached a milestone when FERC
issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement. The
environmental document essentially looks at what changes a
licensee has proposed for a specific project, the impacts of
those changes and provides conditions they must meet if awarded
a new license.
Congressman John Garamendi, D-3rd District, has
reintroduced the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National
Heritage Area Act along with a handful of other
representatives. A National Heritage Area designation would
authorize $10 million in federal funding over 15 years to
provide matching grants to local governments, historical
societies, and community nonprofit organizations throughout the
Delta.
At Monday’s meeting of the Metropolitan Water District’s
Planning & Stewardship Committee, officials said that with no
Drought Contingency Plan in place (Arizona being the hold out),
they are beginning to draw down their storage in Lake
Mead. “If there is no Drought Contingency Plan, we don’t
want to leave potentially half a million acre-feet or more
locked up in Lake Mead if we go into shortage,”
said General Manager Jeff Kightlinger.
Featuring artists, photographers, first-person narratives,
historical and scientific essays, long-form journalism and
fiction, the magazine revolves around the fascinating people
and wonders that make up the greater Bay – Delta region of
California.
Due to rising average temperatures, snowpacks in the Great
Basin appear to be transitioning from seasonal, with a
predictable amount and melt rate, to “ephemeral,” or
short-lived, which are less predictable and only last up to 60
days. “We might not get as much water into the ground, throwing
off the timing of water for plant root systems, reducing our
supply and use, and even affecting businesses such as tourism,”
says lead researcher Rose Petersky.
Colorado River water managers were supposed to finish drought
contingency plans by the end of the year. As it looks now,
they’ll miss that deadline. If the states fail to do their job,
the federal government could step in. Luke Runyon, a
reporter with KUNC who covers on the Colorado River Basin
recaps what’s been happening and why it’s so important.
The report issued by California’s State Water Resources Control
Board marks a key step in a decade-long effort to remove four
hydroelectric dams and restore the health of the Klamath River.
The dam-removal project is part of a broader effort by
California, Oregon, federal agencies, Klamath Basin tribes,
water users and conservation organizations to revitalize the
basin, advance recovery of fisheries, uphold trust
responsibilities to the tribes, and sustain the region’s
farming and ranching heritage.
Montgomery is known for fostering collaborative relationships
among stakeholders and as a leader in protecting and restoring
water quality within California and throughout the Southwest
and the Pacific Islands. He is currently serving as the
Assistant Director of the Water Division in the US
Environmental Protection Agency (Region 9).
There’s every reason to expect that 2019 will be far better,
largely because of Measure W, which was passed by voters in
November. The initiative imposes a Los Angeles County parcel
tax that will generate $300 million per year to reduce
pollution from runoff and capture storm water to add to the
water supply.
CANCELED: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold one hearing to
provide interested parties the opportunity to present data,
views, or information concerning the proposed rule changes
affecting wetlands and ephemeral waters.
Since 1964 the Land and Water Conservation Fund has used
royalties from oil and gas leasing to protect natural areas,
water resources and cultural heritage, as well as to provide
recreation opportunities. The Fund expired at the end of
September, but both the House and Senate have proposed bills to
permanently reauthorize it so its future doesn’t remain in
jeopardy.
Pedestrian public access to the Lime Saddle Marina will be
unavailable on weekdays through late January as the state
Department of Water Resources works on trail improvements.
To fend off lawsuits over its plans to build a new city in the
rugged countryside northwest of Los Angeles, Tejon Ranch Co.
made a landmark concession to environmentalists. It promised a
decade ago to preserve 90% of its land — 240,000 acres — as an
untouched ecological conservancy for public enjoyment through
educational and research programs.
The National Park Service expects to spend about $25 million to
move marinas and extend boat launch ramps if Lake Mead
continues to shrink in the coming years, according to a new
low-water plan released Thursday. Marina operators would pay an
additional $8 million under the plan, which lays out how
recreational access to the water can be maintained should the
lake drop to a once-unthinkable level 125 feet lower than it is
now.
