Wetlands are among the most important ecosystems in the world.
They produce high levels of oxygen, filter toxic chemicals out of
water, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater. They
also serve as critical habitat for wildlife, including a large
percentage of plants and animals on California’s endangered
species list.
As the state has grown into one of the world’s leading economies,
Californians have developed and transformed the state’s marshes,
swamps and tidal flats, losing as much as 90 percent of the
original wetlands acreage—a greater percentage of loss than any
other state in the nation.
While the conversion of wetlands has slowed, the loss in
California is significant and it affects a range of factors from
water quality to quality of life.
Wetlands still remain in every part of the state, with the
greatest concentration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
its watershed, which includes the Central Valley. The Delta
wetlands are especially important because they are part of the
vast complex of waterways that provide two-thirds of California’s
drinking water.
A steward of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Kim Kolpin describes her
panic earlier this month when she heard that oil was spilling
off the shore of the habitat-rich park she has worked at since
1996. The 1,400-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in
Huntington Beach is home to 23 species that are endangered,
threatened or of special concern. It’s treasured by
birdwatchers for the nearly 300 feathered resident and
migratory species, many of which lay their eggs there.
On a warm August morning, a group of volunteers gathers in the
high desert about 20 miles outside of Gunnison, Colorado. Here,
surrounded by sagebrush and armed with branches and stones,
they are ready to help restore a critical wildlife habitat.
Volunteers are here to work on a wet meadow restoration
project. A wet meadow is a riparian area in the arid sagebrush
landscape. … Volunteers like Payten Maness weave willow
branches into protective barriers. The team will also build
with sagebrush and stones collected nearby.
Water law experts disagree broadly about whether two federal
court decisions vacating the Trump-era definition of the waters
of the U.S., or WOTUS, applies nationwide as the Biden
administration defines the term for itself. … The
confusion stems mainly from at least four federal court
rulings—two vacating the the Trump-era rule and two remanding
without vacatur.
Gain a deeper understanding of the state’s biggest
watershed relied on by millions for drinking water during our
Northern California Tour this Thursday. And don’t miss the Oct.
28 Water Summit where you will hear Karla Nemeth, director of
the California Department of Water Resources, and
others discuss the drought now gripping California, what is
being done in the short-term and what longer-term projects and
partnerships are aiming to make the state more sustainable.
The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), together with
state agency partners, released a draft Natural and Working
Lands Climate Smart Strategy that will guide and accelerate
near- and long-term climate action across key California
landscapes. The document is available for public feedback
through November 9.
A recent study identifies Morro Bay Estuary as a priority
location for restoring the native Olympia oyster population
through conservation aquaculture. It’s a project that unites
shellfish lovers and conservationists on the Central
Coast. April Ridlon, a post-doctoral researcher at UC
Santa Barbara, said oysters are not as charismatic as other
marine organisms she has studied, but they are a foundation
species — meaning they create a habitat for other animals that
live on or near their shells.
Deep in the Cameron Peak burn scar northwest of Fort Collins,
Colorado, nestled among charred hills, lies an oasis of green –
an idyllic patch of trickling streams that wind through a lush
grass meadow. Apart from a few scorched trees on the periphery,
it’s hard to tell this canyon wetland was surrounded by the
largest wildfire just more than a year ago. Credit the industry
of beavers.
The trailheads [of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail] span
the gambit of habitats along the shore in the Bay and beyond.
Launch into the Napa River at the semirural Cuttings Wharf
trailhead. Explore marsh habitat and sloughs winding upriver,
surrounded by hills, to the riverfront development along
downtown Napa’s Main Street Boat Dock. From the sandy Encinal
Beach trailhead in Alameda, glimpse harbor seals and California
brown pelicans with the San Francisco skyline rising up next to
you …
Meadows are hotspots for biological diversity and provide
numerous ecosystem benefits, especially in relation to the land
mass they cover, including flood attenuation, sediment
filtration, water storage, water quality improvement, carbon
sequestration, and livestock forage. Approximately 50% of
meadows in the Sierra Nevada are known to be degraded, in large
part due to land-use practices including overgrazing.
It’s been a long summer of extreme drought conditions in Sonoma
Valley. But in what seems like a steady stream of dire news for
the local watershed the Sonoma Ecology Center finds one glimmer
of good news stands out: beavers are moving back into Sonoma
Creek. … The return of these charming dam builders isn’t
quite breaking news – since 1993 beavers have slowly made a
comeback in Sonoma Valley. But this year, in the middle of peak
dry season, their increasing presence is something for
celebration.
Mondy Lariz spent his boyhood years learning how to fish at
Lake Merced through a program sponsored by the San Francisco
Police Department. It was a way to connect with the natural
world, he said, and it kept him out of trouble. .. But as
the surrounding golf courses and cemeteries began drawing from
deep wells to irrigate their greens and urbanization crept into
the area, water levels dropped dramatically. By the 1990s, many
declared the lake dead.
Thirty-two years ago, in a triumph of ecological restoration,
ocean water rushed into a small, newly restored marsh along the
heavily developed coast of Huntington Beach. … The little
tract of habitat known as Talbert Marsh provides a rare refuge
for at least 90 species of shorebirds that forage and rest
there — all within sight of oil platforms, barges and tankers
off the coast. Now, for the second time in its short history,
Talbert Marsh is slicked with oil.
Since a pipeline spilled crude off the California coast this
weekend, only a handful of oiled birds have been recovered in
what environmental advocates said could be a hopeful sign for
the region’s wildlife. But they said it’s too soon to know how
many seabirds, marine mammals and other animals will ultimately
be affected by the oily film covering marsh areas and floating
on the ocean — or for how long. … [T]he biggest damage
might be in the wetlands, a critical habitat for so many
species …
Crews on the water and on shore worked feverishly Sunday to
limit environmental damage from one of the largest oil spills
in recent California history, caused by a suspected leak in an
underwater pipeline that fouled the sands of famed Huntington
Beach and could keep the beaches there closed for weeks or
longer. Booms were deployed on the ocean surface to try to
contain the oil while divers sought to determine where and why
the leak occurred. On land, there was a race to find animals
harmed by the oil and to keep the spill from harming any more
sensitive marshland.
To help keep Highway 37 open despite heavy storms and rising
tides, planners are assessing a wide range of options from
elevating the road to rerouting it. But zeroing in on the right
redesign may be trickier than anticipated. New research shows
that, with sea level rise, protections for this troubled North
Bay road can worsen flooding and economic damages as far away
as the South Bay. The good news is that this work can also
identify Highway 37 redesigns that avoid these catastrophic
impacts.
This year though, those cranes, geese and the millions of
waterbirds that have followed the same pathway for thousands of
years, are finding a stark landscape in the Central Valley,
which stretches nearly 450 miles up California’s middle and
hosts some of the nation’s richest farmland. With the vast
majority of the state in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought,
the habitat that these birds rely on in the Central Valley –
our last remaining wetlands and the surrogate habitat created
in agricultural fields like rice and alfalfa – have seen major
cutbacks in water.
The water alongside the Clearlake Keys home of Michelle Figuera
and her family normally would be above her head — she thinks
about 10 feet deep. Instead, the canal is dry, clogged with
invasive plants that lie in a vast, tangled mass — their
tendrils reaching up and over the edge of the wooden dock,
which now rests on land. During two years of drought, the water
level in Clear Lake has fallen dramatically, retreating from
the shoreline and rendering boat docks useless around the lake,
including many public launches.
The Great Salt Lake hit a record low this year, but it’s not
the only salty lake that’s drying up. Utah Rep. Blake Moore, a
Republican, teamed up with California’s Rep. Jared Huffman to
introduce the “Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States
Program Act” last week. The bipartisan legislation … would
authorize $25 million over five years for the program, during a
critical period where climate change is accelerating their
decline….Moore’s bill would also attempt to rescue saline
waters such as Oregon’s Lake Albert, Nevada’s Lahontan Wetlands
and California’s Salton Sea and Mono Lake.
California’s Mediterranean climate has gives it the most
variable weather of any U.S. state, so it’s no stranger to
catastrophic droughts and disastrous floods. … The
latest science confirms that climate change has arrived and
that we are in the middle of a megadrought. In August,
2021, a report by the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that climate
change is quickening and intensifying. Even in a
best-case scenario, global temperatures will likely rise by 1.5
degrees Celsius by 2040.
Droughts are extreme, but not necessarily
extreme events — at least not in the way we humans
usually experience events as discrete, episodic occurrences.
Droughts are continuous and exhausting; they can come out of
nowhere and take us on a rollercoaster of waiting for
precipitation to come, measuring when it does, and hoping it
will be enough to keep our rivers flowing for human use and
healthy ecosystems. Droughts may feel so extreme that they
should be a rare occurrence, but they are a natural part of
California climate.
The extensive slough system that runs through the heart of the
Pajaro Valley has become a cornerstone for local recreation,
wildlife viewing, education and research. These wetlands
are home to various species of animals and plants, many rare
and endangered. They help replenish groundwater, buffer the
town from storm impacts and are popular spots for walkers,
birdwatchers and scientists.
Wetlands management and related federal permitting is changing
–AGAIN. If you or your organization seek wetlands or related
permitting, then the latest changes in for “navigable waters”
impact both regulators and the regulated community – and may
change your approach. Projects that impact “Waters of the
United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) from the
Army Corps, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and states
administering CWA permitting programs should look closely at
these changes.
The Salton Sea has needed restoration for decades. Both
Imperial County and Imperial Irrigation District (IID) agree
something needs to be done, but the debate over precisely what
action to take, is preventing much from happening at all. In
2003, it was agreed water would be transferred from the Salton
Sea to San Diego and Coachella. Imperial County Superviso Ryan
Kelley tells me, after the transfer the seabed turned to dust.
The wind then carried that dust, and the harmful components in
it, towards Valley residents.
