March 21, 2016 by Victoria Brandon, Redwood Chapter Chair For many years one of Redwood Chapter’s top priorities has been the removal of four geriatric hydroelectric dams that are impeding fish passage and impairing water quality on the Klamath River, while sedimentation has reduced their capacity for electric generation. Retrofitting the dams to provide fish […]
Read MoreCategory: Streams and Wetlands Impacts
10th National Monitoring Conference
Please visit the 2016 National Monitoring Conference Website to view the draft conference agenda. The Conference-at-a-Glance and Concurrent Session Details, including speaker names and presentation titles, are available on the Agenda page for planning and registration purposes. This national forum is designed for all water stakeholders, including federal, state, tribal and local water professionals, non-profits, […]
Read MoreHow Predators Encourage and Protect Diversity
One of the big surprises to biologists when wolves were returned to Yellowstone National Park is that the fishing got better – a lot better. It turned out that the elk which liked to stand in the creeks prior to the return of the wolves would eat all of the willows and small plants along […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s Most Endangered Fish Having Worst Year Ever
by Chris Clarke January 27, 2016 The good news is we were wrong last summer. The Threatened Delta smelt isn’t extinct, or at least it wasn’t in mid-January when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife found some in the western Sacramento Delta. The bad news: CDFW’s mid-January trawls — referred to by the agency […]
Read MoreAttack on Clean Water Rule gets Vetoed!
So you know… The House of Representatives voted on S.J. Res. 22, a “Resolution of Disapproval” under the Congressional Review Act attacking the Clean Water Rule, the Obama administration’s landmark initiative to restore safeguards against pollution and destruction for lakes, streams, wetlands and other water bodies. Fortunately, President Obama vetoed it and opponents of the […]
Read MoreCA Assessment Strategy for Freshwater Algal Blooms
Speaker: Beverley Andersen-Abbs State Water Resources Control Board January 28th 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. CalEPA HQ Building, Training Room 2 East and West https://stateofcaswrcbweb.centurylinkccc.com/CenturylinkWeb/JarmaBennett If you have more question, please contact: · Dawit Tadesse at dawit.tadesse@waterboards.ca.gov or (916) 341-5486 · Michelle Tang at Michelle.Tang@waterboards.ca.gov or (916) 341-5504 Best, Greg
Read MoreEpigenomics: From Soil to People’ workshop, Jan. 9-13
To All, Dr. William Battaglin, US Geological Survey, will speak about ‘Glyphosate and other Contaminants of Concern in Water, Sediment, and Soil in the United States’ at the ‘ONE HEALTH Epigenomics: From Soil to People’ workshop at Plant & Animal Genome Conference, San Diego, January 9-13, 2016: https://pag.confex.com/pag/xxiv/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/21483 His presentation will be the highlight of […]
Read MoreMeasuring the effectiveness of ‘environmental flows’
November 18, 2015 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences Salmon spawning in Shasta River. Photo by Carson Jeffres, UC Davis By Ann Willis and Andrew Nichols In the early fall of 2012, an unusually large number of Chinook salmon were returning to the Klamath River, straddling the California-Oregon border. Many of those fish were expected […]
Read MoreDigging Deeper on Fish and Flows
The Fish Report November 9, 2015 Everyone knows that fish need water – but just how much water is often a subject of debate, especially when it comes to fish in California’s highly managed rivers. Many studies and management decisions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its tributaries have relied on research that found correlations […]
Read MoreFinally, a One-stop Shop for Locating California’s Fishes
November 8, 2015 by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences Introducing PISCES 2.0, an open-source software and data storage platform that uses primary source data, modeling and expert analysis to generate current and historical locations of California’s freshwater fishes. “Fish richness” is the number of different fish species in an area. Source: UC Davis Center […]
Read MoreForest for the Trees
Coastal redwoods battle heats up along the Gualala River BY WILL PARRISH The fight to save majestic coastal redwood groves in California has been waged for more than a century, starting with the campaign that created Big Basin State Park in 1902. In 1978, the Sierra Club dubbed its successful campaign to expand Redwood State […]
Read MoreA Real Halloween Horror Show: Jerry Brown’s Delta Death Tunnels
by Dan Bacher The real-life horror show of Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels Plan keeps revealing its deadly surprises as the public comment period for the California Water Fix draws to a close on Friday, October 30. Like an evil vampire that you just can’t seem to kill, the Delta-destroying tunnels plan keeps coming back. […]
Read MoreSAN FRANCISCO BAY AT RISK
Seven million Californians call the Bay Area home, with the iconic waters of San Francisco Bay making this one of the best places in the world to live. Now the Bay is at risk – and with it, the jobs, recreation and wildlife that depend on a healthy Bay. The threat is the “Twin Tunnels” […]
Read MoreLink to Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping/KiDar Program
Hi Folks, For those who do not get these updates from the Sonoma County Vegetation Mapping and LiDAR Program – I wanted to make sure you were aware of this program and the amazingly detailed data layers they are producing for everything from Lifeform distributions to Cropland maps. Enhanced Hydrologic Datasets and Impervious Surfaces all […]
Read MorePublic Hearing on Russian River Pathogens
