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.
It’s no accident that both the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the California Institute of Technology claim the
beaver (Castor canadensis) as their mascots. Renowned
engineers, beavers seem able to dam any stream, building
structures with logs and mud that can flood large areas. As
climate change causes extreme storms in some areas and intense
drought in others, scientists are finding that beavers’
small-scale natural interventions are valuable. In dry areas,
beaver ponds restore moisture to the soil; in wet zones, their
dams and ponds can help to slow floodwaters.
California State Route 37, the major throughway that bridges
the divide between Highway 101 and Interstate 80 and serves
thousands of drivers daily in the North Bay, is in dire
straits. A recent dispatch from the California
Department of Transportation warns that nearly the entire route
— spanning Novato to Vallejo — could be “permanently submerged”
as soon as 2040 by increasing weather crises and rising sea
levels caused by climate change. Its proximity to the San
Pablo Bay makes this route especially vulnerable.
Dry conditions in California are traditionally a benefit for
construction companies looking to continue work through the
winter season. This year, however, drought-stricken California
received desperately needed rains and snowfall … in abundance.
That’s good news for the state, not so good for our crews
looking to continue work on the Natomas Reach B project.
December storms dropped so much water, that areas of Reach B’s
construction site have been turned into not just puddles, but
mini-lakes …
Sixth-generation rice grower Jeff Gallagher is perpetually
surrounded by birds on the Sutter County farm that has been in
his family since 1872. The soundtrack of his life is the din
caused by the itinerant visitors—nasal honks of wild geese,
hisses of sandhill cranes and other bird chatter at his
4,000-acre ranch in Rio Oso, a rice-farming region north of
Sacramento. … Gallagher is doing his part to preserve it
by enlisting in a new program to flood rice fields for
wildlife. It is designed to protect bird habitat in
California’s Central Valley over the next 10 years.
Carson Jeffres is a senior researcher and lab director at UC
Davis’s Center for Watershed Sciences. For over 20 years, he’s
studied how native fish utilize and benefit from restored
habitats in both Brazil and California. His current research
focuses on the recovery of salmon populations in California. We
asked him to update us about the effort to save this iconic,
embattled fish.
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.
The Biden administration last week quietly and abruptly
announced that developers can no longer rely on decisions made
under a high-profile Trump-era Clean Water Act rule about which
waters are federally protected to obtain new permits. Legal
experts say the move could have far-reaching effects throughout
the building, mining and agricultural sectors. At issue is a
Jan. 5 post on the Army Corps of Engineers website explaining
the agency will “not rely on” an approved “jurisdictional
determination” issued under the Trump-era Navigable Waters
Protection Rule “in making a new permit decision.”
The plan for the Newman Community Conservation Area, south of
Newman, is moving forward, with city officials preparing to bid
out some projects and search for funding on others. The Newman
Community Conservation Area is planned for city-owned property
that is north of Brazo Road and east of Canal School Road in
Merced County. The vision for the property includes wetlands
and a nature park with hiking trails. The plan has four key
components for the property. The first area will be a 21-acre
wetland complex that will be used to treat storm run-off from
the city and surrounding ag lands.
In a major victory for one of the Bay Area’s preeminent
developers, a state appeals court has struck down an
environmental challenge to plans to build 469 large houses near
the edge of Newark’s wetlands, clearing a path for the
controversial development to go forward. Though the project
area could see flooding in the coming decades because of
projected rising sea levels, and will remove some habitat of
the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse, the Newark City
Council approved The Sobrato Organization’s plans in November
2019, over the objections of some residents and environmental
groups, who called the development “illogical and
irresponsible.”
A creek rises at my doorstep. My driveway is a spillway washed
by surf I’ve never heard. An estuary of the Pacific Ocean flows
between the basketball courts and the picnic shelter in my
neighborhood park. Where I live is seven miles from the coast,
but the sea laps its streets unseen. The Los Angeles County
Flood Control District manages the network of catch basins,
laterals, conduits and channels that puts my doorstep one step
away from the open ocean. The network is for stormwater, but it
also carries the daily runoff from more than 2,000 square miles
of watershed.
