To All, Paso Robles has been dealing with heavy water issues also as many of you know. National Geographic is filming a great story of their area right now. Financiers/vulture capitalists have been buying up vineyards for the water rights, wine grapes are just the window dressing, and selling it back to the residents. The […]
Read MoreCategory: Streams and Wetlands Impacts
State Supreme Court to review challenge to North Coast railroad project
By Will Houston Posted: 05/01/17 The California Supreme Court is set to hear two cases Wednesday that challenge the state-operated North Coast Railroad Authority’s stance that federal laws preempt it from having to conduct an environmental review on its project to restore a railway stretching from Arcata to Napa County. “They say federal law supercedes the […]
Read MoreEPA to use 2 rulemakings to repeal and replace WOTUS (Waters of the US Rule)
Ariel Wittenberg, E&E News reporter Greenwire: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 U.S. EPA reportedly plans to replace the Clean Water Rule with two separate rulemakings, one to repeal the regulation and another to set a new standard. Photo by Ricardo Mar, courtesy of Flickr. U.S. EPA plans to repeal and replace the Clean Water Rule with two […]
Read MoreMy Comments Regarding Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Threat
To All, I submitted these comments using the link provided in the previous posting on the threat to the Cascasde-Siskiyou National Monument. In this time of Climate Change (many scientists would characterize this as Climate Crises and Global crises), we need to protect forests for its watersheds, fish, and air quality. This benefits agriculture and […]
Read MoreRussian River Estuary/Low Flow Meeting, May 15, Monte Rio
Hi River Lovers! There is a very important meeting this Monday night (May 15th) on the Estuary Project at the Monte Rio Community Center from 6 pm to 7:30. Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) will give updates on their studies. Supervisor Hopkins will also be there and the meeting will include time for public comment. […]
Read MoreCascade-Siskiyou National Monument Threat and Action
Greetings to All, Just hours ago, the Trump Administration formally started their process to gut protection for the spectacular Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Help us protect the Monument! For this Monument and every other of the 27 monuments under attack by Trump, please take action now. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is a gem of biodiversity at […]
Read MoreSupreme Court won’t pause Obama water rule case
BY TIMOTHY CAMA THE HILL – 04/03/17 10:22 AM EDT The Supreme Court will not pause a case concerning the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule in a rebuke to the Trump administration. The justices’ decision came on Monday with no explanation. The White House opposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers’ rule […]
Read MoreClean Water Act Protections
The Waters of the United States rule affects every tributary of every stream related to an external drainage system, including wetlands, in the whole US. I don’t see how EPA can roll it back — at least not without submitting the proposal to review it to public comment! The rule was created by EPA AND the Army […]
Read MoreCalifornia should take lead on wetlands protections
From SF Chonicle March 12, 2017 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Botanist, Rhiannon Korhummel, (left) and Biologist Stephanie Freed, with WRA Environmental Consultants assess the quality of the wetlands habitat neat the Sears Point Restoration site on the edge of San Pablo Bay in Novato, California on Tues. April 19, 2016. When the president made […]
Read MoreTHIS JUST IN … NASA Report: San Joaquin Valley Land Continues to Sink
From the Department of Water Resources: New NASA radar satellite maps prepared for the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) show that land continues to sink rapidly in certain areas of the San Joaquin Valley, putting state and federal aqueducts and flood control structures at risk of damage. “The rates of San Joaquin Valley subsidence […]
Read MoreCalifornia should take lead on wetlands protections
San Francisco Chronicle March 12, 2017 When the president made good on a key campaign promise Tuesday to roll back federal environmental rules on wetlands, cheers went up across farmlands. The acronym meant little to city dwellers, but the promise to “repeal WOTUS” — a staple at Trump rallies — had secured much of the rural vote […]
Read MoreGoing to Pot
EUREKA, California—Mark Harris banks the Cessna 182 over the blue expanse of Humboldt Bay and flies toward the redwood-studded hills beyond, to the now-quiet battlefields of the California timber wars. It’s a flashback moment. Twenty-one years ago, Harris, then a ponytailed young attorney, took me, then a long-haired young reporter, up in Thumper, as he […]
Read MorePot Bad, Wine Good
by Will Parrish, June 10, 2015 Let’s begin with some Q&A. In the 1990s, runaway cultivation of a mind-altering cash crop led to a spate of illegal surface water diversions from the streams and springs that feed the Russian River, as well as directly from the river itself. The Russian was home to more illegal […]
Read MoreDelta Doozy: Delta Water Won’t Meet CWA Standards Post-Waterfix
25 January 2017 Discussions about California water supplies have too often become fact-free discourses that fail to advance an informed discussion. The State Water Contractors’ “Delta Doozy” series was launched in order to distinguish the facts from the fiction and promote constructive dialogue. Today’s Doozy comes in response to Restore the Delta’s statement regarding Governor […]
Read MoreHeadwaters of Smith River Protected
Message from KS Wild Cheers to wild rivers! Today, we are extremely excited to announce that Public Land Order 7859 was signed by Obama officials protecting the headwaters of the Smith and Illinois Rivers and Hunter Creek for 20 years from the threat of industrial strip mining! We could not have done it without your outstanding support by […]