As the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of
Engineers under the Biden administration tackle the re-writing
of definition of what constitutes a waters of the U.S., EPA
Administrator Michael Regan says the goal remains for “clarity,
for certainty and for a durable rule” as the agencies will not
be reinstating either the Trump-era Navigable Waters Protection
Rule or the Clean Water Rule introduced in 2015 by the Obama
administration.
Many try and fail to make it in L.A. But one group is proving
unstoppable: mosquitoes, which have taken over Southern
California and are driving the humans here crazy. New invasive,
disease-bearing species originating from Asia and Africa are
thriving in the increasingly long, hot and humid summers
afflicting this region thanks to climate change, according to
numerous public health officials. Their growing numbers are
baffling and infuriating Angelenos, who, until recently,
considered themselves largely exempt from the buzzing
bloodsuckers that make summers miserable in much of the rest of
the country.
Water resources managers and the leaders in Northern California
continue to advance Ridgetop to River Mouth water management
… There are unique opportunities in the Sacramento River
Basin to advance ridgetop to river mouth water management,
which can best be envisioned by looking holistically at: 1)
headwaters and forest health, 2) floodplain reactivation for
public safety and fish and wildlife, 3) sustainable groundwater
management (including groundwater recharge and banking), 4)
healthy soils and farms; 5) safe drinking water; and 6) vital
rivers and streams.
Murders of environment and land defenders hit a record high
last year as the violent resource grab in the global south
continued unabated despite the pandemic. New figures released
by Global Witness show that 227 people were killed in 2020
while trying to protect forests, rivers and other ecosystems
that their livelihoods depended on.
Since 1994, a 300-foot-long stretch of the West Trail, which
provides beach access to Pillar Point, has substantially eroded
and needed emergency repairs, according to a report from the
San Mateo County Harbor District. Now the Harbor District is
doing something about it. … The West Trail Shoreline
Protection project calls for the development of a “living
shoreline” along the beach. This strategy is meant to provide a
more natural ecological solution to erosion and flooding by
bringing in native vegetation that blends with the environment
and has minimal hard armoring.
The Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from the
Klamath River to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge on
Sept. 3. Advocates hope it will improve wetland habitat on the
refuge for migrating birds this fall. Last week, California
Waterfowl Association officially purchased approximately 3,750
acre-feet of water from Agency Ranch in the Wood River Valley,
above Upper Klamath Lake, having announced the purchase and
fundraising effort this spring.
For over a century, the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge
has been crucial habitat for birds on their grueling annual
migrations between destinations as distant as Alaska and
Mexico. … For years, the refuge has been last in line for
scarce water, after farmers and endangered fish. As the drought
deepened and wetlands dried out, the lack of water led to
massive outbreaks of avian botulism, killing tens of thousands
of ducks, geese swans and other migratory water birds.
… Last week, that water started flowing into the refuge.
The controversial Devil’s Gate Dam sediment removal project is
concluding a year earlier than expected. More work remains to
be done on the project’s planned habitat restoration efforts,
but local activists and public works officials are excited for
the future. Years in the making, the excavation is the first
time since 1994 crews were allowed to haul soil and debris out
of the oldest dam in the county’s care.
“The Lagoon is getting worse and worse every year,” said Andy
Lyon, former Malibu city council candidate, surfer, and
community activist. His concerns were validated on August 12,
when the Los Angeles County Health Department issued a water
quality warning, cautioning citizens to refrain from swimming,
surfing, and playing in ocean waters at Surfrider Beach and the
Malibu Lagoon due to potentially hazardous conditions,
including exceeding bacteria standards, and to exercise caution
where Malibu Creek discharges into the ocean and near
discharging storm drains.
The Bureau of Reclamation is launching a new prize competition
to improve the model currently used to calculate the sediment
transport rate in a river system. It is specifically
looking for solutions to improve the execution speed
of models that simulate river hydraulics, sediment
erosion, transport, and deposition. Up to $300,000 is available
to win during this two-stage prize competition. Up to four
awards totaling $150,000 will be available in Phase 1, with the
winner receiving $65,000.
The Central Valley’s rice fields and wetlands are widely
heralded as key rest and refuel stops for millions of migratory
birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. The rice fields
provide more than 50% of the diet for the ducks and geese
during their fall and winter migration. To view rafts of
waterfowl feeding on public wildlife areas or seeing thousands
of geese taking flight from a rice field are indicators of a
healthy environment and visual examples of how vital the
Central Valley is to the Flyway. -Written by Jeff McCreary, director of operations for the
Western Region, Ducks Unlimited, and Tim Johnson, president and
CEO of the California Rice Commission.
The Klamath River flows some 250 miles from southern Oregon to
Northern California. From its headwaters at Upper Klamath Lake,
east of Medford, Oregon, the river rushes through trout
habitat, forested mountains, farmland and salmon nurseries as
it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean. Rather, the river
usually rushes. But now, drought is desiccating almost the
entire Klamath River basin, some 12,000 to 15,000 square miles.
That’s an area approaching the size of the entirety of
Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
CalTrans plans to restore about four acres around the
Centennial Creek bed in Paso Robles. David Best with the Upper
Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation district said he’s in
favor of the plans, and believes it a win-win for residents in
the area. … CalTrans is planning to provide around $1 million
in funding to improve the creekbed but is asking for public
comment on the proposal.
The California red-legged frog is a threatened species that has
been found on the UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus, but has
not been known to breed there successfully. That may soon
change with the construction of a small pond designed to
enhance an existing seasonal wetland and provide potential
breeding habitat for the native frog.
At the end of the growing season, as the Sacramento Valley
transitions from summer to fall, we shift from the agronomic
season to the bird season as waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and
other birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway begin to arrive
as part of their annual migration. Birds and other species
using the Pacific Flyway are reliant upon varied land uses in
the Sacramento Valley that include ricelands and managed
wetlands (both privately managed wetlands and public refuges
and state wildlife areas) to meet their habitat needs.
One farmer has single handedly ramped up the pace of a program
trying to save native salmon in the San Joaquin River by
donating a key sliver of land to the federal government.
Connley Clayton donated about eight acres of his Madera County
riverfront land to the government’s San Joaquin River
Restoration Program. The land will provide crucial space for
the government to build a passage that fish can use to swim
around the Sack Dam, a significant impediment to salmon
returning upriver from the sea.
A federal judge Monday threw out a major Trump administration
rule that scaled back federal protections for streams, marshes
and wetlands across the United States, reversing one of the
previous administration’s most significant environmental
rollbacks. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez wrote that
Trump officials committed serious errors while writing the
regulation, finalized last year, and that leaving it in place
could lead to “serious environmental harm.”
Driving between her northern Central Valley rice fields with
the family dog in tow, fifth-generation farmer Kim Gallagher
points out the window to shorebirds, egrets and avocets
fluttering across a thousand-acre sea of green flooded in six
inches of water. … The nearly 500,000 acres of sushi
rice grown in the Sacramento Valley each year serve as the
wetland habitat for thousands of migrating birds along the
Pacific Coast. Yet the crop also uses more water than most, and
about half of the product is exported to countries including
Japan and South Korea.
Water is flowing once again to the Colorado River’s delta
in Mexico, a vast region that was once a natural splendor
before the iconic Western river was dammed and diverted at the
turn of the last century, essentially turning the delta into a
desert. In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be
intentionally sent down the river to inundate the delta
floodplain and regenerate native cottonwood and willow trees,
even in an overallocated river system. Ultimately, dedicated
flows of river water were brokered under cooperative efforts by
the U.S. and Mexican governments.
Water is flowing once again
to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that
was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was
dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially
turning the delta into a desert.
In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent
down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate
native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated
river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were
brokered under cooperative
efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.
Substantial work occurs in the Sacramento Valley every year on
projects to develop and enhance habitat for the region’s
terrestrial and aquatic species. In-stream salmon
recovery projects, Pacific Flyway habitat improvements,
floodplain reactivation and many other types of habitat
projects all require environmental permits to be
implemented. There is general recognition that the work
necessary to acquire these permits greatly increases the time
and cost to get the projects done.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest estuary on the
West Coast, is a vital hub in California’s complex water
delivery system as well as a rich farming region, an important
wetlands area – and often, a source of conflict. Join us for an
engaging online journey on Sept. 9 to go deep
into the Delta and its 720,000-acre network of islands and
canals that supports the state’s two large water systems -
the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley
Project.
In late spring, Antonia Torres González’ tears rolled freely at
the rare sight before her: the Colorado River flowed again in
what is usually a parched delta. Torres González, a member of
the Cucapá tribe who grew up in the river delta, couldn’t help
but relive memories of childhood romps in the once-lush
waterway in northwestern Mexico. … On May 1, 2021, the river
once again flowed in its delta thanks to an agreement between
the United States and Mexico dubbed Minute 323.
Summer is underway and that means splashing around Putah Creek,
hiking, camping, and… heat domes? With this excessive heat, the
thought on everyone’s minds is likely how does this severe
drought affect water resources throughout California? The
extreme temperatures coupled with the low snowpack in the
Sierra have meant fast evaporation in many of the state’s
reservoirs; not to mention a heat dome that has descended upon
much of the United States bringing record breaking heat to even
the most mild summer climates.
Another dry year is the last thing the suckers need. Two
species of the bottom-feeding sucker fish that inhabit the
Upper Klamath Lake and nearby rivers are struggling to survive
after a century of water management in the Klamath Basin has
all but drained the wetlands ecosystem where these fish once
thrived. … Now, the suckers are on the brink of
extinction. During the past century, wetlands surrounding
Upper Klamath Lake were converted to farmland, while waters
from the basin were allocated to irrigators.