Riverside County is moving forward with a Salton Sea
restoration plan that officials say could generate more than
$1 billion in tax revenue, which would help fund
construction of a permanent, horseshoe-shaped lake at the
north end of the dying sea.
A request from the state Department of Water Resources to
temporarily make more than 50 miles of trails in Oroville open
to multiple user groups has been denied by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission. DWR proposed this with backing from the
Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee, or ORAC, as a
compensation for trail closures as a result of the 2017
Oroville Dam spillway emergency.
Williamson Rock is a sheer granite wall that rises from
chaparral in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
Crisscrossed with 300 routes, it has been a proving ground for
Southern California rock climbers since the 1960s. But in a
move that outraged many in the climbing community, the area was
shut down in 2005 to protect an isolated colony of federally
endangered Southern California mountain yellow-legged frogs
from being trampled.
The owners of a Lake Tahoe ski resort in a legal battle with an
environmental group over a redevelopment project have failed to
persuade a California judge to penalize the conservationists
with an order to pay more than $225,000 in attorney bills.
Placer County Judge Michael Jones ruled in August against
Sierra Watch’s claim the county violated public meeting laws
when it approved Alterra Mountain Co.’s expansion at Squaw
Valley Alpine Meadows near Tahoe City, California.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from
Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla to weigh in on the
long-running battle over Martins Beach in San Mateo County,
turning down a case that could have rewritten coastal access
laws in California and across the United States.
A popular program that supports conservation and outdoor
recreation projects across the country expired after Congress
could not agree on language to extend it. Lawmakers from both
parties back the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but the
program lapsed Monday amid dispute over whether its renewal
should be part of a broader package of land-use and parks
bills.
Despite decades of research, the trigger that causes algal
blooms to begin poisoning their environment has long confounded
scientists. Now, researchers from Scripps and UC San Diego
have found the genetic underpinning of domoic acid, a harmful
neurotoxin. … In California, closures due to toxic
blooms have become increasingly common.
America’s national parks are warming up and drying out faster
than other U.S. landscapes, threatening iconic ecosystems from
the Everglades in Florida to Joshua Tree in California to
Denali in Alaska. That’s the conclusion of a new climate change
study published Monday, the first to examine rainfall and
temperatures in all 417 national parks sites.
The clock is ticking down to the Sept. 30 expiration date on
the [Land and Water Conservation] fund, established by Congress
in 1964 to conserve open spaces, fish and wildlife habitat and
cultural, historic and recreation sites. A new poll of roughly
822 owners and managers of outdoor businesses in Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico and Montana found that eight in 10 business
support reauthorizing the conservation program, speakers in
a teleconference said Thursday.
Under a new legal settlement, the federal government has agreed
to present plans to protect eight California rivers and streams
that Congress designated years ago as “wild and scenic” rivers.
The agreement ends a lawsuit by the Center for Biological
Diversity, which sued in March to demand President Donald
Trump’s administration develop plans for the rivers.
Boating, fishing and hiking will be allowed again at Diamond
Valley Lake near Hemet starting Friday, July 27 —
more than a month after it closed because of an algal
bloom outbreak. Water quality tests confirmed the
potential health effects of a large bloom
of blue-green algae had diminished,
the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
said in a Wednesday, July 25, news release.
The Lake County Department of Public Health is urging boaters
and recreational users to avoid contact with water in Lake
County due to a recent bloom of cyanobacteria, or blue-green
algae. The algae, which is seasonal, is currently active in all
three sections of the Lake — Lower, Oaks, and Upper.
Enhancements to several Lake Oroville recreation areas are in
the works this summer as the state Department of Water
Resources makes good on its promise to improve lake access
ahead of the Oroville Dam relicensing. Some means of getting
more people out on the water include adding boat launch lanes
and parking spots and providing free shuttle services.
The state Department of Water Resources announced plans on
Friday to draw Lake Oroville down to 808 feet elevation by
early next week. This is to provide a second point of access to
the upper chute of the Oroville Dam spillway, through the
radial gates, for construction.
