The California Legislature was the first in the country to
protect rare plants and animals through passage of the California
Endangered Species Act (CESA) in 1970, Congress followed suit in
1973 by passing the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The federal ESA aims to, “protect and recover imperiled species
and the ecosystems upon which they depend.”
The state ESA states that, “all native species of fishes,
amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, invertebrates, and plants,
and their habitats, threatened with extinction and those
experiencing a significant decline which, if not halted, would
lead to a threatened or endangered designation, will be protected
or preserved.”
Imperiled species are defined as follows: “Endangered” if it is
in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion
of its range and “threatened” if it is likely to become an
endangered species within the foreseeable future.”
The Sacramento Superior Court has ruled in favor of the State
Water Board’s 2018 Bay Delta Plan update, denying all 116
claims by petitioners. In December 2018, the State Water
Resources Control Plan adopted revised flow
objectives for the San Joaquin River and its three major
tributaries, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced rivers. The
new flow objectives provide for increased flows on the three
tributaries to help revive and protect native fall-run
migratory fish populations. The Board also adopted a revised
south Delta salinity objectives, increasing the level of
salinity allowed from April to August. Several petitions
were filed in several counties challenging the Board’s
action.
California environmental groups are urging a federal court to
intervene amid a “dramatic increase” in the deaths of
threatened steelhead trout at pumps operated by state and
federal water managers. Since Dec. 1, more than 4,000 wild and
hatchery-raised steelhead have been killed at pumps in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, according to public data
for the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley
Project. The agencies are now at about 90% of their combined
seasonal take limit, which refers to the amount of wild
steelhead permitted to be killed between January and March
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. A coalition of
environmental and fishing groups — including the Golden State
Salmon Assn., the Bay Institute and Defenders of Wildlife — are
involved in ongoing litigation that seeks to challenge current
federal operating plans in the delta, an estuary at the heart
of the state’s water supply.
A dozen tire companies are asking a California federal judge to
toss a suit claiming a rubber additive is harming protected
salmon, arguing that the litigation stretches the Endangered
Species Act “beyond its breaking point” and that regulation of
the substance belongs with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, not in courts.
Giant sequoia trees, imported to the UK 160 years ago, are
flourishing despite the dramatically different climate to their
native California, a new study has found. The huge trees, which
are declining in numbers in California due to increasing heat,
are now adapting well to the UK’s climate and growing taller, a
study conducted by UCL researchers says. “The growth here
in the UK seems to be suited to our wetter climate, so there’s
far less chance of water stress here than in the Sierras in
California,” lead author of the study and professor of
geogrpahy, Mat Disney, told The Independent.
This month, several wildlife conservation groups petitioned the
California Fish and Game Commission to list these owls as
endangered or threatened under the California Endangered
Species Act. … [Chair of the environmental studies department
at San Jose State University Lynne] Trulio’s speciality is
urban species, and she’s contributed to the research that
underpins Santa Clara County’s habitat conservation plan on
burrowing owls. But before that she was also the lead scientist
for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, one of
the largest tidal wetland restoration projects on the West
Coast. “One of the things that drove the effort was the
fact that there were endangered species” in wetlands, said
Trulio. She said it took years to change the perception of the
wetlands as a dumping ground and to get a ballot measure to
fund its preservation.
On March 6, a coalition of environmental and fishing groups
reiterated their request that a federal court modify federal
agencies’ proposed interim plan for operating the federal
Central Valley Project (CVP), in coordination with the State
Water Project (SWP), to protect fish species listed under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California Endangered Species
Act (CESA). That coalition includes the Pacific Coast
Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the Golden State Salmon
Association, The Bay Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, and
Natural Resources Defense Council. Coinciding with that filing
has been a recent dramatic increase of protected steelhead
dying at the projects’ water pumps. The CVP and SWP are
still largely operating under rules written in 2019 under the
leadership of, among others, Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the powerful Westlands Water
District.