The Northern California Water Association (NCWA) Board of
Directors on January 5 adopted our Strategic Planning and 2022
Priorities. On behalf of the water leaders in this region, we
look forward to working with our many partners in 2022 to
cultivate a shared vision for a vibrant way of life in the
Sacramento River Basin. We will continue to re-imagine our
water system in the Sacramento River Basin as we work to
harmonize our water priorities with state, federal, and other
regions’ priorities and to advance ridgetop to river mouth
water management and our collective goal of ensuring
greater water and climate resilience throughout California for
our communities, the economy, and the environment.
The city of Santa Cruz is planning to start a multi-million
dollar flood control project. It will address the area of the
San Lorenzo River that flows into the main beach by the
boardwalk. The project will help relieve constant flooding in
that area when it rains. The flooding can be dangerous for
people visiting the main beach and a nuisance. … The
problem with the flooding started several years ago.
A California district court has sided with the city of Newark
and developer The Sobrato Organization in a lawsuit filed by
environmental groups who challenged a plan to build hundreds of
two-story tract homes along fragile wetlands in Alameda County.
Environmentalists said the dwellings would be built in a
federal flood zone and could succumb to rising seas in coming
decades, arguing that the project’s environmental review was
inadequate.
As 2021 was shaping into the most challenging water year in
recent history—with the driest and hottest conditions anyone
could remember–water resources managers in the Sacramento
Valley developed a “roadmap” in May, outlining plans to
maximize habitat for fish in wildlife with the minimal water
resources that were available. At that time, water
managers in every part of the Valley knew they were going to
see substantial reductions in their water supplies and they
were developing and implementing drought plans to manage the
limited supplies available.
The Coast Guard contractor hired to clean up the diesel spill
caused by a houseboat that sank in the Backwaters area of
Suisun City has completed the work. … What remaining diesel
fuel that may have escaped the immediate spill area, the Coast
Guard reported, should have fully dissipated by Monday or
Tuesday. Bob Ritchie, who is one of the closest neighbors to
the site, said he thinks it will likely be more like months
before it all goes away. He said parts of his property are
still coated with fuel.
The Central Valley is known for oil and agriculture, but it’s
also a desired destination for more than 100 million birds.
That is because the wetlands that were here decades ago have
made this area part of their migration pattern. Because of city
growth, and climate change wetlands have almost all
disappeared, but could there be a solution now that several
state organizations are working to protect these bird habitats.
It absorbs carbon. It reduces emissions on dairy farms. It can
be used as food, fuel and fertilizer. It requires nothing but
seawater and sunlight to grow. Seaweed has become a symbol of
hope in mitigating climate change, and at least a half dozen
companies are actively trying to farm it in California. They
aim to be part of what’s called the blue economy, a movement to
use the ocean’s resources in a sustainable, if not
regenerative, way. But getting a permit to set up a seaweed
farm in state waters involves navigating a permitting process
that can take many years and cost many thousands of dollars.
By October 2017, a handful of desert residents — including
two Mecca high school students — were so fed
up with a dearth of government progress on efforts to
save the shrinking Salton Sea that they took matters into their
own hands. They tried to hand-shovel a ditch to keep water
flowing from the dwindling lake into the once beautiful harbor
in front of the North Shore Yacht Club. “We figured we
could keep water in there for another six months at least,”
said Tom Sephton, a longtime Brawley resident and local
businessman, who like many is captivated by California’s
largest water body.
On Oct. 29, the waters of the Suisun Bay breached the levee
along the northern shoreline of Martinez and flowed into the
Pacheco Marsh. The breach was the culmination of a process that
took 18 years, $24 million in funds, and dirt. Lots of dirt.
