California has pioneered some of the
toughest state environmental legislation to address environmental
issues. For example, laws focused attention on “instream uses” of
water to benefit fish and wildlife, recreation, water quality and
aesthetics. Among water-related issues, in general, are
climate change, toxic waste disposal, pollution and loss of
wildlife and habitat.
Also, the California Legislature was the first in the country to
protect rare plants and animals through passage of the California
Endangered Species Act in 1970.
With the summer tourism season on the horizon, a bipartisan
group of Western Slope state lawmakers is warning of “serious
risk” to Colorado’s public lands if U.S. Forest Service cuts
aren’t reversed. In an April 2 letter to United States
Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers
called for thousands of recently-fired Forest Service staff to
be rehired. … The letter states that mountain snowpack
runoff — the majority of which flows from national forest lands
on Colorado’s Western Slope — supplies three-quarters
of the water supply for the state’s four major river
systems. “The surface water from these national
forestlands supports drinking water needs, agriculture,
industrial uses, recreation, and habitat for aquatic life
throughout the West,” the letter states. “The potential is
great for national forest management to positively or
negatively influence the reliability of these water supplies,
both in quantity and quality.”
The Tijuana River has been plagued with raw sewage and
industrial waste from Tijuana for decades, fouling beaches
along the U.S.-Mexico border with polluted water and sending
foul odors drifting through communities in San Diego County. On
Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers ranked the
Tijuana River No. 2 on its annual list of the nation’s most
endangered rivers, up from No. 9 on the list last year. The
group said it elevated the river on the list, right behind the
first-ranked Mississippi River, to bring greater attention to
the waterway’s chronic pollution problems and the lack of
action to clean it up. Activists with another group, Surfrider
Foundation, are also circulating a petition calling for
President Trump to declare a national emergency to expedite
efforts to curb the flow of untreated sewage and clean up the
river.
Inland waters like rivers, lakes, streams and reservoirs need
oxygen to survive, just like we do, but oxygen levels have
dropped dramatically since 1900, researchers warn. The reason?
Human behavior. That’s according to researchers of the
Netherlands’ Utrecht University in their study, published
Friday in the journal Science Advances. “More farming, more
wastewater, more dams, and a warmer climate — they all change
how our freshwater ecosystems function,” said one of the
paper’s lead authors, Junjie Wang, in a written statement.
Co-author Jack Middelburg, added, “We found that the main
causes lay in these direct human activities. First, it turns
out that nutrient input through, for example,
over-fertilization, is a major driver of this acceleration.
Secondly, the longer travel time of freshwater to the sea
through the construction of dams and reservoirs has proven to
be just as important.” The results of this oxygen depletion are
already being felt around the globe, in the form of dying fish,
disrupted food chains and poor water quality.
California’s national forests are on the chopping block —
literally — in the wake of the Trump administration’s April 5
order to immediately expand timber production in the United
States. Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins
issued an emergency declaration that ordered the U.S. Forest
Service to open up some 112.5 million acres of national
forestland to logging. The announcement included a grainy map
of affected forests, which did not specify forest names or the
amount of impacted acreage in each. However, U.S. Department of
Agriculture officials have confirmed to The Times that the
order will touch all 18 of the Golden State’s national forests,
which collectively span more than 20 million acres.
What’s described as a major restoration project in Humboldt
County’s Eel River delta area will restore tidal marshes and
create a new public trail. Restoration of a 795-acre area of
the Eel River estuary gained permitting from the Humboldt
County Planning Commission at its April 3 meeting. Under a
partnership including the CalTrout non-profit conservation
group and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
complex project encompasses and surrounds the estuary’s
Cannibal Island area. It includes deepening 5,000 linear feet
of existing dikes, replacing failed culverts that separate
tidal habitat areas and re-connecting 500 acres of former marsh
habitat to tidal action. Also included are construction of
“inter-tidal lagoons” and a 6,000 linear-foot earthen levee
with two gated culverts to shield agricultural lands from tidal
intrusion.
After more than ten years of meticulous planning and
collaboration among local landowners, government officials,
tribes and environmental scientists, the Redwood Creek Esturary
Restoration Project is finally gaining momentum. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and Humboldt County officials will host a
public meeting at the Orick Community Hall at 4 p.m. on
Wednesday to discuss next steps for the estuary restoration
project, which aims to revitalize critical habitat for
threatened and endangered salmonid species in Redwood Creek.
… The restoration project would undo decades of
ecological degradation caused by the earthen levee system that
runs through the heart of Orick. Originally designed to control
flooding along the lower 3.4 miles of Redwood Creek, the levees
have “reduced the size, complexity, and ecological function of
the estuary,” according to the project’s description.
