Wildlife & Endangered Species

Some water districts would like to keep negotiating with state officials over river flows. But lawsuits replaced settlements as the most likely path forward, the day after a crucial vote in Sacramento approving the “water grab.”

Related Article:

• San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco, other cities consider lawsuits to head off water restrictions

​Related News Releases:

• California State Water Resources Control Board: State Water Board adopts Bay-Delta Plan Update for the Lower San Joaquin River and Southern Delta
• California Department of Water Resources: State agencies outline comprehensive plan to improve river flows for fisheries

The Trump administration signaled its support Wednesday for Rep. Jared Huffman’s controversial bill to extend the leases of several historic Point Reyes National Seashore ranches. Huffman, D-San Rafael, said with the end of the congressional session looming, the Senate’s intent may be to adopt an end-of-year public lands legislative package in which his bill could be included.

It may be the holiday season at the mall, but it’s spawning season on the American River. The fish ladder at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened in early November, and salmon will continue to climb it until mid-December.

California fish and game commissioners are poised to decide Wednesday on a proposal that would extend the closure on recreational abalone fishing another two years to give the ailing species more time to recover from a near-total collapse on the North Coast. The vote would extend until April 2021 an existing closure approved a year ago in the wake of a sharp, multi-year decline in the popular fishery, with no signs of a rebound, a key state official said Tuesday.

The Trump administration is poised to roll back Clean Water Act protections on millions of acres of waterways and wetlands, including up to two-thirds of California’s inland streams, following through on a promise to agriculture interests and real estate developers to rewrite an Obama-era rule limiting pollution.

Related Articles:

• Associated Press: Trump administration proposing major rollback of water rules
• The New York Times: Trump prepares to unveil a vast reworking of clean water protections

Over the next week and a half, the federal government will make its quarterly offering of public lands for sale to oil and gas developers. Absent from the auction block: more than 1 million acres that the Bureau of Land Management pulled from its December sales after a federal judge temporarily blocked the agency from streamlining the leasing process in sage grouse areas (Greenwire, Oct. 24).

Related Article:

• High Country News: More plans, less protections for sage grouse

After more than a three-week delay, commercial crab fishermen will begin dropping their nets this Saturday in coastal waters from Bodega Head north to the Sonoma-Mendocino county line. The region was slated to open Nov. 15 but was postponed due to unsafe levels of toxic domoic acid found in crabs. Points south of the Sonoma County coastline opened on schedule last month.

The Trump administration moved forward Thursday with plans to ease restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling and other activities across millions of acres in the American West that were put in place to protect an imperiled bird species. Land management documents released by the U.S. Interior Department show the administration intends to open more public lands to leasing and allow waivers for drilling to encroach into the habitat of greater sage grouse.

The Northern California Water Association (NCWA) applauds Lundberg Family Farms as the recent recipient of the prestigious Leopold Conservation Award as described below. The award is a valued testament to Lundberg Family Farms and many other leaders in the Sacramento Valley who live and embody the spirit of Aldo Leopold with their land ethic and numerous efforts for conservation, including the improvement of fish and wildlife. Bryce Lundberg is the Chairman of the NCWA Board of Directors. He joins several other NCWA Board members who have previously received the award, including Montna Farms and Mary and Jim Richert.