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.
… The California Wildlife Conservation Board, a state agency
dedicated to protecting California’s biological diversity, has
approved $59.5 million in grant funding to preserve nearly
23,000 acres of some of the state’s most ecologically
significant habitats, a May 23 news release from the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife shows. … For instance,
the beleaguered Salton Sea, which is at risk
of drying out and releasing toxic dust if left unattended, will
receive $5.2 million in funding to restore over 560 acres of
crucial wetland habitat. … One of the more significant
awards is a $14.75 million grant to acquire nearly 6,500 acres
of land in Ventura County home to at least 20 special-status
species, including the California red-legged frog and the
Southern California steelhead.
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) has approved $59.5
million in grants to support 25 habitat protection and
restoration projects in 21 counties across California. Awarded
at WCB’s May 22 meeting, the projects will safeguard nearly
23,000 acres of the state’s most ecologically important
landscapes. Among the awards is a $14.75 million grant to
the Trust for Public Land(opens in new tab) (TPL) to acquire
approximately 6,475 acres near the city of Ventura. Known as
Rancho Cañada Larga, the land features coastal sage scrub,
native grasslands, oak woodlands, chaparral and riparian
habitats that support at least 20 special-status wildlife
species and eight rare plant species. The site provides
critical habitat for the California red-legged frog and
Southern California steelhead, and lies within the year-round
range of the California condor.
Water began flowing from a pipe onto hundreds of acres of dry,
sunbaked lake bed as California officials filled a complex of
shallow ponds near the south shore of the Salton Sea in an
effort to create wetlands that will provide habitat for fish
and birds, and help control lung-damaging dust around the
shrinking lake. The project represents the state’s largest
effort to date to address the environmental problems plaguing
the Salton Sea, which has been steadily retreating and leaving
growing stretches of dusty lake bottom exposed to the desert
winds. … The habitat area in Imperial County is being
filled with water after an adjacent area called East Pond
received its first water in April. In the coming weeks, state
officials said the flooding of these sections will bring to
fruition the first 2,000 acres of the Species Conservation
Habitat Project, a central effort in California’s plan for
improving conditions at the state’s largest lake.
The California Tahoe Conservancy let the public tour its latest
restoration project at the former Motel 6 property in South
Lake Tahoe Wednesday. According to the group, the portion of
the Truckee River underneath the Motel 6 is the missing link
between miles of marshland that feeds into Lake Tahoe,
providing critical wetland habitat among other environmental
benefits. “These wetlands provide a lot of really important
functions. One of those is protecting and improving water
quality by providing natural filtration,” Senior Environmental
Scientist at the California Tahoe Conservancy Stuart Roll said.
In addition to helping keep Tahoe blue, the marshland habitat
is home to several ecosystems and wildlife. “Lots of species
use these wetland, and so restoring them and improving them
really helps biodiversity and ecosystems in Lake Tahoe,” Roll
said.
The call of American bullfrogs was deafening when scientists
from the University of California, Davis, first began
researching the impact of invasive bullfrogs on native
northwestern pond turtles at Yosemite National Park. … But
the ponds of Yosemite sound different today, with a chorus of
native species making themselves heard. The researchers’ study,
published in the May issue of the journal Biological
Conservation, found that as the park was depopulated of
bullfrogs, northwestern pond turtles began to return. The study
suggests that removing invasive bullfrogs may be necessary in
priority conservation areas to help pond turtle populations
recover.
After a less successful attempt in 2012, the Imperial
Irrigation District found triumph for its Community Climate
Action Day, as the agency partnered with a coalition of state
and national groups to improve the climate around the Shank
Alamo Wetlands located east of Brawley. The goal to plant
hundreds of native plants that would benefit the overall
conditions of the wetland was easily attained as the expected
number of around 40 volunteers was surpassed, with more than
double the amount of expected volunteers turning out to make a
change on Saturday, May 17. … The Shank Alamo Wetlands
help avoid flooding and create biodiversity for the local
ecosystem, but they also serve as a crucial part of keeping the
Salton Sea clean, as the wetland treats
drainage water that runs into it.
City leaders face difficult tradeoffs as they navigate budget
decisions. City tax revenue must cover essential services and
infrastructure needs. At the same time, city government aims to
fulfill legal obligations and environmental responsibilities,
all while respecting the will of voters. Increasing Mission
Bay’s vanishing wetlands uniquely meets all these criteria and
constraints, using funds already earmarked by voters
specifically for this purpose. San Diego voters passed
Proposition C (2008) and Measure J (2016) creating a clear
roadmap for Mission Bay Park Improvement Funds. Binding
priorities in the City Charter Section 55.2 direct
taxpayer investments first toward navigable waterways, then
environmental restoration and protection, and last to deferred
maintenance projects. These dedicated funds cannot be diverted
to address any other citywide needs, no matter how
pressing. –Written by Jim Peugh, a founding member of the ReWild
Coalition and conservation co-chair of the San Diego Bird
Alliance, and Nan Renner, Ph.D., the senior director of
strategic partnerships at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution
of Oceanography.
