Felta Creek The logging plan known as Fox Meadows includes critical sections of Felta Creek, known as the last refugia for Coho Salmon. This property was purchased by a land developer for investment purposes and had many previous violations with local jurisdictions. A group formed, Friends of Felta Creek, that elicited help from Forest Unlimited, […]
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Enforceable transparency and analysis to replace years of failure to comply with existing water quality and flow standards. SACRAMENTO, California — Three California environmental nonprofits secured a landmark settlement agreement with the California State Water Resources Control Board to uphold the common law Public Trust Doctrine and other legal protections for imperiled fish species in […]
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I am a ghost of coho salmons past, once born and raised in Dutch Bill Creek, below Occidental. My last reported sighting there was in the 1960’s. I speak for all salmon and wildlife species not able to attend your meetings. Do you realize that as public servants and supposed stewards of the Russian River […]
Read MoreCalifornia Appellate Court Upholds Water Board’s Broad Drought Response Authority California’s Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District recently upheld the State Water Resources Control Board’s temporary emergency drought response regulations–enacted in 2014-15–as well as related curtailment orders the Board issued to specific water users to implement those regulations. In doing so, the Water […]
Read MoreRyan Burns / Wednesday, May 13 @ 11:10 a.m. / News In a major development for both water rights and the environment on the North Coast, an unlikely coalition of five regional entities today filed a plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take over the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric facility that […]
Read MoreOfficial release from the Two-Basin Partnership Santa Rosa, Calif. – Today, five diverse entities jointly proposed an ambitious plan to advance restoration of Eel River fisheries while maintaining water security for Russian River basin water users. The Feasibility Study Report (Report) Project Plan was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the next […]
Read MoreGokce SencanSeptember 10, 2019 This is part of a series on issues facing California’s rivers. Water managers across the state face new and more extreme challenges as the climate warms—from balancing the sometimes conflicting needs of urban, agricultural, and environmental water users to reducing risks from fires, floods, and droughts. We talked to Grant Davis, general […]
Read MoreState forest management policy is a major factor in the loss of salmon populations and the potential recovery of salmon populations. And – as it turn out forest management is a large part of the long term problem or long term solution of the climate change issue. I think the voting population is ready for change. […]
Read MoreCarbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle, with devastating consequences, study finds. Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office July 8, 2019 In the brain, when neurons fire off electrical signals to their neighbors, this happens through an “all-or-none” response. The signal only happens once conditions in the cell breach a certain threshold. […]
Read MoreKevin Stark Monterey Bay — long considered an environmental success story—is now facing a new threat: tiny particles of plastic from single use drinking and food containers. And scientists are finding that it’s far worse than they suspected. The bay is a national marine sanctuary, a place where environmental protections and sustainable fishing have transformed […]
Read MoreThe EPA wants to reduce protections for headwater streams. Stand up for clean water today! Whether you fish or just simply understand the value of clean water, there is no law more important than the Clean Water Act. In 2015, the EPA developed a rule that affirmed Clean Water Act protections for “intermittent and ephemeral […]
Read MoreJanuary 28, 2019 Maven Breaking News From the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA): On Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, a coalition of environmental, fishing, and Native American groups led by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) filed suit against the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board). Plaintiffs demand that the […]
Read MoreWhat does it mean for the rest of life on Earth? (Excerpt from New York Times Magazine)Brooke Jarvis, November 27, 2018 In 2013, Krefeld entomologists confirmed that the total number of insects caught in one nature reserve was nearly 80 percent lower than the same spot in 1989. They had sampled other sites, analyzed old […]
Read MoreNovember 6, 2018, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Sixty-nine pharmaceutical compounds have been detected in stream insects, some at concentrations that may threaten animals that feed on them, such as trout and platypus. When these insects emerge as flying adults, they can pass drugs to spiders, birds, bats, and other streamside foragers. These findings by an […]
Read MoreCourt Rejects Claim That SGMA “Displaces” Public Trust’s Application to California Groundwater RICHARD FRANK, August 29, 2018 The California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District has issued an important decision declaring that California’s powerful public trust doctrine applies to at least some of the state’s overtaxed groundwater resources. The court’s opinion also rejects […]