The State Water Resources Control Board received a letter from
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)
submitting instream flow recommendations to inform a long-term
flow-setting process to support anadromous salmonids and
year-round ecological stream function on Mill, Deer, and
Antelope Creeks. Mill, Deer, and Antelope Creeks are
tributaries to the Sacramento River and provide aquatic habitat
for several native fish species including Chinook salmon
(spring-run, fall-run, and late fall-run), Steelhead, and
Pacific Lamprey. Additional information will be forthcoming on
the next steps in considering the recommendations. Additional
information related to this matter can be found on the Mill,
Deer, and Antelope Creeks – Flow Recommendations webpage.
Kevin Guadalupe walked along the banks of the stream as Montana
Stevens, outfitted in snorkel gear, popped his head out of the
water to report how many fish he’d seen. “Two adults, two
juveniles,” … Both were among the group of surveyors from
several different agencies who recently snorkeled while inching
forward in essentially a flat crawl in the warm, shallow
streams and springs that comprise the headwaters of the Muddy
River, about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas near
Moapa. The count showed that the population of the fish,
which only exists in these waters — about six miles worth of
streams and springs in the Southern Nevada desert — appears to
be stable and similar to the numbers over the past few years.
On a late autumn day, a team of forestry workers spreads out
among the burned trunks of giant sequoia trees. The
1,000-year-old trees in the grove are dead but still standing,
killed in an extreme wildfire that raced through Sequoia and
Kings Canyon National Parks. In the shadow of one of the trees,
the crew gets to work, pulling tiny, 4-inch seedlings out of
bags clipped to their belts and tucking them into the dirt.
… Over only two years, about one-fifth of all giant
sequoias have been killed in extreme wildfires in California.
The numbers shocked ecologists, since the enormous trees can
live more than 2,000 years and have evolved to live with
frequent, low-intensity fires in the Sierra Nevada. Recent
fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are
accustomed to, a result of the way humans have changed the
forest.
A rare frog that is California’s state amphibian and likely the
species featured in a famous Mark Twain short story is thriving
in its new Napa County home. The Land Trust of Napa County’s
Wragg Ridge preserve near Lake Berryessa has ponds well-suited
for the California red-legged frog, but as of two years ago, no
known frog population. Today, there are frogs by the
hundreds. The Land Trust worked with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to bring frogs to the ponds.
Salmon face many perils during their migration to the ocean,
including disease, entrainment, degraded water quality, and
predation. However, predation has been the factor that has
generated the most interest and debate. FISHBIO has been
conducting a research program focused on fish species that prey
on other fish in the Stanislaus River to understand how
predatory fishes may affect juvenile salmon migration.
… The most frequently encountered predators were the
non-native striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and black bass
(multiple species in the genus Micropterus), and the
native Sacramento pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus grandis). Analysis
of their diet contents revealed that the non-native basses
consumed native fish species such as fall-run Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus
tridentatus) at significantly higher frequencies than native
predators …
For the sixth year in a row, no Delta smelt were collected in
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater
Trawl (FMWT) Survey in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
from September through December 2023. Once the most abundant
species in the entire estuary, the Delta smelt has declined to
the point that it has become virtually extinct in the wild. The
2 to 3-inch fish, found only in the Delta, is an “indicator
species” that shows the relative health of the San Francisco
Bay/Delta ecosystem. When no Delta smelt are found in six
years of a survey that has been conducted since 1967, the
estuary is in a serious ecological crisis. The Delta smelt
is listed as “endangered” under both the federal Endangered
Species Act and the California Endangered Species Act.
The evidence is undeniable: Southern California steelhead
teeter on the brink of extinction. Southern steelhead serve as
crucial indicators of watershed health and river ecosystem
integrity. These fish play a role within the ecosystem that
you, your family, neighbors, and friends are also a part of. If
one piece of the ecosystem changes or disappears this ripples
throughout the rest of the ecosystem affecting every other
species – plant, animal, and human. Historically,
Southern steelhead thrived, with tens of thousands of them
swimming through Southern California rivers and streams. Today,
it’s rare to see them in double digits. Their dwindling numbers
stem from habitat loss, fragmentation, and the encroachment of
urbanization. We must act urgently to prevent the
irreversible loss of this species.