All recreational activities have been suspended at Diamond
Valley Lake near Hemet because of an algal bloom
outbreak. Boating, fishing and hiking won’t be allowed
until further notice as officials monitor the water for
cyanobacteria — also known as blue-green algae,
Metropolitan Water District spokeswoman Rebecca Kimitch said
Thursday, June 21.
For thousands, the salmon opener means months of buildup with
no clear idea of what awaits next weekend off the Bay Area
coast. This year’s opener, delayed for months by new rules, has
become a mystery challenge.
California voters have approved a ballot measure allowing the
state borrow $4 billion for parks and conservation projects
that proponents say will help ensure access to clean drinking
water. Proposition 68 — one of five statewide measures on the
ballot — passed Tuesday with 56 percent of the vote.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The opening of the Diversion Pool last weekend to kayakers and
hikers appears to have been a big success according to all
involved, and it may happen again. “We’ve already been
discussing it with our partners and probably will,” State Parks
District Superintendent Aaron Wright said Thursday, “but I
can’t commit to that now.”
Deep, throaty cadenced calls — sounding like an off-key bassoon
— echo over the grasslands, farmers’ fields and wetlands
starting in late September of each year. They mark the annual
return of sandhill cranes to the Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
What to make of the propositions on California’s June 5 ballot?
As ever, the issues span the political spectrum. But two
address the environment, one asking voters to shell out
billions to improve it and another that could make it more
difficult for the state to spend billions on helpful projects.
The Klamath River Renewal Corp., the nonprofit charged with
coordinating the removal for four hydro-electric dams on the
Klamath River, is seeking public comment on new recreation
sites along the river — after the dams are out.
Last year, after more than 250 gallons of sewage spilled into
the Pacific Ocean from the Tijuana River, water pollution in
Imperial Beach became an international story. … Although the
spills have come to the forefront in the last few years, water
pollution has been part of Imperial Beach life for generations,
particularly for the surf community.
For Shasta Marina, where about nine out of every 10 customers
come from out of the area, 2018 business could be better
than last summer, when high water levels were a welcome change
from the drought that made it tough on lake businesses, owner
John Harkrader said.
While the cause hasn’t been determined, a University
of Oregon student’s death at Lake Shasta over the weekend
should be a reminder for people who visit in the future to take
their safety there seriously, Shasta Caverns General Manager
Matt Doyle said. … Doyle said visitors to the lake need
to remember to have “respect for the environment,” which
includes bears, extreme heat, rattlesnakes and, of course, a
huge body of water.
The boat ramps at Copco and Iron Gate reservoirs are
temporarily closed through June, and possibly later, due to a
draw-down of water requested for use by Bureau of Reclamation
for Klamath Project irrigators. … Reclamation will use
the water to keep elevations up to standard at Upper Klamath
Lake and to support water deliveries to Klamath Project
irrigators to cover a shortfall until water deliveries to the
Klamath Project take place in June.
The last time California voters passed a statewide ballot
measure to provide funding for parks, beaches, wildlife and
forests, it was 2006. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in
his first term as governor, Twitter was a fledgling app, and
the iPhone hadn’t been invented yet. Since then, California’s
population has grown from 36 million to 39.5 million — the
equivalent of adding a new San Francisco, San Jose and San
Diego.
Supporters argue that Prop. 68 is good for parks and good for
improving water quality statewide. … Critics like state
Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, believe the debt payments on
the bond will be anything but small.
In order to get boaters and swimmers back to Lake Oroville
after the Oroville Dam spillway was damaged in 2017, state
agencies have announced they will waive fees for the
recreational area on select days over the summer.
The way people play along Lake Tahoe’s 72 miles of shoreline
could change this year. The latest iteration of theTahoe
Shoreline Plan comes out Tuesday. The proposal would add 138
piers, of which 10 are public.
