A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 7, 2007
3. Watersheds
Revised river bill set for committee vote today; Legislation authorizes improvements on San Joaquin - Fresno Bee
For river recovery, a gentle rain would sure be nice - North County Times
Concern shifting from fire to erosion; Methods to protect burn areas debated - San Diego Union Tribune
DELTA ISSUES:
Column: Pending delta lawsuits will slow real solutions -
The beavers will be spared - Contra Costa Times
Revised river bill set for committee vote today; Legislation authorizes improvements on San Joaquin
By Michael Doyle, staff writer
The congressional author has changed. So have the terms. And there is new funding, in theory, to pay for hundreds of millions of dollars in river restoration work.
The evolving bill's purpose remains the same as when the first version was introduced Jan. 4. It authorizes channel improvements, levees and other work needed to prepare the
Since January, lawmakers have sought ways to pay for about half of the bill's estimated 10-year price tag of $500 million.
The revised bill would partially offset the cost by speeding up Friant farmers' repayments to the federal government for the dam and canals built in the 1940s. Currently, the farmers pay about $9 million a year.
By accelerating repayments -- probably through either higher water rates or issuance of a bond -- the added money could be applied to meeting House budget requirements.
Friant farmers have not yet formally endorsed the new proposals, but they offered their "conceptual approval" so negotiations could continue.
"We are keenly aware that the congressional schedule presents only a limited opportunity to make progress this year," Friant Water Users Authority consulting general manager Ron Jacobsma wrote lawmakers recently.
The delicately negotiated bill would settle a 1988 lawsuit filed by environmentalists unhappy over how Friant Dam construction and operations dried up the once-teeming
"We're hoping that all of the people who were part of the first bill will be part of this bill, too," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno.
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, was the chief author of the original House bill. On Friday, Radanovich's office was informed that Radanovich had been supplanted by Costa.
Changing the chief author from Radanovich to Costa could help ease the bill's passage through the House Natural Resources Committee, where Costa has a seat, and where Democrats enjoy a six-vote advantage.
The markup session today is the committee's last of the year, putting added pressure on lawmakers.
Costa said he had informed Radanovich a week ago about his plans to introduce a revised bill. Radanovich's office received a copy of the legislation Tuesday.
"As long as this is what Friant wants, that's what my boss wants," Radanovich spokesman Spencer Pederson said. "The important point is, it gets done."
Some provisions could be placeholders designed to get the bill out of committee and into further negotiations with the Senate.
"There are still issues," Costa said. "This is a work in progress."
The most vocal critic of the original
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/185000.html
For river recovery, a gentle rain would sure be nice
By Paul Sisson, staff writer
RANCHO
A season of heavy rain could cause more damage to the waterway, filling it with soot and killing fish and other aquatic animals that live there, experts say. However, a season of light rain could help the river rebound.
"A kind of soft rain, it really helps establish plant regrowth," said Ben Neill, a water resource control engineer for the county's Regional Water Quality Control Board. "We saw that happen in 2003 with the Cedar fire."
The National Weather Service is predicting a mild rainy season, forecaster Philip Gonsalves said Tuesday. In fact, a drizzle is expected to begin falling Thursday night and continue into Friday.
Wending its way from
The river is home to 23 environmentally sensitive plant species and 55 environmentally sensitive animal species, according to a planning document for the San Dieguito River Park, which includes most of the river valley.
After last month's fires, even in areas where the landscape was blackened, new life is waiting to emerge. Tim Dillingham, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said that a slow soak would help sprout seeds released by burned plants along the river corridor.
"Usually, if the fire stays under 2,000 degrees, the seeds will survive, and it looks like that's what we've seen out there for the most part," Dillingham said. "If we can get some plants growing on the hillsides, then we should have a lot less erosion. Four or five days of gentle rain would be about perfect."
As it moves from the inland mountains to the
Project Manager Samir Tanious, who works for Southern California Edison Co., said he has not yet begun to see any ash or soot in the water that is entering the work site.
He said the estuary's new design includes berms along both sides of the river almost all the way to the beach. That design, he said, would likely convey dirty water directly to the ocean if a heavy storm hits this winter.
"I think the design of the project takes into account this kind of event," Tanious said. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/07/news/coastal/2_01_0311_6_07.txt
Concern shifting from fire to erosion; Methods to protect burn areas debated
By Terry Rodgers, staff writer
Efforts are under way to help minimize soil erosion and flows of mud and debris that could occur when rain pelts areas denuded by the recent infernos.