A new state-level plan to protect salmon is underway, and it
might benefit Marin County’s fish. The “California Salmon
Strategy” was released by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 30. It
lists six priorities and 71 actions to build healthier,
stronger salmon populations throughout the state in the age of
climate change-induced drought and heat. The six goals are
removing barriers and modernizing infrastructure; restoring and
expanding habitat suited for spawning and rearing; protecting
water flows and quality at times essential to salmon;
modernizing salmon hatcheries; transforming technology and
management systems for climate adaptability; and strengthening
partnerships with local groups.
Now is the time to raise your voice to protect an iconic native
species from extinction! The evidence is undeniable: Southern
California steelhead teeter on the brink of extinction.
Southern steelhead serve as crucial indicators of watershed
health and river ecosystem integrity. These fish play a role
within the ecosystem that you, your family, neighbors, and
friends are also a part of. If one piece of the ecosystem
changes or disappears this ripples throughout the rest of the
ecosystem affecting every other species – plant, animal, and
human. Historically, Southern steelhead thrived, with
tens of thousands of them swimming through Southern California
rivers and streams. Today, it’s rare to see them in double
digits.
[Former golfing grounds in northern California] haven’t been
doused with pesticides or rodenticides since 2018, which was
when this 157-acre stretch of land stopped being the San
Geronimo Golf Course, and began a journey toward becoming wild,
or at least wilder, once again. A small number of shuttered
golf courses around the country have been bought by land
trusts, municipalities and nonprofit groups and transformed
into nature preserves, parks and wetlands. … The
restoration of the San Geronimo land is still underway.
Floodplains will be reconnected, and a fish
barrier has been removed, allowing access to more robust
migratory and breeding grounds for endangered coho salmon and
threatened steelhead trout. Trails are planned that would skirt
sensitive habitat, making the land a publicly accessible
ecological life raft, starkly different from its time as a golf
course.
Conservationists are calling a recent decision by the Nevada
Supreme Court updating the state’s water law a significant
victory because the ruling paves the way for the state to
restrict groundwater pumping if it will affect other users and
wildlife. The court’s decision last month gives the state’s top
water official the authority to regulate how underground
supplies are distributed. The ruling, a blow to stalled plans
for the Coyote Springs master-planned community north of Las
Vegas, enhances the survival for an endangered species of fish
native only to natural springs in the area. The Center for
Biological Diversity was a respondent in the case to protect
the Moapa dace, a rare fish that only resides in the warm
springs of the upper Muddy River and earned endangered status
in 1967.
A project to move water from the Sacramento region down to
Southern California was recently approved by the California
Department of Water Resources (DWR). The $16 billion Delta
Conveyance Project is causing major controversy around
environmental concerns. This is a very complex issue,
Californians are in need of water all over the state. But with
a project like the delta tunnel, environmentalists say the 50
species of fish in the delta are at risk as well as the
wildlife and people who depend on the fish.
With the Russian River’s Coho salmon at risk, Sonoma County and
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) are
drafting new rules to protect our salmon. Get involved in the
upcoming meetings to support this cause. In Sonoma County, a
concerted effort is underway to secure the future of
California’s salmon, with a broad invitation extended to all
interested parties. The CDFW is set to host an essential
virtual meeting on Mar. 1 at 10 a.m., focusing on the state of
salmon populations and the strategies required for their
survival. … The Russian River and its tributaries in
Sonoma County are pivotal for the survival of the endangered
Coho salmon. Initiatives like the North Coast Salmon Project
are at the forefront of efforts to counteract the species’
decline, addressing major challenges such as habitat
degradation and water diversion.