Any great fishing hole depends on the health and well-being of
its bugs. In a key stretch of the Colorado River below a dam on
the Arizona-Utah border, anglers have been pulling out long,
skinny trout that don’t give up much of a fight with a hook in
their mouths. Turns out, they don’t have enough to eat,
scientists say.
A world-class snowboarder, former Navy SEAL Josh Jespersen
served for four years in Afghanistan and Iraq. … Now he’s
undertaking a different kind of expedition — urging
mountain-state politicians to take seriously the threat of
climate change, and working to vote them out of office if they
don’t.
When Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was a state senator from
this idyllic mountain town, he drove a Prius, sported a beard
and pushed President Barack Obama to make clean energy a
priority. Today, the beard and Prius are gone, and Mr. Zinke
has emerged as a leading figure, along with Scott Pruitt of the
Environmental Protection Agency, in the environmental rollbacks
that have endeared President Trump to the fossil fuel industry
and outraged conservationists.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
Interior Department officials are backing away from a plan to
dramatically increase entrance fees at the most popular
national parks after receiving more than 100,000 public
comments from Americans nearly unanimously opposed to
the idea.
A conservation group is suing President Donald Trump’s
administration to demand officials present plans to protect
California rivers and streams that Congress designated years
ago as “wild and scenic” rivers.
Rangers at Lake Mead National Recreation Area are cracking down
on two popular — but prohibited — spring break ingredients:
glass bottles and Styrofoam containers. … The National Park
Service outlawed glass bottles and plastic foam containers from
the recreation area in 2002 to reduce litter and prevent
injuries to visitors and wildlife, but the prohibition has been
largely ignored.
A pair of storms moving across the Bay Area this week and into
the Sierra Nevada could dump eight feet of snow at higher
elevations, said Mike Kochasic, meteorologist at the
National Weather Service in Sacramento. And although rain and
snow are expected to remain far below average for the season
after a bone-dry January and February, it’s still a relief to
everyone from skiers to the state’s drought monitors.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke bristled Tuesday under
questioning by Democrats about his travel spending as the Trump
administration seeks deep cuts to conservation programs and fee
increases at national parks. Zinke testified before a Senate
committee about the agency’s proposed $11.7 billion budget for
2019.
The California Coastal Act for decades has scaled back
mega-hotels, protected wetlands and, above all, declared that
access to the beach was a fundamental right guaranteed to
everyone. But that very principle could be dismantled in the
latest chapter of an all-out legal battle that began as a local
dispute over a locked gate.
Sand replenishment began last week at Cardiff State Beach, one
of the first milestones in a $120 million, four-year effort to
restore the San Elijo Lagoon. Improved water quality, greater
wildlife diversity, more public recreational trails and a
greater resilience to environmental change are among the
long-term goals of the restoration, which has been planned for
decades.
Despite last week’s heavy snowfall, Tahoe ski resorts know they
can’t predict how strong each winter will be. They suffered
through drought years earlier this decade.
The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which
co-manage the [Sand to Snow National] monument’s 101,000 acres
as wilderness, said they plan in March to dispatch a team of
federal land managers, biologists and representatives of the
nearby Morongo Band of Mission Indians reservation to come up
with a strategy and funds to eliminate the unbranded cattle and
collarless dogs.
The Fish and Wildlife Service faces a $1.3 billion deferred
maintenance backlog that can sometimes get overlooked despite
its ominous size. … With some 5,000 buildings and 6,938
other structures to tend across 566 wildlife refuges, among
other responsibilities, FWS has to struggle to keep up with
problems that the public may not see.
It’s been a painfully slow start to the ski season in the
Western U.S. Some places have seen record warm temperatures and
record low snowfall, prompting resorts to open late. … And
all this means an economic hit.
The California Water Commission, which is evaluating the Nevada
Irrigation District’s application in pursuit of state funding
for the proposed Centennial dam, was greeted by a surprise
group of visitors Wednesday. Dressed in lifejackets and
wielding kayak paddles, about 60 demonstrators stood outside
the Commission’s monthly meeting in Sacramento Wednesday to
show their opposition to the Centennial project on the Bear
River.