Volunteers planted 1,000 native plants at the Shank Alamo
Wetlands east of Brawley during Community Climate Action Day on
Saturday, May 17. According to event organizers, the native
species will improve water quality, prevent erosion, and treat
drainage water flowing into the Alamo River and eventually the
Salton Sea. A coalition of state and national
groups supported the event, including the Imperial Irrigation
District, Keep California Beautiful, and the California Climate
Action Corps. Robert Schettler, public information officer for
the IID, said Boy Scouts, high school students, and local
families volunteered to help get the plants in the ground. He
said the turnout was larger than expected, with nearly 80
volunteers digging holes and planting 800 bulrushes and 200
cattails. The starter plants will grow over time and clean the
water as it passes through the channels, Schettler said. “When
you provide the Salton Sea with cleaner water, of course it’s
better,” he said.
A new paper in Science of the Total Environment, co‑authored by
researchers from several USGS Mission Areas and Centers,
including the California Water Science Center, finds
fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides at every sampling site
across five Sacramento Valley wildlife refuges. Because levels
stayed high even far from crops, scientists are probing what
this means for pollinators. … Even though National
Wildlife Refuges are designed to protect biodiversity, this
study shows they are not immune to pollution. The findings
highlight the need for stronger efforts to manage pesticide
use, both inside and outside protected areas, to ensure the
health of these important ecosystems.
A Long Beach oil field will soon be restored to roughly 156
acres of public wetlands. City leaders and oil operators came
together Thursday at the groundbreaking ceremony on the Synergy
Oil Field, where privately owned oil operations have been
ongoing for over 60 years. “We are shutting down an oil field
that’s been here since the late 20’s and we are doing a
complete wetlands restoration project, to about 156 acres,”
John McKeown, CEO, Synergy Oil & Gas said … with
publicly accessible wetlands, walking trails, habitat
restoration, and a nature center focused on environmental
education. … It’s part of a broader effort to restore
the Los Cerritos Wetlands. Another 103 acres are set to be
restored through the Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration
Project in Seal Beach—led by the Los Cerritos Wetlands
Authority.
… Assembly Bill 697 by Lori Wilson, a Democrat from the
Fairfield area, would allow state highway officials to
potentially harm three protected bird species and endangered
mice as workers add new lanes to a stretch of Highway 37 to
wine country. … The 21-mile highway connects Interstate
80 in Vallejo in Solano County to Highway 101 in Novato in
Marin County along the north San Pablo Bay. It cuts though some
of the state’s last remaining salt marshes,
which are threatened by sea level rise. … Wilson’s
measure would, during construction, waive certain protections
under the California Endangered Species Act for the endangered
salt marsh harvest mouse, as well as for three protected birds:
the California clapper rail, the California black rail and the
white-tailed kite.
As the Trump administration fast-tracks fossil fuel projects
through wetlands and federal waters, it is withholding
information about how projects are being evaluated and whether
environmental reviews are being done, according to a new
lawsuit. The Center for Biological Diversity hopes to force the
Army Corps of Engineers to release records about a new
emergency permitting process that the group says could allow
pipelines and other projects to sidestep environmental laws.
The process — which the group contends is illegal in and of
itself — was established following President Donald Trump’s
Jan. 20 declaration of an “energy emergency.” The
environmental nonprofit submitted a Freedom of Information
Request to the Army Corps on March 4 seeking information on
permits applying for fast approval, the lawsuit states.
The return of fully planted rice crops to the Sacramento Valley
following years of drought has restored another essential
feature of the region. After harvest, reservoirs replenished by
last year’s historic storms enabled farmers to flood more of
their fields this winter, creating wetland habitat for
migrating waterfowl. … Today, around 300,000 acres of the
valley’s rice paddies are flooded each winter to provide food
and shelter for 7 million ducks and geese, according to the
California Rice Commission. More than 200 species of wildlife,
including threatened species such as Sandhill Cranes, rely on
the fields. Especially over the past decade, state and federal
programs have been developed to incentivize winter flooding,
defraying some of the cost, and rice farmers have embraced
their role in wildlife conservation.
A new but little-known change in
California law designating aquifers as “natural infrastructure”
promises to unleash a flood of public funding for projects that
increase the state’s supply of groundwater.
The change is buried in a sweeping state budget-related law,
enacted in July, that also makes it easier for property owners
and water managers to divert floodwater for storage underground.
It was exactly the sort of deluge
California groundwater agencies have been counting on to
replenish their overworked aquifers.
The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential Pacific storms
to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the Sierra Nevada at
a near-record pace while runoff from the foothills gushed into
the Central Valley, swelling rivers over their banks and filling
seasonal creeks for the first time in half a decade.
Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in one of the
state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an opportunity to
capture stormwater and bank it underground. Enterprising agencies
diverted water from rushing rivers and creeks into manmade
recharge basins or intentionally flooded orchards and farmland.
Others snagged temporary permits from the state to pull from
streams they ordinarily couldn’t touch.
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 the
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 Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
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
waterbirds, and stretches from Alaska in the north
to Patagonia in 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, 95 percent of historic
wetlands have been lost, yet the Central Valley hosts some of the
world’s largest populations of wintering birds.
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.