Over the past decade and a half, a persistent collection of
petitioners has pressed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service) to list the Bay-Delta population of longfin smelt
under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The longfin
smelt spawns in freshwater tributaries that feed the Bay,
including lower portions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers
Delta. Although the scarcity of longfin smelt in surveys that
record pelagic fishes in the Bay and Delta is readily explained
— the surveys poorly sample the habitats of longfin smelt
during its two-year rearing period and do not at all sample its
spawning habitat — data from those surveys have been used to
support the notion that the longfin smelt population is greatly
imperiled and may be verging toward extinction. Other data and
analyses undercut this notion.
Federal water managers proposed a new plan to protect native
fish species in the Grand Canyon, but conservation groups say
it doesn’t go far enough. … The Bureau of
Reclamation, the federal agency that manages the West’s dams
and reservoirs, released a draft plan for water
releases from [Glen Canyon Dam] in northern Arizona. It
proposed five new ways to manage releases from the dam in an
effort to keep native fish thriving in the Colorado River below
Lake Powell — four of which involve attempts to make the water
cooler and disrupt the spawning patterns of non-native fish.
While the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is working hard to
ensure the reliability of our water supply, the district is
facing potential state regulations that would have dire
negative impacts for agriculture, our community, fire
protection, wildlife and aquatic habitat. State recommended
regulations would affect NID operations and service, decreasing
water supply and raising the cost of water to all customers if
implemented. The California State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board) is working to update an action plan to
improve water quality and save imperiled fish populations,
including salmon and delta smelt, in the San Francisco
Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Bay-Delta). … If
adopted, this alternative would effectively negate NID’s
long-standing water rights to the Yuba and Bear River systems.
A cascading effect would ensure a significant decrease in the
amount of water NID has available for its customers while
negatively impacting all aspects of the district’s operational
and financial viability.
-Written by Rich Johansen, president of the
Nevada Irrigation District.
Dealing a blow to three of the world’s biggest agrochemical
companies, a US court this week banned three weedkillers widely
used in American agriculture, finding that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law in allowing them to be on
the market. The ruling is specific to three dicamba-based
weedkillers manufactured by Bayer, BASF and Syngenta, which
have been blamed for millions of acres of crop damage and harm
to endangered species and natural areas across the midwest and
south. … Dicamba is also prone to drifting on the wind
far from where it is applied. And it can move into drainage
ditches and bodies of water as runoff during rain
events. Monsanto, along with the chemical giant BASF,
introduced new formulations of dicamba herbicides they said
would not be as volatile, and they encouraged farmers to buy
Monsanto’s newly created dicamba-tolerant crops.
As California experiences hotter, drier temperatures due to
climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced the state’s
first strategy to protect and help restore salmon species to
reduce their risk of extinction. The California Salmon
Strategy, released last week, is a 37-page document that
outlines actions state agencies are already taking to stabilize
and recover salmon populations. It also maps out additional or
intensified actions needed in coming years. The document
identifies six priorities and 71 actions. The salmon strategy’s
priorities call for: removing barriers and modernizing
infrastructure for salmon migration; restoring habitat;
protecting water flows in key rivers at the right times;
modernizing hatcheries; transforming technology and management
systems; and strengthening partnerships.
It’s not like lampreys showed up yesterday. They’ve been around
in the water of our region for something like 350 million
years. But the eel-like fish have not gotten the attention of
the more glamorous fish, like, say, chinook salmon. California
scientists recently put some work into researching lampreys,
and found two distinct species–in California–that scientists
had not previously noted. It’s important because lamprey are so
important to ecosystems, that it really helps to know what’s
out there. Grace Auringer, a PhD candidate at the University of
California-Davis led the study team. She visits to further
illuminate the findings.
The Klamath River Basin was once one
of the world’s most ecologically magnificent regions, a watershed
teeming with salmon, migratory birds and wildlife that thrived
alongside Native American communities. The river flowed rapidly
from its headwaters in southern Oregon’s high deserts into Upper
Klamath Lake, collected snowmelt along a narrow gorge through the
Cascades, then raced downhill to the California coast in a misty,
redwood-lined finish.