It was just before sunrise in July when the botanists Naomi
Fraga and Maria Jesus threw on backpacks and crunched their way
across a brittle alkaline flat in the hottest corner of the
Mojave Desert. Their mission: to rescue a tiny plant teetering
on the brink of extinction. … Today, the species [Nitrophila
mohavensis] has dwindled to fewer than 150,000, and most of the
plants that still sprout from this salt-white playa have
stopped producing viable seeds — stressed victims of decreasing
rainfall, rising temperatures and the loss of groundwater due
to pumping.
Conservation groups are pushing for passage of a bill in
Congress that would revive migratory bird protections dropped
during the Trump administration. Last year, Trump’s Fish and
Wildlife Service lifted a rule, which said companies that kill
birds in the course of business, called an incidental take,
would have to change their practices and/or pay for habitat
restoration somewhere else. Jason Rylander, senior endangered
species counsel for Defenders of Wildlife, said the Migratory
Bird Protection Act of 2021 would reinstate those requirements,
and not a moment too soon.
California’s ecosystems form the bedrock of the state’s
wellbeing and prosperity. Yet many of these ecosystems—which
are vitally important to the state’s water supply, agriculture,
wildlife, and economy—are in dire health. Climate change and
accelerating biodiversity loss threaten to further disrupt
these natural systems and the benefits they provide. While the
state urgently needs to speed the pace of ecosystem
restoration, such projects often find themselves mired in
regulations that were originally intended to prevent
environmental destruction.
CalTrout’s Central Valley 2021 field season (Oct 1, 2020 –
April 1, 2021) marked the much-awaited second year study of
large-scale Fish Food export. For some brief background, the
Fish Food export program is CalTrout’s novel management
practice for transferring benefits of winter-flooded habitat
that juvenile salmon can not get to, back to fish wedged
between the river levee system. The Fish Food program is the
compliment to the Nigiri Project. With Nigiri, we bring fish
onto the floodplain, and with Fish Food, we bring the
floodplain back to the fish.
Newly two decades in the making, the long-awaited Holtville
Alamo River wetlands are that much closer to reality as the
city seeks someone to build out the nearly $3 million project.
The Holtville City Council on Monday, Aug. 9 approved
advertising for constructions bids in a final push to finish
the work that started in the early 2000s.
Water is headed to a critically dry wetland unit on Tule Lake
National Wildlife Refuge to combat avian botulism, thanks to an
arrangement forged between various agencies and stakeholders in
the Klamath Basin. Sump 1B, currently the only wet unit on the
refuge, began rapidly losing water primarily due to evaporation
and minimal irrigation diversions last month. Irrigators and
waterfowl biologists had filled it earlier this summer using
water drained from the refuge’s larger Sump 1A, the bottom of
which had likely never been exposed to air for millions of
years.
Woodlands along streams and rivers are an important part of
California’s diverse ecology. They are biodiversity hotspots,
providing various ecosystem services including carbon
sequestration and critical habitat for threatened and
endangered species. But our land and water use have
significantly impacted these ecosystems, sometimes in
unexpected ways. A team of researchers, including two at UC
Santa Barbara, discovered that some riparian woodlands are
benefitting from water that humans divert for our own needs.
California’s Coachella Valley is my home, made complete by the
proximity and awe of the stunning Salton Sea. My community is
proud of the traditions, unique desert landscape and vibrant
culture that make our valley a special place. Yet as years pass
and our leaders fail to act, the Salton Sea, California’s
largest inland lake, is dying and people are getting sick. For
decades, we have lived under a cloud of dangerous pollutants
from the Salton Sea’s drying lakebed. -Written by Conchita Pozar, a community advocate from
the community of North Shore.
Coastal marshes are vulnerable to erosion caused by rising
seas, pounding waves, and tidal flows. In Elkhorn Slough, these
vulnerabilities are made worse by superabundant crabs found at
their highest densities along the estuary’s tidal creeks,
according to a new study published August 8 in Ecosphere.
Reading projections from the recent United Nations climate
report is a like watching an invading army heading for San
Francisco Bay, with rising tides threatening long sections of
shoreline. … The Institute has produced detailed maps and
projections of what those changes might look like. At a full
five feet, cyclical flooding coupled with other impacts of
climate change could begin to cause havoc in the Bay Area.
Today, Ducks Unlimited (DU) announced an agreement to deliver
10,000 acre-feet of water to mitigate severe drought conditions
at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Tulelake, Calif.
The agreement comes after the hydraulic analysis by the Bureau
of Reclamation (BOR) led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) to recommend the diversion of water to save the only
standing unit of wetland habitat in either Lower Klamath or
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges this year.
The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta is one of the most-studied
ecosystems in the world—and one of the most degraded. We spoke
with PPIC Water Policy Center adjunct fellow and senior
scientist emeritus James Cloern about his new study, which
estimates just how much primary production (the largely
photosynthesis-driven process that forms the base of the
Delta’s food chain) has been lost—and how the state might
restore some of it.
Located in California’s Central Valley, the Sacramento National
Wildlife Refuge Complex is made up of six individual National
Wildlife Refuges including Sacramento, Colusa, Delevan, Butte
Sink, Sutter and a long stretch of the Sacramento River from
Red Bluff south to Princeton. The complex adds up to 10,819
acres and was originally established by Franklin D. Roosevelt
on Feb. 27, 1937, as a Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. Waterfowl
using the Pacific Flyway to migrate currently and historically
used the area as a winter refuge. Written by Kevin
Deacon, a recent graduate of Tuleyome’s California Naturalist
Certification course, and Kristie Ehrhardt, Tuleyome’s
Land Conservation and Stewardship Program Manager.
A “fish die-off” is generally a natural phenomena and occurs in
summer when low oxygen and warm temperatures causes large
mortality in a localized population of fish. Fish die-offs can
also happen in winter months when temperature stress can kill a
fish population. We have seen winter die-off happen during
extreme winters here in Clear Lake and her tributaries,
especially to the fragile, small bait fish populations like the
threadfin shad and silversides.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (Corps) announced on Aug. 4, 2021, the start
of a long anticipated rulemaking process to revise the
regulatory definition of “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) under the
federal Clean Water Act (CWA).1 The WOTUS Rule sets forth the
geographic reach of the agencies’ authority to regulate
streams, wetlands and other water bodies pursuant to the CWA.
As the new president of the Salton Sea Authority board of
directors, Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez says he
will guide “continued efforts to advance habitat and dust
suppression projects” at the Sea, and he has laid out his
priorities. At the June meeting of the Salton Sea Authority
board of directors, Perez was elected by a unanimous vote to a
one-year term as board president beginning July 1.
Water conservation is on everyone’s mind in California
agriculture, especially this year. One staple crop that may
have potential for future water savings is rice. Netafim, who
invented drip irrigation, is now applying that technology to
rice, which is typically grown through flooding. Here’s chief
sustainability officer John Farner.
The West Nile virus was once associated with higher humidity
and moisture, conditions that help mosquitoes thrive. But a
growing body of research has found that drought conditions –
such as those being felt across the American west – could
amplify its effects. States are already on alert. California
reported its first death of the year in July. By the end of
that month, the state’s department of public health (CDPH) had
documented the virus in 4 people, 94 dead birds, 563 mosquito
samples, 10 chickens and 1 horse.
The City of Arcata Wetlands and Creeks Committee held its
regular meeting by Zoom on Tuesday, July 20. The committee
received a presentation by Community Development staff on the
development of the Gateway Area Plan (Gateway Plan). The
members then participated in an exercise to prioritize (and
customize) their top three to five choices from a list of
potential wetlands and creeks-related implementation measures
for the Gateway Plan.
If you’ve gone north out of Klamath Falls on Highway 97 in the
last month, you might have seen the construction project on the
southeast side of Upper Klamath Lake. The Oregon Department of
Transportation is partnering with the Klamath tribes to restore
40 acres of former wetland into fresh habitat suitable for
native flora and fauna including C’waam and Kaptu, two species
of endangered suckerfish endemic to Klamath Lake. ODOT is
involved with the project as part of their wetland restoration
offset program.
Greater buffer zones around bodies of water and more consistent
enforcement of water protection regulations are needed to
reduce agriculture-based pollution in the Western U.S., a
recent review from Oregon State University found. Prior
research has shown that agricultural pollution, both from
croplands and rangelands, is the cause of 48% of water-quality
impairment in U.S. surface waters, which in turn disrupts
habitat for fish and insects and reduces biodiversity in
aquatic environments.
Scientists have long been worried about what many call “the
methane bomb” — the potentially catastrophic release of methane
from thawing wetlands in Siberia’s permafrost. But now a study
by three geologists says that a heat wave in 2020 has revealed
a surge in methane emissions “potentially in much higher
amounts” from a different source: thawing rock formations in
the Arctic permafrost. The difference is that thawing wetlands
releases “microbial” methane from the decay of soil and organic
matter, while thawing limestone — or carbonate rock — releases
hydrocarbons and gas hydrates …
Seven years ago, a pulse of water on the Colorado River at the
U.S.-Mexico border temporarily reconnected it to the Pacific
Ocean. Scientists used the so-called “pulse flow” to study what
plant and animal life returned to the desiccated delta along
with water. Armed with that knowledge, scientists and
conservation groups are trying a new and more targeted strategy
to bring water back to the final 100 miles of the Colorado
River this year. It’s an attempt to reconnect portions of the
river left dry from decades of overuse, and it’s happening in
one of the driest years the basin has ever seen.
The Delta Stewardship Council has sided with a group that
argued the state Department of Water Resources did not
adequately address the issue of public access and recreational
opportunities related to the Lookout Slough Tidal Habitat
Restoration and Flood Management Project. … The group has
been fighting to maintain land access to Shag Slough and the
Liberty Island Ecological Reserve, which they said would be
lost if the project moves forward as planned.