Read MoreMark West Creek is one of five priority stream systems selected as part of the 2014 California Water Action Plan effort. The 59 square mile Mark West Creek HUC12 subwatershed, located within Sonoma County, is the second largest subwatershed in the Russian River basin. The creek supports several listed anadromous salmonid species including California Coastal […]
Read MoreTo All, The Senate passed AB 2975 by Assembly member Laura Friedman. This bill provides a mechanism for the state to include river segments in its wild and scenic river system, should the Trump administration remove them from the federal system. If you can nudge the Governor so sign this, please do it. Thanks to […]
Read MoreFelta Creek Threatened By Aggressive Logging Plan [Note: A court hearing on this logging case will be heard Friday, August 17th at 3 pm in Rm 18, Empire Collge Annex, 3035 Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa, CA. The public is invited to view the Hearing but seating is limited.] As wild Coho salmon have disappeared in […]
Read MoreBy Rosanna Xia Natural protectors are threatened along coast. Blame rising seas and humans, study says. Hundreds of species would be threatened; floods would worsen. On one side, there’s the rising ocean. On the other, rising buildings. Squeezed between the two are California’s salt marshes, a unique ecosystem filled with pickleweed and cordgrass, shorebirds and […]
Read MoreBy Jacques Leslie (from LA Times Opinion Page, April 2018) Spurned dam projects are called vampires because they so often rise from the dead. The term perfectly fits two hoary, misguided proposals under consideration in California as a result of passage of Proposition 1, the 2014 bond measure that set aside $2.7 billion for new […]
Read MoreBy Brian Hines Special to The Sacramento Bee March 28, 2018 When I was ten, I taught myself how to fish in California’s redwood-lined Russian River, once a world-renowned wild steelhead rainbow trout sport fishery. Today, as a veteran trout and salmon sport angler I see how climate change threatens our wild trout and salmon […]
Read MoreL.A. Times Editorial: Environmental consequences aside, it would seem to make a certain amount of sense to dam a river in order to store and distribute water where and when it is most needed. But what if there’s no river? Or more to the point, what if every river that can be dammed already has […]
Read MoreBy Jacques Leslie Spurned dam projects are called vampires because they so often rise from the dead. The term perfectly fits two hoary, misguided proposals under consideration in California as a result of passage of Proposition 1, the 2014 bond measure that set aside $2.7 billion for new water storage. In May, the California Water […]
Read MoreAreas Of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) Version 3: A California Department Of Fish And Wildlife Conservation Analysis Tool All of state’s salt marshes are at risk of vanishing. Natural protectors are threatened along coast. Blame rising seas and humans, study says. Hundreds of species would be threatened; floods would worsen. By Rosanna Xia On one side, […]
Read MoreAB 2889 I have submitted a letter to the Natural Resources Committee (attached) and added sections from the Forest Practice Act (the proposed leg. language makes the review team (interagency review process noted in the Act and the Forest Practice Rules)) process + plus public comment and Calfire review impossible). After re-reading #5 in the […]
Read MorePRESENTED BY MELANIE GOGOL-PROKURAT: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) project is a non-regulatory tool that brings together the best available map-based data in California to depict biodiversity, significant habitats, connectivity, climate change resilience, and other datasets for use in conservation planning. ACE compiles and analyzes information from […]
Read MoreCelebrate Wild & Scenic Rivers @ River Rally 2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. Join us for these meetings, keynotes, and workshops. River Rally Apr 29-May 2, 2018 Learn more Wild & Scenic Rivers Pre-Meeting River Rally this year will include a focus on the Wild and Scenic Rivers […]
Read Moreby Waterkeeper Alliance Feb 14 2018 Conservation groups filed a formal notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to consider harm to endangered species when adopting a rule that delays the effective date for the 2015 Clean Water Rule. That rule redefined which waterways […]
Read MoreBy Greg King, Siskiyou Land Conservancy After many years the California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has finally released a long awaited report that provides new and devastating data from the Smith River estuary: From 2013-15 state scientists found 17 highly toxic pesticides in surface waters of the lower Smith River. They also found at […]
Read MoreBy Rosanna Xia On one side, there’s the rising ocean. On the other, rising buildings. Squeezed between the two are California’s salt marshes, a unique ecosystem filled with pickleweed and cordgrass, shorebirds and many endangered species. Coastal wetlands such as Bolinas Lagoon in Marin County, the marshes along Morro Bay and the ecological preserve in Newport […]
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