“The fire was just one facet of the emergency. Now we must prepare for the onset of the erosion,” said Cid Tesoro, who supervises
An official cost for stabilizing the landscape has not been calculated, but Tesoro said it's certain to exceed $1 million.
The blazes scorched about 370,000 acres, requiring many jurisdictions to work together during the fires despite their sometimes contrasting policies. Coordination needs also have surfaced during the recovery process.
For example, there was lively debate during a meeting convened yesterday in Kearny Mesa by the San Diego Fire Recovery Network. Scientists, land managers and companies that specialize in erosion control discussed which methods would best preserve the region's native terrain of coastal sage and chaparral.
Some of those in attendance argued that much of the burned territory should be allowed to regenerate on its own.
“When the winter rains arrive, the native landscape will change from black to brown to green as the ashes wash away and the bare soil is uncovered,” said Anne Fege, a botanist with the recovery network. “The local ecosystems are adapted to fire and are capable of re-sprouting and growing from seed.”
Land managers such as Slader Buck of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge said they'll likely use a variety of erosion-control measures and will target the most susceptible areas first. The primary objective is to protect roads, trails and buildings from further damage, Buck said.
Others who manage public lands said it's critical to keep hikers, mountain bikers and off-roaders away from charred areas until native plants bounce back.
One common erosion-control technique is hydro-mulching, in which crews use hoses to spray a slurry of water, tacking agent and wood fiber onto soil. Aircraft also can drop the mixture onto targeted areas.
Hydro-mulching can be effective, especially when used in conjunction with rolls of straw called wattles and other devices that slow and divert runoff.
But critics of hydro-mulching said it can trap and kill reptiles and insects, including ground-nesting native bees crucial to pollination of plants.
One issue that generates near-total opposition from ecologists and land managers is the practice of reseeding burned areas with nonnative grasses.
“We've moved beyond that,” said Jan Beyers, a biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Environmentalists said exotic grasses force out native plants, render the land more vulnerable to future wildfires and do little to prevent erosion.
The bags of seed being distributed by county officials to fire-stricken property owners contain a mix of
At the federal level, two Burn Area Emergency Response teams are wrapping up their reports on the most severe post-fire threats to life and property. They surveyed tens of thousands of acres of federal and Indian tribal lands.
Federal agencies plan to begin their emergency stabilization work today at the La Jolla and Pauma-Yuima Indian reservations in
After finishing their work on tribal lands, the erosion specialists will focus on properties managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey are drafting maps showing where debris flows are most likely to occur.
Debris flows are flash floods of mud, boulders and material loosened by fires and can pack a wallop. They typically take place in ravines below steep terrain where more than 65 percent of the vegetation has been burned. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071107/news_1m7erosion.html
DELTA ISSUES:
Column: Pending delta lawsuits will slow real solutions
By Lois Henry, columnist
A pair of "enviro knights" have joined together in an epic battle to defend the beleaguered Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Who are these eco system avengers? Coalition for a Sustainable Delta -- the giant Paramount Farming company; Committee for a Reliable Delta --
Huh? Farmers and water guys going all environmental on us?
Well, yes and no.
A federal judge in August ruled state and federal pumps sending some 6 million acre-feet of delta water south to Kern County and other users each year were hurting the endangered smelt (a fish) so the pumping must be curtailed, by as much as 35 percent. If the cutback is that big and over several years, local water agency folks predict it could ruin Kern's economy. The ruling, combined with the current drought, sent local ag water districts into a frenzy.
They're firing back with both barrels.
The massive pumps that feed water to farmers and Southern California residents aren't the only culprits in the delta, said
The timing is what caught my attention.
Though Philimore and other local water agency folks told me the lawsuits were prompted by the judge's ruling in August, that lawsuit was bubbling for quite awhile. And it was pretty clear where it might go. Drought? We've had a few in the last 10 to 15 years, nothing new there. As for other factors degrading the delta, invasive species, pollution, greater municipal and industrial uses, that's all been looked at, studied and double studied for years, decades even.
So why now?
"Hindsight is 2020," Philimore said. "If I'd been more perceptive and had perhaps been paying more attention to what was going on in the delta and not relying on representation from state agencies this would have happened a couple years ago."
These two potential lawsuits are just the beginning, Philimore told me. Meanwhile, the committee, made up of water districts, has been amassing a lot of money (more than $450,000 and counting) that it will use for research to back up the coalition's lawsuits.
