Let’s face it, the 2018-2019 water year has been awesome! The numbers tell the story. Sacramento is more than four inches above average for rainfall and Stockton is more than three inches above average for rainfall since October 1, 2018. Thanks to all the rainfall along with a very impressive snowpack, California is now completely drought free! The last time that happened was December 2011.
Citing the urgent need to repair the 62-year-old Whittier Narrows Dam, U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano, (D-32 District-El Monte) and U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez, (D-38th District-Norwalk) have written a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Resources requesting $100,405,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Account’s Dam Safety and Seepage/Stability Correction Program. Within the letter the two representatives identify the Whittier dam’s dire status and the need to be a potential recipient of these federal funds: … Projects such as the Whittier Narrows Dam, CA, which has been recognized as one of the most critical dam safety projects in the nation, could compete for funding in this account.
Looking back 40 years, Jeff Stone said the greenhouse and nursery industry was barely a blip on the radar of Oregon agriculture. Now nursery stock is consistently among the state’s most valuable farm commodities, with sales of $947 million in 2017. Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, said the momentum really took off in the 1980s and 1990s. Based in Wilsonville, about 15 miles south of Portland, the association represents 800 members, including 600 growers. It is a success story driven by the availability of water, along with the Mediterranean climate — cool, wet winters followed by hot, dry summers — and rich soils of the Willamette River Basin.
