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 calls to Clear Lake State Park come in steadily now from
people saying they’ve heard the lake may no longer be safe for
swimming…. It’s pretty clear why. A composite satellite image
produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s
Earth Observatory depicting a nasty-looking, solid green lake
has been circulated widely over the past two weeks, republished
by news agencies around the nation and posted all over social
media, to the chagrin of Lake County tourism interests.
Under a shaded refuge adjacent to a still pond in the Central
Valley, dozens of California State Parks officials and
nonprofit leaders assembled Wednesday to laud the first state
park to open in a decade. Among the beaming faces was
Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a community leader representing the tiny town
5 miles away that, thanks to the park’s debut, is being
transformed. If Merced is the “Gateway to Yosemite,”
then Grayson is the gateway to Dos Rios State Park.
The 1,600-acre property lies within the floodplains outside
Modesto and features the intersection of the San Joaquin and
Tuolumne rivers. The park’s proximity to Grayson
offers the town a sense of renewal. Dos Rios will lure visitors
off Interstate 5 and provide residents with a communal backyard
haven. Efforts to restore the floodplain have already shown
signs of success in protecting Grayson from disaster. The
town owes part of its livelihood to restoring the original
habitat and defending itself from flooding.
Less than a decade ago, the largest mid-elevation meadow at
Yosemite National Park, nestled in foothills near Hetch Hetchy
Reservoir, was privately owned rangeland. It was widely
trampled on by cattle, dried up and of little or no interest to
visitors. Today, the area is a whole different place. An $18
million makeover of what’s known as Ackerson Meadow, which was
recently acquired by the National Park Service, is transforming
this dusty tract on the park’s western edge into a vibrant hub
of wildflowers, songbirds and water-loving grasses — an effort
billed as the biggest restoration project in Yosemite history.
… The hope is that the revived meadow, like a
sponge, will hold more water for native plants, wildlife and
downstream communities that depend on the region for water
supplies.
The Colorado River and its tributaries—which support 40 million
people, sacred Tribal lands, a $1.4 trillion economy, more than
five million acres of farms and ranches, and thousands of
species of wildlife—are shrinking due to climate change and
overuse. Important habitats exist and have been
intentionally reestablished along more than 400 miles of the
Colorado River as it flows south of Hoover Dam. To raise
awareness of these gems in the desert that support 400 species
of birds, Audubon Southwest launched a visually-appealing
StoryMap website created by Elija Flores and myself called
Lower Colorado River Habitats: Exploring important habitats of
the Lower Colorado River and what they mean for birds and
people.
The Salton Sea is a terminal saltwater lake. It’s a flooded
basin with no natural outlet, similar to the Great Salt Lake or
the Aral Sea. And the Salton Sea is shrinking. One of the
reasons for that is the Imperial Water Transfer deal that has
brought hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water to San
Diego over the last two decades. The deal, signed 21 years ago,
meant the Imperial Valley began transferring excess water from
the valley’s farm fields to San Diego’s water taps. That meant
a lot less farm runoff that had been sustaining the Salton
Sea. San Diego State University economics professor Ryan
Abman said the biggest effects of that conservation plan were
seen about eight years into the agreement. “So really, after
2011, we see a noticeable increase in the rate of decline of
the water level and that leads to an increase in the increased
rate of playa exposure. So more of this dust-emitting surface
is being exposed every single year,” Abman said.
On Wednesday, June 12, the state of California officially opens
Dos Rios, the first new state park in more than a decade. It’s
a riparian forest restoration at the confluence of the San
Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers, in the Central Valley, about an
hour from San Jose—and the subject of Bay Nature’s Spring 2024
cover story, “The Everything Park,” by H.R. Smith. We dubbed
Dos Rios the Everything Park because a modern state park has an
astonishing number of jobs to do—among them groundwater
storage, wildlife habitat, and climate adaptation.