In the vast labyrinth of the West
Coast’s largest freshwater tidal estuary, one native fish species
has never been so rare. Once uncountably numerous, the Delta
smelt was placed on state and federal endangered species lists in
1993, stopped appearing in most annual sampling surveys in 2016,
and is now, for all practical purposes, extinct in the wild. At
least, it was.
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.
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.
Voluntary agreements in California
have been touted as an innovative and flexible way to improve
environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
and the rivers that feed it. The goal is to provide river flows
and habitat for fish while still allowing enough water to be
diverted for farms and cities in a way that satisfies state
regulators.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
Water means life for all the Grand Canyon’s inhabitants, including the many varieties of insects that are a foundation of the ecosystem’s food web. But hydropower operations upstream on the Colorado River at Glen Canyon Dam, in Northern Arizona near the Utah border, disrupt the natural pace of insect reproduction as the river rises and falls, sometimes dramatically. Eggs deposited at the river’s edge are often left high and dry and their loss directly affects available food for endangered fish such as the humpback chub.
An hour’s drive north of Sacramento sits a picture-perfect valley hugging the eastern foothills of Northern California’s Coast Range, with golden hills framing grasslands mostly used for cattle grazing.
Back in the late 1800s, pioneer John Sites built his ranch there and a small township, now gone, bore his name. Today, the community of a handful of families and ranchers still maintains a proud heritage.
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.
Does California need to revamp the way in which water is dedicated to the environment to better protect fish and the ecosystem at large? In the hypersensitive world of California water, where differences over who gets what can result in epic legislative and legal battles, the idea sparks a combination of fear, uncertainty and promise.
Saying that the way California manages water for the environment “isn’t working for anyone,” the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shook things up late last year by proposing a redesigned regulatory system featuring what they described as water ecosystem plans and water budgets with allocations set aside for the environment.
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.
Butte Creek, a tributary of the
Sacramento River, begins less than 50 miles northeast of Chico,
California and is named after nearby volcanic plateaus or
“buttes.” The cold, clear waters of the 93-mile creek sustain the
largest naturally spawning wild population of spring-run chinook salmon in the Central Valley.
Several other native fish species are found in Butte Creek,
including Pacific lamprey and Sacramento pikeminnow.
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.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
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.
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.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
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 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as
the most thorough explanation of California water rights law
available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing
in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation
ditch through the complex web of California water rights.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
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 Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4
million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000
square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page
Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the
river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the
items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of
significant Colorado River events.
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 federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973,
following earlier legislation. The first, the Endangered
Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to
conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act
of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the
compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide
extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
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 issue of Western Water examines science –
the answers it can provide to help guide management decisions in
the Delta and the inherent uncertainty it holds that can make
moving forward such a tenuous task.
This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the
idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions
surrounding its cost, operation and governance
This printed copy of Western Water examines the native salmon and
trout dilemma – the extent of the crisis, its potential impact on
water deliveries and the lengths to which combined efforts can
help restore threatened and endangered species.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the
many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta
Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal
proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and
will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the
problems tied to the Delta.
In California and the West, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a
critical issue. Development and agricultural interests say the
law should not be used to unjustly block new projects, while
conservationists view the law as a major bulwark against the
destruction of vital habitat. In the water world, municipal and
agricultural interests say there is room to streamline the ESA’s
application to prevent undue interruption of water delivery.
Two events that transformed the West, population growth and the
dominance of agriculture, are inextricable parts of the battles
fought over its most vital resource, water. Throughout the 19th
century, as settlers sought to tame the rugged landscape,
momentum built behind the notion of a comprehensive, federally
financed waterworks plan that would provide the agrarian society
envisioned by Thomas Jefferson. The Reclamation Act of 1902,
which could arguably be described as a progression of the credo,
Manifest Destiny, transformed the West into an economic
powerhouse while putting an exclamation mark to the tide of
American migration.