Once upon a time, a rich wetland flourished, nurtured by the
tidal waters of San Francisco Bay. Sunrise crowned the
glistening shoreline of a pristine channel of water that came
to be known as Yosemite Slough. The word Yosemite originates
from the native Miwok word for grizzly bear. Yosemite
Slough was a marshland, a nesting area for migrating birds
along the Pacific Flyway and a sanctuary for endangered
mammals. … Yosemite Slough originated in the lakes of
McLaren Park streaming east through the Portola and Bayview
Districts to enter San Francisco Bay. This is called a
watershed.
Immerse yourself in California’s key water sources this fall
with the Foundation’s schedule of engaging virtual tours.
Each tour event will run from 2:30-5:30 p.m. PT and includes:
An overview presentation of the region’s critical topics;
A guided video tour of key locations — farms,
wetlands, dams and reservoirs, wildlife habitats — to
gain a stronger understanding on a variety of water
supply issues and the latest policy developments; Live
Q&A with experts in chat rooms so participants
can dive deeper into the topics, including the drought gripping
California.
State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at
California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now
the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient
needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money. The
shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by
rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing
from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of
how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought
because of its connection to the system.
State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money.
The shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought because of its connection to the system. The lake is a festering health hazard to nearby residents, many of them impoverished, who struggle with elevated asthma risk as dust rises from the sea’s receding shoreline.
Empty wells. Salmon die-offs. Water thieves. The
uncontrollable flames of monster wildfire. In
California, one of the worst droughts on record has
touched off a kaleidoscopic range of emergencies,
amplifying age-old resource conflicts as leaders
call for conservation by cities, curtailments to
farmers and coordination across the board. The
interconnectedness of the state’s hydrology is
especially apparent in one corner of the Sacramento
Valley, where scarce water for farmers will also mean less
for the migrating birds that make use of the same
land.
As water resources managers work hard this summer to deliver
limited water supplies to cities, rural communities, farms,
refuges and fisheries–while also providing essential
hydropower for the state’s energy grid–there is increasing
attention to prepare for the next water year. … As we think
about water management opportunities for next year, there is an
increasing focus on groundwater recharge …
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.
The third and final Flood Walk, sponsored by Sustainable
Solano, took 12 participants on a journey through the
marshlands, by the docks and through some residential areas in
Suisun City. All are spots that could be affected by flooding.
… Sustainable Solano is a grassroots movement to unite people
in working toward a future that is ecologically regenerative,
and economically and socially supportive of local
communities.
A South Carolina federal judge issued an order late last
week allowing the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, the Trump
administration’s “waters of the United States” rule, to remain
in place while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and
Army Corps of Engineers work on rulemakings to revoke and
replace it. The final rule was issued in April 2020, redefining
“waters of the United States” and narrowing the scope of Clean
Water Act jurisdiction.
A public hearing on an environmental impact report (EIR) on a
controversial project that local preservationists say threatens
fish living in a local stream is scheduled to go before the
City Council on Monday. The Pasadena Water and Power
Department (PWP) 0is seeking two conditional use permits (CUPs)
to repair and replace facilities within the Arroyo Seco Canyon
area that were damaged or destroyed by the Station Fire-related
events of 2009. Preservationists say the project
threatens trout that are swimming in streams
in the area.
For years, petroleum hydrocarbons have been seeping from the
groundwater beneath the old oil tank farm property in Avila
Beach into tide pools below. Much of the source of the
pollution has been cleaned up, but an unknown amount remains.
The question now is, what should be done with it and could
over-aggressive remediation cause more harm than good?
The trickle of hydrocarbons — comprised of a mixture of
diluted, broken-down gas from the tank farm — was discovered in
May 2012 …
Residents, along with the local population of Mallard ducks,
Canada geese and coots will soon get their Legacy Park nature
preserve back. The pond, which is normally kept full most of
the year with storm runoff water, totally dried up this spring
in the middle of duckling season. The statewide drought took
its toll. Meanwhile, the construction of a new office park and
shopping center—the La Paz project—right across the street was
running into difficulties with groundwater as workers excavated
a future underground parking garage.
Millions of waterfowl and other birds are going to have a tough
year due to the ongoing drought in the West. Not only is there
less water for ducks and geese, but the agriculture fields
these migrating birds depend on for food will be significantly
smaller, which means less waste grain. … That
potentially can negatively impact Pacific Flyway waterfowl
flights and hunting this year. Farmers report only 25
percent of the fields usually flooded in autumn will have
water. With reduced water, ducks and geese are impacted. They
concentrate more and diseases and bacteria can spread more
readily, including bird botulism.
Science is about more than data and research, it’s about
teamwork. Collaboration is key, and the State Water Contractors
are committed to working together with our partners in
academia, government, non-profit and the private sectors to
invest in California’s water future. The SWC and
Member Agencies participated in multiple interagency and
stakeholder working groups tasked with determining how to
implement permit requirements, including the Spring-Run Chinook
Salmon Juvenile Production Estimate Core Team and Delta
Coordination Group for summer-fall habitat actions for Delta
Smelt.
The future of millions of waterfowl that visit the region each
fall could be up in the air if dry conditions continue.
Fourth-generation rice farmer Brian McKenzie farms about 4,000
acres and his fields are filled with wildlife. … This year’s
drought has decreased the number of birds and the number of
acres farmed. … And that has many worried about what
will happen to what is known as the Pacific flyway this fall.
As we careen deeper into drought, California will face
increasing impacts to urban and agricultural economies, rivers
and forests, and wildlife. In response, government agencies
will need to determine how to allocate water among competing
needs. Water users will scramble to buy and sell water — if
they can — or reduce their use. But the current lack of
information hobbles the ability to make difficult decisions
about water management. For California to cope with persistent
shortages, water rights data need to be accessible to
decision-makers and the public. -Written by Michael Kiparsky, director of the
Wheeler Water Institute in the Center for Law, Energy and the
Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law.
Standing at the edge of a precipice, under a scorching sun in
eastern Utah, you can see nothing but the state’s infamous red
rocks and towering buttes for miles. … But if you happen to
glance down at the dizzying depths of the canyon that lies at
the bottom of the desert sandstone mountains, you’d see a lush
oasis, blooming with green vegetation, the Price River snaking
through the rock even on the hottest of summer days. And if you
scrambled down, and watched patiently for long enough, you
might even spot some beavers – the very architects of this
thriving wetland landscape, smack bang in the middle of the
desert.
On June 24, Yolo County released a report on a recent design
charrette for the Tule Canal in the Yolo Bypass. The two-day
virtual workshop included 71 participants from a wide swath of
stakeholders — farmers, policy makers, landowners, hunters,
conservation scientists, educators, engineers and ecologists.
Led by consultants Robert Suarez and Teal Brown Zimring, with
generous funding from the State Water Contractors and
Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, the executive summary and
full report are now available on Yolo County’s Delta e-library:
Global warming has already left its mark on the backbone of
California’s water supply, and represents a growing threat to
its first developed agricultural region, state experts have
warned in a new study. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
fuels California’s $3 trillion economy, including its $50
billion agricultural industry, sustains more than 750 plant and
animal species and supplies 27 million people with drinking
water. But global warming is likely to destabilize the
landscape that made the delta a biodiversity and agricultural
hotspot …
The Colorado River makes an impressive 1,400-mile journey from
Colorado, all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border. It starts as
snowpack in Rocky Mountain National Park in Northern Colorado
and makes its way westward to Utah. The Utah portion of the
river course starts on the Colorado Plateau before heading to
Moab, where the water sweeps by Arches and Canyonlands national
parks – both amazing landscapes eroded into canyons and mesas
by the Colorado and Green rivers.
Communities trying to fight sea-level rise could inadvertently
make flooding worse for their neighbors, according to a new
study from the Stanford Natural Capital Project. The
research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, shows how seawalls constructed along the San
Francisco Bay shoreline could increase flooding and incur
hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for communities
throughout the region.
For more than 60 years, California officials and experts have
discussed expanding the Sacramento River bypass and levee
system. … In summer 2020, contractors broke ground on
the first project to expand that capacity, the Lower Elkhorn
Basin Levee Setback (LEBLS) project. The California Dept. of
Water Resources is leading the design, construction and
permitting of the $103-million project, which will widen the
Sacramento Bypass and the east side of the Yolo Bypass.
The Clean Water Act has traveled a successful but tortuous
path. From combustible beginnings on the Cuyahoga River;
through the Lake St. Clair wetlands; to reservoirs near the
Miccosukee; and eventually discharged (or “functionally”
discharged) off the Maui coast. With each bend, the nearly
fifty-year-old Act has proven to be not just resilient, but
among our most successful environmental laws. Much of that
success stems from an effective enforcement structure that
focuses more on treating pollutant sources rather than just
impaired waters. –Written by Sean G. Herman, an attorney with Hanson
Bridgett LLP and an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University
School of Law.
In the gray light of dawn, hundreds of swallows darted over a
pool of standing water in an irrigated field along the Colorado
River. The birds were attracted to the early-morning mosquitos
swarming the saturated landscape. … Across the Western
Slope, birds and other wildlife have come to depend on these
artificially created wetlands, a result of flood irrigation.
But as the state of Colorado grapples with whether to implement
a demand-management program, which would pay irrigators to
temporarily dry up fields in an effort to send more water
downstream, there could be unintended consequences for the
animals that use irrigated agriculture for their habitat.
Every spring, the snow begins to melt and make its way down the
mountains, across marshes and meadows, and through the 63
tributaries flowing into Lake Tahoe. … [T]he route that the
water takes before eventually ending up in the lake is crucial
to maintaining Tahoe’s famed clarity. Why, you might ask? It’s
all about those SEZs. Stream environment zones are a
Tahoe-specific term, meaning “an area that owes its biological
and physical characteristics to the presence of surface or
groundwater,” according to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Meadows, marshes, streams, streambanks, and beaches are all
examples of SEZs…
Yet despite its ecological richness, very little of the land on
either side of the [Eel River] has been protected, as 90
percent of this land remains in private hands, and very little
of it is currently accessible to the public. This could change
soon, however, if two ambitious initiatives to protect this
wild country bisected by the Eel and make it accessible to the
public come to fruition. And both those initiatives received a
boost from the new state budget just passed by the California
Legislature (and, as of this writing, still awaiting Governor
Newsom’s signature).