Californians can soon enjoy a new state park at the heart of
the Central Valley, the first in about a decade. The Dos Rios
preserve, about 90 minutes east of San Francisco, is a lush
floodplain filled with green grass, shrubs and native trees
like cottonwood, willows and valley oaks. Visitors can hike
through miles of trail beginning this Wednesday, June 12. The
park is located eight miles east of Modesto near the
convergence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers. Until about
a decade ago, Dos Rios was a dairy and cattle ranch owned by
farmers who grew tomatoes and almonds. But year after year,
floods swept through, damaging the crops. In 2012, the owners
sold all 1,600 acres to River Partners, an environmental
nonprofit dedicated to conservation.
California officials will formally open the state’s 281st state
park on Wednesday, and it’s an unusual one. Dos Rios is a
riverfront oasis in the San Joaquin Valley that offers a window
into what the region was like before it was transformed into an
agricultural powerhouse. The 1,600-acre property, eight miles
west of Modesto at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San
Joaquin Rivers, for decades housed dairy farms and almond
orchards. It has now been restored to a broad natural
floodplain, where visitors will be able to hike, watch birds
and other wildlife, and have a picnic along the riverbanks.
Officials hope to eventually add trails for bicycling and more
river access for swimming, angling and boating.
Firefighters are battling wildfires in Brazil’s Pantanal, the
world’s largest tropical wetland. The Pantanal is home to
jaguars, giant anteaters and giant river otters. Close to
32,000 hectares have already been destroyed by the fires in the
state of Mato Grosso do Sul, local media report. Climate
experts say this year’s wildfire season has started earlier and
is more intense than in previous years. Firefighters said their
efforts to extinguish the flames were being hampered by high
winds over the weekend. The region has also seen less rain than
in other years, which has made it easier for the fires to
spread.
The second phase of the San Dieguito Lagoon restoration reached
a significant milestone last week. On June 6, a collection of
SANDAG and Caltrans engineers and biologists gathered to
witness the active release of berm at the restoration project
site, opening up the saltwater marsh inlet to the tidal flow.
Rather than sending an epic torrent of water into the lagoon,
an excavator simply moved some dirt aside and the water slowly
began to trickle in. Kim Smith, SANDAG senior regional planner,
said while it may have appeared anticlimactic, it was an
incredibly exciting moment for staff to see on a project about
12 years in the making. … Water will flow through the
new inlet as the construction continues in its final months of
a three and a half year process, anticipated to be complete in
September. Eventually water will flow nearly all the way to El
Camino Real, stopping near the SDG&E utility corridor that
runs through the site.
One year after the U.S. Supreme Court removed federal
regulations protecting wetlands and streams from development
pressures in its Sackett v. the EPA decision, Colorado is the
first state in the nation to pass legislation replacing those
regulations, according to a new national report. The report, by
the Clean Water For All coalition and Lawyers for Good
Government, shows that eight other states have taken action to
restore some level of protection or are trying; five launched
failed attempts to impose further cutbacks; and one state,
Indiana, rolled back protections further. Thirty-five states
have taken no action. Environmentalists say the spotty response
is a clear indication that Congress must intervene to create
consistent, clearly defined protections that work for all
states, and which protect rivers and wetlands that cross state
boundaries.
Wetlands are the Earth’s largest natural source of methane — a
potent greenhouse gas roughly 30 times more powerful than
carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere — according to the
Department of Energy’s Larence Berkeley National
Laboratory. Methane is a key point of controversy
among dairy producers and the environmental justice community
given that dairy and livestock are responsible for over half of
California’s methane emissions, according to the California Air
Resources Board. However, a peer-reviewed paper
recently published by CABI Biological Sciences argues that the
state’s dairy sector can reach climate neutrality in the coming
years through aggressive methane mitigation which almost no
other sector can achieve.
There’s a new opportunity for private wetland owners to make
money from their land. The BirdReturns program pays wetland
owners to flood their land and provide habitat for birds in the
Central Valley. The program offers seasonal participation and
is currently accepting applications for fall participation.