A recent study has found that virtually all United States-based
winter recreation locations could experience shorter ski
seasons, exceeding 50 percent by 2050 and 80 percent in 2090
for some downhill skiing destinations.
From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management oversees some of the nation’s most prized
natural resources: vast expanses of public lands rich in oil,
gas, coal, grazing for livestock, habitat for wildlife, hunting
ranges, fishing streams and hiking trails.
This winter marks the 60th anniversary of China Peak, the
1,300-acre ski area in the Sierra National Forest east of
Fresno. But instead of celebrating, owner/operator Tim Cohee is
contemplating the ultimate bummer while struggling through what
he describes as the worst season he’s experienced during more
than 40 years in the business.
Few groups have been closer and more involved in Interior
Department policy and management than the National Park System
Advisory Board, an appointed and nonpartisan group established
83 years ago to consult on department operations and practices.
California skiers and riders are facing the best conditions of
the season after recent storms dumped snow from Lake Tahoe to
Mammoth Lakes, frosting slopes ahead of the long Martin Luther
King holiday weekend.
his week President Trump angered environmentalists and other
groups by reducing the size of two large national monuments in
Utah—Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante. Using
Presidential Proclamations and invoking the 1906 Antiquities
Act, he slashed these monuments by about 1 million square
acres. While groups of Utahns and especially the state’s
Republican politicians applauded these executive actions,
lawsuits alleging the president exceeded his powers were filed
quickly.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke to conduct an unprecedented review of 27
monuments established by former presidents over more than two
decades on lands and waters revered for their natural beauty
and historical significance.
Two national monuments in Utah that President Donald Trump is
going to significantly reduce include ancient cliff dwellings
and scenic canyons as well as areas that could be used for
energy development.
Politicians and river guides are calling upon the state
Department of Water Resources to mitigate sediment build up in
the Feather River following the Oroville Dam
crisis. … The state Department of Water Resources
is currently assessing the impacts of sediment on the river
system, with the study expected to be complete in December,
said Jon Ericson, acting division chief for the division of
flood management.
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
San Diego County authorities have lifted a closure of the
Imperial Beach shoreline that was impacted by
sewage-contaminated flows from the Tijuana River entering the
United States.
The state Department of Water Resources continues to make
progress on several recreational projects the Oroville
Recreation Advisory Committee has wanted for years.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order on Friday to
expand hunting and fishing on federal land, saying it would
improve wildlife management and conservation.
Six of America’s national monuments — from Utah’s red rock
canyons to remote islands in the South Pacific — would be
reduced in size, under recommendations that Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke has sent to President Trump.
Wind-driven flames, hot temperatures and dry conditions are
hampering firefighters across the West even after Labor Day,
the unofficial end to a summer of devastating wildfires.
Levels of E. coli bacteria found in the lower American River
exceed the federal threshold for safe recreational use, in part
due to human waste from homeless camps, state regulators say.
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has
proposed adding the bacteria to a list of pollutants that make
the lower American River a federally designated impaired water
body.
Tribes, ranchers and conservationists know that none of the
national monuments ordered reviewed by President Donald Trump
will be eliminated, but the changes in store for the sprawling
land and sea areas remain a mystery after the administration
kept a list of recommendations under wraps.
At a rally Tuesday, four local members of Congress blasted
President Trump’s executive order that called for the review of
dozens of national monuments, which they fear could mean
scaling back or eliminating those protected natural areas
entirely.
Under the bill, the National Park Service would be prevented
from regulating the hunting of bears and wolves in Alaska
wildlife preserves, including the practice of killing bear cubs
in their dens. It also would be prevented from regulating
commercial and recreational fishing within park boundaries and
from commenting on development projects outside park boundaries
that could affect the parks.
Federal officials promised Tuesday to protect Lake Tahoe for
future generations, a pledge that one said doesn’t rule out
also maintaining a robust regional economy.