The rhythmic patter of hooves skimming the earth below was a
sound Amy never tired of when she was young. Whether in the hot
sweat-inducing summer or the bone-chill frost of winter in
upstate New York, the sound was ever-present, because Amy was
always riding. … Now as the Interim Director of the
California Program at American Rivers, one of Amy’s central
goals is to work with agricultural landowners to protect and
improve habitat in wetlands and rivers.
The confluence of the tiny San Pedro River and the much larger
Gila was once one of the richest locales in one of the most
productive river ecosystems in the American Southwest, an
incomparable oasis of biodiversity. The rivers frequently
flooded their banks, a life-giving pulse … The
confluence now is a very different place, its richness long
diminished. A massive mountain of orange- and dun-colored
smelter tailings, left from the days of copper and lead
processing and riddled with arsenic, towers where the two
rivers meet. Water rarely flows there, with an occasional
summer downpour delivering an ephemeral trickle.
Hot temperatures have many headed straight to local waterways
to cool off, but experts say high heat and a bad drought this
year can be ideal conditions for harmful algae. It’s an issue
that’s not always top of mind. … According to state
data, popular waterways in the immediate Sacramento area are
safe. People headed to the American River or Folsom Lake for
the Fourth of July are in the clear. But the state labels
part of Discovery Bay near San Francisco as a danger area, with
a warning not to swim or touch the scum on the water.
City officials are now working on a solution to the dry lake at
Legacy Park. Many Malibu residents are bothered by the fact
that the pond at Legacy Park has dried up in the drought, while
at the same time a construction project for a new business park
and shopping center across the street is unloading tens of
thousands of gallons of water that is flowing into their
construction site, channeling it into Malibu Creek…. That led
Council Member Steve Uhring to the logical question: Why not
put some of the water from the La Paz project into the pond
across the street?
The San Francisco Estuary (estuary) is sometimes called the
most invaded estuary in the world, and for good reason. Through
many avenues, hundreds, if not thousands, of species have been
introduced to San Francisco Bay, the Delta, and their rivers.
Some introductions were byproducts of human activity and
include organisms that “hitchhiked” on the bottom of boats or
as stowaways in ballast water carried by international shipping
vessels. Others were deliberate and undertaken either legally
by the government or illicitly by individuals for biocontrol,
fisheries, or disposal of unwanted pets.
Earlier posts here like this one by Grant Lundberg and this one
by David Guy have done a great job of describing the virtues of
floodplain restoration. The profound dedication of people
like Julie Rentner and Jacob Katz inform and energize the work
of the entire Floodplain Forward coalition that I’m proud to be
part of. But moving beyond plans to actually get work
done on the ground is a task that needs broad support.
Twenty years before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for
climate science to be put on trial, an official from the
powerful pro-business lobby group crafted what would prove to
be a prescient message on global warming. Harvey Alter,
who ran the Chamber’s resources policy department at the time,
said in 1989 there was “broad consensus” that human-made
climate change would likely have a disastrous impact on coastal
communities and farmers. … “Wetlands will flood, salt
water will infuse fresh water supplies, and there will be
changes in the distribution of tree and crop species and
agricultural productivity,” Alter said.
Conservationists are now at the $72-million mark of their
$97-million goal to acquire Banning Ranch, a 384-acre property
at the mouth of the Santa Ana River, and turn the oil field
into a public park. The Trust for Public Land announced Monday
that state legislators allocated $8 million to be put toward
the purchase of the property. Assemblywoman Cottie
Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) said in a Facebook post that she
was “thrilled” to have secured the allocation in this year’s
upcoming state budget. The budget is now on its way to Gov.
Gavin Newsom to sign prior to the start of the new fiscal year
on July 1.
The effort to change a former military aircraft taxiway along
San Francisco Bay into wetlands has gotten a setback after the
City Council balked at setting aside money to create a master
plan for the $14 million project. Known as “DePave,” the park
is proposed for the former Alameda Naval Air Station. It’s
expected to feature walking paths and overlooks, where people
can watch birds and harbor seals resting on floating platforms.
Last year, the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission
unanimously endorsed a draft “vision plan” for the future
16-acre park. The council also has broadly supported it, at
least vocally.
California is home to 131 kinds of native fishes that require
freshwater for some or all of their life-cycle. Most of these
fishes are found only in California and most (81%) are in
decline (Moyle et al. 2015, 2020). Thirty-two (24%) are already
listed as threatened or endangered by state and/or federal
governments. Declines are usually the result of fishes losing
the competition with humans for California’s water and habitat
(Leidy and Moyle 2021). This competition is heightened by the
ongoing severe drought.
The Clean Currents Coalition – a global network of local
projects – is on a mission to clean up the world’s rivers,
using scientific solutions to address the problem of plastic
waste … Pollution doesn’t respect international
boundaries, making plastic waste in the Tijuana River Estuary,
which forms the border between the US and Mexico, everyone’s
problem. As the river is the sole source of clean drinking
water for many people, California and Mexico-based
environmental non-profit WILDCOAST, has erected a “Brute
Boom” across the Los Laureles Canyon to collect debris.
The diversion of water from the San Francisco Bay Delta, for
example, is one of the forces famously driving the delta smelt
to extinction. Now, a new study published in Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences this month shows another
counterintuitive way in which human water use in California is
putting its unique riverside woodlands at risk. By
diverting water in ways it would not otherwise flow, human
management is providing some stream-side, or riparian,
ecosystems with excess water that gives them a short-term
boost, but undermines their long-term sustainability.
We are excited to announce that a CalTrout project to Reconnect
Habitat is moving forward thanks to grant funding from the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)
voter-approved Proposition 1 Watershed Restoration Grant. This
project is part of the South Coast Steelhead Coalition
portfolio to recover this endangered trout from the brink of
extinction.
Competition for the title of most surreal location in America
is hot, but the Salton Sea in California is undoubtedly a
contender. And the eerie, post-apocalyptic feel of this bizarre
body of water and the ghost-town settlements on its shoreline
has been captured in a stunning newly released photo series by
Julian Lennon, the son of Beatles legend John. The landlocked
body of water is one of the world’s biggest inland seas and at
226ft (69m) below sea level one of the lowest places on earth.
As science and policy director for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
and a 14-year resident of Carpinteria, I appreciated Bob
Franco’s June 16 letter to the editor, “Don’t drink the water,”
for its effectiveness in raising awareness about an important
pollution issue impacting Carpinteria’s local waterways.
Channelkeeper is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to
protecting and restoring the Santa Barbara Channel and its
watersheds. -Written by Ben Pitterle, Channelkeeper’s interim
executive director and science and policy director.
The dream of turning a 384-acre oil field at the mouth of the
Santa Ana River into a public park and nature preserve grows
closer to a reality by another $8 million, thanks to a grant
from the state’s fish and wildlife department announced earlier
this month. The $8-million grant for the purchase of Banning
Ranch, given to the Trust for Public Land, is one of 28
projects — and one of three acquisition projects — selected to
receive a grant this year.
The move to end mining in a Tri-Valley lake became official
this week. Alameda County planning commissioners on Monday
approved plans for restoring the Eliot Quarry, where more than
a century of rock mining in the unincorporated area between
Livermore and Pleasanton will eventually be turned into lakes
surrounded by open fields and recreation trails. … [T]he
project will include the planting of native trees and shrubs,
creating passages for fish, and reducing the amount of
groundwater lost to San Francisco Bay by deepening the lake so
it can hold more water.
San Francisco Bay may be one of the most famous stretches of
waterway in the world, but when it comes to federal spending,
it’s recently been one of the most overlooked. Hundreds of
millions of dollars flowed to other areas like Puget Sound and
the Chesapeake Bay during the Trump years. … This week,
Speier took a big step towards turning the tide. Pushing
through a $125 million Bay Restoration bill in the House. The
money would be spread out over five years, and target projects
that could be key to the Bay’ survival.
I’ve spent my whole life near San Francisco Bay. But the amount
of time that I’ve actually spent out on the water has been
minimal — a few ferry rides, a dinner cruise or two, a trip to
Alcatraz and back in grade school. That’s it. I like to blame
my yacht-less friends, who have been amazingly inconsiderate
over the decades and never bought fancy sailboats to take me
out on the water. The real reason, of course, is that I’d never
explored some relatively inexpensive ways to explore this
area’s most famous feature. Turns out it’s pretty easy to
do, especially if you like to paddle.
California is in a megadrought, with its key reservoirs falling
to their lowest points in history. Wildfire season is already
here, and officials are bracing for yet another catastrophic
year. Meanwhile, rural communities remain in desperate need of
viable, sustainable economic futures. One climate-smart
solution that addresses all these needs is watershed
restoration.
California, like the rest of the world, must wrestle with a
hard truth: Our climate has changed. As we face another
water-shortage crisis, we must acknowledge a sobering reality:
We’re not in a drought. This is our new normal. And we need to
adapt. It’s becoming increasingly clear that we can’t solve our
drought, or the myriad other environmental crises, without
protecting our ecosystems. And we can’t protect our ecosystems
without acknowledging that this work is globally connected. -Written by Assembly Member Laura Friedman,
D-Glendale; LA-based environmental and social policy
advisor Rosalind Helfand; and Mike Young, political and
organizing director of the California League of Conservation
Voters.
Water Audit California sued the City of St. Helena this week
over its management of water. The watchdog group says the city
is violating its “public trust” responsibilities relating to
the Napa River and its aquatic habitat. It cites the city’s
policies on groundwater pumping, well permitting, and water
consumption by vineyards and wineries.
