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Despite the wet winter and far-above-average Sierra Nevada snowpack, California forests remain at risk from tree mortality, bark beetle infestations and overgrown landscapes, according to presentations at the 2017 California Farm Bureau Federation Leaders Conference.(Left) Timber operator and Tuolumne County Farm Bureau President Shaun Crook during the California Farm Bureau Leaders Conference in Sacramento. Photo/Ching Lee. During the event, foresters and forest landowners discussed all those issues and communicated concerns directly to Randy Moore, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest regional forester, who participated as a guest speaker.

While this winter’s precipitation was good news for Northern California, that story doesn’t translate to much of the Inland Empire, area water managers said Tuesday. “The precipitation that refills our underground storage basins is actually below average, so far,” said Bob Tincher, manager of water resources for San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District. “So if it were to stop raining today, even with the wet year in Northern California, our groundwater storage levels could actually decrease again this year.” The Inland Empire needs three consecutive above-average precipitation years to refill local groundwater basins, he said.

 

The extraordinary volume of water pouring through California’s rivers and reservoirs this winter appears to be behind more damage to the state’s water infrastructure. State officials said Tuesday that an intake structure at Clifton Court Forebay, a 2½ mile-wide reservoir in eastern Contra Costa County, would be shut down because it needs repairs after heavy inflows.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) issued the following statement after sending a letter, along with many of his colleagues in the California congressional delegation, urging President Trump to take immediate action to facilitate the work required to repair the two Oroville Dam spillways that were damaged in the February 2017 storm events. The damage forced the mandatory evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents, and President Trump responded by declaring a Major Emergency and authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist local and state officials and provide aid to evacuees.

Land subsidence from overpumping groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley has been called the largest human alteration of the Earth’s surface. When the last comprehensive surveys were made in 1970, subsidence in excess of one foot had occurred over more than 5,200 square miles (13,000 sq km) of irrigable land – half the entire valley. Southwest of Mendota, a town that prides itself on being the cantaloupe center of the world, maximum subsidence was estimated at 28 feet (8.5m). By this time, however, massive infusions of surface water were being delivered to the valley, and subsidence was slowing or had been “arrested.”