The Trump administration this week is expected to release plans
for potentially shrinking or revoking the status of 21 national
monuments, setting the stage for a years-long legal battle that
could pit the White House against Indian tribes,
environmentalists and some western states.
Two popular swim spots — Lake Temescal in Oakland and Quarry
Lakes in Fremont — will reopen Saturday after blooms of
toxic blue-green algae finally cleared up, the East Bay
Regional Park District announced Friday.
The Lakeland Boulevard trailhead area and parking lot will be
closed July 24-28 while PG&E unloads electric transmission
towers being disassembled near Oroville Dam.
Many lake users have complained to the state about fewer
recreational opportunities on the lake in the aftermath of the
Lake Oroville spillway disaster in February. Since then, the
lake level has dropped significantly, meaning boaters have
farther to walk after parking their vehicles at the high-water
line.
A bill in Congress aims to make recreation on federal lands
more accessible although critics are wary the legislation
would open the door to widespread fees for the use of public
lands.
Several years of drought had severely depleted the Kern, a
popular whitewater rafting destination known for its dramatic
rapids. But this year’s wet winter created a record Sierra
Nevada snowpack, and the melt has engorged the river with
swift, frigid water.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he’ll ease the impact of
potentially huge National Park Service budget cuts by shifting
more resources to the “front line.” But it’s not clear yet what
that actually means.
The roads to the national forests could get bumpier. Literally.
Trails could get messier. Maintenance on bridges, dams and
recreation sites could become tougher.
There may be no more potent reminder of California’s humongous
snowfall than the plows still clearing roads that snake across
the state’s highest mountains as summer approaches.
… The snowpack presented an additional challenge this
year because it was heavily saturated with water.
Sleds and skis in June? A rare winter-like storm brought more
snow to the Sierra Nevada on Monday, giving skiers the
opportunity to enjoy the slopes as summer gets underway.
After unrelenting winter and spring storms blasted California,
the reservoirs are brimming, the rivers roaring, the snowpack
massive, and the ski slopes still open.
State Parks expects a busy Memorial Day weekend at Lake
Oroville even with the spillway dominating the news. … A
portion of Lake Oroville remains closed as construction
continues at the Oroville Dam spillway.
To say backpackers and hikers will encounter more snow than
they’re used to is to drastically understate the problem. The
snowpack throughout the Sierra rivals, and in places exceeds,
records set during the massive winter of 1982-83. “We are in
rare territory here with the winter we’ve had,” said Chris
Smallcomb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
Reno.
Where there aren’t large stacks of debris, people are sure to
crowd the beaches at Folsom Lake in what is likely to be the
lake’s busiest weekend of 2017.
With the Memorial Day weekend almost here, it might be a little
difficult for some boaters to get through all the floating
debris at Lake Shasta. But with the lake full for the first
time in years, it could be well worth the effort.
The deaths of five people in two Tulare County rivers in less
than a month are prompting officials to warn the public about
the dangers of rushing water fed by the heavy snowpack now
melting in the Sierra. “Stay away from the river’s edge, and
don’t enter the water,” said Tulare County Sheriff Mike
Boudreaux.
A year after they made national headlines for leaving trash,
human waste and almost 100 tents at Lake Shasta, University of
Oregon fraternities are getting a second chance from the
businesses and agencies that had to deal with the aftermath of
their Memorial Day bacchanal.
There was going to be a steam train – and a monorail. Plus a
major resort featuring a 250-seat restaurant and a 1,000-seat
amphitheater. As many as 5 million visitors a year would show
up. When it came to wooing Butte County about the construction
of Oroville Dam, state officials weren’t shy about setting
grand expectations.
Pursuing exiting the settlement agreement with the state
Department of Water Resources was on the table Tuesday night at
a special meeting of the Oroville City Council, but the
decision was set aside for later. Most of the council expressed
interest in gathering more public opinion on the issue before
taking a vote, with a town hall date set for May 22 at 5:30
p.m. in the Municipal Auditorium.
The melting of this year’s record snowpack is continuing to
create problems, with authorities warning of more flooding in
Yosemite National Park and fast-moving, high water at a popular
Central Valley river.