To All, This is from the North Coast Regional Water Board. The public hearing scheduled for November 19, 2015, to consider adoption of the proposed Russian River Watershed Pathogen Indicator Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) has been postponed. Instead, at the public meeting to be held on November 19, 2015 at 5550 Skylane Blvd., […]
Read MorePublic Meetings on New Water Measurement Law
To All, WOW! This could prove to be beneficial for efforts to improve flows. Chris The purpose of this message is to provide information about a new water measurement law which will affect water right holders and diverters who divert more than 10 acre-feet of water per year. The law includes a new reporting requirement […]
Read MoreDamning California’s Future
Hoping to capitalize on the epic drought, the state’s water industry wants to usher in a new era of dam-building in the state. But environmentalists say it would cost billions and do more harm than good. By Will Parrish October 21, 2015 On the edge of the Yolla Bolly Wilderness, about 15 miles north of […]
Read MoreComment on Water Conservation
It is my understanding that the North Coast Basin Plan does not allow the addition of any water during the summer prohibition period. It seems to me that we should be exploring ways of modifying this to allow the addition of water to critical stream flows when it can be justified as a way of […]
Read MoreWine Industry Impacts: Wine and Water Watch (WWW)
I began sending out my article on the founding of the Wine and Water Watch (WWW) group yesterday. It has already been published in at least the following places, which include India and Virginia. It will likely be published elsewhere in the next few days. If you google the words “wine and water watch” with […]
Read MoreDiscussion on Herbicide Spraying in the Laguna de Santa Rosa
Hello Patrons and Neighbors of The Laguna, I hope everyone is having a good week and enjoyed their weekend. I’ve been slowly settling in to Sonoma County (moved here from VA about a month ago), and am continuously amazed by all that this part of the country has to offer. First I want to apologize […]
Read MoreA Solution for California’s Water Woes
During the drought, the state has failed to safeguard water supplies and the environment, and now there’s a growing call to finally fix California’s archaic “water rights” system. By Will Parrish In a decision bursting with symbolism, the California State Water Resources Control Board recently announced its intention to draw down the main water supply […]
Read MoreDiscussion on Threat of Logging Plans
I sent the message – below – to Stephen. If this is allowed to be how forests are managed on private lands in California – virtually all private forest lands will be put in these permanent large scale Non-industrial Timber Management Plans (NTMPs) – with no future environmental review or ability to update to new […]
Read MoreComment on California’s Drought Response
To All, There are many facets that must be considered if were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve. That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation. Agriculture, via the California […]
Read MoreEPA Strengthens Federal Protections for Small Streams
By Darryl Fears, May 27 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army finalized the Clean Water Rule to protect from pollution and degradation of the nation’s water resources in streams and wetlands. EPA strengthens federal protections for small streams The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army finalized the Clean Water Rule […]
Read MoreClean Water Rule Finalized
In an historic step for the protection of clean water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army finalized the Clean Water Rule today to clearly protect from pollution and degredation the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of the nation’s water resources. The rule ensures that waters protected under the Clean Water […]
Read MoreVineyards Comment Regarding Too Many Straws
To All, When I moved to Sonoma County 30 years ago, I loved the vineyards…but they were all dry farmed back then. Over the years I have watched in dismay, then horror, at the forest-to-vineyard conversions, as the non-food ag spread like a cancer across the land. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is also […]
Read MoreWILL PARRISH: Too Many Straws In the Russian
Will Parrish May 15, 2015 Ukiah, TheAVA On April 21st, officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board sent joint letters to property owners in four of the Russian River’s largest tributaries imploring them to conserve water on behalf of a federally-listed endangered species: Coho salmon. Its […]
Read MoreTell Congress to Protect our Nation’s Water
To All, Tell Congress to Protect our Nation’s Water Congress is yet again attempting to weaken our environmental laws by interfering with proposed new safeguards for water—one of our most important resources. Take action to protect our water now! The EPA has received more than 1 million public comments on its proposed Clean Water Rule, […]
Read MoreWater and Sediment Movement
The geometry of a stream channel is controlled by both water and sediment movement, which reflect regional climate, geology, and human land use in a given drainage basin. The amount and timing of water moving downstream depends on precipitation rates in the drainage basin, and on how water that falls as precipitation moves downslope into […]
Read MoreAction: Comment on Clean Water Act
Water Community: Thanks for taking the initiative to write comments. Comment Deadline is February 5, 2015 by 12 noon. See below. The main idea behind listing streams as impaired by low flows is, like you probably already know, that water bodies are currently listed under the Clean Water Act when they are seriously impaired for […]
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