Read MoreREACTIONS to Secretary Jewell’s secretarial order directing federal actions on Cal Water Fix and the drought
January 5, 2017 Maven Yesterday, Secretary Jewell issued a Secretarial order, directing a number of things, including directing federal fish agencies to finish their work on the biological opinions for the California Water Fix by March of this year. From Congressman John Garamendi: “This is an outrageous attempt by the Secretary of the Interior to […]
Read MoreBay Delta Conservation Plan Comment
From Restore the Delta: Today, the Delta Tunnels Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) was released online. As we mentioned yesterday, this document is not a green light for the Delta Tunnels but rather should be understood as the submission of homework by sponsoring agencies (California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) […]
Read MoreToo little water for salmon in state board’s proposal
By Paul Johnson December 9, 2016 Updated: December 11, 2016 I’ve been selling wild king salmon to some of the Bay Area’s most noted restaurants and home cooks for almost 40 years — when our local king (chinook) salmon are in season, my clients clamor for it. So I was happily surprised when, in mid-September, […]
Read MoreSF Bay Ecosystem Collapsing as Rivers Diverted, Scientists Report
By Carolyn Lochhead October 7, 2016 Updated: October 8, 2016 7:03am WASHINGTON — Evidence of what scientists are calling the planet’s Sixth Mass Extinction is appearing in San Francisco Bay and its estuary, the largest on the Pacific Coast of North and South America, according to a major new study. So little water is flowing […]
Read MoreRe: Russian River Biological Opinion and RR Low Flow DEIR
All— The Biological Opinion was based on NMFS views (ratified by Cal Fish & Wildlife) of how to substitute fish-rearing habitat to compensate for all the human-imposed changes to the Russian River, (apparently, in my view) without having to face off with any landowners in the tributaries OR along the main stem (except for the […]
Read MoreRe: More on Russian River Fish Flow Project and Biologic Opinion
To be added to my previous musings on this subject Another aspect of this issue – that I had been recently pondering – related to the ISRP findings. They ISRP noted that,in part due to incision (the hungry water thing) in the mainstem RR – that many of the tribs are disconected from the mainstem […]
Read MoreRe: Russian River Fish Flow Project and Biologic Opinion
Given this issues raised in the short discussion (below) there are policy implications that may (or should ) be applied to Russian River proposed low flow management (and the Biologic Opinion) First: The Biologic Opinion and proposed low flow scenario were not privy to the findings of the ISRP. They findings should be amended into […]
Read MoreBackground on Russian River Fish Flow Project Proposed
To All, Here is some background on the Russian River Fish Flow Project that includes the Biological Opinion on the lower Russian River that focused on the estuary near the mouth for salmonid development. Need for the Proposed Project Coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead were once abundant in the Russian River watershed. Today, coho […]
Read MoreDiscussion on Biological Opinion/Low Flow Study on Russian River
Hi All— The Biological Opinion was based on NMFS views (ratified by Cal Fish & Wildlife) of how to substitute fish-rearing habitat to compensate for all the human-imposed changes to the Russian River, (apparently, in my view) without having to face off with any landowners in the tributaries OR along the main stem (except for […]
Read MoreStream Condition Databases
Hi Everyone, Just sending word that the stream temperature database and scenarios for the Central Valley & remaining parts of California are now available on the NorWeST website (http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NorWeST.html). Also attached to this email is a poster showing the statewide stream thermalscape that’s now been interpolated from data at 2,663 sites that were contributed by […]
Read MoreThe Key to Halting Damage to 36,000 Miles Of U.S. Waterways Annually
To All, This is a message from Karen of Clean Water Network that should be of interest to River Watch members and supporters. Larry Exposed Soil = Pollution The Key to Halting Damage to 36,000 Miles Of U.S. Waterways Annually Hello CWN members, I’m Richard Klein. I’ve been helping folks throughout the U.S. win sediment […]
Read MoreAction: Klamath National Forest Give-Away to Logging Industry
To All, Call it “Christmas in May”; the Klamath National Forest is set to give a big gift to the logging industry at the expense of taxpayers, wildlife and watersheds. Take Action Now. The Klamath National Forest is offering to “sell” old-growth forests for logging in the Middle Creek and Whites timber sales for as […]
Read MoreCalifornia is Failing to Protect Water Quality in the San Francisco Bay-Delta
October 29, 2015 Kate Poole California is not just dragging its feet when it comes to updating and enforcing water quality standards for the beleaguered San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. Instead, the State appears to be up to its neck in cement, paralyzed in its ability to enforce and update critical water quality standards for the […]
Read MoreConservation Groups sue EPA over Bay Delta water quality and salmon
April 23, 2016, Maven From the NRDC: Conservation groups filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today – on Earth Day – for failing to protect water quality in the San Francisco Bay-Delta under the Clean Water Act. This failure could result in several native fish species going extinct, toxic algal blooms becoming […]
Read MoreWild and harnessed, Eel River a vital, troubled North Coast watershed
GUY KOVNER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | April 10, 2016 The roar of water cascading over a 109-year-old concrete dam on the Eel River in Mendocino County was music to Janet Pauli. “It should be a welcome sound for everybody on the North Coast,” said the longtime Potter Valley rancher, watching the river run down a […]
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