Applications close on June 9. The program is funded
through a $15 million grant from the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife which will keep the program running through
2026. The program, “aims to fill in all the other gaps
throughout the rest of the year when, in the natural cycle,
there would be habitat for birds,” said Ashley Seufzer, senior
project coordinator for Audubon California. This is the
second year of the fall program. In the past, there have been
participating landowners in the San Joaquin Valley but the
number changes every season, said Seufzer.
City leaders in Los Angeles have announced plans to take a
limited amount of water from creeks that feed Mono Lake this
year, a step that environmentalists say will help build on a
recent rise in the lake’s level over the last year. The Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power said it plans to export
4,500 acre-feet of water from the Mono Basin during the current
runoff year, the same amount that was diverted the previous
year, and enough to supply about 18,000 households for a year.
Under the current rules, the city could take much more — up to
16,000 acre-feet this year. But environmental advocates had
recently urged Mayor Karen Bass not to increase water
diversions to help preserve recent gains and begin to boost the
long-depleted lake toward healthier levels. They praised the
decision by city leaders as an important step.
The Salton Sea is more than a district priority, and it is
disheartening to learn that many state officials view it as a
problem for only our local officials to solve. Over the next
few weeks Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Assembly and the Senate will
make crucial decisions about our state budget and a potential
Climate Resilience Bond. It is vital for them to understand
that protecting the Sea is a statewide priority. The Salton Sea
is surrounded by several unique and rapidly growing communities
across Riverside and Imperial counties, ranging in size from
231 residents in Bombay Beach to approximately 44,000 residents
in El Centro. All these communities face significant health
risks and environmental justice concerns related to the Salton
Sea and a number of other issues in the region. -Written by Dora Cecilia Armenta, who has lived with
her family of four in Salton City for 29 years. She is an
active community partner with Leadership Counsel for Justice
and Accountability; and Mariela Loera, the Eastern
Coachella Valley Regional Policy Manager with the Leadership
Counsel for Justice and Accountability.
… The vast majority of Tricolored Blackbirds spend their
whole lives in California. A handful breed in Oregon,
Washington, Nevada, and Baja California, and at least 20 of the
birds were spotted last year in Idaho. Most, however, nest in
the San Joaquin Valley, and many are known to breed a second
time in the early summer months—often 50 to 100 miles north in
the wetlands and willows of the Sacramento Valley. It’s here,
too, that the birds feed on rice in the fall. They often browse
the paddies alongside other blackbirds—including the very
similar Red-winged Blackbird—that farmers can legally cull as
pests. This has inevitably led to losses of Tricolors over the
years. Although the species’ native
nesting habitat has been almost entirely removed from
California, they’ve adapted with varying success to shifting
land use. Where vineyards and orchards have replaced grassland
and marsh, the blackbirds have mostly disappeared.
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, located in far Northern
California, harbors what remains of a once vast, shallow lake.
On a recent April morning, I toured the area with John
Vradenburg, supervisory fish and wildlife biologist for the
Klamath Basin Refuges. … The Klamath Basin National
Wildlife Refuges are a complex of six refuges straddling the
Oregon-California border — remnants of vast wetlands that once
expanded and contracted with the seasons, breathing an almost
unfathomable abundance of life into the dry region. A century
or so ago, flocks of geese and swans darkened the sky. There
were masses of white pelicans; hordes of grebes, ducks, and
ibises; eagles and hawks in profusion. On Lower Klamath Lake,
which sprawled nearly 100,000 acres, boats conveyed tourists
from the Klamath River to the lake’s southern tip.