The muddy ski slopes of 2015 paired with the powder-covered
ones of 2017 show the astonishing difference between a year
when snow levels were drastically low and this season when
unrelenting storms slamming the northern Sierra Nevada are
burying the ski lifts on a weekly basis.
Since 1965, the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund has
helped protect civil war battlefield sites, national parks and
local recreation areas such the American River Parkway in
Sacramento and Henry Lake in Idaho.
Lake Oroville will partially reopen on Thursday, nearly two
weeks after more than 180,000 Northern California residents
evacuated their homes and the lake area closed due to fears
that the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam could fail.
Not far from the main drag through Oroville, a dozen local
business owners and city officials faced each other in a hotel
lunchroom Tuesday. They sought to begin developing an
advertising campaign to transform a barrage of negative images
and news reports about frantic efforts to prevent catastrophic
flooding into a lucrative tourist attraction, albeit after the
Feather River Basin’s rainy season ends in April.
A huge Northern California reservoir, held in place by a
massive dam, has always been central to the life of the towns
around it. Now the lake that has brought them holiday fireworks
and salmon festivals could bring disaster.
Tahoe-area ski resorts should have a banner holiday weekend –
if they can dig out from the back-to-back storms that have
delivered more snow than they’ve seen in years.
An East Bay man trying to create a kite-surfing hangout in the
delta for Silicon Valley’s elite stepped up his unusual battle
with water regulators Thursday, suing them after he was hit
with an unprecedented $2.8 million fine for raising dikes
across wetlands near Pittsburg.
A comprehensive new plan for San Francisco’s natural areas
could anger dog lovers, golfers and nature lovers in one swoop,
while protecting delicate habitats and endangered species.
Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana made no secret of his ambitions to
join a Donald Trump Cabinet, and yet his nomination as interior
secretary is in some ways an unlikely fit for the retired U.S.
Navy SEAL.
Each spring, a group of UC Davis student scientists and their
professors take a whitewater rafting trip through the Grand
Canyon to study a river that sustains 40 million people.
Capital Public Radio’s Amy Quinton traveled with them.
California’s five-year drought created ideal conditions for
brewing toxic levels of the naturally occurring bacteria, which
multiplies rapidly in hot temperatures, low water flows and
stagnant water choked with fertilizers and nutrients.
The latest controversial proposal to weaken protections for the
striped bass, a popular Delta sport fish, is scheduled to be
heard on Thursday by the California Fish and Game Commission.
Swimming, boating and fishing are prohibited in Lake
Elsinore after water quality officials Friday detected harmful
levels of toxins related to blue-green algae. … Algae blooms
have also recently forced the closure of Pyramid Lake in Los
Angeles County, Lake Temescal in Oakland and Discovery Bay in
the Delta.
One hundred and eighty reservoirs statewide are
contaminated with excessive levels of mercury, according
to studies of fish samples from more than
300 reservoirs conducted by the State Water Resources
Control Board.
State Water Resources Control Board officials issued a warning
last week for the North Coast, noting that high temperatures
and continuing drought conditions increase the likelihood of
potentially lethal algal blooms in area streams, rivers and
lakes.
During the past year of drought, while many Californians have
heeded the call to conserve and managed to achieve
water-savings of nearly 25 percent statewide, one group of
water users hasn’t measured up: the golf courses that spread
out across thousands of acres in the desert.
After watching her 13-year-old son throw up everything he ate
when they got home from a day of jet skiing at Pyramid Lake,
Sharyn Martinez was angered to learn last week that the state
is now urging the public to avoid the water there because of a
toxic algal bloom.
Rumor has it that a few salmon were caught along the Sacramento
River Saturday, which was opening day. However, you might have
a hard time finding a first-hand testimonial.
President Barack Obama mixed business with pleasure here
Saturday, touting the importance of national parks and then
seeing one up close for himself as he took in the sights at
what is arguably the crown jewel of the national park system.