We had been walking for only a few minutes when Scott
Culbertson stopped in front of a field of twisted, blackened
bark. “I haven’t been here since the fire,” the executive
director of the Friends of Ballona Wetlands told me, scowling
at the destruction from behind dark sunglasses. Three months
ago, this spot in the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve in
Playa del Rey had been a stand of native willow trees and other
vegetation where endangered songbirds would nest. Then, one
sunny afternoon, a brush fire broke out and scorched five acres
before firefighters could put it out. -Written by Erika Smith, LA Times columnist.
The California Supreme Court has denied review of the February
appellate decisions in Sweeney v. Regional Water Board and
Sweeney v. Bay Conservation and Development Commission, leaving
in place key administrative orders against the Point Buckler
Club for unauthorized levee construction and other
environmentally harmful activities at Point Buckler
Island.
Monterey County elected officials on Tuesday gave an
enthusiastic thumbs up to a $45 million restoration project at
the mouth of the Carmel River that will provide a host of
environmental benefits, including natural flood control for an
area that has historically been hit hard by river flooding. The
Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a
resolution that will move the project, called the Carmel River
Floodplain Restoration and Environmental Enhancement, forward
with the nonprofit Big Sur Land Trust as its key partner.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) today
announced the selection of 28 projects to receive funding for
projects to restore and protect multi-benefit ecosystem
restoration and protection projects under its Proposition 1
grant programs. The awards, totaling $39 million, were made
under CDFW’s 2021 Proposition 1 Watershed Restoration Grant &
Delta Water Quality and Ecosystem Restoration Grant Program
Proposal Solicitation Notice.
The intensive engineering of the river exacted a huge toll on
its native ecosystems. No species suffered more than the
Chinook salmon, whose epic migration from the Pacific Ocean to
its spawning grounds in the High Sierra was cut short by
numerous choke points, not the least of which was Friant’s
impenetrable barrier of concrete. … Rife with
compromises, [a 1988] settlement mandated that a mere half of
the San Joaquin’s original flow be restored. The river’s many
dams would remain, but alternative passages would be built and
new spawning areas added in the lower river.
[Scientists] are setting out to test an alternative path to
protecting coastlines — one that involves using the ecosystems
that already exist or once existed along the coast, instead of
squeezing them out. [Katie] Nichols oversees Coastkeeper’s
living shorelines program, a project in partnership with
California State University, Long Beach, and California State
University, Fullerton, that restores ecosystem structures like
oyster beds and eelgrass meadows, which protect shorelines from
waves, erosion, and sea-level rise.
Riparian forests, those tree-filled regions running next to
rivers and streams, host a breadth of important wildlife — but
water management practices focused on meeting the needs of
growing communities and agriculture may be putting their future
in jeopardy. These woodlands serve to protect water quality and
stream integrity, host wildlife and control flooding along
water ways, but the ecosystems they support are in danger of
failing in the coming decades.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
selections under two Clean Water Act (CWA) grant programs to
support leadership of Tribes in protecting and restoring water
resources. The agency anticipates awarding approximately $3
million to 18 Tribal nations and one Intertribal organization
under the Tribal Wetland Program Development Grant competition
and an additional $3 million in CWA Section 319 Tribal
Competitive Grants to 32 Tribal nations to support projects to
manage nonpoint source pollution.
A study of woodland ecosystems that provide habitat for rare
and endangered species along streams and rivers throughout
California reveals that some of these ecologically important
areas are inadvertently benefitting from water that humans are
diverting for their own needs. Though it seems a short-term
boon to these ecosystems, the artificial supply creates an
unintended dependence on its bounty, threatens the long-term
survival of natural communities and spotlights the need for
changes in the way water is managed across the state.
A $45 million project that will partially reshape the area
around the mouth of the Carmel River promises to increase flood
control and restore the biodiversity in the area. Called the
“Carmel River Floodplain Restoration and Environmental
Enhancement,” the nonprofit Big Sur Land Trust, Monterey
County, the Monterey Regional Parks District and the state are
collaborating to restore the historic floodplain of a portion
of the Carmel River where it meets Highway 1.
Once spanning 100,000 acres at the foot of the Medicine Lake
Volcano, it’s unlikely that Tule Lake has been as low as it is
now for millions of years. What used to be a massive network of
open water and fringe wetlands is now essentially a giant mud
puddle, spelling trouble for migratory birds that have used it
as a rest stop for thousands of years. The solution, at least
for now? Dry it up.
Coachella Valley-based architect Nikola Lakic knows how to fix
the withering Salton Sea. Or, at least he says he does.
Lakic believes it’s possible to import water from Mexico’s Sea
of Cortez — or, perhaps, from the Pacific Ocean off the
California coast — through a multi-billion-dollar system of
pipes. He would construct mangrove habitat for natural water
filtration, send desalinated water to geothermal plants and,
amid all this, restore California’s largest lake.
… Lakic is the author of one of 11 formal proposals for
a “sea-to-sea” solution that the state of California is
currently evaluating.
Restoration implies returning to a prior state. A broken cup
carefully glued, might appear nearly as whole as the original,
but will always differ from the original. Ecosystem
restoration attempts to return an evolving web of
interconnected species and physical processes to a prior state.
This endeavor raises complex questions: what prior state should
be the restoration target?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of
Engineers announced their intent to revise the reach of the
federal Clean Water Act by changing the definition of “waters
of the United States.” This move, announced yesterday, would
reverse the Navigable Waters Protection Rule adopted during the
Trump administration, which itself replaced a 2015 revision by
the Obama administration.
The Biden administration began legal action Wednesday to repeal
a Trump-era rule that ended federal protections for hundreds of
thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways,
leaving them more vulnerable to pollution from development,
industry and farms. The rule — sometimes referred to as “waters
of the United States” or WOTUS — narrowed the types of
waterways that qualify for federal protection under the Clean
Water Act. It was one of hundreds of rollbacks of environmental
and public health regulations under President Donald Trump, who
said the rules imposed unnecessary burdens on business.
The state Supreme Court rejected the appeal Wednesday of the
owner of an island in Suisun Bay who has been ordered to pay
millions of dollars in penalties and restore landfill he
discharged into marsh waters to make room for duck hunters and
a kite-surfing club. John Sweeney purchased the 39-acre island,
Point Buckler, on the eastern edge of Grizzly Bay in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in 2011. It had been used by duck
hunters for many decades until the 1990s, but regulatory
agencies said levee breaches and neglect of the site had turned
it into a tidal marsh.
As California responds to yet another drought and prepares for
a future of greater climate extremes, securing funding to boost
the water system’s resilience is a top priority. One go-to
funding source over the last two decades has been state general
obligation bonds. In dollar terms, GO bonds play a relatively
small role in water system spending, yet they punch above their
weight when it comes to filling critical gaps.
California’s water wars are legendary, complex and
ongoing. To avoid getting too far in the weeds, media often
boil it down to a dispute over who should have priority to a
limited supply of water — people or fish. The real beauty
of aerial snow surveys is that it’s one thing that farmers and
environmentalists can agree on. -Written by Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee’s Opinions Page
editor.
Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest are
seeking commentary from the public on their plan to restore
wetlands in the Ackerson Meadow, which they said have been
drained as a result of a century of domestic water
diversion. The plans include a complete fill of the
gullies developed over the last century by ranchers and
agriculturalists who utilized water flow, or the the
installation of manmade beaver dams to partially restore the
wetlands.
In the two decades since the SLEWS program began, high school
students, farmers and conservation volunteers have planted 142
miles of riparian hedgerow habitat. That is the equivalent of
driving from Sacramento to Reno. From the moment you left
downtown until you pulled into the Biggest Little City in the
World, accompanying you along the way would be a seemingly
infinite line of native trees, grasses, shrubs, and flowering
forbs all in a single row.
I am now working through my third drought as the Director of
Water Quality for Northern California Water Association (NCWA),
where I have learned the importance of broadening my
perspective beyond my own tap in Roseville that brings
delicious American River water into my home. A pillar in NCWA’s
Strategic Plan and 2021 Priorities is to advance
multi-benefit water management that supports nature-based
solutions, which provide essential benefits for our economy,
health and quality of life …
The driest year California has experienced since the 1970s will
have wide-ranging impacts in the West. In the Sacramento
Valley, a reduced water supply will lead to about a 20 percent
reduction in rice plantings. The loss of about 100,000 acres of
rice fields has implications well beyond the farm level. The
reduced plantings will impact rural communities that depend on
agriculture as their foundation. It’s also a concern for
wildlife, which greatly depend on rice fields for their
habitat.
It was a question asked of panelists discussing the Salton Sea
on Tuesday, May 25. State and local officials were asked a
number of questions about the drying sea during a one-hour
online forum. The Red Hill Bay project that stalled after
breaking ground in 2015 was one of the topics panelists
discussed.
Because Bay Area low-lying sewage treatment plants remain
vulnerable to rising sea levels, government regulators told
sewage facility managers to “provide a written plan for coping
with SLR by the fall of 2021 – or they will be given a
plan.” The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reached out to
10 “at risk” sewage treatment plants to see those
plans. All except one provided extensive documents of
their proposals, the cost to address them, and even provided
tours of completed work. San Francisco’s Public Utilities
Commission replied to the Investigative Unit’s public records
request that after a “diligent search for records…no records
were found.”
Even in a year that has seen not much rainfall, students
throughout Solano County have learned important lessons about
their local waterways and the nature that surrounds them.
Through its Watershed Explorers program, Solano Resource
Conservation District has allowed elementary schoolers to
connect virtually to their local watersheds and experience the
sights and sounds of nature, all while making observations
about what they have witnessed and receiving lessons from the
program’s educators.
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
NOAA funded 125 habitat restoration projects in coastal areas
throughout the country. … Through the Recovery Act, NOAA
partnered with the [California Conservation Corps] to support
more than 30 coastal habitat restoration projects. These
projects benefitted threatened and endangered salmon and
steelhead throughout coastal California. More than 200 corps
members worked to open waterways to fish migration, stabilize
stream banks, conduct project monitoring, and more.