Southern California’s wildfire-ravaged national forests soon
could fall under the ax, literally. An emergency order issued
by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on
Friday, April 4, directs federal personnel to increase timber
quotas by 25% on nearly 113 million acres of national forests
across the nation. A map accompanying the order with areas
targeted by the declaration shows large swaths of California,
including northern woodlands and what appear to be the Angeles,
San Bernardino, Los Padres and Cleveland national
forests. … National forests were originally created
beginning in 1891 as reserves to protect watersheds and
forests for drinking water and timber supply, after heavy
overlogging threatened both. Under the updated 1976
National Forest Management Act, the forest service’s
multi-pronged mission is to protect watersheds, timber stands
and healthy wildlife populations.
Nearly 60 years ago, a self-described “awkward” teenager from
Sacramento, California, named Mark Dubois, met the most
powerful teacher of his life–the Stanislaus River. Mark’s
relationship with the river and the influence of river
defenders worldwide would ultimately help inspire the founding
of International Rivers and galvanize a global movement to
protect and celebrate our planet’s vital arteries and veins and
challenge what Dubios refers to as “outdated neocolonial
development models.” … Mark slowly got involved in efforts
to save the Stanislaus. By 1973, he joined Jerry Meral, David
Kay, and the public relations team Roanoke to form Friends of
the River (FOR) to speak for the river and oppose the project.
For Mark, his deep love affair with the life of the river was
teaching him about the antiquated paradigm behind large-scale
development that only values nature when it’s extracted and
converted into a commodity.
An appeals court on Thursday will hear arguments on Kern River
water diversions, which have killed thousands of fish and
drained the once flowing waterway in Bakersfield. The 5th
District Court of Appeals will consider whether to uphold a
preliminary injunction sought by a coalition of environmental
groups to stop the city of Bakersfield and agricultural water
storage districts from diversions that significantly reduce
river flow. … (A)n appeals court issued a stay on the
injunction, after agricultural water districts appealed. In
October state Attorney General Rob Bonta intervened in the
lawsuit, siding with environmentalists in challenging the
diversions. Thursday’s hearing will determine whether to
restore the injunction and allow Kern River water to flow once
again.
After nearly a century of people building dams on most of the
world’s major rivers, artificial reservoirs now represent an
immense freshwater footprint across the landscape. Yet, these
reservoirs are understudied and overlooked for their fisheries
production and management potential, indicates a study from the
University of California, Davis. The study, published
in the journal Scientific Reports, estimates that U.S.
reservoirs hold 3.5 billion kilograms (7.7 billion pounds) of
fish. Properly managed, these existing reservoir ecosystems
could play major roles in food security and fisheries
conservation.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
Tiny pieces of plastic waste shed
from food wrappers, grocery bags, clothing, cigarette butts,
tires and paint are invading the environment and every facet of
daily life. Researchers know the plastic particles have even made
it into municipal water supplies, but very little data exists
about the scope of microplastic contamination in drinking
water.
After years of planning, California this year is embarking on a
first-of-its-kind data-gathering mission to illuminate how
prevalent microplastics are in the state’s largest drinking water
sources and help regulators determine whether they are a public
health threat.
Algal blooms are sudden overgrowths
of algae. Their occurrence is increasing in California’s
rivers, creeks and lakes and along the coast, threatening the
lives of people, pets and fisheries.
Only a few types of algae can produce poisons, but even nontoxic
blooms hurt the environment and local economies. When masses
of algae die, the decaying can deplete oxygen in the water to the
point of causing devastating fish kills.
Excess salinity poses a growing
threat to food production, drinking water quality and public
health. Salts increase the cost of urban drinking water and
wastewater treatment, which are paid for by residents and
businesses. Increasing salinity is likely the largest long-term
chronic water quality impairment to surface and groundwater in California’s Central
Valley.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
Stretching 450 miles long and up to
50 miles wide, the Sierra Nevada makes up more than a quarter of
California’s land area and forms its largest watersheds,
providing more than half of the state’s developed water supply to
residents, agriculture and other businesses.*
The California Environmental Quality
Act, commonly known as CEQA, is foundational to the state’s
environmental protection efforts. The law requires proposed
developments with the potential for “significant” impacts on the
physical environment to undergo an environmental review.
Since its passage in 1970, CEQA (based on the National
Environmental Policy Act) has served as a model for
similar legislation in other states.
This issue of Western Water examines that process. Much
of the information is drawn from discussions that occurred at the
November 2005 Selenium Summit sponsored by the Foundation and the
California Department of Water Resources. At that summit, a
variety of experts presented findings and the latest activities
from areas where selenium is of primary interest.