… Like the Pacheco Marsh, many of the Bay Area’s coastal
wetlands are degraded after decades of dredging, draining and
construction activity. As sea levels rise, restoring them could
be a long-term solution to build resilience against flooding,
but acquiring enough sediment is proving to be an issue for
some restoration teams.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating a major
restoration project on the shore of Upper Klamath Lake that
could benefit species both above and below the water’s surface.
If carried out, it would be the largest wetland restoration
effort ever attempted for Upper Klamath Lake …
[and] would reconnect and restore more than 14,000 acres
of historic fringe wetlands back to the lake.
Healthy coastal wetlands can help combat climate change by
absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
and storing it for the long term. Coastal wetlands also provide
habitat for fish and other wildlife, reduce erosion and coastal
flooding, improve water quality, and support recreational uses.
Giving 1,200-pound cows access to one of the West’s most
fragile and biologically rich ecosystems seems a strange way to
protect its threatened and endangered species. But a recently
published study suggests that reintroducing low to moderate
levels of cattle grazing around vernal pools – under certain
conditions – leads to a greater number and greater variety of
native plants.
A pair of agencies are teaming up to begin the largest invasive
plant removal project at Lake Tahoe, officials announced
Wednesday. The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management
Unit, in partnership with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency,
are planning to remove 17 acres of invasive plants in the
Taylor and Tallac creeks and marshes as part of a comprehensive
restoration of one of the last natural wetlands in the Lake
Tahoe Basin. Left unchecked, aquatic invasive plants can have
devastating effects on Tahoe’s ecosystem and recreational
resources.
To protect biodiversity, advance equitable access to nature and
combat climate change, the California Natural Resources Agency
(CNRA) today released California’s draft strategy to conserve
30 percent of the state’s land and coastal waters by 2030
(30×30). The draft of Pathways to 30×30: Accelerating
Conservation of California’s Nature is now available for public
review and feedback. Input is welcomed through January 28,
2022.
Reclamation District 2035 and the Conaway Preservation Group
are proposing a project to improve and optimize flood plain
rearing habitat, salmonid food production and permanent wetland
restoration for Sacramento Valley salmonids. The project would
involve nearly 5,775-acres of the Conaway Ranch in the Yolo
Bypass, as seen below looking south down the Sacramento Valley,
with the Tule Canal at left of photo.
An ongoing species conservation habitat project at the Salton
Sea’s southwestern shore is serving as a reminder that the
sea’s restoration remains a key priority for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
So, too, is a tour that dozens of state, federal and local
stakeholders took of the project site where the New River
enters the Salton Sea several miles west of Westmorland on
Friday, Dec. 10. Among those present was California Natural
Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who said the tour was
an acknowledgement of the ambitious Salton Sea Management
Program’s progress and the overall work that remains to be
done.
Climate change is unfolding as a water supply crisis in the
Colorado River Basin. Competition over water is on the rise,
but I hold out hope that these extraordinary conditions will
actually increase opportunities for stakeholders whose
interests have historically been set aside. … I’ve spent
decades working in the basin to improve water management,
looking for alignment between solutions for birds and other
wildlife and solutions for people.
Almost immediately after Joe Biden’s U.S. EPA administrator
appointee Michael Regan took office, it was made clear that the
agency intends to repeal and replace the Trump administration’s
version of the Waters Of The United States (WOTUS) rule. This
rule seeks to determine which source water bodies receive
federal protection under the Clean Water Act. Trump’s version
of the rule was itself a replacement of an Obama era version,
and now it appears that Biden’s team is close to bringing it
back to its definition from before either of those eras.
Historically, the entire Central Valley of California was a
floodplain. In winter and spring, storm runoff and snowmelt
would spill over riverbanks, creating vast biologically
productive wetlands where aquatic life flourished. This
incredible productivity supported a huge fishery in the Central
Valley, where we once had one of the largest runs of Chinook in
the world. However, as modern day California was developed, the
Central Valley’s waterways were re-engineered and channelized
to control the floods and divert water for human uses.
Today, only 5% of Central Valley floodplains remain intact
and three of the four native Chinook salmon runs are listed as
threatened or endangered.