At its May 20, 2021 quarterly meeting, the Wildlife
Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $23.5 million
in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat
throughout California. Some of the 35 approved projects will
benefit fish and wildlife — including some endangered species —
while others will provide public access to important natural
resources. Several projects will also demonstrate the
importance of protecting working landscapes that integrate
economic, social and environmental stewardship practices
beneficial to the environment, landowners and the local
community.
The state plans to break [a levee at Shag Slough] in nine
locations to create 3,000 acres of tidal wetlands. It has asked
the county to vacate that section of Liberty Island Road that
runs atop the levee. Taylor Dahlke, the leader of a group
fighting to maintain land access to Shag Slough, the Liberty
Island Ecological Reserve and the region in general told the
Delta Stewardship Council on Thursday night that the state
proposal violates the Delta Plan.
The nonprofit San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy received a
$10,000 grant for its Next to Nature program (N2N) from the REI
Co-op. The program shows residents how to create sustainable
landscapes that are beneficial for the environment. To show
people how to develop eco-beneficial areas around their homes
or businesses, the conservancy is working with locally based
production company Condor Visual Media to put out six free
webinars focusing on Landscape Site Design, Sustainable
Gardening, Urban Green Infrastructure, Wildfire Risk Reduction,
Water Management …
The swamp rat population in Central California is beginning to
diminish. But a state biologist says elimination is still a few
years away. FOX26 reporter Rich Rodriguez updates us on the
nutria… one of Valley agriculture’s biggest enemies. The
State Department of Fish and Wildlife has spent more than three
years trying to round up and euthanize nutria.
EPA’s Office of Water is kicking off quarterly meetings with
agricultural and environmental groups to discuss the thorny
issue of which waterways and wetlands qualify for federal
protections.
With the driest year in memory, the water resources managers
and landowners in the Sacramento Valley are working hard to
serve multiple benefits throughout the region with limited
water supplies. This has required all hands-on deck and
creative management within the region as all surface water
supplies have been significantly reduced, with hundreds of
thousands of farmland acres idled throughout the region, urban
suppliers working with their citizens to implement various
conservation measures to reduce water use and there will
undoubtedly be challenges for domestic groundwater wells.
In the latest chapter of California’s unfolding drought, state
officials are planning to build a giant rock wall across a
river in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to save the
vital freshwater estuary from San Francisco Bay’s saltwater.
The emergency measure is a page from last decade’s drought when
the delta, a maze of sloughs and man-made channels east of the
Bay Area, was at risk of becoming too salty to provide water to
the nearly 30 million Californians who depend on it. As in
2015, the freshwater rivers that feed the 1,100-square-mile
delta have gotten so low that they no longer counter the
brackish flows that push in from the bay.
The Shasta-Klamath Region organizes work around protecting
California source water and volcanic aquifers, working with
family farms to improve water management, and protecting legacy
fly-fishing waters like the McCloud River, Hat Creek, and Fall
River. In 2021, we are heavily invested in conservation
projects in the Shasta and Scott watersheds. These key Klamath
tributaries will be critical for recovering salmon populations
in the Mid-Klamath Basin after dam removal.
More wildfires. Hotter days. Drought. Sea-level rise. Those
conditions are an increasing reality in California, which is
steadily becoming an altered state. But if the grimmest
predictions of experts about our state and climate change
become true, the conditions will become far worse.
A group of protesters gathered at Sugarman’s Corner in downtown
Klamath Falls on Saturday, preparing to welcome a 25-car
caravan of mostly Klamath Tribal members calling for solutions
to the Klamath Basin’s water crisis. A man walked by the
demonstrators, eyeing their signs with statements like “Peace
and Healing in the Klamath Basin,” “Water Justice is Social
Justice” and “Undam the Klamath.”
Out where the Tuolumne River joins the San Joaquin, an
intriguing way of managing water is taking hold. Dos Rios Ranch
is nine years into its restoration, a $45 million-plus effort
across nearly 2,400 acres. It seeks to enhance flood
protection, wildlife habitat and water supplies in one grand
vision. Crews have reshaped former farm fields to mimic the
floodplains that spread across much of the Central Valley in
the time before dams and levees.
Earth’s surface is ever changing. Sinkholes swallow
neighborhoods, river deltas slowly slide beneath the waves, and
fertile fields lose elevation as farmers draw large amounts of
water for irrigation from underlying aquifers. [T]hese
phenomena are known as subsidence … Building heavy
structures such as homes, skyscrapers, and even entire cities
also can trigger subsidence, explains Tom Parsons, a
geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Moffett Field, CA.
Recently, he used computer simulations to estimate the effect
of San Francisco and its metropolitan area—where he and 7.75
million other people reside—on Earth’s crust.
The Colorado River is flowing again in its delta. This is a big
deal for a river that has not flowed through its delta in most
years since the 1960s, resulting in an ecosystem that is
severely desiccated and devastated. Thanks to commitments from
the United States and Mexico in the Colorado River binational
agreement—Minute 323 – 35,000 acre-feet of water (11.4
billion gallons) dedicated to create environmental benefits
will be delivered to the river from May 1 to October 11. The
expectation is that this will create and support habitat for
birds like the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yuma Ridgway’s Rail, and
Vermilion Flycatcher, and give life to the many plants and
animals in this ribbon oasis of green in the midst of the
Sonoran Desert.
With shrinking reservoir levels and a summer of water shortages
impending, drought-ridden California on Wednesday pressed the
Biden administration for more control over future
infrastructure projects planned in the Golden State. California
and a collection of states urged the federal government to drop
a Trump-era rule that reduced states’ authority to deny
permitting and licensing for things like new water
infrastructure, oil pipelines, wastewater plants or development
projects in wetland areas. The states claim the rule gives them
little say over projects that could ultimately harm water
quality and the environment.
Climate change is exacerbating problems like habitat loss and
temperatures swings that have already pushed many animal
species to the brink. But can scientists predict which animals
will be able to adapt and survive? Using genome sequencing,
researchers from McGill University show that some fish, like
the threespine stickleback, can adapt very rapidly to extreme
seasonal changes. … Stickleback found in different
estuaries along coastal California provide a rare opportunity
to study natural selection in real-time.
The Salton Sea continues to be a big talker when it comes to
lithium, but a long problem remains in and around the sea when
it comes to toxic air. During our extensive coverage of the
Salton Sea, we learned that toxic air is not only coming from
dried-up parts of the sea, but other parts of the sea are now
contributing to the toxicity. “It is not just the toxic
elements that have been trapped by the water and now exposed as
the sea recedes,” explained Frank Ruiz, Salton Sea Director
with Audubon California. Ruiz has been working with researchers
who have been studying the toxic levels at the Salton Sea.
May is American Wetlands Month and this year also marks the
50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance. This intergovernmental treaty is
focused on the conservation and wise use of important wetlands
and their resources. … Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine
Research Reserve … provides habitat for a diversity
of wildlife species, including more than 100 species of fish,
500 species of invertebrates, and the region’s iconic southern
sea otters. … Tomales Bay is a marine-coastal
wetland consisting of estuaries, eelgrass beds, sand dune
systems, and tidal marshes.
Only one week remains to register for our May 20 virtual
Lower
Colorado River Tour where you can hear directly
from experts offering a range of perspectives on the most
contested and meticulously managed river in the United
States. Practically every drop of water in the
Colorado River is already allocated, but pressure on the
hard-working river continues to grow from myriad sources —
increasing population, declining habitat and climate
change.
A riverbed that has been parched since the end of the
19th century — a portion of the historic lifeblood of the
Gila River Indian Community — is now coursing again with water,
luring things like cattails and birds back to its
shores. … The revival of this small segment of the
649-mile (1045-kilometer) Gila River, which has served the
tribes that make up the Gila River Indian Community — the
Akimel O’odham (Pima) and the Pee-Posh (Maricopa) — for roughly
2,000 years, was an added benefit of a grassroots
infrastructure overhaul, known as “managed aquifer recharge,”
or MAR, which aimed to restore the local groundwater
basin.
Among attributes of the controversial Poseidon desalination
plant proposed for Huntington Beach is the $1.5 million or so
it would spend annually to keep the tidal inlet open at the
Bolsa Chica wetlands, five miles up the coast from the project
site. But as much as the money is needed there, the three
non-profit groups dedicated to the wetlands’ preservation clash
when it comes to support for the desalter plant. The state
spent $151 million to create the inlet in 2006, restoring the
estuary’s interaction with the ocean and revitalizing the
wildlife habitat. The work has been a particular boon to the
population and variety of birds.
Newly announced state funding for the Salton Sea is expected to
maximize habitat outcomes and provide immediate economic relief
to the community. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $5.1 billion water
infrastructure, drought response and climate resilience
proposal, which he announced Monday as part of his $100 billion
“California Comeback Plan,” includes $220 million for the
Salton Sea. At Tuesday’s Imperial County Board of Supervisors
meeting on Tuesday, District 1 Supervisor Jesus Eduardo Escobar
wanted to know what is meant by providing immediate economic
relief to the community and how this would occur.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $5.1 billion water infrastructure,
drought response, and climate resilience proposal
includes $220 million for the Salton Sea, and Assembly
member Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, applauded the announcement.
Garcia, chair of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and
Wildlife, stated in a press release from his office that the
funding would maximize habitat outcomes and provide immediate
economic relief to the community.
On Friday, a coalition of conservation groups, fishing
organizations, stakeholders in the Delta, and the Winnemem
Wintu Tribe sent this letter to the Biden Administration,
urging the Administration not to endorse the so-called
“Voluntary Agreements” for the Bay-Delta watershed.
Unfortunately, the State of California continues to negotiate
backroom deals with the biggest water users in the State that
fail to protect and restore water quality in the
Bay-Delta, threatening thousands of fishing jobs, farms and
communities in the Delta, and the health of this watershed and
its native fish and wildlife.