We often talk about water infrastructure as it relates to
reservoirs, aqueducts, levees, and other means of water storage
and flood protection. But California’s water infrastructure
isn’t just made of concrete. Floodplain restoration is fast
becoming a key part of California’s water puzzle. Dos Rios
Ranch Preserve – near Modesto at the confluence of the Tuolumne
and San Joaquin Rivers – became Dos Rios Ranch State Park in
April, and officially opens to the public in June. It’s
California’s newest state park, and the first since 2014. It’s
what’s known as a multi-benefit project; Dos Rios supports
wildlife from fish to birds, is a place for recreation, and
also a place for floodwater to go during wet winters.
California is recognized as one of the world’s hotspots of
biodiversity, with more species of plants and animals than any
other state. And a significant number of the state’s species,
from frogs to birds, live in habitats that depend on
groundwater. … Spotting threats to vulnerable natural areas
has become a mission for Melissa Rohde, a hydrologist who has
spent years analyzing satellite data and water levels in wells
to come up with strategies for preventing ecosystems from being
left high and dry. … California is the only state with a
groundwater law that includes provisions intended to protect
groundwater-dependent ecosystems. But the law, adopted in 2014,
gives considerable leeway to local agencies in developing water
management plans that prevent “significant and unreasonable
adverse impacts.”
The Colorado River is flowing again in its delta. While this is
welcome news for birds and people, the long-term progress to
keep the Colorado River alive in Mexico with habitat
restoration and water deliveries depends on high stakes
negotiations currently underway. For the third time since
2021, the United States and Mexico are collaborating to deliver
water to improve conditions in the long-desiccated delta.
Environmental water deliveries began mid-March and will
continue into October …
Gina Solomon bought her house in part for what lies just
outside the back door. The property in [the] northern San
Rafael [community of Santa Venetia] includes a small private
dock extending out over marshland into Gallinas Creek, a
winding tidal slough that meets San Pablo Bay about a mile and
a half away. … But for Solomon and many of her
neighbors, Santa Venetia’s greatest asset is also its greatest
threat. All that protects her home and hundreds of others from
Gallinas Creek waters that rise and fall twice a day – and by
extension the whole of San Pablo Bay – is a short,
timber-reinforced earthen berm constructed in 1983. Already
well past its useful life and failing in numerous spots, the
berm is also increasingly threatened by storm surge and sea
level rise.
In recent years a few folks who pay attention to the wild
critters have been whispering of sighting beavers in the Eel
River of Humboldt County and even dams in a few tributaries. In
2015 we even posted about a local wildlife tracker finding
beaver footprints.
California has prided itself on its bold leadership on climate
change. In the past twenty years, it has made unprecedented
commitments and investments to reduce emissions and build
climate resilience. Unfortunately, amid a dire state budget
crisis, California leaders are struggling to ensure that the
state will continue its leadership in meeting the challenge of
climate change. Immediate and large-scale climate action is
essential to protect people and birds. Audubon’s Survival by
Degrees report found that 389 species of North American birds
are likely to see significant population declines due to
climate change if global temperature increased beyond 3 degrees
Celsius, which now seems almost unavoidable. As the world’s
fifth largest economy and a global leader on climate policy,
California’s climate action will have direct impacts on birds
and their habitats well beyond the state’s borders.
Pronounced “He La,” the Gila Rivers’ headwaters originate in
New Mexico, where it is a wild and scenic mountain river. The
path of the Gila settles into broad valleys as it enters
Arizona, providing water for rural towns and agriculture along
the way. The Gila’s flow is interrupted by Coolidge Dam and San
Carlos Reservoir on the San Carlos Indian Reservation west of
Safford, Arizona. Water from the reservoir is managed by the
San Carlos Irrigation District for communities, farms, and
ranches downstream. The Ashurst-Hayden and Florence diversion
dams in Pinal County send what remains of the Gila River water
to Central Arizona farms, after which the river is a dry
channel except when there are high flows from rain and snow
melt. The combination of dams, diversions, and
drought earned the Gila River the title of Most Endangered
River in 2019 from American Rivers, a nonprofit advocacy
organization.
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
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.