Land and waterway managers labored
hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly
rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their
water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing
some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore
the state’s major floodplains.
Biologists have designed a variety
of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the
benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking
studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon
smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their
river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because
the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment
on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth
and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.
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.
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.
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.
Out of sight and out of mind to most
people, the Salton Sea in California’s far southeast corner has
challenged policymakers and local agencies alike to save the
desert lake from becoming a fetid, hyper-saline water body
inhospitable to wildlife and surrounded by clouds of choking
dust.
The sea’s problems stretch beyond its boundaries in Imperial and
Riverside counties and threaten to undermine multistate
management of the Colorado River. A 2019 Drought Contingency Plan for the
Lower Colorado River Basin was briefly stalled when the Imperial
Irrigation District, holding the river’s largest water
allocation, balked at participating in the plan because, the
district said, it ignored the problems of the Salton Sea.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was
appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the
United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees
myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to
sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado
River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other
rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be
named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the
commission’s 129-year history.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
Deep, throaty cadenced calls —
sounding like an off-key bassoon — echo over the grasslands,
farmers’ fields and wetlands starting in late September of each
year. They mark the annual return of sandhill cranes to the
Cosumnes River Preserve,
46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento on the edge of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
Along the banks of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Oakley, about 50 miles southwest
of Sacramento, is a park that harkens back to the days when the
Delta lured Native Americans, Spanish explorers, French fur
trappers, and later farmers to its abundant wildlife and rich
soil.
That historical Delta was an enormous marsh linked to the two
freshwater rivers entering from the north and south, and tidal
flows coming from the San Francisco Bay. After the Gold Rush,
settlers began building levees and farms, changing the landscape
and altering the habitat.
As vital as the Colorado River is to the United States and
Mexico, so is the ongoing process by which the two countries
develop unique agreements to better manage the river and balance
future competing needs.
The prospect is challenging. The river is over allocated as urban
areas and farmers seek to stretch every drop of their respective
supplies. Since a historic treaty between the two countries was
signed in 1944, the United States and Mexico have periodically
added a series of arrangements to the treaty called minutes that
aim to strengthen the binational ties while addressing important
water supply, water quality and environmental concerns.
This 28-page report describes the watersheds of the Sierra Nevada
region and details their importance to California’s overall water
picture. It describes the region’s issues and challenges,
including healthy forests, catastrophic fire, recreational
impacts, climate change, development and land use.
The report also discusses the importance of protecting and
restoring watersheds in order to retain water quality and enhance
quantity. Examples and case studies are included.
This 30-minute documentary, produced in 2011, explores the past,
present and future of flood management in California’s Central
Valley. It features stories from residents who have experienced
the devastating effects of a California flood firsthand.
Interviews with long-time Central Valley water experts from
California Department of Water Resources (FloodSAFE), U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood
Management Program and environmental groups are featured as they
discuss current efforts to improve the state’s 150-year old flood
protection system and develop a sustainable, integrated, holistic
flood management plan for the Central Valley.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how
non-native invasive animals can alter the natural ecosystem,
leading to the demise of native animals. “Unwelcome Visitors”
features photos and information on four such species – including
the zerbra mussel – and explains the environmental and economic
threats posed by these species.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
The Pacific Flyway is one of four
major North American migration routes for birds, especially
waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through
California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow
ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual
north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites
such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In
California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.
In the Central Valley, wetlands—partly or seasonally saturated
land that supports aquatic life and distinct ecosystems— provide
critical habitat for a variety of wildlife.
This printed issue of Western Water examines how the various
stakeholders have begun working together to meet the planning
challenges for the Colorado River Basin, including agreements
with Mexico, increased use of conservation and water marketing,
and the goal of accomplishing binational environmental
restoration and water-sharing programs.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the Colorado River
Delta, its ecological significance and the lengths to which
international, state and local efforts are targeted and achieving
environmental restoration while recognizing the needs of the
entire river’s many users.