I wondered, though, if the timing has anything to do with a few other water-related issues churning around the state right now, such as proposals that could resurrect the peripheral canal, which would route water around the delta entirely.
No, Philimore and others told me, these lawsuits are not any kind of threat or political move to get the northern interests to back off their opposition to the canal.
Even if the canal were approved tomorrow, it wouldn't be built for more than 10 years. If supplies to Kern were cut by 35 percent every year during that time, it would devastate the economy, said Bill Taube, manager of the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District.
"This is a matter of survival," he added.
So far, the only things government agencies have tweaked when trying to "fix" the delta are the pumps, Philimore said. There are other problems lurking in those waters and Kern's ag and water folks are determined to bring them to light.
At least one group isn't biting -- fishermen. (Get it? Ha.)
Judging by posts on well-known fly fisherman Dan Blanton's blog – HTTP://www.danblanton .com/viewmessage.php?id =92739
- some folks just aren't convinced these lawsuits are about saving the delta so much as keeping the water flowing. The posters are upset by the coalition's most recent intent to sue the Department of Fish and Game for regulations that prop up populations of striped bass, which it says is an invasive species that kills the little smelt.
* "This is all about the $$$ to be made by stealing more NorCal water so cotton and houses can be grown in the desert."
* "They now want to blame the striped bass for the decline of delta smelt and other fish in the California Delta in order to take away the blame from the state and federal export pumps, even though the fish successfully coexisted for over 125 years."
Yikes. Almost makes me feel sorry for
I do understand their frustration. Whatever you think of ag and water, they have contracts which they've paid for, water or no water, faithfully year in and year out. They've changed farming habits to use less water, grown more permanent crops than row crops, which typically take more water and yield less profit, depending on the market. For example, in
Granted, many of those cotton acres have been paved over for houses, but that state project water hasn't been converted to urban use to accommodate growth. Metro
But still, more lawsuits just seem counterproductive to me.
Judges aren't water experts and addressing the delta's massive array of issues one drawn-out, years-long lawsuit at a time isn't going to work.
It hasn't so far.
There are efforts to try and work on delta problems overall, including the Bay Delta Conservation plan, which Mirant Power Company is a member of, as well as the Kern County Water Agency. Mirant has also been supportive of a peripheral canal, said Greg Gartell, assistant general manager of the Contra Costa Water District, also a member of the Bay Delta Conservation plan but an ardent foe of the canal.
"I was stunned," Gartell said of the coalition's intent to sue. "It's like shooting at one of your own."
His take was the lawsuits will just cause more trouble and slow headway on real solutions.
I have to agree. #
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/278711.html
The beavers will be spared
Contra Costa Times – 11/7/07
By Scott Marshall, staff writer
The beavers instead will be trapped and quarantined at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum and will later be released in an area approved by the state, said Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder and state Department of Fish and Game spokesman
"After a quick survey, I've gotten 150 e-mails, 100 percent of them say don't kill the beavers," said Schroder, who approached the state Monday through labor leader Jim Kellogg, who is a member of the Fish and Game commission.
About 100 residents, still upset after officials backed down, showed up at Alhambra Creek on Tuesday night and turned what was to have been a candlelight vigil into a defiant rally.
"Tonight was supposed to be a vigil and really get everyone ready to storm the gates at the City Council meeting" (tonight), said Joey Piscitelli, a 22-year Martinez resident who was hawking $8 white T-shirts emblazoned with drawings of two beavers that read, "Save the Alhambra Creek BEAVERS."
He and others were critical of the proposal to kill the animals.
"People from all over the
“Killing is murder."
To ensure attendees knew the beavers now will be moved, the city posted a news release attached to fluorescent pink paper and mounted on sticks in two locations at the
City administrators found no feasible way to keep the beavers and their dam without worsening flood risks. The city has spent $9.7 million in the past 10 years to reduce flood risks from the creek.
Not far from the dam, the creek came within two feet of flooding during an Oct. 12 rainstorm.
On Tuesday night, rally attendees held candles and cheered raucously whenever the beavers surfaced. The animals generally gave the crowd a wide berth, circling around their dam and then diving quickly under water.
Roberta Alford, a retired nurse, said she and others were there "just to make sure there's people that aren't going to put up with killing them, we just want to let (the city) know we're not going to accept that."
Children were enthralled by the beavers and the spectacle.
"Yea, beavers," cheered Elijah Alcala, 2, as he watched them tend the dam from the arms of his baby sitter, Carmen Farthing, 15, an
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7393753?nclick_check=1
####
No comments:
Post a Comment