As California enters what could be a record-breaking drought, a
just-completed nine-year floodplain restoration project at the
confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers offers an
ambitious attempt at one mitigation solution. At a 1,600-acre
former dairy ranch called Dos Rios, the conservation
organization River Partners removed berms that farmers had
originally constructed to protect their alfalfa and wheat crops
from the river. It turned fields into seasonal pools where
endangered baby salmon and migratory birds can rest, and water
can trickle down to refill aquifers.
In 2020, the Salton Sea was described by Palm Springs Life
Magazine as “the biggest environmental disaster in California
history.” With the largest lake in California holding such a
bleak title, it’s amazing how obscure its legacy is. Over
spring break, we decided to go on a road trip to visit an
eccentric settlement in the middle of the lower Colorado
desert, known as a Slab City. This settlement is most well
known for being a site of post-apocalyptic garbage art and a
home for colorful nomads. Due to its libertarian ethos, it is
billed as the “last free place in America.”
Every spring, California farmers brace themselves for signs of
wriggling organisms destined to launch multigenerational
attacks on their crops. Many insect species survive the
winter as eggs or larvae and then emerge in early spring as the
first generation to feed and breed on millions of acres of
California vineyards, orchards and row crops. Climate change
will complicate farmers’ efforts to control these pests in
complex and unpredictable ways. The most alarming
consequence is apt to be ramping up pesticide applications,
with broad implications for the safety of California’s
waterways—just as the state gears up for a future filled with
drought.
It’s that time of drought again. During one of the driest years
on record, once again curtailing water deliveries to local
farms, Fresno-area lawmakers wasted little time trotting out
one of their favorite falsehoods. That every year, including
the parched ones like 2021, California “wastes” millions of
gallons of water by “flushing it to the ocean.” Central San
Joaquin Valley residents have heard this declaration so often
and for so long, from the mouths of politicians and parroted on
talk radio, that many of us believe it’s true.
Just a short drive south of Palm Springs, you’ll find
California’s largest lake. The drive along the circumference of
the Salton Sea reveals surprising, majestic views unlike
anything you’d expect to find in the desert. But for its
impressive sights and size, the Salton Sea is not a household
name, least of all in the very state it’s found. These days, if
you travel along the increasingly shrinking shorelines, you’ll
see suffering communities dotted with abandoned homes and lined
with silent streets.
In a hotter climate, dirt is a hot commodity. With sea levels
expected to rise 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century, coastal
communities are moving fast to construct major shoreline
projects to protect themselves. As the size of these projects
expands, the primary building materials — dirt and mud — are
getting scarce. … [Parts of San Francisco Bay
were] once used for industrial salt making, and giant
evaporation ponds were built here more than a century ago. Now,
its marsh habitat is being restored as part of the Eden
Landing Ecological Reserve. The old salt pond levees still
stand between the bay and hundreds of thousands of people on
the shoreline. But waves and weather have eaten away at them.
Many miles of streams and rivers in the United States and
elsewhere are polluted by toxic metals in acidic runoff
draining from abandoned mining sites, and major investments
have been made to clean up acid mine drainage at some sites. A
new study based on long-term monitoring data from four sites in
the western United States shows that cleanup efforts can allow
affected streams to recover to near natural conditions within
10 to 15 years after the start of abatement work. The four
mining-impacted watersheds—located in mountain mining regions
of California, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana—were all designated
as Superfund sites …
In our latest effort to ensure that our water management and
farming practices both protect and enhance environmental
benefits in our area, Garden Highway Mutual Water Company
(Garden Highway) recently completed a project to screen its
diversion on the Feather River. This project allows us to
protect Chinook salmon and other fish species from entrainment
while diverting water year-round to irrigate crops and to
provide Pacific Flyway habitat during the fall and winter
months. The project was a cooperative effort between Garden
Highway, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau
of Reclamation U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Family
Water Alliance.
Regenerative farming practices integrate the entire ecosystem —
building upon the relationships of the natural world — to
simultaneously produce healthier, more abundant crops and
restore the Earth’s natural resources. … And
restoring soil health and fertility produces more abundant,
nutrient-dense crops that better resist pests and disease. It
increases soil’s ability to filter and store water, reduce
erosion and sequester carbon. And it builds a diversity and
abundance of microbes that drive every function of soil.
The beaver does more to shape its environment than nearly any
other animal on Earth. They can cause incredible amounts of
destruction to infrastructure; downing power lines, and
blocking and rerouting waterways. But their dam-building also
can improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and create the
conditions for complex wetland habitats to form —providing
refuge for wildlife and storing carbon in the process.
California is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet,
and the San Diego region is one of the most diverse in
California, but we are losing our biodiversity at an alarming
rate. The coming summer months and dry conditions are going to
further hurt that richness of life here. Conserving our water
resources directly and indirectly benefits our wildlife and is
consistent with the overall conservation ethic in San Diego,
which is why we need to prepare in case drought conditions
worsen.
-Written by Chuck Bonham, director of the CA Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
California could get 600,000 new acres of federally protected
wilderness under legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate
recently. The designation would ensure the lands remain free of
development, vehicles and commercial activity. … It
would also designate more than 583 miles of river — including
45 miles of San Gabriel River tributaries, as well as Little
Rock Creek — as “wild and scenic rivers,” a protection that
prohibits dams or new mining.
As we rapidly enter another drought, long-standing questions on
ecological impacts of increased temperatures, reduced water
levels and flows re-emerge. This reality recently reminded me
of some of my own previous work looking at growth rate
variations of largemouth bass in response to droughts in the
southeastern USA (Rypel et al. 2009). Results from this work
may be useful/interesting for biologists and managers in
California considering similar questions.
Disagreement over restoring the Ballona Wetlands still remains
high. Walter Lamb, president of the Ballona Wetlands Land
Trust, recently held a webinar to discuss why the current
restoration plans are inadequate. The Land Trust disagrees with
the assertions of organizations such as Friends of Ballona
Wetlands, as they aren’t supported by available facts. Lamb
based his talking points around Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive
order made on October 7, 2020, of protecting biodiversity and
an announcement phasing out fossil fuels from September 23,
2020.
The frequency of natural disasters has soared in recent
decades. Total damage topped $210 billion worldwide in 2020.
With climate change, the costs attributed to coastal storms
will increase dramatically. At the same time, coastal habitats
such as wetlands and reefs are being lost rapidly. Some 20% of
the world’s mangroves were lost over the last four decades.
More than half of the Great Barrier Reef was degraded by
bleaching in 2020 alone. In California, we have lost more than
90% of our coastal marshes. -Written by Michael W. Beck, a research professor in
the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.
This weekend’s rain in Northern California, while welcome, did
little to address the dry conditions across our state. As the
state’s recent dismal snow survey showed, we are in for tough
times ahead. Less snow means lower reservoirs, less water in
our rivers and streams, and more groundwater pumping. And that
spells trouble, particularly for disadvantaged communities and
sensitive ecosystems, which have historically borne the brunt
of California drought in consequences like dry wells and salmon
die-offs.
No one will forget the intense challenges that 2020 brought us,
from record-breaking hurricanes and wildfires to a global
pandemic that devastated our economy and public health. As
Congress and the Biden administration look to help our country
rebuild and recover from these compounding crises, investing in
nature presents an opportunity to deliver multiple benefits for
communities, birds, and other wildlife. Audubon presents a new
suite of policy recommendations for making our communities and
wildlife more resilient to climate change, by putting our
wetlands, barrier islands, and other ecosystems to work.
Throughout California’s history, rivers have been diverted,
rerouted and contained by concrete. While these actions have
brought agriculture and communities to arid land, and reduced
large-scale flooding, it has also eliminated some of the
natural benefits provided by untamed rivers. Today, efforts are
underway to restore some of the natural riparian areas to the
benefit of both humans and wildlife.
The nearly 12,000-acre Oroville Wildlife Area (OWA) in Butte
County is a popular stopping place on the Pacific Flyway for
migrating and native birds. After the Oroville Dam was
completed in 1968, the Department of Water Resources (DWR)
contracted with the then California Department of Fish and Game
to operate the Oroville Wildlife Area for the preservation of
fish and wildlife habitat. The OWA also includes DWR’s
Thermalito Afterbay reservoir, a prime habitat for migrating
waterfowl as well as several different Endangered Species.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Virginia Madueño
to serve as a member of the Delta Stewardship Council (Council)
effective April 14, 2021. The compensation for this position is
$50,497.
Following a temporary delay in Colorado federal court, the
Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR)
will now take effect in Colorado on April 23, 2021. Under
the NWPR, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
Army Corps of Engineers will no longer require permits for
operations affecting certain categories of streams and wetland
areas previously subject to the Clean Water Act.
[A]s massive a challenge as wildfire presents … a different
climate crisis could rival it as a destroyer of the California
dream: sea level rise. … AB 67 addresses state
infrastructure. It would ensure that state agencies incorporate
sea level rise estimates in the development of roads, ports,
airports, water-treatment, desalination and power plants. In
particular, it seeks to advance “natural infrastructure” such
as restored estuaries, wetlands, dunes and sea grasses that
could generate thousands of new “blue” jobs while reducing the
impact of rising water at a lower cost than hardened structures
such as seawalls. -Written by David Helvarg, an author and founder
of Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation group.
A new proposal to drill for natural gas in the East Bay has
environmentalists up in arms, and not just because it’s a
polluting fossil fuel. It’s the location that has people really
upset. That’s because it’s in the Suisun Marsh, the largest
marshland on the West Coast, a highly protected natural habitat
for migratory birds, fish and wildlife. … A dozen
environmental and community groups have submitted a letter
opposing a plan by Brentwood-based Sunset Explorations to build
an acre pad on private property in the marsh and drill an
exploratory gas well there.
